Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat NX14WB is now part of the Planes of Fame Airshow. Its construction number is D.1148 and it served the US Navy as BuNo 122619.
Lloyd Nolen, Lefty Gardner and Bearcat & Company of Mercedes, Texas purchased it for $805 at Naval Air Station Litchfield Park, Arizona in 1958 and registered it as N9758C. It was stored at Litchfield Park until 1963. T.A. Underwood of Buckeye, Arizona bought it in 1963 and sold it to Frank Williams of Port Arthur, Texas that same year. Larry Hamilton and Hamilton Aircraft of Sonoma, California acquired it in 1963 and sold it to Aviation Amazement-Amusement Incorporated and the Confederate Air Force of Oklahoma City in 1966. It was transferred to Gardner Flyers and the Confederate Air Force at Brownwood, Texas in 1968. It passed through the hands of Max Hoffman and Ken Boomhower before it was purchased by Harold Beal and Charles Smith of Knoxville, Tennessee in 1973. Beal registered it as N700F in 1975. Whittington Brothers Incorporated of Fort Lauderdale, Florida acquired it in September 1989. Don Whittington and World Jet Incorporated of Fort Lauderdale registered it as N14WB in September 1979. It was loaned to the Experimental Aircraft Association Aviation Foundation in Oshkosh, Wisconson in 1980. Yesterday Museum Incorporated of Fort Lauderdale took charge of it in October 1998 and transferred it to World Jet Incorporated of Fort Lauderdale on September 2, 1999. It has been registered to Lewis Aeronautical LLC of San Antonio, Texas since January 23, 2008.
Photo by Jason Korst