Warbird Information Exchange

I caught a episode of "Dogfights" this past weekend, of the F4F Wildcat battles over Guadalcanal.

Before this show I guess my opinion of the Wildcat overall was pretty low . Mainly due to the performance and esthitics of other types that apeared later in the war. But the show kinda openned my eyes to this overshadowed type.

For those of you who have piloted the F4F Wildcat, I'm curious to know your opinion of the type as a combat fighter and it's capabilities?

Thanks

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Ray Chalker who flew John Dimmer's F4F-3 and his FM-2 said the 2 a/c are like night and day. He said the FM-2 will run circles around the F4F and he'd never want to fight in the F4F. I don't think there are many pilots around current on both types.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Well, I don't know if he has flown the F4F-3, but he has significant time in both the FM-2 and the Zero. If anyone knows the strengths and weakness of each type, I venture this pilot can expound...... I hand the mike over to .......drum roll please,....... Randy Wilson. (You're Welcome, Randy!) Alan

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Just call me Al.

I have not flown the Wildcat, would like to. Howard Pardue is the most experienced one I know in it. I have watched a airshow combat between two top pilots, one in my Spitfire and one in a Wildcat( don't know the model but it has a bigger than stock engine). Remember it was a spirited display, not all out. I expected a big difference in climb, but the major differnce was whenever the noses were pointed down the Spit would very quickly and promptly close on the Wiidcat.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

i've certainly never flown the wildcat, but with every thing i've read over the years the detriments of it have been more than aknowledged, but it was never slammed as a bad performer. yes, slow, yes not nimble, but yes it could take the damage from combat, & deliver the fire power. i think the thache weave combat manuever pioneered by jimmy thache extended the life of the f4f for the duration of the war, otherwise i think it would have been retired early on, thache just tweaked a little more out of it to make it a war horse.

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

I seem to remember that the FM-2 was the GM equivalent of the F4F-8, so I should suspect that a lot of improvements had happened in the intervening period. Interesting to hear this though.

Cheers. Richard

The F4F and the FM-2 are like night and day. The FM-2 has the Wright engine, 4 .50s, a bit light and a has a taller vertical. In 1945 they were taking on Franks, Georges and Jacks and beating them!
Bill, most of the Wildcats you see (all except 1) are FM-2s.

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Don't touch my junk!!

Alan - you catch me at the end of a very long day, so I'll have to continue this when I'm less tired. Yes, I have about 200+ hours in FM-2s and over 100+ in the CAF A6M2, with simulated combat against each other from both cockpits. However, as noted by others in this thread, the F4F and FM-2 were quite different, the FM-2 being even called the "Wilder Wildcat" by some.

Another point to remember were the differences in both engines and weight between the F4F-3, F4F-3A and F4F-4. The addition of folding wings in the F4F-4 added significant weight and was not liked by many who had flown the lighter fixed wing F4F-3 variants, however, in the long run, it allowed more Wildcats to be carried on the US carriers and that seems to have been a significant factor in the long run. The F4F-3A had, if I remember off the top of my head, a single-stage (or speed, sorry, tired) supercharger compared to the -3, which limited power at altitude.

There may be some with significant recent time in a real F4F-3 or F4F-4 that can comment on the performance vs. the FM-2, but I can't. More later perhaps.

As for FM-2 vs. A6M2, I'd rather be in the FM-2 - flown correctly, it was the better and much more survivable fighter but of course, by the time the FM-2 became available, the A6M2 was showing its age. My 2 cents.

Randy

In "Flights of Passage" by Samuel Hynes, a World War II Marine aviator who flew TBMs in VMSB-232 from Okinawa, describes getting the opportunity to fly the Wildcat and Hellcat. He thought the Hellcat was "boring....efficient enough but without any character" and that the Wildcat was "marvelous...simple, maneuverable, and delicately responsive to the controls....the Wildcat was like a toy designed especially to please pilots"

Granted, Hynes didn't have to go into combat with either plane, but based strictly on their flight characteristics, the Wildcat was the more "fun" plane to fly.

Thanks Randy for your input along with everyone else. It's refreshing as well as exciting to rediscover a previously dismissed type and learn more about it.

I guess my impression of the Wildcat was that it was a under armed, under powered Pig of an airplane. Glad to be wrong.

I didn't realize that most Wildcats out there are FM-2s. I went looking through my pictures to see if I had any pictures of a Wildcat and this is what I came up with:

Can anyone tell which type of Wildcat it is? Who's it is? Also are there outward designators to tell a F4F from FM-2?


Taken at NAS Norfolk
Thanks

Shay
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Semper Fortis

Its a FM-2 as the F-4F's have an air intake on top of the nose bowl.
Me thinks....

Lynn

I always liked the plane...thought it had character, and it and the P-40 got us through those dark early days of the war....watching Howard fly one convinces you it COULD get up and move when it needed to, and the survivability was definitely an asset. If nothing else it deserves respect for the job it did-capably, if not exceptionally-and in doing so managed to rack up an 8 to 1 kill ratio...

Mark

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Mark Morris

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-Bill
B-17E 41-2595 "Desert Rat" Restoration Team

Nice Bill

Any thought as to who's Wildcat this is?

Shay
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Semper Fortis

nevermind I think I found it:

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/f4fregistry/f4f-47030.html

Shay
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Semper Fortis