Special thanks to the Olympic Flight Museum, Olympia Regional
Airport, Olympia (WA):
The Specs
Wing Span: 38 feet
Length: 28 feet, 9 inches
Maximum Weight: 7,950 lb.
Performance: Pratt & Whitney R-1830-36 Twin Wasp, 1200hp
14-cyl.
Top Speed: 318 mph
Range: 770 miles
Ceiling: 39,500 feet
Rate of Climb: 1950 feet per minute
Armament: Six 12.7-mm (0.50 in) Browning machine guns (FM-2
had four guns); two 100-lb bombs (FM-2 could carry two 250-lb
bombs).
Pre-WWII History
In 1936, the US Navy
submitted its requirement for new carrier-based, monoplane fighter
to the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation for its XF2A-1
"Buffalo." Skeptical of its performance, the Navy allowed a
single prototype of the Grumman's competing biplane design, the
XF4F-1. The biplane prototype proposal was superseded by an
order for a prototype Grumman monoplane fighter, the XF4F-2, on
July 28, 1938." It had a maximum speed of 290 mph.
In a 1938 "fly-off" evaluation, the Grumman XF4F-2, with a Pratt
& Whitney 1,050-hp R-1830-66 Twin Wasp engine,
outperformed the Sversky XFN-1. It proved to be slightly
faster than the Brewster "Buffalo." On June 11, 1938, the US
Navy ordered the XF4F-2 into production. In March 1939, the
prototype was modified as the XF4F-3, which included installation
of the more powerful Twin Wasp XR-1830-76, increased wing span and
area, redesigned tail surfaces and modified machine gun
mounts. The XF4F-3 featured good handling characteristics and
pushed a maximum speed of 335 mph at 21,300 feet. On August
8, 1939, the Navy ordered 78 F4F-3s into production.
With war ragging in Europe, the F4F-3 was exported to the Greek,
French, and British governments. The British ordered 90, and
the first reach the United Kingdom in July 1940 and were designated
the Martlet Mk I.
The British Martlet Mk I, holds the distinction of being the
first US-built fighters in service to destroy enemy aircraft.
On September 20, 1939, a naval pilot from HMS Audacity shot down a
four-engined Focke-Wulf 200 Condor near Gibraltar. Later
exports included the folding-wing Martlet Mk II serving with the
Fleet Air Arm; the F4F-4As and the Greek G-36A aircraft (Martlet Mk
III); and the Lend Lease Act Martlet Mk IV (F4F-B with a Wright
R-1820 Cyclone engine). By March 1944, these aircraft were
re-designated as "Wildcats" to ensure standardization among British
and US aircraft.
The US Navy's first F4F-3 flew on August 20, 1940. 95 were
ordered with the R-1830-90, single-stage supercharged engine with
deliveries occurring in 1941. The name "Wildcat" was
introduced in service on October 1, 1941. Based on combat
experience of the British export Martlet, the XF4F-4 was introduced
with a six-gun armament, folding wings, self-sealing tanks, and
armor. Delivery of the F4F-4 began in November
1941.
WWII History
At the outbreak of war
in the Pacific, the Wildcat held the line as the American fighter
pitted against the agile Japanese Zero. In the early dark
hours of Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, the Battle of the Coral Sea,
and at Guadalcanal, the Wildcat delivered the crucial
punches. It never out-performed the Zero, but it won battle
after battle between 1942 and 1943 against an seemingly unbeatable
Japanese enemy. When the initial smoke cleared from those
battles, the tide of the war turned in favor of an Allied
victory.
Serving initially aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6),
USS Hornet (CV-12), and USS Saratoga (CV-3), the
Wildcats fought the significant early battles of the Coral Sea and
Midway, and operations at Guadalcanal. The Wildcats held the
operational center of actions throughout the Pacific until the
American industrial arm introduced more advanced aircraft in
1943. The Wildcats also saw action with the US Navy in the
Mediterranean region in late 1942.
The Wildcat became the stuff of legend during the early years of
the war. At Midway, Lt. Commander John S. Thach, squadron
VF-3 form the USS Yorktown introduced a criss-cross
dogfighting tactic that compensated for the Wildcat's lack of
maneuverability--it became the "Thach Weave" . Lt. Commander
Thach won the Medal of Honor. At Guadalcanal, Major John L.
Smith's VMF-223 'Rainbow" Squadron operated from Henderson Field
and provided ground support as well as aerial intercept
operations. On August 24, 1942, VMF-223 pilots, accompanied
by five USAAF P-39 Airacobras intercept a Japanese flight of 15
bombers and 12 fighters. 10 Japanese bombers and six Japanese
fighters were shot down. Major Smith became the third Wildcat
pilot to earn the Medal of Honor.
The wingman was crucial for survival. In a dogfight, the a
pilot depended on his wingman to shoot an enemy pilot of his
tail. Those fighting alone didn't last long. However,
Major John Smith proved an exception and is credited with downing
19 Japanese aircraft and Major Marion Carl with 18.5 aerial
victories.
On February 20, 1942,
the USS Lexington was approximately 400 miles from its
destination of Rabaul Harbor in the Solomon Islands when the
aircraft carrier was spotted by enemy patrols. Six Wildcats roared
off the USS Lexington to intercept the enemy bombers. Lt.
O'Hare and his wingman picked up the formation of enemy fighters
closing in on the Lexington and immediately ordered an attack.
Within moments, his wingman's guns jammed, and alone, Lt. O'Hare
attacked the enemy formation head-on. He attacked the last
plane in the V formation and knocked an engine out of it's
mounting. Thereafter, he systematically attacked each
remaining aircraft despite the concentrated tracer fire from the
enemy bombers. Lt. O'Hare received the U.S. Congressional Medal of
Honor. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the mission that
saved the Lexington, "one of the most daring, if not the
most daring, single action in the history of combat aviation."
As Naval and Marine pilots honed their aerial combat skill, they
learned never to dogfight with the more agile Zero. Instead,
Wildcat pilots sought to break through a flight of enemy bombers
directly. This could force Zero pilots to overshoot giving
the Wildcat pilot an edge in breaking though enemy bomber
formations. As a result, Wildcat pilots were able to down
enemy bombers before the Zeros could pounce on them. The
Wildcat hit-and-run tactics forced Zero pilots to waste fuel.
Before VJ day, 7,815 Wildcats were built, most by the Eastern
Division of General Motors Corporation. The final production
built was the F4F-7 with increased fuel capacity as a long-rang
reconnaissance aircraft. With the concentration to
develop the more powerful and advance Grumman F6F "Hellcat,"
Grumman negotiated with General Motors to continue production of
the Wildcat under the designation FM-1. The General Motors
Eastern Division first aircraft flew on August 31, 1942. A
total of 1,151 were produced, of which 312 were supplied to the
United Kingdom as the Martlet MV. General Motors was working
on an improved FM-2 version (two XF4F-8 prototypes) with a 1,350 hp
Wright R1820-56 Cyclone 9 radial engine and a larger vertical
tail. A total of 4,777 FM-2s were built, of which 370 were
supplied to the UK as the Wildcat Mk VI.