Detail & Scale 30 - F4F Wildcat

25C~O

IILDCAT

WIL CAT in detail & scale Bert Kinzey

Airlife Publishing Ltd. England

COPYRIGHT

©

1988 BY DETAIL & SCALE, INC.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, except in a review, without the written consent of Detail & Scale, Inc. This book is a product of Detail & Scale, Inc., which has sole responsibility for its content and layout, except that all contributors are responsible for the security clearance and copyright release of all materials submitted. Published and distributed in the United States by TAB BOOKS Inc., and in Great Britain and Europe by Airlife Publishing, LTD.

CONTRIBUTORS AND SOURCES: Grumman Aerospace Corporation

Warren Munkasy

Naval Aviation Museum, NAS Pensacola, Florida

Flightleader

National Air and Space Museum

Jim Galloway

National Archives

Ron Hillbury

Stan Piet

Burl Burlingame

Cam Martin

Dana Bell

Lloyd S. Jones

Russell Lee

Minicraft

Most photographs in this book are credited to their contributor. Photographs with no credit indicated were taken by the author. SPECIAL THANKS A special thanks is due to Lois Lovisolo of the Grumman History Center. Her assistance, generosity, and interest in this publication were instrumental during its research and preparation. It was th rough her efforts that most of the rare photographs of Wi Idcat details were obtained. Detail & Scale is indebted to Lois for her assistance, and extends to her a very special word of thanks.

FIRST EDITION FIRST PRINTING Published in United States by TAB BOOKS Inc. Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0214

First published in Great Britain in 1988 by Airlife Publishing Ltd. 7 SI. John's Hill, Shrewsbury. SY1 1JE British Library Cataloging In Publication Data

Library of Congress Catatoging in Publication Data Kinzey, Bert. F4F wildcat I by Bert Kinzey. p. em. - (Detail & scale ; vol. 30) ISBN 0-8306-8040-3 (pbk.) 1. Wildcat (Fighter plane) I. Title. II. Series: D & S ; vol. 30. UG 1242.F5K5264 1988 88--12188 623.74'64-dc19 CIP

Kinzey, Bert F4F Wildcat. inciuding British Martlels - - (Detail and scale series; v.30). 1. Wildcat (Fighter plane) - - History I. Title II. Series 623.74'64 UG1242.F5 ISBN 1-85310·607·0

Questions regarding the content of this book should be addressed to: Reader Inquiry Branch TAB BOOKS Inc. Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0214

Front cover: This beautiful painting by aviation artist, Jay Ashurst, depicts Marion Carl's Wildcat over Midway Island. Carl scored 18 112 victories, of which 16 112 were in the Wildcaf. Rear cover: A pilot from VMF-111 is about to climb into the cockpit of his Wildcat during the 1941 Army war games. (GroenhofflNASA via Piety

INTRODUCTION

This head-on view of the first F4F-4 shows the Wildcat's stance on its narrow landing gear. The guns have been deleted from the photograph by a censor's airbrush, but other details are visible. Note the oil cooler scoops under the wings and the scoop for combustion air on top of the cowling. Engine and propeller details are also visible, as are details of the landing gear. . (Grumman)

There are quite a few reference sources available on Grumman's Wildcat series of fighters. While only a few books have been dedicated entirely to the Wildcat, a considerably greater number have included it in their coverage of a number of related aircraft. Additionally, the Wildcat has been the subject of scores of articles that have been published in dozens of magazines. The one thing that almost all of these references have in common is that they will poi nt out the shortcomings of the aircraft. Probably no other aircraft except the F-111 has been so successful yet so much criticized in all of the information that has been written about it. There can be no doubt that the Wildcat was inferior in certain respects when compared to the Japanese fighters that were its primary opponents. Most notably, it was not as maneuverable, and its rate of climb was considerably less than the Zero and other Japanese fighters. It also lacked the range required for the carrier war in the Pacific. The change to the Wright R,-1820-56W engine in the FM-2 provided more power and made the Wildcat a better performer. But it was the F6F Hellcat that gave the Navy the necessary range it needed in a fighter. But almost every fighter is in some way inferior to any other fighter. Over the years, this writer has had the opportunity to talk with at least a dozen former Wildcat pilots to include the highest scoring aces. Not one of them has ever wanted to trade cockpits with a Japanese pilot. Given the choice of the Wildcat or any Japanese fighter he fought, each pilot chose the Wildcat. This certainly says something about the advantages of the aircraft, and it counters the impression of almost complete inferiority that many writers seem to express. Many pilots did express a desi re to fly the Japanese ai rcraft just for the experience, but when it came to the shooting part, all would take the Wildcat. The reasons most often cited for this unanimous choice was the ruggedness of the Wildcat that allowed it to absorb a great deal of punishment, and the fact that it seldom caught fire when hit. In his book,

Joe Foss Flying Marine, the USMC's leading ace (and leading Wildcat ace with twenty-six confirmed victories) states that he only once saw a Wildcat catch fire after being hit. On the other hand, catching fire was the rule for the Japanese fighters when they were hit. They also provided less protection forthe pilot, and their armament mix of cannon and machine guns was not as effective as that in the Wildcat. As Scott McCuskey (who scored 6 1/3 victories in F4Fs plus seven in the Hellcat) explained, " ... it was simply a question of flying your aircraft to maximize its advantages and minimize its weaknesses." Another pilot said, "Unless you tried to fight a Japanese fighter on his own terms or did something stupid, you were not at a real disadvantage in the Wildcat. He could climb away from you, but you could dive away from him. In the F4F, we were not going to score a kill in every fight, but we never felt that we were at a disadvantage where we were going to lose." The Wildcat was the only Navy fighter to serve throughout the entire war from the attack on Pearl Harbor until VJ Day. It was also the only Navy fighter in production throughout the entire war. A total of 7898 of all versions were built. In this publication, Detail & Scale presents a close up and detailed look at all versions of the Wildcat. We have been fortunate to obtain many detailed photographs and drawings from Grumman's files that show cockpits, landing gear, engine installations, armament, and other details of this, the first in the line of Grumman's fighting cats. While a number of photographs have been published before, many are being released for the first time. The five-view drawings of the F4F-4 were drawn by Dana Bell and Russell Lee specifically for this publication. Supplemental views are included for the F4F-3 and FM-2. In our Modelers Section we take a look at all of the kits of the Wildcat from 1/144th to 1/32nd scale, and review the decal sheets available for them.

3

DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY

Details of the XF4F-2 in its original configuration can be seen in this photograph. Particularly note the cowl guns that are mounted well forward, the antenna mast, the scoop on top of the nose just behind the cowling, the rounded wing tips, and the two windows below the wing. A large mass balance is mounted on each elevator. (Grumman) A period of transition

Most aviation historians would agree that the ten years just after World War II were filled with the most dramatic changes in aviation history. It was in that time frame that the transition was made from pistons and propellers to jet engines as the means of propulsion for many types of aircraft. Nowhere was this change more evident than it was for military aircraft. The jet engine soon moved the speeds past the sound barrier, then 1000 miles per hour, and then mach 2 and beyond. The changes in aviation brought about by the jet engine, and the resulting airframe designs into which these engines were placed, often overshadow the equally important changes made in the ten years just prior to World War II. The 1930s were not as dramatic as the postwar period when it comes to the increased performance afforded by jets, nor were they as well documented, but, had these changes not taken place, no jet would have ever lifted off the ground. One of these important changes was the replacement of fabric with metal as the skins on the aircraft. Most World War II aircraft had fabric only on the control surfaces, while metal was used on the rest of the airframe. New construction methods and the use of light metals changed the aircraft designs from struts, fabric, and wire to sleek designs that increased performance over older designs almost as dramatically as jets would outpace these designs at war's end. But the most important transition of the thirties was the change from biplanes to monoplanes. Although monoplanes had made an appearance as far back as the

4

World War I time frame, the biplane had remained the primary design used until the thirties. But as the decade of the thirties progressed, fewer and fewer biplanes remained, and more and more monoplanes appeared. By the time the forties began, the biplane had all but disappeared, and no biplane fighters were left in front line service in any of the major air forces of the world. A transitional design

As the monoplane replaced the biplane, there were many transitional designs, most of which were surprisingly successful. Grumman's Wildcat was one of these transitional designs, and actually began life on the drawing boards as a biplane which was designated the XF4F1.lt had the Grumman design numberG-16.ltwasdrawn up in the 1935-36 time frame in response to a November 1935 request from the Bureau of Aeronautics for a new carrier fighter. The Navy realized that biplanes were quickly becoming a thing of the past, and was really looking for its first monoplane fighter. Brewster was working on this design in the form of the F2A Buffalo, but, with the uncertainties involved with mating monoplanes and carriers, the Navy wanted a hedge, and had Grumman work on the biplane design. The chief designer for the XF4F-1 was William T. Schwendler, who came up with an aircraft that had considerable similarities to Grumman's F3F. It was a biplane with staggered wings of an equal span of twenty-seven feet. It was twenty-three feet, three inches in length, and was to have a gross weight of 4500 pounds. It was to be

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Grumman XF4F-1

The design of the XF4F-1 is shown in this three-view drawing. The drawing is in 1/72nd scale. (Jones)

powered by either a Wright XR-1670-02 engine that could deliver 800 horsepower at 10,000 feet, or a Pratt & Whitney XR-1535-92 that was capable of 800 horsepower at 8,000 feet. Both engines were twin-row radials that were to drive a variable pitch, two-blade propeller. The maximum speed was estimated at 264 miles per hour, but this was only about ten miles per hour faster than the F3F. Planned armament called for two .30 caliber machine guns in the cowling, or one .30 and one .50 caliber gun. A feature of the XF4F-1's design was one that had almost become a Grumman trademark, and it had been used on the earlier Grumman biplane fighters. This feature was the fuselage-mounted landing gear that was housed in an enlarged lower section of the forward fuselage. Leroy Grumman had produced similar landing gear for Loening's amphibians, then increased the length of the struts in order to incorporate this simple and sturdy design into Grumman's first aircraft. Although this manually-operated gear would be used on all variants of the Wildcat, it would be the last Grumman fighterto have this type of landing gear. The contract for the XF4F-1 was awarded on March 2, 1936, and Brewster was awarded a contract forthe XF2A1 in June of that year. The superiority of the monoplane design over the biplane became so evident that the Navy then cancelled the XF4F-1 contract only four months

after it was issued. As a result, no XF4F-1 was ever built. A new contract for the XF4F-2 monoplane was issued, and Grumman began to work feverishly to catch up with Brewster who now had a good head start on their monoplane design. At Grumman, the XF4F-2 was given design number G-18, and it was their first monoplane fighter design. It was in all respects a transitional fighter design. It was also to become the first in Grumman's famous line of fighters to bear the name of various members of the cat family. Except for the XF5F Skyrocket, a design that was never put into production, all subsequent Grummanproduced fighters for the Navy have been named for cats, and they are probably the most successful of any line of fighters ever produced.

The prototype Although Grumman got started later than Brewster, the XF4F-2 first flew on September 2,1937, with Robert L. Hall at the controls. This was over th ree months ahead of the XF2A, which did not fly until December. The aircraft had the number 0383 on the tail, and this number was to remain on the aircraft even after its change to the XF4F-3 the following year. Design G-18 was an all metal monoplane with a span of 34 feet. All flying surfaces had rounded tips, and it was powered by a Pratt & Whitney

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The XF4F-2 takes off on its first flight. The fuselagemounted landing gear was a carry-over from earlier biwing fighters, and would remain unchanged throughout the Wildcat series. (Grumman) R-1830-66 fourteen-cylinder, two-row engine that had a single-speed supercharger. It was rated at 1050 horsepower for takeoff and 900 horsepower at 12,000 feet. It was delivered to the Navy on December 23,1937, where it was tested against the XF2A and Seversky's XNF-1. Although the XF4F-2 proved to be the fastest of the th ree, achieving 290 mph at 10,000 feet, bearing failures in the engine and other lesser problems with the design resulted in the XF2A being selected as the winner of the competition, thus becoming the Navy's first monoplane fighter. More detailed information on the XF4F-2 can be found beginning on page 16. But Grumman's defeat was relatively short lived, and work continued to improve the design and correct the faults. Stability and control problems were corrected by increasing the span to 38 feet and changing the tips on all su riaces to a squared-off desig n. The tai I was completely redesigned. As such, 0383 became the XF4F-3, making its first flight in this new configuration on February 12, 1939. The engine had been changed to the Pratt & Whitney XR-1830-76, which had a two-stage, two-speed supercharger. This was something new in aviation powerplants for that time, and Grumman's gamble on using it in the XF4F-3 was to payoff. Continued testing resulted in a further redesign of the

Left side details of XF4F-2, 0383, are shown here. Note the spinner that has been added to the propeller. It was one of several tried in an attempt to solve problems with the engine overheating. A bomb is attached under the left wing, and a long pitot tube is mounted on the leading edge. (Grumman) tai I that included moving the horizontal stabil izers and elevators from the fuselage up to the vertical tail, and a changed vertical tail that was faired into the spine of the fuselage. With these changes made, the final appearance of the Wildcat was set, and it varied little through the production versions. Only the FM-2, with its taller tail and different engine and exhaust arrangement, differed from the XF4F-3's final design to any noticeable extent. A closer look at the details of the XF4F-3 can be found beginning on page 21.

Wildcat production With the design finalized with the XF4F-3, the F4F-3 was ordered into production. Following the first two examples, the cowl guns were deleted in favor of four .50 caliber weapons in the wings. The F4F-3 was followed by the F4F-4 which was the first Wildcat to feature folding wings so that more could be fitted into the cramped spaces aboard carriers. The -4 also had six guns instead of four, but this increased firepower was met with displeasure by most pilots, since it also meant less ammunition per gun and therefore less firing time. The-4 was the last Wildcat to be built by Grumman, with all subsequent Wildcats being built by General Motors' Eastern Aircraft

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XF4F-2, 0383, became XF4F-3, 0383. The scoop behind the cowl has been removed, the cowl guns have been reloca·ted behind the larger cowling, the wing tips have been squared off, and the vertical tail has been redesigned. The tall antenna mast ahead of the cockpit still remains. (Grumman)

6

F4F-3, 1844, shows the basic lines that were used in the Wildcat series. The antenna mast is now located behind the cockpit, and further changes have been made to the vertical tail. The cowl guns still remain, but would be removed on all but the first two production F4F-3s. (Grumman)

GRUMMAN WILDCAT BUREAU NUMBERS XF4F-2 XF4F-3 F4F-3

The production F4F-3 is represented here by 1848, which is painted in the colorful pre-war paint scheme. The cowl guns have been deleted, and four .50 caliber machine guns in the wings now comprise the armament. The photograph is dated December 12, 1940. This Wildcat was delivered to the VF-4, the first squadron to receive the F4F, and is painted in their colors. (Grumman) Division as FM-1s and FM-2s. The FM-2 was still in production unti I the end of the war, and, in fact, Eastern built far more Wi Idcats than Grumman. Excluding prototypes, 7898 Wildcats were built, and 5927 of these were built by Eastern. Rather than go into details about the production versions of the Wildcat here, each is treated separately on the following pages. This includes sections on the FM-1 and FM-2, and the British Martlets. All major prototypes are included as well. Each section on the major versions contains a data table and other important information. Sub-variants, like the F4F-3A and F4F-3S, are included with the section on the primary variant from which they were derived. General details that are common to all or most versions are covered beginning on page 10.

0383 0383 1844-1845 1848-1896 2512-2538 3856-3874 3970-4057 12230-12329 3905-3969 1897 4058-4098 5030-5262 01991-02152 03385-03544 11655-12227 1846-1847 7031 5263-5283 12228-12229

F4F-3A XF4F-4 F4F-4

XF4F-5 XF4F-6 F4F-7 XF4F-8

FM-1 & FM-2 BUREAU NUMBERS FM-1* FM-2**

14992-15951 46738-46837 15952-16791 46838-47437 55050-55649 56684-57083 73499-75158 86297-86973

* Some FM-1s were renumbered as Martlet Vs. ** Some FM-2s were renumbered as Wildcat Vis.

IMPORTANT CHANGES MADE TO WILDCAT AIRCRAFT AFTER PRODUCTION Note: This table lists some of the more important changes madeto the Wildcat series of aircraft after production. This is only a partial listing, but includes all of those changes that would effect the visible appearance of the aircraft. This is especially important to modelers. A few additional changes of interest are also included.

DATE

TYPES AFFECTED

DESCRIPTION OF CHANGE

3/10/41

F4F-3

5/28/41

F4F-3

8/8/41 12/23/41 1/18/42 3/15/42 6/6/42 6/18/42 12/5/42 1/20/43

F4F-3, F4F-3 F4F-3 F4F-3, F4F-3, F4F-3, F4F-3, F4F-3,

Installation of provisions for a gun camera in the leading edge of the left wing Elimination of automatic feature in emergency flotation gear Installation of armor plate Installation of gun heating system Replacement of telescopic gun sight Installation of auxiliary ring and bead gun sight Installation of rear view mirror Installation of shoulder harness Removal of auxiliary ring and bead gun sight Installation of high pressure pneumatic tail wheel

-3A, -4

-3A, -3A, -3A, -3A, -3A,

-4 -4, -4, -4, -4,

-7 -7 FM-1 FM-1

7

These two photographs show F4F-3s under construction at Grumman in the pre-war years. For the record

The name Wildcat was bestowed on the F4F on October 1, 1941, but by then the design was well into its production run, and other F4Fs, bearing the British name Martlet, had already engaged in combat and had shot down German aircraft for the Royal Navy. By the time America entered the war, the Wildcat was the primary shipboard carrier fighter. This was due to Grumman's continued efforts after they initially lost out to the XF2A, and to that design's severe problems and performance shortcomings that became apparent after its introduction into service. Had work not continued on the XF4F-2 and -3, the Navy would have had to fight the first year and a half of World War II with the Buffalo as its primary fighter, and that may have proved disastrous. While the Wildcat did not become the first carrier-borne monoplane fighter, it did achieve a number of other notable firsts in addition to being Grumman's first monoplane fighter and first "cat" fighter. It was the first American-

(Grumman)

built fighter to shoot down a German plane in the hands of the British on December 25, 1940. It was the first successful carrier-based fighter monoplane, and the first to have a two-stage supercharged engine. It was also the first fighter to make a carrier takeoff with rocket assist, doing so on March 18, 1944. But most importantly, it gave the U.S. Navy an aircraft that could fight the Japanese on better than equal terms until the more potent Hellcat and Corsair could be put into operation. As mentioned in the introduction, the Wildcat has been criticized in many circles as being inferior to the Zero. In specific performance categories this is undoubtedly so, but in other categories and as an overall generality, it simply is not the case. Not only do former Wildcat pilots dispute this claim, but the figu res do not bear it out either. The Wildcat was a stable, reliable, and solid design. Its terminal dive speed was never determined, although it is known that itwas dived well in excess of 500 miles per hour on a number of occasions. In the difficult

Employees gather in front of and on top ofthe last Wildcat to be built by Grumman. An appropriate sign stating "THIS IS ITI" is attached to the propeller. General Motors continued production of the Wildcat series with the FM-1 and FM-2. (Grumman)

8

months of 1942, Wildcats shot down the enemy at a rate of almost six to one. For the entire war, the rate was 6.9 to 1. In air-to-air combat, the Wildcat scored 905 confirmed kills, while losing 178 of its own number. The highly praised F-4 Phantom should have had such a kill ratio in Vietnam! While it is admittedly unfair to compare World War II to Vietnam, and the Wildcat to the Phantom, a kill ratio of almost seven to one hardly indicates an inferior aircraft, particularly when flown to maximize its advantagesand minimize the enemy's as every fighter should be flown. Compared to kill ratios achieved by other American fighters, the Wildcat's figures are certainly not spectacular, but it seems clear that the Wildcat did more than simply "hold the line." Without the superior range and performance characteristics of the F6F and F4U, the war in the Pacific would have undoubtedly been vastly different except for the final outcome, but it would have also been a much more desperate situation if the Wildcat had been shelved when itfirst lost out in competition with the XF2A. The operational history of the F4F has been well documented in books and articles more intended to cover that aspect of the Wildcat than this book is, but several points are worth repeating here. As mentioned earlier, the first kill by an F4F was on Christmas Day in 1940, as Royal Navy Martlets shot down a Ju-88 over the Orkney Islands. The first U.S. F4Fs to see combat did no fighting. They belonged to VMF-211, and were at Ewa MCAS, Hawaii, when the Japanese struck on December 7,1941. None got airborne, and nine of eleven were destroyed or severely damaged on the ground. The first time the Wildcats did any fighting with American pilots at the controls was with another detachment of VMF-211 at Wake Island that same day, although itwas December8 on that side of the International Date Line. Although seven were destroyed on the ground, five fought bravely for two weeks before finally falling to far superior forces. The first American kill by the Wildcat was scored on December 9, 1941. This action at Wake also produced the first Wildcat pilot Medal of Honor winner in Captain Henry F. Floyd. Captain Floyd shot down two Japanese bombers and bombed the destroyer KISAGARA. He was later killed in hand to hand fighting when the Japanese overran the island. Other pilots who won the Medal of Honor in the cockpit of the Wildcat included the Navy's first ace, "Butch" O'Hare, and the Marine's leading ace, Joe Foss.

Joe Foss chats with armorers between missions on Guada/canal. Note where the antenna wire enters the fuselage within the national insignia. (Grumman) Guadalcanal is one of the most famous names in the pages of American combat history. It was there that some of the fiercest and bloodiest fighting in history took place, and it was there that land-based Wildcats and their pilots faced a formidable enemy and some of the worse conditions of the war. Men like Joe Foss, Harold J. "Indian Joe" Bauer, Marion Carl, James E. Swett, John L. Smith, Robert E. Galer, and so many others included acts of heroism in their daily routines while facing overwhelming odds fighting both the Japanese and malaria at the same time. Undoubtedly Joe Foss could have added to his twenty-six confirmed victories if he had been able to spend more time fighting the Japanese and less time fighting malaria. Yet his twenty-six confirmed kills are still high enough to make him the leading ace of the Marine Corps. All of his victories were scored in the Wildcat. No less than thirty-four Marines became aces while flyi ng the Wildcat, and the large majority of Marine victories were scored in the Guadalcanal area. Twentyseven Navy pilots became Wildcat aces, flying different versions of the type throughout the war in many actions.

F4F-4 Wildcats proved their worth on Guadalcanal. It was here that Joe Foss, the leading Marine ace, scored his victories. This picture shows the flight line on Fighter One, Guadalcanal's first auxiliary airstrip, as it appeared on February 25, 1943. (Grumman)

9

WILDCAT DETAILS

l COMPRESSION

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LOWER DRAG

The main landing gear on the Wildcat was very much like that used previously on the Grumman F3F. It was manually operated by a crank in the cockpit which moved the gear through a series of gears and chains. It took about thirty revolutions of the crank to completely retract the gear. At left is a photograph of the right main gear in the full down position. At right, the gear is partially raised, revealing some of the details about how the mechanism worked. (Both Grumman)

13

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The details of the main gear wheel are illustrated in this drawing. Noteworthy is the cover plate (part 1) that covered the spoked wheel. Some photographs of Wildcats show them with this cover removed. This seems to become more prevalent later in the war on the FM-2. (Grumman)

10

MAIN LANDING GEAR DETAIL

This view looks up into the main gear compartment from the right side. (Grumman)

The opening for the left wheel is seen in this photograph. Details of the left strut and drag link are visible. Forward is to the left in this photograph. (Grumman)

With much of the gear removed from the compartment, this photograph shows the right side of the main gear to much better effect. It was a very simple but sturdy mechanism. However, with the main gear so close together, cross-wind handling was not as good as it would have been if the gear had been located further apart on the (Grumman) wings.

This close-up view was taken of the bulkhead at the aft end of the main gear compartment, and reveals the chain system that raised and lowered the gear.

11

TAIL WHEEL AND ARRESTING GEAR

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The tail wheel shown at left was a hard rubber tire, and was designed for carrier operations. This one was on the prototype. The inflated tire shown at right was designed for land operations, but many photographs show this larger (Both Grumman) style tire being used on carriers.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The arresting hook was a simple, manually-operated device consisting of a bar and a hook. It was extended from the cockpit through a system of cables and pulleys, then it dropped to the position shown in this photograph. (Grumman)

12

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The major components of the tail wheel are revealed in this cut-away drawing. (Grumman)

CANOPY DETAIL

Details of the windscreen are shown to good effect in this front view. Note the little air vent/scoop on top. (Grumman) This view was taken from above and behind, and shows the gunsight centered under the windscreen. The walkways on the wings and the taper of the forward fuselage (Grumman) are also shown to good effect.

Details of the sliding canopy are revealed here. The upper portion of the seat, the headrest, and the straps of the shoulder harness are also visible in the photo at left. The headrest was black, the straps were white or a very light gray, and the metal inside the cockpit was painted zinc chromate. The aircraft shown in these two photographs, as well as the two above, is an F4F-4, as evidenced by the wing fold line that is visible in two of the photos, but who the kill markings belonged to is unknown. (Both Grumman) 13

ENGINE DETAIL

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Most variants of the F4F Wildcat were powered by different versions of Pratt & Whitney's R-1830 engine. It had fourteen cylinders arranged in two rows of seven each as seen here. (Grumman)

Keeping the R-1830 cool was a problem from the beginning. A number of spinner designs and cooling flap arrangements were tried. Early F4F-3s had a single large flap on the upper portion of each side of the cowling, but the final solution was no spinner and eight flaps, four on each side, arranged as seen in this photograph. This was used on some F4F-3s, the F4F-4, and the FM-1. The FM-2, which was powered by the Wright R-1820, returned to the single large flap on each side of the cowling. (Grumman)

This head-on view shows engine scoop detail. The cheek scoops that were located inside of the cowling were for intercooler air. Two intercoolers cooled the engine air flowing between the two supercharger stages, and each of these two scoops led to an intercooler. The scoop on the top of the cowl was for combustion air. It was on F4F-3s with the R-1830-76 engine, the F4F-3As with the R-1830-90, and all F4F-4s. It was not on F4F-3s with the R-1830-86 engine. (Grumman) 14

This cut-away R-1830 is on display at the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola NAS, Florida.

Above left and right: The two XF4F-5s, two XF4F-8s, and the 4437 FM-2s all were powered by the Wright R-1820, nine-cylinder, single-row engine. These two photographs show right and left side views of this engine. One of the characteristics was the lateral exhausts above the wing. Although this engine had only nine cylinders, the R-1820-56W, which was installed in the FM-2, produced 1350 horsepower as compared to the 1200 horsepower of the fourteen-cylinder R-1830 in the F4F-4. (Both Grumman)

The nine cylinders of the R-1820 are clearly visible in this view. Note the lack of cowl and cheek scoops, but notice the scoops in between the lower cylinders. (Grumman)

More details of the R-1820 are revealed in the cut-away engine on display at the Naval Aviation Museum. 15

XF4F-2 MOCK UP

This is the XF4F-2 mockup. It is made mostly of wood to include the propeller. It only had a right wing that had to be supported by a strut. Cut-away sections provided a hint of the interior details. (Grumman)

The mock-up went so far as to have a fairly complete cockpit layout that included a telescope sight mounted above the instrument panel. (Grumman) 16

XF4F-2

The XF4F-2 took off on its first flight on September 2, 1937, with Robert L. Hall at the controls. When the contract for the XF4F-1 biplane was cancelled, Grumman turned its attention to the XF4F-2 monoplane design, and worked at a rapid pace in order to have the aircraft ready for competition with Brewster's XF2A and the Seversky XNF-1. In typical Grumman fashion, and in spite of a later start, Grumman had the XF4F-2 in the air three months ahead of Brewster's Buffalo. In its original form, the XF4F-2 was an all-metal monoplane with fabric ailerons, elevators, and rudder. It had pneumatically operated split flaps on mid-mounted wings that spanned thirty-four feet. The wings and tail surfaces all had rounded tips. Large mass balances were located on the elevators, and the rudder hinge line tilted forward of vertical. There were two plexiglas windows on each side of the lower fuselage to provide downward visibility, and an access to the aft fuselage accessory compartment was provided through a door located just aft of the right wing root. The hand-operated landing gear, which had proven reliable on Grumman's earlier biplane fighters, was mounted in the fuselage ahead of the wing. The engine used on the XF4F-2 was the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-66, fourteen-cylinder, twin-row radial with a single-speed supercharger. This powerplant turned a three-blade Hamilton Standard constant speed pro-

The mass balances on the elevators are shown in this right rear view. The curved tips on all of the flying surfaces are also apparent. Note the walkway on the wing and the step and hand hold on the fuselage. These were features that carried through to· the F6F Hellcat. (Grumman)

(Grumman)

peller, and it produced 1050 horsepower for takeoff and 900 horsepower at 12,000 feet. There was a rectangular carburetor air scoop located on top of the fuselage behind the cowling, and air from this scoop was mixed in the engine with 110 gallons of aviation gas from the main fuel tank and twenty additional gallons from a reserve tank. At first there were no cowl flaps, but later two flaps were added to improve engine cooling. This was but the first attempt to solve engine overheating problems that were to plague the F4F series for some time. Various spinners were also tried to help solve this problem. A ten-inch oil cooler was mounted in the left wing. Airfrom below the wing was taken into the cooler, then exhausted out on top of the wing. A large radio mast projected out at an angle from the fuselage, and was located just forward of and to the left of the cockpit. Armament consisted of two cowl-mounted machine guns, with two more guns located in the wings. Two hundred rounds were supplied for each gun. A telescopic sight was provided, and was mounted through the wind-

From the left, many more details of the single XF4F-2 are visible. The engine exhaust is at the bottom of the cowl, and a carburetor air scoop is just aft of the cowl at the top. When this photograph was taken, there was no spinner fitted and no cooling flaps on the cowl. The large radio mast is on the left side of the forward fuselage, and a telescopic sight is mounted through the windscreen. A long pifot tube is on the leading edge of the left wing. Also note how the rudder hinge line tilted forward of a line that was perpendicular to the centerline. (Grumman)

17

Taken at a later date than the photographs on the previous page, this photo shows some changes to the XF4F-2. A small round spinner has been added to the propeller in an attempt to improve engine cooling. The cowling itself is much longer, and is of a different shape. Also noteworthy is the resulting change in the appearance of the cowl guns. (Grumman)

shield in typical fashion. Provisions were made for a bomb rack under each wing with the capacity of one 100-pound bomb each. Grumman was awarded Navy contract number 46973 for the XF4F-2 on July 28,1936. Only one example, 0383, was built, and it flew for the first time on September 2, 1937. On December 23rd of that year it was delivered to the Navy for extensive testing and evaluation. It went to the Naval Aircraft Factory on April 6, 1938. Then, on April 11, the engine quit during deck landing tests, and the aircraft flipped over on its back in a crash landing. During these tests, the aircraft had suffered from engine bearing failures and some stability problems, but it did not seem anything insurmountable as far as Grumman was concerned. However, it was enough to convince the Navy to choose the Brewster XF2A over the XF4F-2 as its initial carrier fighter. But interest for the XF4F-2 continued, and with war clouds on the horizon, and the uncertainties of the Brewster monoplane, the XF4F-2 was shipped back to Grumman where it would be redesigned and then would fly again as the XF4F-3.

Takeoff HP/RPM Wing Area Weight Empty Combat Gross Weight Power Loading (Lbs/HP) Max Speed at SL Max Speed at Crit. Landing Speed Max Rate of Climb T.O. Dist. (25 kt wind) First Flight Number Built

Two small100-pound bombs could be carried under the wings. (Grumman)

A much larger spinner is shown here, and was one of several tried. (Grumman)

18

XF4F-2 DATA Engine Normal HP/RPM/Alt

P&W R-1830-66 900/2550/SL 900/2700/10000 1000/2640 232 sq. ft. 4061 pounds 5541 pounds 5.5 257 mph 28019000 72 mph 2650 ftlmin 170 ft September 2, 1937

1

Grumman XF4F-2

This 1/72nd scale three-view drawing shows the original design of the XF4F-2. The shorter and rounded wings and tail surfaces are illustrated. (Jones)

19

Instrument panel details in the XF4F-2 are revealed in this (Grumman) photograph.

This view looks straight down into the cockpit of the (Grumman) prototype.

XF4F-2 COCKPIT DETAILS

The arresting hook on the XF4F-2 is visible in this photograph. The upper portion of the tail cone has been removed to reveal the slides on which the arresting hook moved within the fuselage. Note the tail light mounted above the hook. (Grumman)

20

The right side cowl gun is shown here.

(Grumman)

Lessons learned with the XF4F-2 were worked into a new design designated XF4F-3. The same airframe that had been used for the XF4F-2 was used for the XF4F-3, and even the same BuNo, 0383, was retained. Among the changes were new wing and tail surfaces with squaredott tips. The Pratt & Whitney XR-1830-76 engine replaced the -66 used in the XF4F-2. (Grumman) When Grumman received the wrecked XF4F-2, it immediately began reconstruction of the aircraft while incorporating changes to correct problems that had surfaced during the initial testing. A Pratt & Whitney XR1830-76 engine replaced the -66 used in the XF4F-2. It was equipped with a two-stage, two-speed supercharger which was an unproven concept and a gamble on the part of Grumman. A cooler was placed between the two stages, and cooling air was brought in by two scoops located on the inside of the cowling. Butthe arrangement was effective, producing 1200 horsepower for takeoff and 1000 horsepower at 19,000 feet. A Curtiss Electric propeller was used, and oil coolers were located under the wings. Although the aircraft retained the same number, 0383, as the XF4F-2, only the fuselage remained the same. The wings were increased in size to a span of thirty-eight feet, and the tips were squared off. The horizontal and vertical tail planes were also squared off, but the horizontal tail remained located on the fuselage. Armament consisted of two cowl-mounted .30 caliber machine guns, and two .50 cali ber guns were located in the wings. G ross weight increased to 6305 pounds. The first flight of the XF4F-3 was on February 12,1939, with Robert Hall at the controls again. The flight lasted forty-five minutes. On March 7, the aircraft was delivered to the Navy for testing, and it was discovered that engine cooling at altitude remained a problem. As a result, several spinner and cowl flap arrangements were tried, but no entirely satisfactory solution was found. Some stability problems also remained, and the dihedral of the wing was increased to one degree. The aileron area was reduced. But it was not until wind tunnel testing at Langley that further modifications to the tail section were

This in-flight view of the XF4F-3 shows the new wing and horizontal tail design with the squared-ott tips. The span of the wing was increased to 38 feet as compared to 34 feet on the XF4F-2. (Grumman) made. These consisted of moving the horizontal tail up twenty inches from the fuselage to the vertical tail, and the vertical tai I was enlarged, slightly rounded, and fai red into the spine of the fuselage. This resulted in the design that was to be used on all production Wildcats until the taller tailed FM-2. Finally, in October 1939, the Navy issued contract 63072 for the XF4F-3. With the final changes made to the design of the tail section, the aircraft was delivered to Anacostia on April 23, 1940, for continued testing. In November and Decem ber 1940 it made carrier tests and evaluations aboard the RANGER, CV-4, and WASP, CV-7. On Decem ber 17, with a total of 345.4 hours flying time, 0838 crashed at Norfolk killing LTJG W. C. Johnson, who mistakenly tu rned off the fuel selector valve instead of actuating the flap selector. The fuel selector switch was adjacent to and similarly shaped to the flap selector. But by then the Wildcats ordered by France had been diverted to England, and were about to score the first Wildcat kill of the war only twelve days later. The U.S. Navy had already become convinced that it both wanted and needed the F4F, and the first production F4F-3s were already entering U.S. service. 21

The right side of 0383 is shown here. The two plexiglass windows are still located below each wing. The accessory compartment door is visible just aft of the wing and the step. No spinner is on the prop at this time. (Grumman)

Taken at a later date than the photograph at left, this photo shows the addition of a large spinner. Also note the added cowl flap. Both the spinner and the flap were ongoing attempts to solve engine overheating problems that persisted with the aircraft. (Grumman)

XF4F-3 DATA Engine Normal HP/RPM/Alt Takeoff HP/RPM Wing Area Weight Empty Combat Gross Weight Power Loading (Lbs/HP) Max Speed at SL Max Speed at Crit. Landing Speed Max Rate of Climb T.O. Dist. (25 kt wind) First Flight Number Built

paw

R-1830-76 1050/2550/SL 1050/2550/17500 1200/2700 260 sq. ft. 4794 pounds 6305 pounds 5.3 285 mph 333.5/20500 68 mph 2500 ft/min 168 ft February 12,1939 1

Flotation bags were installed in the wings of the XF4F-3, and were designed to automatically inflate in the event of a water landing. However, after two accidents were caused by the bags inflating in flight, they were removed from all future F4Fs. (Grumman)

Wind tunnel tests revealed the need for further changes in the design of the tail. Here 0383 is shown in its final configuration, and it is still designated XF4F-3. The vertical tail is fa ired into the spine of the aircraft, and is more curved than it was previously. The horizontal surfaces have been moved from the fuselage up to the vertical tail. Also noteworthy is the changed radio mast. It is now smaller and located behind the cockpit. The telescopic sight, cowl guns, a single flap on each side of the cowling, and the two plexiglass windows below each wing all remain as features on the final design of the X F 4 F - 3 . ( G r u m m a n )

22

XF4F-3 COCKPIT DETAILS

This is the instrument panel in the XF4F-3.

(Grumman)

The right console is shown in this photograph. (Grumman)

Details of the left console are illustrated here. (Grumman)

This view looks down into the cockpit and shows the seat in good detail. Only lap belts were used at this time. There were no shoulder harnesses, so if you crashed or ditched, you were sure to eat a part of the instrument panel. (Grumman)

23

F4F-3

The first two F4F-3s, 1844 and 1845, were used as test aircraft. This is 1844, and it still has the cowl guns. However there is only one window below each wing. (Grumman)

The F4F-3, Grumman's design G-36, was the first production Wildcat, 185 of which were delivered to the USN and USMC between August 1940 and late 1941. The fi rst two F4F-3s, 1844 and 1845, were used as service test aircraft. Both had the cowl guns of the XF4F-3, and retained spinners for a short time due to the continued engine overheating problems. Number 1844 was used to conduct armament testing, and this resulted in the decision to delete the cowl guns in favor of four wingmounted .50 caliber guns instead. 1845 was used for 100-pound bomb drop tests and for carrier landing tests which revealed the need for a strengthened landing gear. The weak tail wheel was strengthened and slightly enlarged, and this raised the height of the vertical tail to an even eight feet. Following the first two F4F-3s, the second two were delivered as XF4F-5s which were fitted with the Wright R-1820-40, nine cylinder, single row engine with 1200 horsepower for takeoff. These aircraft had the next two

BuNos, 1846 and 1847. Later, 1846 was fitted with a Wright R-1820-54 which had a turbo-supercharger, and 1847 had the R-1820-48 with a two-stage supercharger. Approximately the first one hundred F4F-3s were powered by the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-76 engine, with the remainder being fitted with the -86 that could be identified by the two magnetos mounted near the top of the engine nose case. Two cowl flaps were originally fitted as on the XF4F-3, but this arrangement later was replaced by the eight flap arrangement that became standard on the F4F-4. There has been some confusion as to which F4F-3s had the two large cowl flaps, and which had the eight flap design. Even more confusion has existed over the combustion ai r scoop located at the top of the cowl ring on some F4F-3s and not on others. The breakdown is as follows. The scoop was present with the two large cowl flaps on the first F4F-3s with the R-1830-76 engine and the F4F-3As that were powered by the R-1830-90. Late F4F-3s with the -86 engine had the

This is 1845 in flight. The scoop for combustion air has been added to the top of the cowling, and there is a large spinner on the propeller. (Grumman)

24

eight cowl flaps with no combustion air scoop at the top of the cowl ring. One of the most important things to remember about the F4F-3 is that it had the rigid or non-folding wing. The last F4F-3 of the first production batch was tested with a folding wing prior to its installation on the subsequent variants of the Wildcat series, but otherwise, not one F4F-3 or F4F-3A had folding wings. Many sources have shown drawings or paintings of the F4F-3 with folding wings, and this can be misleading to modelers in particular. More than one painting of O'Hare's and/or Thach's F4F-3 Wildcats have been done with the wing fold hinge line included, and several three-view and five-view drawings and color renditions of the F4F-3 have also shown the wing fold. While it is understandable to sometimes confuse the cowl flap or combustion air scoop arrangement if a BuNo of a specific F4F-3 is not known, it is simply inexcusable to show an F4F-3 or-3A with a folding wing. It is also noteworthy that all Wildcats from the RANGER and WASP that were painted in the colorful pre-war scheme were F4F-3s with the non-folding wing. Again, modelers should keep this in mind when building and painting their models. Not one model exists of an F4F-3 in any scale, so folding wings must be converted to the rigid type to build any F4F-3 or -3A. The first production F4F-3s were delivered to VF-4 aboard the RANGER and VF-7 in WASP. These units were subsequently designated VF-41 and VF-71 , respectively. Subsequent deliveries were made VF-42, VF-71, and VF-41. The first Marine units to receive the F4F-3 were VMF-222, VMF-223, and VM F-214, with VMF-221, VMF-211, and VMF-121 following a few months later. VF-3 and VF-5 were the last units to receive the F4F-3, gaining all of their aircraft by September 1941. The last one-hundred F4F-3s were delivered during the first five months of 1943, and were used for training purposes only. BuNos 2512, 2517, 2526, 2530, 2537, 3985, and 3997 were delivered with camera installations as F4F-3Ps.

The XF4F-6 was an F4F-3 with an R-1830-90 engine installed in place of the usual R-1830-76. It served as the prototype for the F4F-3A. (Grumman)

Because of uncertainties and some developmental problems with the two-stage, two-speed supercharger of the R-1830-76 and -86 of the F4F-3, the Navy wanted to insure the delivery of Wildcats even if those problems became large enough to delay or possibly stop delivery of those engines. As insurance, it ordered one Wildcat, BuNo 7031, with the R-1830-90 engine. It had only a single-stage, two-speed supercharger which was not as complex, but which also had less horsepower at altitude than the -76 and -86. The service ceiling dropped three thousand feet. This aircraft was given the designation XF4F-6, and it served as the prototype forthe F4F-3A and Martlet II and III. It was delivered to Anacostia for testing in November of 1940, where it continued to serve as an experimental aircraft after tests with the R-1830-90 engine were completed. It crashed on May 25, 1942, killing LCDR James Taylor. The F4F-3A was the same as the F4F-3 in all respects except that it was powered by the R-1830-90 engine tested in the XF4F-6. As a comparison, the F4F-3A could only do 312 miles per hour at 16,000 feet, while the F4F-3 could do 331 miles per hour at 21 ,300 feet. The first thirty were originally intended for Greece, but went to the British as Martlet Ills, with the following sixty-five being built for the U.S. Navy and Marines between March 18 and May 28,1941. One of these, BuNo 3918, was delivered as an F4F-3AP photo version. The first U.S. delivery was to VMF-111 on April 10, 1941. VMF-212 was the only other USMC squadron to operate the -3A. Navy squadrons VF-6, VF-5, VF-2, and VF-3 also received this version of the Wildcat. F4F-3 PRODUCTION SUMMARY 1940 22

1941 163

1942

o

1943 100

TOTAL 285

F4F-3A PRODUCTION SUMMARY 1940

o

1941 65

1942

1943

o

o

TOTAL 65

This is the first U.S. F4F-3A, BuNo 3905, which was delivered to VMF-111 on April 10, 1941. The F4F-3A was Grumman design G-36, and the first thirty were delivered to the Royal Navy as Martlet lis. The following sixty-five were delivered to the U.S. Navy and Marines as F4F-3As, beginning with BuNo 3905 shown here. It was powered by the P&W R-1830-90 engine. (Grumman)

25

GYRO BANK

HORIZON]

a

TURN

COMPASS

r;= r

MANIFOLD PRESSURE ENGINE UNIT

GAGE

FUEL QUANTITY

GAGE FIRE

~EXTINGUI7

~

This photograph shows the instrument panel in an F4F-3. Callouts designate the instruments and other features. (Grumman)

F4F-3 COCKPIT DETAILS PAN£L".z: ..... - - . . . . .

I.,

r

lt~ • --.!

.

• ·'~TARTER

SWITCH'·

.

VERY'S' PISTOL

Details of the left side of the cockpit are shown here. The layout of the Wildcat's cockpit was quite simple and straight forward. (Grumman)

26

This is the right side of the cockpit. Of special interest is the hand crank that raised and lowered the landing gear. The pilot had to fly with his left hand while turning the crank with his right hand. This often caused the aircraft to porpoise a bit, particularly when the gear was being retracted after take off. (Grumman)

An F4F-3 from VF-6 awaits the signal to launch from the USS ENTERPRISE, GV-6.

(U.S. Navy)

Details of the guns in the right wing of an F4F-3 are seen here. There were only two guns in each wing, and they were staggered so as to line up properly with their ammunition boxes. The inboard gun was slightly higher than the outboard gun. Empty ammunition boxes can be seen at the top of the photograph. (Grumman)

27

The final design of the Wildcat, which experienced relatively minor changes throughout the entire production run, was now set, and can be described as follows. The fuselage was of semi-monocoque construction with an aluminum alloy skin that was held in place with Brazier head external rivets. The skin was overlapped in sections, giving it a ribbed appearance. Only one plexiglas window remained on each side of the lower fuselage under the wing. These were removable to provide access to the lower fuselage compartment. Access to the aft fuselage compartment was through a door on the right side just aft of the wing root. Radio equipment was located in this aft compartment. The wings were a full cantilever type with a single main beam. On the F4F-3 and its sub-variants, the wings were rigid, but on later versions a folding wing was used. It consisted of two stub center sections and two folding outer sections. The outer panels were flush riveted, with Brazier head rivets on the center sections. The ailerons were of aluminum construction covered with fabric. The left ai leron had an adjustable tab that was controlled from the cockpit, while the right aileron had a bendable tab. Split flaps extended from the fuselage to the ailerons. The tail section was of aluminum alloy construction which was flush riveted. Fabric covered the elevators and rudder, and both had adjustable tabs that were controlled from the cockpit. The main landing gear was retractable through the means of a manually operated hand crank that required about thirty full turns to retract or lower the gear. This crank worked a chain and sprocket linkage that was attached to the gear struts. If the engi ne RPM fell below 1200, a warning device would sound ifthegearwas notin the down position. Bendix 26" x 6" wheels were used on the main gear. Hydraulic brakes were linked to the tops of the rudder pedals. The tail wheel was not retractable, and two types of tires were used. A wheel with a ten-inch pneumatic tire was used for land operations, while a six-inch solid rubber tire was intended for carrier use. A forty-one-inch long arresting hook could be manually extended or retracted from the cockpit. Different versions of Pratt & Whitney's R-1830 fourteen-cylinder, twin-row engine powered most versions of the Wildcat, with the Wright R-1820 being used in the FM-2. On most versions a 117-gallon main fuel tank was located in the fuselage beneath the cockpit, and an emergency tank of twenty-seven-gallon capacity was behind the aft cockpit bulkhead. Drop tanks of fifty to fifty-eight-gallon capacity could be carried under each wing. On those aircraft with the Pratt & Whitney engines, two ten-inch oil coolers were mounted under the wings near the fuselage. The eleven-gallon oi I tank was located just in front of the cockpit firewall. The canopy was the sliding type and was operated by a handle on the right side. It could be jettisoned in the event of an emergency, and was often left in the open position while cruising. A rearview mirror was attached inside the top forward edge of the sliding enclosure. A 28

bullet-resistant glass windshield formed the forward part of the canopy enclosure. The pilot was further protected with 150 pounds of armor plate located forward of the cockpit near the oil tank and also behind the pilot's seat. Armament consisted of either four or six wingmounted .50 caliber machine guns depending on variant. Gun charging handles were on the cockpit floor, and heated air from the engine was ducted to the gun compartments. The guns were normally aimed through a Mark 8 reflector gunsight. There were provisions for a gun camera in the leading edge of the left wing. A bomb rack for one 100-pound bomb could be attached under each wing. An approach light was located in the leading edge of the left wing, and it illuminated whenever the tail hook was extended. Formation lights were on the top wing surfaces, and a section light was on the spine. Running lights were on the wing tips and the tail. A retractable landing light was located in the bottom surface of the left wing, and three recognition lights were on the bottom of the fuselage. F4F-3 DATA

Engine Normal HP/RPM/Alt Takeoff HP/RPM Propeller Propeller Type Propeller Diameter Wing Area Weight Empty Combat Gross Weight Power Loading (Lbs/HP) Max Speed at SL Max Speed at Crit. Cruise Speed Landing Speed Max Rate of Climb T.O. Dist. (25 kt wind) Range (At Max Speed) Range (At Cruise Speed) Max Endurance Ceiling (Absolute) Ceiling (Service) Fuel (I nternal) Fuel (External) Armament Bombs First Flight

~_______

~

:: =.'Z':.

~_~-

-------/.. ~

P&W R-1830-76 11 00/2550/S L 1000/2550/19000 1200/2700 Curtiss C5315 (S) 3 blade, C.S. 9 ft, 9 in 260 sq. ft. 5293 pounds 7467 pounds 6.2 278 mph 330/22000 185 mph 75 mph 2050 ft/min 228 ft 280 miles 1800 miles 9.4 hours 32,600 feet 31,000 feet 147 gallons 2 x 58 gal. tanks 4 x .50 caliber MG 2 x 100 pound February 1940

-2~·"·------

CATAPULT

\

rOLQ"'G~PR[LUSE

~

ARRANGEMENT

F4F-3S

This front view of the Wildcatfish shows the floats and their mounts to good effect. During 1942 the United States lost a number of aircraft carriers, and naval planners wondered how much worse the situation would become before it got better when carriers that were being built could join the fleet. Another question was how fast airfields could be built once islands in the Pacific could be taken. As an answer, the Japanese had fitted the Zero fi ghter with a single main float and two smaller wing floats. These were used in sheltered waters to provide air cover until land bases could be built. These float plane fighters, known as Rufe by the Allies, were encountered at Guadalcanal and in the Aleutians. In the fall of 1942, the U.S. Navy decided to try this same approach, and sent F4F-3, 4038, to the Edo Corporation to be fitted with floats. Early in 1943, the transformation to float plane was completed, and it differed from that used by the Japanese considerably. Twin floats were attached to the fuselage with struts. Because the floats

(Grumman)

reduced the yaw stability, two small rudders were attached to the tips of the horizontal stabilizer, and were designed to work with the standard rudder. After initial tests, a large fin was placed under the aft fuselage. The first flight was made on February 28, 1943, by Grumman test pilot F. T. "Hank" Kurt. The American production capability was awesome, and carrier aviation expanded greatly. Further, the Navy's famous construction battalions proved that their capability to transform jungles into airfields was nothing less than amazing. Airfields became operational almost overnight, and were operating aircraft before construction was completed and while the ground fighting was still in progress. These factors, along with the considerable reduction in performance of the F4F-3S, as compared to the standard fighters, caused the project to be cancelled.

These two photos show details of the F4F-3S. Note the small auxiliary vertical fins on the horizontal stabilizers. Each float had a small rudder at the aft end. A large fin has been added to the underside of the aft end of the fuselage, and the holes for the main gear wheels have been almost entirely covered over with sheet metal. (Both Grumman)

29

F4F-3, BuNo 1897, was fitted with hydraulically folding wings, and became the XF4F-4. Production F4F-4s, FM-1s, and FM-2s would all have the folding wings, but they would be operated manually. In the photograph at left, the wings are not quite all the way back as they are in the rear view in the photo at right. (Both Grumman)

XF4F-4 XF4F-4 DATA Engine Normal HP/RPM

The XF4F-4 retained the F4F-3's long pitot tube on the leading edge ?f the left wing. It had the combustion air scoop in the top of the cowl and the single large cowl flap on each side. Production F4F-4s would have the eight cowl flaps. (Grumman)

This is the cockpit arrangement proposed for the XF4F-4. (Grumman) 30

Takeoff HP/RPM Propeller Propeller Type Propeller Diameter Wing Area Weight Empty Combat Gross Weight Power Loading (Lbs/HP) Max Speed at SL Max Speed at Crit. Cruise Speed Landing Speed Max Rate of Climb T.O. Dist. (25 kt wind) Range at Max Speed Range at Cruise Speed Max Endurance Ceiling (Absolute) Ceiling (Service) Fuel (Internal) Armament Bombs First Flight Number Built

P&W R-1830-76 1100/2550/SL 1000/2550/19000 1200/2700 Curtiss C5315 (S) 3 blade CS 9 ft, 9 in 260 sq. ft. 5776 pounds 7489 pounds 6.2 282 mph 326/19,500 200 mph 77 mph 2050 ftlmin 245 ft 280 miles 1200 miles 5.9 hours 35,600 feet 34,000 feet 147 gallons 4 x .50 caliber MG 2 x 100 pound April 1941 1

F4F-4

The F4F-4 differed from the earlier F4F-3 in only two major respects. First, it had manually folding wings, and second, it was armed with six .50 caliber machine guns instead of only four. However, most pilots did not like the fact that there was less ammunition for each gun. Of lesser note is the smaller pitot tube that is located just under the left wing tip. (Grumman)

The F4F-4 became the most widely produced of the Grumman-built Wildcats and is probably the best known. Although the FM-2 was built in far greater numbers, it performed mostly second line duties while the Hellcat and Corsair took over as the first line fighters forthe Navy and Marines. It was the F4F-4 that performed most of the heroics in the early days of the war, with the F4F-3 being less noticeable only because of its far fewer numbers. The F4F-4 differed from the -3 in two major respects. First and foremost was the incorporation of folding wings. These wings were manually operated through the use of hand cranks stored in the leading edge at the fold. Small fairings on the top and bottom of the wing surfaces covered the ends of the hinges. Struts braced the wing tips to the leading edges of the horizontal stabilizers when the wings were folded. The second major difference was the addition of two more machine guns in the wings, bringing the total to six. Two hundred and forty rounds were supplied for each gun. All F4F-4s had the eight cowl flap arrangement and the combustion air scoop at the top of the cowl.

An F4F-4A version of the Wildcat with the R-1830-90 engine was planned for the same reasons that the F4F-3A was built, but the reliability of the two-stage, two-speed -86 engine had been proven by this time. As a result, the F4F-4A was never built. The F4F-4B was delivered to the British as the Martlet v. F4F-4 DATA Engine Normal HP/Alt

P&W R-1830-86 1100/3500 1000/19000 1200 Curtiss C5315 (S) 3 blade CS 9 ft, 9 in 260 sq. ft. 5766 pounds 7964 pounds 8762 pounds 274 mph/SL 318 mph/19400 2190 ft/min 33,700 feet 144 gallons 2 x 58 gallon tanks 830 miles 1275 miles 6 x .50 caliber MG 2 x 100 pound

Takeoff HP Propeller Propeller Type Propeller Diameter Wing Area Weight Empty Gross Weight Max T.O. Weight Max Speed/Altitude Rate of Climb at SL Service Ceiling Fuel (I nternal) Fuel (External) Range (Internal Fuel) Range (External tanks) Armament Bombs

This photograph shows an early F4F-4 in the two tone paint scheme and the six-position national insignia with red disc. The red and white stripes are on the tail. Later, the red disc and rudder stripes would be removed. (Grumman)

F4F-4 PRODUCTION SUMMARY 1940

1941

o

5

1942 1164

1943

o

TOTAL 1169 31

This excellent shot shows an F4F-4 about to touch down on its carrier. The pilot has flaired out just above the deck, and the tail hook is about to catch a wire. (National Archives)

At left is a photograph of an F4F-4 on board the USS SANTEE, CV-29. Note that the number 4, which signifies the aircraft number within the squadron, is in white on the fuselage, and is black on top of both wings. Aircraft number 10 from the same squadron is shown making a hard landing in the photograph at right. But the Wildcat was a very rugged aircraft, and more likely than not, the pilot would emerge from such a landing with minor, if any, injuries. (Both National Archives)

In the left photograph, F4F-4s and TBMs are shown warming up their engines in preparation for launch from an escort carrier. Note the external fuel tank on aircraft number 5 in the foreground. The same aircraft is seen at right as it is being hooked up to the catapult. Noteworthy is the angle of the radio mast, the small fairings tor the guns under the wings, and the lowered flaps. (Both Grumman) Note: Coverage of the F4F-4 is continued on page 41.

32

WILDCAT COLORS ..-=:;--------------

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)

--

---:. _-..

-~

-~

---

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~-=

~~

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Although this is an FM-2 that has been restored and maintained by the Confederate Air Force, it illustrates the colorful schemes that were in use when the Wildcat first entered service with the Navy. The markings represent those used by VF-41 aboard the USS RANG ER, CV-4. The entire upper wing surfaces were yellow, and the white diagonal bands were on them as well as being on the lower surfaces. While this scheme is certainly colorful, the fact is that it was never used during World War /I on an FM-2, and thus is incorrect for this particular aircraft.

The next scheme used on the Wildcat was overall non-specular light g!ay. This is a Marine F4F-3 from VMF-121 as seen in early 1941. (Arnold/NASM via Piety

The overall light gray scheme was also known as the neutrality gray scheme, since America had not yet entered the war when it was used. Both of these photographs show F4F-3As from VF-5. In the photograph at left, notice the very small national insignia on the fuselage. (Both Arnold/NASM via Piety

33

The overall gray scheme gave way to the two color scheme consisting of non-specular blue-gray (FS 36118) over non-specular light gray (FS 36440). It is shown here with the large, six-position national insignia with the red disc. The red and white stripes are on the tail. This photograph of an F4F-4 was taken over Long Island in the spring of 1942. (Arnold/NASM via Piet)

The same scheme as seen above is also used on the aircraft in these two photographs; however, the red disc and rudder stripes have been removed. Note the name ROSENBLA TTS REPLY on the aircraft in the photo at left. (Left National Archives via Piet, right National Archives via Leader)

This nice flying shot illustrates the scheme of blue-gray over non-specular light gray very well.

34

(Grumman)

A freshly painted Martlet I is seen here with the registration number NXG2 painted on the wing. Note the red, white, and blue vertical stripes on the rudder. (Arnold/NASM via Piety

This is the last surviving Martlet I, and it is now on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, Oxfordshire, (King) England.

35

Above left and right: These F4F-3A Wildcats are from VMF-111, and were used during Army war games in November 1941. They are painted in the neutrality gray markings, and have red crosses added as markings for the war games. (Both GroenhofflNASM via Piety

Armament specialists are preparing to boresight the guns on this Wildcat. The photograph was taken at Norfolk in 1944. (National Archives via Piety

36

This close-up shows engine colors on an FM-2. (Munkasy)

FM-2 COCKPIT

The Naval Aviation Museum at NAS Pensacola, Florida, is one of the finest in the world. Among its aircraft is an FM-2. Museum personnel were kind enough to let Detail & Scale photograph the cockpit in this particular aircraft. This is the instrument panel; however, the gun sight has been removed.

Left console details and colors are seen here.

This is the right console.

The seat is shown in this view. By the time the FM-2 was built, shoulder harnesses were used in addition to seat belts.

37

RESTORED WILDCATS

This photograph shows a Wildcat at Silver Hill waiting for restoration. The aircraft has since been restored, and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. (Munkasy)

This FM-2 was photographed at Chino, California, in May 1971. (Munkasy)

Keith Mackey's FM-2 is shown in these two photographs that were taken over Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida, in April 1970. The aircraft carries the civil registration N2876D. (Both Munkasy)

Another FM-2 that has been restored to early war markings is coded N315E. The photo was taken in July 1967. (Flightleader)

38

The same aircraft seen at left is shown again in April 1986 at NAS Norfolk, Virginia. It belongs to Lex DuPont. The paint scheme is the same, but it now has O'Hare's F-130n the right side of the fuselage, and Thach's F-1 on the left side. Thirteen red and white stripes are on the rudder. The real F-1 and F-13 were F4F-3s from VF-3 and the USS LEXINGTON, CV-2. (Martin)

This FM-2, coded N11 FE, has two extra seats added in its fuselage. Access is gained through a door in the right side. (Flightleader) These photographs were taken at Oshkosh in 1975.

These restored FM-2s are painted to represent Wildcats assigned to eVEs late in World War II. The aircraft at right is the same one as pictured above, but has had the two windows in the side covered over. It still carries the code N11 FE, and this is painted in the wide white band under the horizontal stabilizer. Both photographs were taken in 1979. (Left Ostrowski via Leader, right Flightleader)

Another beautifully restored FM-2 is seen in these two photographs. The date is September 1977. (Left Ostrowski via Leader, right Flightleader)

39

WILDCAT ACES

Two of the most famous Wildcat pilots are pictured here. This is LCDR John S. "Jimmy" Thach, the C.O. of VF-3, who became famous for developing the "Thach Weave," a tactic where the two aircraft continually weaved in such a way as to always cover the other's tail. (National Archives via Piety

Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare was also from VF-3, and became a Wildcat ace in one mission during the Battle of Coral Sea. For his actions he was presented the Medal of Honor. He was killed in November 1943, while flying a Hellcat night fighter. (National Archives via Piety

40

LIFE RAFT

An inflatable life raft was contained in a compartment that was located in the spine of the aircraft behind the cockpit. It proved to be impractical since the aircraft would usually sink after ditching so fast that the raft could not be deployed. A floatation type seat cushion proved more practical. We have reproduced this photograph as large as possible to show a number of other details in addition to the raft. The antenna wire that runs from the tip of the horizontal stabilizer to the fuselage (at about 2:30 on the national insignia) is visible, particularly where it is contrasted against the blue disc. Also note the step and hand hold, the lift point hole behind the insignia, the door to the aft compartment behind the wing, and the small wing fold fairing on top of the wing. (Grumman)

This close-up shows the raft stowed in its compartment. On this aircraft the antenna wire from the vertical stabilizer and mast enters the fuselage just behind the mast at the top of the spine. (Grumman)

41

.50 CALIBER MACHINE GUN ARMAMENT

Guns were often checked on the carrier as seen in this photograph and the one below.

(Grumman)

This photograph shows an F4F-4 from VF-6 aboard the USS ENTERPRISE. All six guns are opened up in preparation for test firing. Note how the red and white stripes on the tail have been hastily painted out, although some of the white still shows. The red disc remains in the white star. (Grumman)

42

Ammunition boxes for the F4F-4 are shown in this view. The boxes for the inner two guns are one behind the other to the left, and the one for the outer gun is by itself to the right. The outer gun is located between the pair of ammunition boxes, and its own single box. The fairings and shell ejector slot can be seen near the center of the photo. (Grumman)

Details of the inner two guns on the left wing of an F4F-4 are shown here. The fact that this is an F4F-4, and not simply the guns on an F4F-3, is evidenced by the wing fold line and fairing in the upper right corner of the photo. (Grumman)

-,"

.

--?-

At left is a photograph of the outboard gun on the left wing of an F4F-4. At right, the gun has been removed, revealing the ejector slot and other details of the gun bay. (Grumman)

43

WING FOLD DETAILS

Manually operated folding wings became standard on the F4F-4, and were used on the FM-1 and FM-2. They were operated by a handle that is visible at the leading edge of the fold in this photograph. Also note the brace running between the wing tip and the horizontal stabilizer. This same folding wing design was also used on Grumman's F6F Hellcat and TBF Avenger. (Grumman)

8

This is a detailed close-up of the wing fold joint on the right wing. Note the small bubble or fairing on the skin of the wing at the corner of the hinge. (Grumman)

This is the left wing fold hinge.

44

(Grumman)

1

Wing Lock Cylinder

2

Wing LocI( Handle Door

3

Wing Lock Waming Flag

4

Aileron Disconnect Fmlng

13

S

Gun Charging Cable. and Guide

6

Locking Cable

7

Tab Control Shaft 8

Flap Operating Cylinder Flex

9

Airspeed Tube.

10

Electric Flex Conduit

11

Airspeed Tube Drain.

12

Triangular Wing Fold Door

'3

Wing Lock Fitting

Details of the left wing hinge are named in this drawing. (Grumman)

More details of the wing fold joint are shown here. (Grumman)

This photograph was taken looking over the leading edge of the inner left wing, and reveals details of the interior of the outer wing section at the fold joint.

These two views show details of the inner portion of the wing fold as viewed from behind.

45 ,

AFT FUSELAGE COMPARTMENT

The aft-fuselage compartment of an F4F-4 is shown in these two views. The photo above looks forward, and reveals some of the radio gear and the twenty-seven-gallon reserve fuel tank. The opening to the compartment is seen at right. The photograph below looks aft. Note where the antenna wire enters the fuselage on the right side of the photo. The tube passing through the fuselage leads to holes in the sides of the aircraft. A tube or bar is placed in one hole, through this tube, then out the opposite side, and is used to hoist the aircraft. Again, note the opening to the compartment which is on the left side on this photo. (Both Grumman)

46

F4F-4 COCKPIT DETAILS I.

CLOCK

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

CYLINDER HEAD TEMPERATURE GAGE RUDDER PEDAL ADJUSTMENT LEVER PROPELLER CONTROL IGNITION SWITCH GUN SIGHT LIGHT SWITCH EMERGENCY ELECTRIC FUEL PUMP SWITCH CHECK- OFF SWITCH WINDSHIELD DEFROSTER

10. ALTIMETER II. DIRECTIONAL GYRO 12. PADDED ELECTRIC GUN SIGHT MOUN1 13. AIRSPEED INDICATOR

-':>--

--,

.

Instrument panel details for the F4F-4 are shown in this keyed photograph.

-----_.-

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~1lP 'AS!,PAO l'l PENCI~ Ho\'O(R lANDfIlG GE:M~WAIINING "ORN SlIf'E:Il(;t
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7 I 9.

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4.

(Grumman)

-

J

I. 2. 3.

14. TURN a BANK INOICATOR 15. RATE OF CLIMB INDICATOR 16. GYRO HORIZON 17. MANIFOLD PRESSURE GAGE lB. TACHOMETER 19. OUTSIDE AIR TEMPERATURE 20. FUEL QUANTITY GAGE 21. PRIMER PUMP 22. COWL FLAPS HANDCRANK 23. ENGINE GAGE UNIT 24. COMPASS 25. OIL DlLUnON SWITCH 26. RADIO SIGNAL LIGHT

NICRoPt'lOliE SlIIllCtt BoUflOft 10. "'1)[lUIl:ECONTIIOl

(Grumman)

This is the left side console.

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Right side console details are seen here.

eUrYONS

'I. GUnIlEUlY8GEN(RATOlt tift-OUT

(Grumman)

This view looks straight down into the cockpit, and reveals the control column, floor boards, and other details. The seat has been removed from the cockpit for this photograph. (Grumman)

47

VARIATIONS ON A THEME /

-

~

~ ~-~_..~._._-'~ ..

Two one-of-a-kind variations on the F4F-4 design are illustrated on this page. In the top photo is a "long wing" experiment (on the left) parked nose to nose with a standard F4F-4 for comparison. Below is a head-on view of BuNo 5262, which was fitted with full span (duplex) flaps. The inboard flaps were the same as those on the basic F4F, while the outer flaps were electrically actuated. The wing was the fixed type that was used on ihe,F4F-3. The design was designated G-53, and was ordered by the Navy under contract 75736. The aircraft first flew on May 5, 1942, and it was the only Wildcat so modified. (Both Grumman)

48

DIMENSION DATA Note: All dimensions are for F4F-3 and sUbsequent aircraft except as noted.

DIMENSION Wingspan (extended) Wingspan (folded)** Length*** Height tail Height tail (FM-2) Horizontal tail span Wheel tread Wing root chord Wing tip chord Stab. chord (max)

ACTUAL 38' 0" 14' 4" 28' 9-3/8" 8' 0" 8' 9-9/16" 13' 8" 6' 4-31/32" 8' 7" 5' 1-5/8" 5' 29/32"

1/72nd SCALE* 6.33" 2.39" 4.80" 1.33" 1.47" 2.28" 1.07" 1.43" .86" .85"

1/48th SCALE 9.5" 3.58" 7.20" 2.00" 2.20" 3.42" 1.60" 2.15" 1.28" 1.27"

1/32nd SCALE 14.25" 5.38" 10.79" 3.00" 3.30" 5.13" 2.41 " 3.22" 1.93" 1.90"

* For 1/144th scale, divide 1/72nd scale dimensions by two. ** The F4F-3 and F4F-3A did not have folding wings. *** Length measurement is measured overall parallel to fuselage centerline.

(J)rawn by (J)ana {]Jell & [Russell c2ee

DETAIL & SCALE,INC.

.q;;~~ii/..-7~;-N--D--SCALE ~ FIVE-VIEW DRAWING

F4F-3 LEFT WING BOTTOM VIEW

v

v

F4F-3 LEFT SIDE VIEW

FM-2 LEFT SIDE VIEW 49

DETAIL & SCALE 1/72nd SCALE FIVE VIEW DRAWINGS

aJrawn by rJ)ana gJell & [Russell clJee

DETAIL & SCALE,INC. 1

72 NO ~

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ALL VIEWS ARE OF THE F4F-4 50

SCALE

FIVE-VIEW DRAWING

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0

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(J)rawn by (J)ana [/Jell & [Russell ePee

51

XF4F-7

The F4F-7 was a long range photo recon version of the Wildcat with a greatly increased fuel supply.

The F4F-7, Grumman design G-52, was a long range photo-reconnaissance variant of the Wildcat that was based on the rigid-wing F4F-3. The camera installation was in the aft fuselage section. It had no guns, no armor or bullet resistant windshield. An autopilot was installed to reduce pilot fatigue, because the endurance was twenty-five hours in the air! Thefixed wing was fitted with fuel tanks, bringing the total fuel capacity to 555 gallons. This quadrupled the range possible with the standard F4F-3. Gross weight increased to 10,328 pounds, making the F4F-7 by far the heaviest Wildcat built. In order to dump the large amount of fuel quickly, a special dump

(Grumman)

system was installed with two outlets protruding from the aft fuselage just below the rudder. Twenty-one F4F-7s were built and assigned BuNos 5263-5283, but only two are known to have been used in the photographic role at Guadalcanal. An additional one hundred were ordered, but the order was first changed to F4F-3S float planes, then to standard F4F-3s. The first flight was on December 30,1941, and was made by S. A. Converse. Deliveries began on January 13, 1942, and continued until December 18. The first F4F-7 flew from New York to Los Angeles non-stop in eleven hours with LCDR "Andy" Jackson in the cockpit.

These two views show more details of the F4F-7. The vent tubes for the fuel dump system are visible below the rudder, and are seen in close-up detailed photos on the next page. (Grumman)

52

The F4F-7 shared common features with both the F4F-3 and F4F-4 as evidenced by these two photographs. The rigid (non-folding) wing of the F4F-3 was used, but was fitted with the small F4F-4 style pitot. The arrangements of eight cowl flaps and combustion air scoop on top of the cowl are visible. There is no armament or armor installed. (Both Grumman)

F4F-7 DATA Engine Normal HP/RPM/Alt Takeoff HP Propeller Propeller Type Propeller Diameter Wing Area Weight Empty Combat Gross Weight Power Loading (Lbs/HP) Max Speed at SL Max Sp~ed at Crit.

P&W R-1830-86 1100/2500/SL 1000/2550/19000 1200/2700 Curtiss C5315 (S) 3 blade, C.S. 9 ft, 9 in 260 sq. ft. 5468 pounds 10,336 pounds 8.6 250 mph 309/22,000

Cruise Speed Landing Speed Max Rate of Climb T.O. Dist. (25 kt wind) Range at Max Speed Range at Cruise Speed Max Endurance Ceiling (Absolute) Ceiling (Service) Fuel (I nternal) Armament Bombs First Flight Number Built

200 mph 86 mph 1730 ft/min 574 ft 470 miles 4540 miles 25.5 hours 29,900 feet 28,300 feet 685 gallons None None December 30, 1941 21

These two photographs show the vent tubes of the fuel dump system installed in the F4F-7. Since the F4F-7 carried such

a large amount of fuel, it required a system that could dump excess fuel rather quickly. At left is a close-up of the vent tubes, and, in the photo at right, the cover has been removed from below the rudder showing more of the tubes. Note the end of the arresting hook nestled just below the tubes. (Both Grumman) 53

XF4F-8

This is the first of two XF4F-8 prototypes built by Grumman. It has the tail and rudder design used on all production variants up to that time. The BuNo was 12228. (Grumman) In 1942 the Navy issued a request for a lightweight fighter that cou Id operate from the smaller escort carriers that were joining both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets in ever increasing numbers. Grumman's answer to this request was to Iig hten the F4F's ai rframe, and fit it with a lighter and more powerful engine. The nine-cylinder, single-row Wright R-1820-56 replaced the Pratt & Whitney R-1830s used on previous variants, and BuNo 12228 became the first XF4F-8. It also had slotted flaps at first, but these were later replaced with the standard split flaps. Tests with the first XF4F-8 revealed the need for a taller vertical tail to counter the increased torque of the Wright engine during takeoff and go-around phases of carrier operations. The second XF4F-8, 12229, was fitted with the taller tail, and became the prototype forthe FM-2 that was produced by Eastern Aircraft.

Takeoff HP Propeller Wing Area Weight Empty Gross Weight Max Speed/Altitude Rate of Climb at SL Service Ceiling Armament First Flight Number Built

1350 Hamilton Standard CS 260 sq. ft. 5365 pounds 7080 pounds 321/16,800 3125 ftlmin 36,400 feet 4 x .50 caliber MG November 8, 1942

2

XF4F-8 DATA Engine Normal HP/Alt

Wright R-1820-56 1200/5000 900/18500

This XF4F-8, 12229, was produced with a taller vertical tail and rudder as shown here. The increased height was necessary due to the additional torque of the Wright XR-1820-56 engine. (Grumman)

54

This close-up shows the taller tail on 12229. With the tail wheelan the ground, the height of the rudder was increased to 8 feet, 9-9/16 inches as compared to an even 8 feet for the shorter tail. With the aircraft's tail hoisted so that the centerline of the fuselage was parallel to the ground line, the top of the tail was 12 feet, 9-1/16 inches above the ground, while the short tail was 11 feet, 10-3/8 inches. (Grumman)

XF4F-8 COCKPIT DETAILS

The instrument panel in the XF4F-8 is shown here.

This is the left console.

(Grumman)

(Grumman)

Right console details are shown in this photograph. (Grumman)

This view looks straight down into the cockpit of one of the XF4F-8s. (Grumman)

55

FM-1 & FM-2

The tall-tailed XF4F-8 served as the prototype for the FM-2, which was produced by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors. With the extra horsepower of the Wright 1820-56W, the most widely produced variant ofthe Wildcat was a much better performer than the earlier Pratt & Whitney powered versions. In addition to the taller tail, the lateral exhausts above the wings were a distinguishing feature ofthis version. Two more exhausts were at the base ofthe cowl. (Grumman)

As the wartime production industry in America moved toward capacity, Grumman needed to turn its attention to the F6F Hellcat. There were a number of strange "arrangements" made during these years that found industries that had formerly produced one item making war materials that differed greatly from their previous peacetime products. One such case was the General Motors plants in New Jersey that had built automobiles in the pre-war years. Now, at government direction, they would use these same plants to take part of the load of producing aircraft. This was not the on Iy example of such an "arrangement," with Goodyear's production of Corsairs being another. These plants became known as the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors, and they were to take over production of the Wildcat and Avenger torpedo bomber, leaving the Hellcat to Grumman. To differentiate between aircraft produced by the two companies, the F4F designation for the Wildcat was changed to FM, and the TBF designation of the Grum-

The FM-1 Wildcat was essentially an F4F-4 produced by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors. The only noteable difference was that the FM-1 had only four .50 caliber machine guns instead of six. (Grumman)

56

man Avenger was changed to TBM for the Easternproduced aircraft. In the Wildcat series, the F4F-4 production was taken over in mid-stream by Eastern, and the first Eastern Wildcat became the FM-1. An initial contract was issued on April 18, 1942, for 1800 FM-1s. However, only 839 were delivered to the U.S. Navy and USMC before production was changed to the more powerful and significant FM-2. The FM-1 was in every respect like the F4F-4, exceptthat it was fitted with four machine guns instead of six. Four hundred and thirty rounds were supplied for each gun. The first flight by an FM-1 was made on August 31,1942. While the ESSEX class of carriers would form the backbone of the American carrier forces in the Pacific, and would be supplemented by the INDEPENDENCE class of light carriers, the U.S. Navy was building a large number of escort carriers in an effort to get as much airpower to sea as possible. Compared to the fleet carriers, the escort carriers were quite small, usually being converted from existing merchant ships or built over the hulls of smaller ships. At first, it was thought that these smaller carriers would serve as aircraft transports, supplying aircraft for the fleet carriers, but it became clear that flight operations from these escort carriers was not only possi ble, it was necessary. It was these ships in both the U.S. and British navies that were to provide air cover all the way across the Atlantic forthe slow and vulnerable convoys that had suffered devastating losses to U-boats in the early years of the war. By providing aircovertothe convoys throughout their voyage, the escort carriers tu rned the war around for the U-boats. Instead of a shooting gallery of almost helpless targets, the Atlantic became a graveyard for U-boats. This was due in a large

part to the escort carriers as well as an increase in numbers and improvements to other escorting ships and detection gear. In the Pacific, the aircraft from the escort carriers provided close air support to ground forces, flew CAP, and patrolled for enemy submarines, while aircraft from the fleet carriers were free to strike the enemy fleet, shipping, and land bases. While not as glamorous as the fleet carriers, the operations of the escort carriers in both oceans were most important. In order for these small ships to be as effective as possible, they needed a small, lightweight fighter, so, in 1942, the Navy issued a request for such an aircraft. This led to the XF4F-8 as described on pages 54 and 55, and the XF4F-8 served as the prototype for the FM-2. With 4437 examples being built, this was by far the most widely produced Wildcat variant. Production began in the fall of 1943, and continued until the end of the war in August 1945. It was the FM-2 that joined with the Avenger in composite squadrons aboard these escort carriers to perform the roles listed above. The FM-2 was 530 pounds lighter than the F4F-4, and, with a more powerful engine, its performance was significantly better except at altitude. The Wright engine alone was a weight savings of 230 pounds as compared to the Pratt & Whitney. Flying close air support and antisubmarine patrols did not call for high altitude performance, so the R-1820-5 engine used in the FM-2 only had a single-stage supercharger, hence the F4F-4 was better at very high altitude, but elsewhere the FM-2 was considerably better. Being lighter, its rate of climb and maneuverability was also im proved, and these Wildcats became a better match for the Japanese aircraft in these performance categories. Several versions of the Wright R-1820-56 were used in the FM-2, to include the -56, -56A, and the -56W or 56WA with water injection. These water injected engines had a tank with a ten minute water supply. There was only the 117-gallon fuel tank in the FM-2, with the reserve tank being deleted: From 2401st FM-2, BuNo 57044, the tank size was increased to 126 gallons. Two 58-gallon external tanks could be carried instead. From the 3301st FM-2, BuNo 74359, racks for six five-inch rockets were fitted under the wings. Like the FM-1, the FM-2 was armed with four .50 caliber machine guns and had a total of 1720 rounds of ammunition. In addition to the tallertail, the FM-2 was recognizable by the large lateral exhausts that were located above the wing. They usually streaked the aircraft quite noticeably along the sides of the fuselage. Two more exhausts were located in the usual positions at the base ofthe cowl, and were much less noticeable. The underwing oil coolers that had been on all previous production Wildcats were missing from the FM-2, being replaced by a single unit located in the accessory compartment behind the engine. Another difference was the change to a Curtiss Electric constant speed propeller with wide chord blades. The FM-2 was originally delivered in the tri-color

./

An FM-2 steps into the airas the catapult bridle falls away. Launching by catapult became more common during the (Grumman) later stages of the war. scheme of non-specular blue (FS 35042) on upper surfaces, non-specular intermediate blue (FS 35164) on the fuselage sides and vertical tail, and flat white on the undersides. This was later replaced with the overall gloss sea blue (FS 15042) scheme. But there was one difference on this last scheme when compared to other aircraft. Numerous photos of the FM-2 in the overall sea blue scheme show the use of insignia blue discs on the national insignia. This was usually not done, with only the white star and bars used. Just how often this was done is not known, but it has been documented in a large number of photographs. FM-2s and other ai rcraft used in the Atlantic used a completely different scheme. This consisted of dark gull gray being used on the upper surfaces, with white being applied to the undersides, sides of the fuselage, and the vertical tail. Some F4F-4 and FM-1 Wildcats that operated in the Atlantic also were painted in this scheme.

FM-2 DATA Engine Normal HP/Alt

Wright R-1820-56W 1200/5000 900/18500 1350 Curtiss CS, 3 blade 10ft,Oin 260 sq. ft. 5542 pounds 7431 pounds 8221 pounds 289/SL 319/19,600 2890 ft/min 35,600 feet 117 gallons 2 x 58 gallon tanks 780 miles 1350 miles 4 x .50 caliber MG Rockets & Bombs

Takeoff HP Propeller Propeller Diameter Wing Area Weight Empty Gross Weight Max T.O. Weight Max Speed/Altitude Rate of Climb at SL Service Ceiling Fuel (Internal) Fuel (External) Max Range (Internal Fuel) Max Range (External tanks) Armament External Stores

FM-1 & FM-2 PRODUCTION SUMMARY TYPE FM-1 FM-2

1942 21

o

1943 818 310

1944 0 2890

1945 0 1237

TOTAL 839 4437

57

F••d Chut. t 2 Outboard Link EI.ctlon Chut. 3 Forward Trunnion Po.t 4 Pin SPin 6 Ca •• EI.ctlon Chut. 7 Rear Mounting Po.t 8 Gun Firing Cabl. 9 Gun Charging Cabl. to Gun H.al.r Junction Bo"

t 2 3 4 S 6

Ammunition F•• d Chut. Gun Firing Sol.nold Trunnion R.leas. Cabl. Gun Charging Cabl. Gun H.al.r Junction Bo" Link EI.ctlon Chut.

Gun armament on most FM-1s and FM-2s returned to a four-gun arrangement in the wings that was similar to, but not exactly like, that used on the F4F-3. Notably, the gun barrels did not project beyond the leading edge of the wing as they did on the F4F-3. These drawings show the details of the gun and gun compartments on the FM-2. (Grumman)

Most FM-2s were teamed with Avengers in composite squadrons aboard escort carriers as seen here. The tail markings on the aircraft indicate that this is the USS RUD YERD BA Y, C VE-81. The design ofthe single panel that covered both guns is visible on the wing of aircraft number 2 in the center foreground. The aircraft are painted overall gloss sea blue with white markings. (Grumman)

58

In addition to the taller tail, one of the most distinguishing and easily noticeable characteristics of the FM-2 was the lateral exhaust located on each side of the fuselage above the wing. This is a close-up of the exhaust on the left side of the aircraft.

Aileron and hinge details are shown in this view. This is the underside of the left aileron.

This FM-2 has come to

This is a close-up of the two shell ejection slots under the right wing of the Naval Aviation Museum's FM-2. The wing is in the folded position.

a stop after catching one of the arresting cables on an unidentified escort carrier. (Grumman)

59

FRENCH WILDCATS

Before France fell to Nazi Germany. Aeronaval had contracted for eighty-one Wildcats under the design designation G-36A. This is the first G-36A which was coded NX-G1. It later served with the Royal Navy as AX753. (Grumman) In late 1939 and early 1940, the French were looking for carrier-based fighters for two new aircraft carriers, the JOFFRE and PAINLEVE, which they had under construction. They became interested in Grumman's design G-36 which had been given the American designation F4F-3. An order was placed for eighty-one aircraft with certain changes specified by the French. The engine was to be the nine-cylinder Wright GR-1820-G205A-2 which provided 1200 horsepower for takeoff. Although armament was never installed, it was to consist of four Darn 7.5mm machine guns, two being cowl-mounted, and the other two were located in the wings. An oddity was that the throttle was to work backwards by conventional standards. Power was increased by pulling back on the throttle, and reduced by pushing forward! One aircraft was painted in overall light gray with French Navy markings that included a six-position

national insignia and red, white, and blue rudder and elevator stripes. The registration number NX-G1 was assigned to the aircraft, and it flew for the first time on May 11, 1940. Seven ai rcraft were already under construction when France was overrun by the Germans, and the British, in desparate need of all the fighters they could get their hands on, took over the order. The seven aircraft that were already under construction were reworked to British standards to include turning the throttles around so that they worked in the normal fashion. These aircraft, with the codes NX-G1 to NX-G7 were flown to Canada. There they were taken over by the British and given serials AX753. AX754, and AL231 to AL235. The rest of the order was built from the start to British standards, and all aircraft went to England as Martlet Is, still being designated as design G-36A by Grumman.

Center left and right: These two views show that design G-36A was essentially an F4F-3. Like the first two production F4F-3s, it had provisions for cowl-mounted machine guns, but no armament was ever installed. The wings were the non-folding type. The highly polished propeller is of a different design than that used on the F4F-3, and is as unusual as it is interesting. (Both Grumman) Left: Upper surface details and markings are shown here. Note the red, white, and blue stripes on the elevators. These stripes were also on the undersides of the eleva(Grumman) tors.

60

BRITISH MARTLETS

------------A factory-fresh Martlet I displays the highly polished propeller used on the French G-36A on the previous page; however, the provisions for the cowl guns have been deleted. (Grumman) During World War II, the British obtained and operated almost every type of American-built fighter, to include the F4F, F6F, and F4U carrier-based aircraft. Like most other major powers, the British had realized the importance of the aircraft carrier, but due to political considerations, most British carrier-based aircraft were nothing more than "navalized" versions of land planes. Like the Americans, the British recognized the need for a small fighter that could operate from escort carriers, and Grumman's G-36 design seemed to be ideally suited for this purpose. Throughout the war England would obtain almost 1100 aircraft of the Wildcat series, which were initially called Martlets. Although built by Grumman, these ai rcraft were fu rther mod ified and made ready for British Fleet Air Arm service by Blackburn Aircraft Ltd., who performed the same tasks on Avengers, Hellcats, and Corsairs. Among the work done by Blackburn was the installation of British type radios, oxygen systems, gunsights, batteries, catapult gear, and, on later types, the British style rocket rails. As discussed on page 60, the fi rst Martlets were those taken over from the French order after the fall of France. The Martlet Is were armed with four .50 caliber machine guns in the wings, and were in most other respects similar to the American F4F-3. The major difference was the use of the Wright Cyclone GR-1820-G205A engine that had been specified by the French. A Hamilton Standard constant speed propeller was fitted. Like the F4F-3, the Martlet I did not have folding wings. The first Martlet I was delivered on July 27,1940, one month before the first F4F-3 was delivered to the U.S. Navy. A total of ninety-one were built, but only eightyone were delivered. The other ten were lost at sea. Deliveries were completed by October 1940. Because they lacked folding wings and did not have essential equipment for carrier operations, Martlet Is operated only from land bases, with the first assignment being to No. 804 Squadron at Hatston. As mentioned earlier, it was two Martlet Is that scored the first victory for the Wildcat series, and it was also the first victory scored by an American aircraft in the hands of the British. The kill was made by Lt. L. L. N. Carver, RN, and Sub Lt Parke, RNVR, flying in BJ515 and BJ526. They shot down a Ju-88 that was attacking ships of the British

Martlet Is are seen here parked and waiting for delivery to the Royal Navy. (Grumman) home fleet anchored in Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The kill was made on Christmas Day in 1940, and, as a present, the Royal Navy sent the propeller from BJ526 to the U.S. Navy. Today, the oldest surviving member of the Wildcat family is Martlet I, AL246, which is on display at Yeovilton, England. It had been delivered to the British on August 22, 1940. The Martlet II was design G-36B, which was powered by a S3C4-G engine with a single-stage, two-speed supercharger. This was equivalent to the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-90 used in the F4F-3A. However the British chose to use a Curtiss Electric propeller with a ten-foot diameter. It had an elongated and pointed hub cap as compared to the stepped hubs used on the American F4Fs. The first ten Martlet lis had the rigid, non-folding wings with four machine guns, but the remaining ninety had folding wings with six machine guns. They were the first of the Wildcat series to have the folding wings. The first carrier-based squadron in the Royal Navy was No. 802 Squadron which took six Martlet lis aboard the HMS AUDACITY. This was the first British escort carrier, and it had been converted from a captured German merchantman. It had no hangar deck or elevator, so the Martlets had to remain on the flight deck at all times. They scored the first carrier-based kill on September 20, 1941, when they shot down a FW-200C Condor. The AUDACITY herself was sunk by a U-boat on December 21,1941. During the Madagascar Campaign, Martlet lis from Nos. 881 and 882 Squadrons on the HMS ILLUSTRIOUS shot down three Potez 63 light bombers without a loss. Later, in November 1942, during the landings in North Africa, Lt B. H. C. Nation from No. 882 Squadron aboard the HMS VICTORIOUS saw indications from the French on the airfield at Bilda that they wanted to surrender. After obtaining permission to land, he did so and singlehandedly accepted the surrender, thus "capturing" the airfield. Taking over the French order that became Martlet Is was not the only occasion the British had to gain aircraft originally destined for another nation. The first thirty F4F-3As had been built for the Greeks in 1941, and were in transit at Gibraltar at the time the allies evacuated Greece. The British took over the aircraft and designated 61

After the first ten deliveries, all subsequent Martlet lis had the folding wings and six .50 caliber machine guns like the F4F-4. Note the position of the pitot tube on the left wing. It is mounted just inboard of the aileron about three-quarters of the way back on the wing. (Grumman) them Martlet Ills. Being the same as the American F4F3A, these aircraft did not have folding wings, so the British used them only from land bases. They participated in the operations in the Western Desert of Africa beginning in September 1941, being assigned to No. 805 Squadron which flew out of Dekheila. The Martlet IV was generally similar to the F4F-4, but was powered by the Wright R-1820-G205A-3 engine with a single-stage, two-speed supercharger. It was fitted with a Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller, and was armed with six Browning .50 caliber machine guns. The first unit to operate this Martlet was No. 892 Squadron. The British received 311 FM-1s from Eastern Aircraft, and designated them Martlet Vs, but, in January 1944, the name Martlet was dropped and replaced with Wildcat to standardize with the Americans. FM-2s followed the FM1s, becoming Wildcat Vis. A total of 340 of this type were delivered, the first being assigned to No. 801 Squadron aboard the HMS PURSUER. Wildcat Vis scored the Fleet Air Arm's last victories of the war when No. 882 Squadron's aircraft shot down four Me-109s over Norway on March 26, 1945. As was the case with their American counterparts in the Atlantic, shooting down aircraft was not the primary

The first of 220 Martlet IVs, FN100, is shown here. The Martlet IV was the last Grumman-built aircraft of the Wildcat series that was delivered to the British. (Grumman)

62

This photograph shows Martlet lis awaiting delivery. Note the panels that cover the gun compartments on the wings. (Grumman) mission of the British Martlets/Wilcats. For the most part they operated from escort carriers to provide air cover and protection from U-boats for the all-important convoys. Although the Martlet Is saw limited action operating from land bases in Great Britain, and the Martlet Ills provided air support and attacked Axis targets on the ground in Africa, other Martlets spent most of their time operating from the small carriers. But during the war, Martlets shot down German, Italian, Vichy, one Japanese, and, unfortunately, one British aircraft. The single Japanese kill was of a Mavis flying boat by No. 888 Squadron that was operating from the HMS FORMIDABLE during a brief side trip to the war on the other side of the globe. The British aircraft that was shot down by mistake was a RAF Hudson based at Gibraltar. The lack of opportunities for aerial victories notwithstanding, the MartletiWildcat series was both welcomed and admired by the Fleet Air Arm. Once the first aircraft was obtained from the previous French order, these aircraft performed the important, if thankless, job of providing air cover to convoys and other shipping. They continued in British service throughout the entire war until the surrender of Germany.

Both Martlet IVs and U.S. Navy F4F-4s are visible in this photograph during construction at Grumman. (Grumman)

This Martlet IV is shown during a takeoff roll on a British (Grumman) escort carrier. BRITISH MARTLET/WILDCAT SERIAL NUMBERS MARTLET 1*

AL236-AL262 AX725-AX738 AX824-AX829 BJ507-BJ527 BJ554-BJ570 AM954-AM999 AJ100-AJ153 UNKNOWN** FN100-FN319 JV325-JV636 JV637-JV924 JW785-JW836

MARTLET II MARTLET III MARTLET IV MARTLET V*** WILDCAT VI

Mart/et lis are seen here during operations aboard the HMS ILLUSTRIOUS. (Grumman)

* Only 81 Martlet Is were delivered. Originally given U.S. Navy BuNos 3875-3904. *** Only 311 Martlet Vs were delivered.

BRITISH MARTLET/WILDCAT PRODUCTION SUMMARY TYPE MARTLET I MARTLET II MARTLET III MARTLET IV MARTLET V WILDCAT VI TOTALS

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

81 0 0 0 0 0 81

0 60 30 0 0 0 90

0 49 0 220 2 0 271

0 0 0 0 309 0 309

0 0 0 0 11 240 255

0 0 0 0 0 100 100

The Mart/et V, which was later renamed Wildcat V, was produced by the Eastern Aircraft Division. It was the (Grumman) same as the U.S. FM-1.

TOTAL 81 109 30 220 322 340 1102

Wildcat VI was the British designation for the Eastern Aircraft FM-2. This Wildcat VI has made a particularly hard landing on a carrier, but the pilot walked away unhurt. (Grumman)

63

MODELERS SECTION OLDER COLLECTABLE KITS Comments by Jim Galloway

Bachman F4F in 1/140th Scale, Kit Number 62 One of the smallest Wildcat kits ever issued, this model came assembled with stickers (instead of decals) already in place. It was released around 1970, and brings about two to four dollars from collectors. Aristocraft F4F-4 in 1/72nd Scale, No Kit Number This is a highly sought-after collectors' item, bringing anywhere from fifteen to fifty dollars. It is a black plastic I.D. model from World War II, and it was issued in 1942. There were no decals or markings of any kind, and no detail was provided. Aurora F4F in 1/65th Scale, Kit Number 497 Molded ina very hard and brittle dark blue plastic, this model dates from 1962, and is very crude. Twenty-eight parts are molded in the blue plastic and include a twopiece stand. There is also a clear canopy. Two drop tanks are provided, but are identified as bombs on the instruction sheet. The cockpit is sparse, consisting of only a rear bulkhead with a crude pilot figure. The landing gear consists of three pieces for each side. By 1962, most model manufacturers had gotten away from molding the locations for the markings into the plastic, but not Aurora. The decal sheet provides fou r stars and bars, two wingwalks, two G 2 codes, and two small number 2s for the cowling. There are eleven Japanese kill markings, a decal for the stand, and four small unreadable white marki ngs of unknown use. Marusan F4F in 1/48th Scale, Unknown Kit Number Most of the larger Marusan kits were imported by UPC, but, according to Shank's Guide of 1972, there is no record of the F4F being brought into this country. Burn's Guide of 1983 states that this is an "Ex-Monogram" kit, but no further information is available.

KIT REVIEWS 1/144th SCALE KIT Revell F4F-4, Kit Number H-1026 This is the only Wildcat model that has been issued in 1/144th scale. Unfortunately, it is no longer available, but hopefully Revell will reissue it again. For a model that is so small, it is really nicely done. It consists of thirteen pieces molded in a blue-gray plastic, a two-piece stand in black plastic, and a clear canopy. The only problem areas are the propeller, which must be reshaped and cuffed, and the engine, which has nine cylinders showing instead of the correct seven. The lower windows are opaque, but are indented into the plastic. It would be a simple matter to open them up and replace them with clear plastic. The landing gear is quite basic, as would be expected on such a small kit, but could be detailed out 64

The smallest Wildcat kit is this 1/ 144th scale offering from Revell. It is a very good kit for such a small scale, but unfortunately, it is no longer available. and corrected very easily. An antenna mast and a small pitot tube need to be added. But the shape looks accurate, and the model would look good in a 1/144th scale collection. For someone who is ambitious, a squadron of these little models on a 1/144th scale aircraft carrier would be real impressive! Decals are quite basic, and consist of four national insignias of the star, disc, and bar variety, yellow USAAF serial numbers 49255 (incorrect for any Wildcat) and two white 16s. Evidently this sheet was used for several kits because it has the numbers H-1025, H-1026, H-1027, and H-1028 on it. The instructions show using only the national insignia on this model. Painting instructions are for the tri-color scheme. Review sample courtesy of Jim Galloway

1/72nd SCALE KITS AirfixlMPC F4F, Kit Numbers 1112 and 01037 While this kit has probably been released a numberof times, our review sample was the MPC release. Like some other kit manufacturers, Airfix and MPC had a hard time knowing one type of Wildcat from another, and this shows in the instructions, on the box, and worst of all, on the decals. The kit is not of an F4F as stated, but is of an FM-2 instead. As an FM-2, it is fairly accurate, having the taller tail, only four guns, lateral exhausts, and nine cylinders for the Wright engine. However, they are molded into the cowling and have too much space between them. The model is generally accurate in shape, and fits together fairly well. Only a little filling and sanding is required. Four gun fairings are molded under the wings, but there are no ejector slots or holes in the lead-

The Airfix 1/72nd scale model represents an FM-2. This model was painted in the dark gull gray over white scheme used in the Atlantic. ing edge of the wings. These are easily drilled out by the modeler. Two external fuel tanks and six rockets are provided as underwing stores. The rockets look more like British types (as might be expected from Airfix), but the rocket racks or stubs are way too thick. We replaced these with thin card stock, and filled the wide holes in the lower wing. The rockets went into the parts box. The locating holes for the external fuel tanks are too far out on the wings, being outboard of the wing fold line. These should be filled in, and the tanks should be mounted in their proper positions on the wing's center section. The cockpit consists of only a seat and a pilot, which is probably satisfactory if the canopy is assembled closed. But if it is to be opened up, most modelers will want to add some details. The propeller is the proper non-cuffed type used on the FM-2, but it has the older F4F style hub, so this needs to be corrected. The landing gear can be built in the up or down position, but the somewhat complex strut arrangement is difficult to represent in 1/72nd scale, and some modelers may want to improve or even rebuild a more accurate gear from sprue, wire, or tubing. Three alternatives are given on the decal sheet in Kit Number 1112; however, not one is for the FM-2 or corresponding Wildcat VI that the kit represents. One set of markings is for an early F4F-3 from VF-41 and the USS RANGER, CV-4. It is in the colorful pre-war paint scheme. A second set of markings is provided for O'Hare's F4F-3 coded F-3, but only one VF-3 insignia is provided, and it is way oversized. Two kill markings are also included, but they too are about th ree ti mes too large for 1172nd scale. The last set of markings is for a Royal Navy Martlet I, coded AL257. For Kit Number01037, two alternatives are provided. One is for an FM-2, coded M-F, with 00 tail number, and the second is for a Wildcat VI, coded JV708.

Aosima F4F, Kit Number 5, and Aoshima F4F, Kit Number 13 We are assuming that Aosima and Aoshima are indeed the same company, with the single letter difference in spelling due either to poor translation to English or a name change by the company. For ou r purposes, the kits are basically the same, so we are reviewing them together. The one by Aosima seems to be the earlier release, and can be identified by its box art which shows an LSO holding up two paddles as he is just about to get mowed down by a landing Wildcat. It is molded in dark blue plastic, and has a few extra pieces that allow motorization of the model. Decals consist of four national insignia that are the red disc, inside a white star, inside a blue disc type. The codes 41-F-8 are provided in white. The Aoshima kit is molded in blue-gray, and does not have the motorizing feature. Otherwise it is identical to the Aosima kit to include the same decals. The rest of our comments apply equally to both of these kits. Like too many of the other Wildcat kits, the engine is the nine-cylinder Wright R-1820 that was used on the XF4F-8 and FM-2, while the rest of the kit represents an F4F-4, which used the fourteen-cylinder P&W R-1830. These cylinders are molded into the cowling, so we decided to remove them and replace them with a separate engine from the parts box that more closely represented the R-1830. The eight flaps are represented by scribing that is way too deep and too wide. The wings are designed to fold, but we recommend deleting this feature, and gluing all parts together. Then sand out the seams and rescribe the panel lines if you are

The Aosima/Aoshima kit is not one of the better 1/72nd scale models available of the Wildcat. Even though the model comes with working folding wings, this model was built by the author as an F4F-3, and has the markings of the Wildcat flown by Major Robert E. Galer, USMC.

65

building a Wildcat with folding wings. Our review sample was built as an F4F-3, so we simply filled and sanded out everything! The ailerons are separate pieces, but fit fairly well. However, they lack detail. The cockpit has a midget pilot who even lacks a good set of legs. He is best discarded. There is no other detail for the cockpit. A twopiece canopy is provided, and can be assembled opened or closed. However, it is rather crude, being quite thick and having very noticeable mold marks. A vacu-formed one would look much better. There are no holes for the guns on the leading edge of the wing, so these must be drilled out. The propeller lacks any cuffs, and the landing gear leaves a lot to be desired. Two drop tanks are provided, but are way oversized. While the overall shape of the finished model is not all that bad, this is not one of the better Wildcat kits in 1172nd scale. It takes a lot of work in the detailing department to get it to look right even for a basic shelf model. For the younger modeler, the motor and working wings may be of interest, but for the serious scale modeler, there are better kits to work with. Frog Grumman Wildcat, Kit Number F242F This kit is no longer generally available from Frog, but the new Academy/Minicraft kit is very similar. It represen~s an F4F-4, and has many features missing on other kits in 1/72nd scale. These include openings for the guns in the leading edges of the wings, the small fairing on top of the wing at the wing fold, a separate engine (as opposed to one molded into the front of the cowling), and clear windows for the bottom of the fuselage. The propeller is cuffed, and more closely resembles the real thing than props found in the majority of the other kits. Two external fuel tanks are also provided. The main landing gear is perhaps the best in 1172nd scale, but it could be improved with a little work and attention to details. On the minus side, the clear parts leave a lot to be desired. The framing and shape of the windscreen portion of the canopy is too pointed. A vacu-formed canopy made over a canopy from the Revell kit would look much better. The windows in the lower fuselage are too small in the vertical dimension. The landing gear can be built with the gear up or down, but there is a large fairing between the two main wheels. This is far too wide, and should look more like a rigid support bar rather than a bubble-like fairing. The D-shaped hole in the rudder is too large, and the top of the vertical tail is too rounded. The cockpit is almost void of detail, having only a seat, a pilot, and a control stick that attaches to the seat. The strutforthe tai I wheel is noticeably too wide. It is probably best to remove the entire tail wheel structure and replace it with one made from scratch. This is a relatively simple task that will enhance the appearance of the model. Scribing is of the raised variety, except for the control surfaces and wing fold, which are recessed. The kit is molded in medium gray plastic which is relatively free from flash. Decals are provided for two aircraft. First is an F4F-4 from VF-9 and the USS RANGER, GV-4, for the

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One of the oldest but one of the better Wildcat kits in 1/72nd scale is the Frog model. It is no longer available, but the new Academy/Minicraft kit is very similar to it.

Operation "Torch" landings in North Africa. The aircraft is coded 9-F-10, and has the yellow surround on the fuselage and under-wing national insignia. It is painted in the blue-gray over light gray scheme. The second set of markings are said to be for a Martlet IV from the 896 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, and the HMS PURSUER, in February 1944. However, the aircraft is numberedJV429, and this would indicate a Martlet V instead. If this is the case, the outer two guns on each wing should be removed. The aircraft's code is 8*N, and it is painted in a gray and green camouflage with sky undersides. This is not a bad kit if the modeler wants to make some minor corrections and do some detailing. But since it is no longer available, it is probably best left for the collectors. Build the Academy/Minicraft kit instead, because it is readily available, and is virtually the same kit. Review sample courtesy of Lloyd Jones. Hawk F4F Wildcat, Kit Number 7-39 This model, which was released in 1967, isofan FM-2, and not an F4F. It provides only the basics, providing no engine, no cockpit, no landing gear, no radio mast, and no pitot tube. The entire kit consists of only eight parts molded in beige plastic, plus a two-piece stand and a clear canopy. There are no details molded into the plastic. There are no guns, blisters, or even engine cylinders. There are hundreds of large rivets that are totally wrong, and they must be sanded off. Otherwise, only a few panel lines, the wing fold, and the control surfaces are represented. With the main gear wheels molded as part of the fuselage, the only choice is for an in-flight model unless the modeler wants to completely scratch build a landing gear. Quite frankly, the model is not worth it. The box claims that the kit provides "colorful decals," but since the only markings included are four star, disc, and bar type national insignia, this claim is stretching it a bit. While this model would not interest the serious modeler, we had one, so we thought we would build it just to see what the result would be. The cowling was opened

The Revell 1!72nd scale kit is basically quite good. With a little work it can built into a nice model. This Revell model was converted to an F4F-3 and painted in the colorful pre-war markings of the USS RANGER.

The 1!72nd scale Hawk kit represents an FM-2, and is rather poor. It has no cockpit interior, guns, or engine, and the landing gear is molded in the in-flight position. This model is painted in the markings of VC-81 from the USS RUDYERD BAY. The stand is from the Academy! Minicraft kit, as are the two external fuel tanks. up, and an engine was installed. The basis for a cockpit and a pilot were added, as were rocket racks under the wings. Since the kit does not include a radio mast nor a pitot tube, these were scrounged from the parts box. We did not like the kit stand, so we replaced it with one from the Academy/Minicraft Wildcat kit. The external fuel tanks also came from the Academy/Minicraft kit. After debating whether to use the tri-color or all blue scheme, we settled on the latter. This was more of an effort to save time as much as anything else. The propeller was replaced with a disc from the parts box. The result was a decent looking desk model that turned out a little better than we expected. But for the serious modeler, this is not the kit to use. The value to the collector is Iisted between two and four dollars. Revell F4F-4 Wildcat, Kit Numbers H-639 and H-4104 This is one of the older Wildcat kits in 1/72nd scale, being first issued (kit H-639) in 1965. In spite of its age, it is one of the best Wildcat models available. The only difference between the releases was the color of the plastic used, the box art, and the decals provided. Kit number H-639 was molded in blue-gray plastic, and H4101 was molded in a pale gray. Decals for the earlier kit were for an FM-1 coded GS, but only those codes and four star, disc, and bar type national insignia were included on the sheet. The actual aircraft had a smallS on each side of the cowl as well. If built out of the box with these markings, the outboard gun on each wing should be removed, because these markings were for the four-

gunned FM-1, and not a six-gunned F4F-4. In H-41 04, the markings were for an F4F-4 in the dark gull gray over white scheme. They consisted of four star, disc, and bar national insignias and two 4s for the vertical tail. Again, the4s for the cowling are missing. It should be noted that this second release was done by Revell of Germany. The kit is very accurate in outline, and has the correct twin-row, fourteen-cylinder engine made up of two separate parts. It is, without question, the best engine in any Wildcat model except the large 1/32nd scale Revell kit. The upper portion of the cowling can be removed to see the engine; however, this is not how it worked on the real thing! The combustion air scoop on top of the COWling is not closed at the bottom, so a bit of thin plastic card is needed here. The propeller is cuffed, but the cuffs are not as pronounced as they probably should be. The cockpit has only a seat and a pilot figure, but it can be easily detailed. The main landing gear leaves a lot to be desired, and some flash will have to be cleared away. Many modelers will probably want to enhance the gear with pieces of sprue, wire, and other parts as seen in the detailed photog raphs on pages 10 and 11. The wheels are plastic as that have spoke covers that fit on them and attach to the strut. The a wheels can then turn, but the covers do not. The only clear part is the one-piece canopy, and it is clear and accurate. If it is to be displayed in the open position, it is best to vacu-formed over it, then cut the pieces apart. There are no clear parts for the lower windows, but they are indented into the plastic. It is an easy job to open them up and add clear plastic. It just would have been nicer if Revell had done the job. Scribing is raised, and there are many rivets to remove; however, they are not as bad as those on the Hawk kit. Some light sanding and they are gone. Molded details are good, and an effort should be made not to remove them while sanding off the rivets. The ammunition boxes, ejector slots, and fairings for the guns are all included under the wing. On top of the wings, the small

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fairing at the wing fold is missing, as are the compartments for the outer guns. There is a flash problem, but it is rather easily taken care of. Considering its age, this is not a bad kit, and with some work and detailing, it can be made into a very nice looking model of the Wildcat. Kit H-639 originally sold for seventy cents, but is now worth from three to six dollars to collectors. Academy/Minicraft F4F-4, Kit Number 1650 Th is is the newest release of a Wildcat kit in any scale, but it is essentially the same as the Frog kit reviewed earlier. There are a couple of changes that should be mentioned. First, the panel lines are now recessed rather than being raised. Therefore, they are not as likely to be removed while sanding. The lower windows are clear, as they were in the Frog kit, but here the vertical dimension is even less. The solution is quite simple though. Just cut out the window openings to the proper size and install pieces of clear plastic stock. The kit inherits some problems of the Frog kit. Among these are the oversized D-shaped opening in the rudder, the bubble-like fairing between the main gear, the rounded tip of the vertical tail, and the incorrectly shaped windscreen. The strut on the tail wheel is also too wide, and this too carries forward from the Frog kit. But all of these are relatively easy to overcome. The advantages of this kit are noteworthy, and include gun openings in the leading edge of the wings, the small fairings under the wings for the guns, and the blister on top of the wings at the wing fold. They are a bit oversized, but some light sanding will fix this. It is a lot easier than trying to add them because they were omitted as in other kits. Wing tip lights also need to be sanded down a bit. Other detailing on the kit includes flap and aileron hinges. As with the Frog kit, two external fuel tanks are included. The overall shape of the kit looks good except thatthe fuselage seems a little too wide from the cockpit forward. Detailing is required in thecockpitas itis in all Wildcat kits, and most modelers will want to do some work on the engine. The engine is separate with the correct number of cylinders, but they are merely conical in shape with rings around them representing cooling vanes.

The Academy/Minicraft 1/72nd scale kit is the newest model of the Wildcat in any scale. This model carries the markings of the Marine Corp's leading ace, Joseph Foss.

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Decals are from Scale-Master and include four star, disc, and bar national insignias, two 4s for the tail, and two smaller4s forthe cowl. The aircraft is to be finished in the dark gull gray over white scheme if these markings are used. Minicraft is developing some of their own kits that are not based on other kits. Others, like this one of the Wildcat, have their roots with previously issued kits. But the goal of Minicraft is to provide good kits at reasonable prices. All Wildcat kits, including this one, need some work and detailing, but this is a good kit that can be built into a nice looking model.

1/48th SCALE KIT Monogram F4F Wildcat, Kit Numbers P-66, PA-66, and 6798 The best way to describe th is kit is that it is a hybrid of different versions of the Wildcat. Beginning with the front and working back, the propeller itself combines the blades of the prop used on the FM-2 with the hub used on earlier versions. The engine is the nine-cylinder Wright R-1820 of the XF4F-8 and the FM-2. The combustion air scoop atthe top of the cowl is present, and it was not used on the FM-2, but was on most other variants. The cowl flaps are the arrangement used on late F4F-3s and F4F4s, having the three up and one down on each side. The four-gun arrangement of the F4F-3, FM-1, and FM-2 is represented under the wings, but there are no holes for them in the leading edges of the wings. The wings are the fold ing type as used on the F4F-4 and later versions, and the vertical tai I is the sho rt type used on all ai rcraft except the XF4F-8 and FM-2. What all of this means is that no matter what version of the Wildcat you want to build, you have to do a conversion to get it right. There is not enough space available here to explain how to do each conversion, but we have included Ron Hillbury's detailed explanation on how to build an F4F-3. His article is informative, and points up many of the things one must do to the kit in order to build any version of the Wildcat. The rest of this review will deal with the kit as it comes in the box. Like several other Monogram kits from the late fifties and early sixties, including the Hellcat, Helldiver, and Avenger, this Wildcat kit features operating folding wing:;. This of course takes away from the accuracy and detail, so the serious modeler will want to build the wings either folded or extended, and leave them that way. The simpler sol ution is to build them extended, because if they are built in the folded position, much detail work and scratch building will be required at the hinge. There is no cockpit interior except for a pilot that attaches to the rear bulkhead. A 1/48th scale model certainly deserves a detailed cockpit, so a lot of scratch work will be needed here as well as in the main gear compartment. Using the photographs and drawings on pages 10 and 11, the main gear can be completely rebuilt if desi red. The most obvious problem is with the wheels themselves.

They have a hole all the way through the hubs, making the spoke cover hard to represent. The hole must be filled on one side, then sanded smooth to represent the cover. The alternative is to use a substitute wheel, as Ron Hillbury recommends. The reason that Monogram had the hole go all the way through the wheel was so that the axle part of the gear strut could extend through and be melted down on the outside. In this way they provided rolling wheels, and this is just one more of those working features that detracts from a model's realism. But these features are mostly a thing of the past, and are not usually found on the majority of today's higher quality models. The canopy is clear and well formed. It can easily be used as a vacu-form mold, and the resulting vacu-formed canopy can be displayed in the open position. Simply cutting open the kit canopy will not work, since it is too thick to fit over the spine of the fuselage behind the cockpit. The kit is molded in blue plastic, and scribing is raised except for control su rfaces and cowl flaps. The surfaces are covered with rivets, but they are lightly done and easily removed. Decals include four star, disc, and bar national insignias, two white 5s for the fuselage, and two smaller 5s for the cowling. Two wing walkways are also provided in the form of decals. These markings are intended for a Wildcat that is painted in the blue-gray over light gray scheme. The important thing is that the kit is basically accurate in shape and outline. The rest is up to the modeler. With extensive detailing required by a 1/48th scale kit, there is a lot of work to do providing the details that Monogram left out. The other thing that is up to the modeler is to choose the type of Wildcat he wants to build, then delete the incorrect features and add the correct ones as necessary. If these two things are done, the resulting model can be quite impressive. For collectors, the kit is listed between twelve and seventeen dollars.

Burl Burlingame of Honolulu, Hawaii, also converted a Monogram 1/48th scale Wildcat kit to an F4F-3 and entered it in the contest at the 1986 IPMS National Convention. It is painted in the colorful pre-war scheme.

Another conversion to the Monogram kit was done by the author. This model was built to represent an FM-2 from the USS HOGGATT BA Y, CVE-75. An unusual feature of the markings on this particular FM-2 was that insignia blue discs for the national insignias were used on the sea blue paint scheme. These may be hard to see in the photo, but they are there. The blue outline has been removed where the fuselage insignias cross one of the two white stripes. Note: Ron Hillbury converted the Monogram 1/48th scale Wildcat to an F4F-3 and entered it in the 1986 IPMS National Convention Contest. Detail & Scale was so impressed with Ron's model that we asked him to write about the conversion and his work on the model. The following is what Ron had to say.

This is Ron Hillbury's excellent F4F-3 conversion of the Monogram kit in 1/48th scale. It is shown at the IPMS National Convention at Sacramento, California, in 1986. Ron's informative text tells how the conversion was done.

The range of Wildcat kits in 1/72nd scale runs the gamut from early Grumman variants to the FM-2 built by General Motors. But in 1/48th scale, there is just one kit available, and that is the somewhat ancient Monogram

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offering. The model is offered as an "F4F Wildcat", when it actually is a combination of the F4F-4, the FM-1, and a few features of the dash three and the FM-2. Building the model as a dash four or FM-1 is not a major task, because just a few details need to be taken care of. But if you want to bui Id an FM-2, you will have to do a major conversion of the first magnitude. The conversion to a dash three is a little easier, but, in my opinion, it is still a major job. While reading the excellent book The First Team, which is on the early days of the war in the Pacific, I learned more about Butch O'Hare. After finishing the book, I was determined to build a 1/48th scale model of the ai rcraft he was flyi ng on February 20, 1942, when he took on a flight of Betty bombers and destroyed five in one sortie. This action not only made him the Navy's first ace in World War II, it also earned him the Medal of Honor. The only problem with my project was that there were no dash three models available in "my scale." My only choice was a conversion to the Monogram kit. Having the correct side number, markings, and BuNo for O'Hare's aircraft from The First Team, I now needed more information on early Wildcats. I can say without reservation that Grumman's History Office is the finest source of information available. A single letter brought more than five separate mail ings that included blueprints of the landing gear mechanism and 8 x 10 glossy prints of many F4F-3 details. Grumman was just fantastic! I was now ready for the job at hand. Here are the major, and a few of the minor, things that one must do to convert the Monogram Wildcat to a correct F4F-3. First, sand off all of the rivets and remove all external blisters. Remove the tail wheel and its shroud and the arresting hook. Open the windows in the bottom of the fuselage as indicated by scribed lines, then remove the exhaust stu bs. Put the sparse kit-provided cockpit and the wheels in your spare box. While you are shaving off those teacup-sized rivets, it would be a good time to thin all exposed cockpit panels to nearly scale thickness, and then remove the incorrect nine-cylinder Wright R-1820 eng ine. When doing this, be sure to trim all the way to the front of the cowling, and open up the combustion air scoop on top of the cowl. Next, cut away the control surfaces and prepare them for reattachment just before painting. You should be aware that moving the rudder, elevators, and ailerons presents no problems. A minimum of filling is required. The next step is to cut away the center section of the wing assembly, being sure to leave enough wing to glue to the fuselage. Cut the bottom of the wing assembly to match the upper section. Now, brace the interior of the wing root assembly and the folding portion of the wing with thirty thousandth stock so you have a rigid surface for the next step. You now have to glue the entire wing assembly together. Remember, the dash three had rigid (non-folding) wings. Fill, and I mean fill! The fit is not the best. A perfectly smooth joi nt here is critical to success later on. Also take care to seal yourfilling material as well

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as you can. It will have to take scribing and a star wheel later on without fracturing. The Wildcat had no floor in the cockpit. The pilot had his heels in the runners that sat nearly on top of the fuel tank. Take a tank from a Monogram P-15D. With a bit of shaping it fits very well. It should be painted a medium gray. The rudder pedals were suspended from a bar that ran across the cockpit. Scratchbuild both, then build the side panels, seat, the armorplate behind the pilot, the throttle quadrant, and the landing gear handle. Scratchbuild the gunsight too. You can use the one from the Monogram P-35 as a base. Also, when you put in the seat belts, remember that it is belts only. Harnesses were not used until June 1942. Finish the cockpit in interior green, and use as many Waldron pieces as you can for the smaller details. You can use pieces from the P-47, F4U, P-51, as well as the Radio Faces and Cockpit Placards sets. But remember that you are trying to build just a replica and not a perfect scale reproduction of the real thing. In a quarter scale cockpit it may be best to use one control rod to represent four. You don't want to fill the cockpit with so much plastic that you can't see anything else. And remember, there wasn't all that much in that cockpit anyway. After you finish the cockpit, fill it with tissue and join the fuselage halves. At this time you will need to build the bulkhead just aft of the openings for the wheels. Detail the bulkhead with model railroad fittings, and represent the chains and sprockets of the landing gearsystem. You will need to build the major longitudinal I-beam at the base of the fuselage and add the structural members and various hoses and fittings inside the gear area. Next, build a similar forward bulkhead and detail in the same manner as the aft bulkhead. You can toss out all of the gear struts except the mains, and those will have to be trimmed down in diameter by about a third. The kit-supplied struts, with all of thei r attachments for the kit gear, have to be trimmed and filed to shape. All the supporting framework and lower gear doors must be built from scratch. I used stretched sprue, metal rod, sheet brass, and sheet styrene. Add the wheels from the beaching gearofthe Monogram OS2U-3 Kingfisher. They are a perfect fit, and look like thewheels used on the Wildcat. The tail wheel also came from the OS2U-3,and the shroud was formed from sheet brass. At this time you need to add a triangular fillet underneath each wing. This will also fill any gaps under the wing area. The dash three I was modeling had only onecowlflap on each side. Use your favorite filling material to fill the unneeded flap areas. Also, replace the exhaust stubs with scratchbu ilt ones from either sprue, plastic, or metal tubing. I used the Pratt & Whitney engine from the Monogram TBD-1. The only differences between this engine and the engine in the Wildcat are internal. You will need to add some push rods and spark plug wires as well as some model railroading parts for details. You may also have to

do some trimming on the rocker arm covers of the TBD-1 engine if you did not do a good enough job trimming the cowl earlier. You will also have to add the cheek intakes, and these are best made from brass sheet. The propeller is a major job. First, remove the Hamilton Standard blades. The dash three used a Curtiss Electric propeller. You will have to build new blades and cuffs from scratch. I used a Curtiss prop from an Otaki P-47, and cut the blades from the cuffs. I then reshaped the cuffs to the proper size and shape, and then set them aside. The P-47 blades then have to be shortened and reshaped prior to remating them to the cuffs. The newlymade cuffs and blades are then glued to the hub from the original kit. New blisters for the four machine guns were cut from sprue, as were the blisters covering the flap hinges. You will also have to fashion a long blister just ahead of the main gear openings, and add the long pitot boom to the leading edge of the left wing. The oil coolers under the wings were made by vacu-forming them over British bombs in 1/32nd scale that I found in the spares box. Hinges for the elevators were fashioned from wire and added to the kit. A vacu-formed canopy and windscreen, an antenna mast with wire, and recognition lights finished the basic construction. Humbrol paint was used forthe finish, and weathering consisted of many techniques. After the paint was totally cured, I took off a good deal of the thickness of the heavily-pigmented Humbrol paint with a "rub down" of Dio-Sol. If done quickly and with care, you will keep the color and lose a great deal of the thickness of the paint. This provides an excellent base for the gloss coat. Decals were all Microscale which were finished with Solvaset. The victory markings and the VF-3 insignia were 1/72nd scale which fit in 1/48th much better. Oils and washes were used to highlight panel lines, and the final weathering was done with pastels. The model was placed on a simulated carrier deck which was mounted inside a picture frame. It was all set off with a nameplate and a set of Naval Aviators wings. After some major modifications and a great deal many minor ones, you will end up with an excellent replica of the early F4F-3 as flown by Butch O'Hare and the rest of the pilots on the USS LEXINGTON, CV-2, as well as the Marine pilots on Wake Island and many other Naval Aviators in the Pacific. You should remember that the original Monogram kit is a collection of many Wildcat features, and if built from the box without any modifications, it will not accurately represent any Wildcat variant.

1/32nd SCALE KIT Revell F4F-4, Kit Number H-299 and 4447 In our estimation, this is far and away the best Wildcat kit in any scale. The original kit, H-299, was released in 1969, and, for that time frame, the kit is state-of-the-art,

representing all details as completely and accurately as possible in molded plastic. The landing gear is fairly complete and basically accurate. It can be enhanced with the addition of smaller parts and brake lines. The landing gear compartment has the sprockets and chains molded on them, but these would look better if replaced with ones that are scratch built. The compartment could use a lot of detailing. It would be a shame to build the model with the gear up, but this option is provided in the kit. The landing gear compartment is not the only place that the modeler can exercise his detailing skills. The engine forms a good basis for the model, but the addition of spark plug lines and other smaller details will improve its appearance. Removable side panels will reveal the added detail. The cheek scoops need to be reworked, because the plastic is too thick and the scoops are not wide enough as supplied in the kit. The combustion air scoop needs to be opened up. The cockpit is about as well done as it could be in molded plastic, but, using smaller metal parts, wire, and plastic scrap pieces, the cockpit offers a great many possibilities and a lot of room to work. But even built out of the box, Revell is to be complimented for doing an outstanding job representing the landing gear, engine, and cockpit in molded plastic. The wings are designed to fold, and this is one of the rare cases where an operating feature is very well done. While we would still not recommend building the model so that the wing fold operates, Revell has provided more than the basics for building it with the wings in the folded position. With some work and detailing, the wing fold joint can be made to look completely realistic. The model is molded in blue-gray plastic, and the raised scribing is finely detailed and generally accurate. There are those rivets that seem to be present on so many

The largest Wildcat model is the 1/32nd scale F4F-4 from Revell. It is an old kit, but has a lotof nice features. It lends itself very well to super-detailing. This model was converted to an F4F-3 with non-folding wings, four guns. and long pitot tube on the leading edge of the left wing. It represents an aircraft flown by Butch O'Hare.

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Wildcat models, and these should be removed. The clear parts are excellent, and include a two-piece canopy and the lower windows. The original issue, H-299, had decals that included four national insignias of the red disc, inside a white star, inside of a blue disc style. Thirteen alternating red and white stripes are provided for each side of the rudder, and the name LCDR J.S. THACH is in white. Below it are three kill markings. The kit has more recently been released in Revell's Smithsonian Series. It comes with markings for the FM-1 that is now on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It is coded E 10, and has six national insignia. These are the white star inside a blue disc type, and have no red disc in the center. Small 10s are provided for the cowling, and intermediate sized 10s are included for the tops of the wings. All small stenciling, as now seen on the Smithsonian's aircraft, is also on the decal sheet. These markings are based on an FM-1 that served on the escort carrier USS BRETON, CVE-23, during World War II. The only problem here is that the FM-1 only had four guns, and not the six as represented in the kit. Regardless of issue, this is an excellent kit, particularly when you consider that it will soon be twenty years since it was first released. It allows a modeler to do extensive detailing and test his modeling skills. Not only can existing features, like the cockpit, engine, the landing gear and its compartment, and wing fold be detailed, but the gun bays can be opened and detailed as well. Built out of the box or super detailed, this is a kit we highly recommend. For the collector, the original issue, H-299, is now worth from ten to fifteen dollars.

DECALS Note: There are only two decal sheets available for the Wildcat other than those provided in the kits. Therefore we are not following our usual format of providing a complete decal listing. Instead, we have covered all ofthe kit decals in the reviews of the kits. The two after-market sheets are reviewed below. The lack of decals for the Wildcat does not really cause much of a problem. For the most part, Wildcat markings consisted of various styles of national insignia, code numbers and letters in black or white, and kill markings. All of these are available rather readily on both kit and after-market sheets. Decals for the Hellcat in particular, and to a lesser extent the F4U Corsair, provide markings that can be used for the Wildcat.

build using these stripe decals is Lex DuPont's FM-2 that has these rudder stri pes! If you build a correct F4F-3, you must paint the stripes on by hand, and, quite frankly, they will look much better painted than they would as decals. Six aircraft are included on this sheet. All are in the blue-gray over light gray scheme. They include th" following: *

* * * * *

F4F-3, F-13, from VF-3, flown by Butch O'Hare at the Battle of Coral Sea, with five kill markings F4F-3, F-1, from VF-3, flown by John S. Thach at the Battle of Coral Sea, with three kill markings F4F-3, M F-1, from VM F-224, flown by Robert E. Galer at Guadalcanal, with thirteen kill markings F4F-3, number 8, from VMF-212, flown by Harold W. Bauer at Guadalcanal F4F-4, number 53, from VMF-121, flown by Joseph Foss at Guadalcanal F4F-4, F-13, flown by Marion E. Carl at Guadalcanal.

Galer's aircraft had a red stripe around the fuselage that passed under the national insignias. This stripe is provided on the sheet, and is shown on the instruction sheet if you know what you are looking for. However, no note points it out, so it is easily missed. Be sureto use it if you build this model. The instructions say that Carl's aircraft had a top color of dark gray. It should be the same standard blue-gray like the rest of the aircraft on the sheet.

Microscale Sheet Number 32-12 This sheet is designed for the Revell 1/32nd scale Wi Idcat, and provides markings for five ai rcraft. All but one of them are F4F-3s, and not the F4F-4 that the kit represents. Yet there is nothing on the decal sheet to explain that a major conversion is necessary if these markings are to be used. We did this conversion on our 1/32nd scale kit, and it was quite a job. Changing the wing from the folding to the rigid type took several days of work. If you buy this sheet, be prepared to use only the markings for the VF-41 aircraft, or be ready for a lot of conversion work. The sheet's instructions show only nine red and white rudder stripes instead of the correct thirteen. Markings are provided for the following aircraft, and all are in the blue-gray over light gray scheme: * F4F-3P, 251 M05, from VMO-251, with flying octo-

pus insignia on fuselage * F4F-3, MF-1, from VMF-224, flown by Robert E.

Galer, at Guadalcanal * F4F-3, number 2, from VMF-223, flown by Marion

Microscale Sheet Number 72-287 The problem with this sheet is that it was designed to fit the Airfix 1172nd scale kit which is an FM-2 and not a F4F. This means that the red and white rudder stripes supplied for two of the aircraft will not fit one of the 1172nd scale F4F kits. So about the only model you can

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E. Carl, with nineteen kill markings * F4F-4, 41-F-8, from VF-41

F4F-3, F-13, from VF-3, flown by Butch O'Hare at the Battle of Coral Sea, with five kill markings General small stencil markings are provided for the aircraft and the propeller. *