Grumman F4F Wildcat
[2] First used by the British in the North Atlantic, the Wildcat was the only effective fighter available to the United States Navy and Marine Corps in the Pacific Theater during the early part of the Second World War.[11] After losing out to Brewster, Grumman completely rebuilt the prototype as the XF4F-3 with new wings and tail and a supercharged version of the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp" radial engine.[16][page needed] In the European theater, its first combat victory was on Christmas Day 1940, when a land-based Martlet destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 bomber over the Scapa Flow naval base.[18] Six Martlets went to sea aboard the converted former German merchant vessel HMS Audacity in September 1941 and shot down several Luftwaffe Fw 200 Condor bombers during highly effective convoy escort operations.Twenty eight Wildcat VI aircraft from 846, 853 and 882 Naval Air Squadron, flying from escort carriers, took part in an attack on a U-boat depot near Harstad, Norway.(However, the Zed Baker was wildly inconsistent in practice, especially during the Battle of Midway, when an entire squadron of Wildcats crashed in the sea after failing to locate their carriers).[26] After analyzing Fleet Air Tactical Unit Intelligence Bureau reports describing the new carrier fighter, USN Commander "Jimmy" Thach devised a defensive tactic that allowed Wildcat formations to act in a coordinated maneuver to counter a diving attack, called the "Thach Weave".[27] The most widely employed tactic during the Guadalcanal Campaign was high-altitude ambush, where hit-and-run maneuvers were executed using altitude advantage.The F4F airplane is pitifully inferior in climb, maneuverability and speed.Four U.S. Marine Corps Wildcats played a prominent role in the defense of Wake Island in December 1941.[11] It was not until 1943 that more advanced naval fighters capable of taking on the Zero on more even terms, the Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair, reached the South Pacific theater.The Japanese ace Saburō Sakai described the Wildcat's capacity to absorb damage: I had full confidence in my ability to destroy the Grumman and decided to finish off the enemy fighter with only my 7.7 mm machine guns.Production later switched to the improved FM-2 (based on Grumman's XF4F-8 prototype, informally known as the "Wilder Wildcat") optimized for small-carrier operations, with a more powerful engine and a taller tail to cope with the increased torque.[24] From 1943, Wildcats equipped with bomb racks were primarily assigned to escort carriers for use against submarines and attacking ground targets, though they would also continue to score kills against Japanese fighters, bombers and kamikaze aircraft.Larger fighters such as the Hellcat and the Corsair and dive bombers were needed aboard fleet carriers and the Wildcat's slower landing speed made it more suitable for shorter flight decks.This design was still not competitive with the Brewster F2A Buffalo which won initial U.S. Navy orders, but when the F4F-3 development was fitted with a more powerful version of the engine, a Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp R-1830-76, featuring a two-stage supercharger, it showed its true potential.These aircraft, designated by Grumman as G-36A, had a different cowling from other earlier F4Fs and fixed wings, and were intended to be fitted with French armament and instruments following delivery.[38][N 4] An F4F-3 flown by Lieutenant Edward O'Hare shot down, within a few minutes, five Mitsubishi twin-engine bombers attacking Lexington off Bougainville on 20 February 1942.[41] The F4F-3Ps retained their machine guns and were mainly flown by VMO-251 on air defense missions from Espiritu Santo in the South Pacific, arriving in July 1942.[42] In October 1942, long-ranged and unarmed F4F-7s began replacing the F4F-3Ps, but a detachment of three F4F-3P from VMO-155 operated from the Bogue-class escort carrier USS Nassau (CVE-16) during the amphibious invasion of Attu Island in May 1943.[43] Boston, MA, USA: Little, Brown and Co./Atlantic Monthly Press [42][44] This floatplane version of the F4F-3 was developed for use at forward island bases in the Pacific, before the construction of airfields.VF-42 of the Yorktown was the last carrier group converted to the F4F-4, and that was done as it left Pearl Harbor on the way to the Battle of Midway as VF-3 flew in new F4F-4s with Commander Thach.[49] The F4F-4 version was less popular with American pilots because the same amount of ammunition was spread over two additional guns, decreasing firing time.[32] At first, GM produced the FM-1, identical to the F4F-4, but reduced the number of guns to four, and added wing racks for two 250 lb (110 kg) bombs or six rockets.Production later switched to the improved FM-2 (based on Grumman's XF4F-8 prototype) optimized for small-carrier operations, with a more powerful engine (the 1,350 hp (1,010 kW) Wright R-1820-56), and a taller tail to cope with the torque.The Martlet Mk I did not have a wing folding mechanism and was therefore used primarily from land bases, with the notable exception of six aircraft of 882 Sqn aboard Illustrious from March 1942.The FAA decided to accept a delay in delivery to get Martlets fitted out with the Grumman-designed and patented Sto-Wing folding wing system first fitted onto U.S. Navy F4F-4 Wildcats,[47] which were vitally important if the Martlet was to be used from the first 3 Illustrious class carriers which had elevators that were too narrow to accommodate non-folding wing aircraft.For carrier operations, the "sting" tail hook and attachment point for the American single-point catapult launch system were considered important advantages.[58] The Martlet was the second single-seat, monoplane fighter to operate from Royal Navy aircraft carriers following the introduction of the Sea Hurricane IB on HMS Furious in July 1941.The main difference was the use of a Wright R-1820-40B Cyclone in a distinctly more rounded and compact cowling, with a single double-wide flap on each side of the rear and no lip intake.Data from The American Fighter [63]General characteristics Performance Armament Related development Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
Carrier-basedfighter aircraftManufacturerGrummanGeneral MotorsUnited States NavyUnited States Marine CorpsRoyal NavyRoyal Canadian NavySecond World WarBrewster BuffaloMitsubishi A6M ZeroJohn "Jimmy" ThachclaimedF6F Hellcatescort carriersGrumman FFbiplanelanding gearfuselagemonoplaneBrewster F2A-1Grumman J2FGrover Loeningprop spinnerPratt & WhitneyR-1830 "Twin Wasp"Wright R-1820Martletinvasion stripesFleet Air ArmAnglo-French Purchasing BoardFairey FulmarSupermarine SpitfiresRoyal Air ForceChristmas DayJunkers Ju 88Scapa FlowHMS AudacityLuftwaffeFw 200 CondorConvoy HG 76Messerschmitt Bf 109sNorwayEric M. "Winkle" BrownOperation Judgement882 Naval Air SquadronHarstadGrumman AvengerMitsubishi ZeroPacific Theaterself-sealing fuel tanksCommander"Jimmy" ThachThach WeaveGuadalcanal CampaignCoastwatchersRabaulCactus Air ForceTainan KōkūtaiJames 'Pug' SoutherlandSaburō SakaiWake IslandBattle of Coral SeaBattle of MidwayGrumman F6F HellcatVought F4U CorsairkamikazeBattle off Samardestroyersdestroyer escortsAvengersYamatoOperation TorchOperation LeaderWright CycloneM2 Browning machine gunscowlingfolding wingsHellenic Air ForceLieutenantEdward O'HareLexingtonsuperchargersradial engineEnterpriseSaratogaKisaragiYorktownBattle of the Coral SeaZuikakuShōkakuShōhōVMO-251Espiritu SantoUSS Nassau (CVE-16)floatplaneEdo Aircraft CorporationtailplaneSeabeesSto-Wingfolding wingVMF-221Wright R-1820-40White PlainsJoffre-classaircraft carriersJoffrePainlevéWright R-1820-G205AinstrumentsgunsightDarne machine gunsBattle of FranceBlackburncatapult804 Naval Air SquadronHatstonOrkneyPratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C4-GIllustrious classAeroplane and Armament Experimental EstablishmentHMS FormidableSea HurricaneHMS FuriousFw 200