Looking for information on F8F-1 War Emergency Power

[Magicool]

Hello I am looking for additional information on the F8F-1 using the Pratt & Whitney R-2800-34W Double Wasp 18 cyl radial piston engine.
Is there any concrete evidence that the pilots were able to use WEP in the early F8F-1 and not only the later F8F-1B model?
In these two documents the WEP is listed but I can't find anything on the usage of WEP in the handbook besides "On entering Cockpit" - "WEP switch - OFF".
But no clear instruction when and on which specific model WEP switch should and could be switched to ON?


http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/F8F/F8F-1-2.pdf
http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/F8F/F8F-1_Standard_Aircraft_Characteristics.pdf

 

[wells]

Given that water injection was implemented on the Hellcat, I would think all versions of the Bearcat would have it. If it's a 34W engine, it has water injection. That's what the "W" means.

 

[Shortround6]

To get the WEP power rating they needed to use the water injection, other wise it was Military power. AS to when to use it, that was pretty much a judgement call on the part of the pilot. As noted in the documents the plane only held 16 gallons of the water mixture and this wouldn't last very long. Probably not even 10 minutes total.

 

[Magicool]

Thank you guys fr your answer.
W wells yeah it would seem logical that all Bearcats were able to use it since the engine had the water injection system on all F8F-1 models.

Sadly the Pilots Manual is somehow incomplete and I'm trying to add up the missing parts.
Under Section I the descriptin of the aircraft it says the use of the water injection system on the F8F-1 would be descripbed in Section II paragraph 12 sadly Section II paragraph 12 is missing the instructions for the R-2800-34W on the F8F-1 series and only talks about further tests on the F8F-2 series.

 

[wells]

Ah, the F8F-2 used a different engine, the 30W, which had a variable speed supercharger, instead of the earlier 2 speed type. So, that required some testing. It looks like the testing was not complete at the time the manual was written.

 

[Magicool]

yeah but Im looking for the part for the F8F-1 anyways which is missing