Brewster F2A "Buffalo" Fighters

The Brewster F2A, the U.S. Navy's first monoplane shipboard fighter, saw brief combat service during the first half-year of the Pacific War. Built in 1936-38, Brewster's XF2A-1 prototype bested the Grumman XF4F-2 in a competition to replace the Grumman F3F biplane fighter. A production contract for F2A-1 production aircraft followed in June 1938. Production difficulties, a continuing problem throughout the life of the Brewster company, delayed service introduction until late 1939, when F2A-1s began to join USS Saratoga's Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3). Only eleven of the fifty-four F2A-1s entered Navy service. The rest were modified and sold to Finland, where they served with considerable success against Soviet aircraft during 1941-44 and against the Germans in 1944-45. Other versions of the F2A were subsequently employed against the Japanese by the British Royal Air Force and the Netherlands East Indies Army Air Corps.

In 1940, deliveries began of 43 F2A-2 fighters, which had the 1200 horsepower Wright "Cyclone" engine in place of the F2A-1's 950 horsepower version, plus numerous other improvements. Eight F2A-1s were also rebuilt to F2A-2 standards. Initially serving with VF-3 and USS Lexington's VF-2, this model was a fast, nimble and well-armed fighting plane, though plagued (as were subsequent F2As) with an overly-delicate retractable landing gear and a maintenance-hungry powerplant.

The Navy ordered a final 108 Brewster fighters in January 1941. These F2A-3s featured a longer fuselage, increased fuel and ammunition capacity, additional armor and considerably greater weight. Range was better, but speed, maneuverability, climb rate and service ceiling were substantially degraded. By the beginning of the Pacific War, the F2A, by then also known by the popular name "Buffalo", was passing out of carrier squadron service in favor of the F4F-3. The "Buffalos" were transferred to the Marines, who assigned them to units defending Pacific island bases.

The Brewster fighter's only U.S. combat use, on 4 June 1942 during the Battle of Midway, dramatically showed the inferiority of the F2A-3 when confronted by the Japanese Navy's "Zero" carrier fighters and well-trained aviators. In a brief battle against greatly superior numbers, Midway Island's Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) lost thirteen of twenty F2A-3s. Soon after, the "Buffalo" was removed from combat units and assigned to advanced training duty. In that role, it helped new U.S. fighter pilots enhance their skills before they joined operational squadrons. The aging F2A-2s and F2A-3s remained in the trainng mission into 1943, and a few were still in service in 1944-45.

F2A-3 characteristics:
Dimensions: Wing Span, 35 feet; Length, 26 feet, 4 inches; Wing Area, 209 square feet.
Weights: Empty, 4894 pounds; Gross, 7253 pounds Powerplant: One 1200 horsepower Wright R-1820-40 radial engine.
Armament: Four .50 caliber machine guns (two firing forward through the engine cowling; one in each wing).
Performance (at gross weight): Maximum Speed, 320 m.p.h. (@ 14,500 feet).

Curtiss F9C "Sparrowhawk" Fighters --

As a result of their dramatic operations with the Navy's short-lived airships Akron (ZRS-4) and Macon (ZRS-5), the Curtiss F9C biplane fighters gained fame all out of proportion to their small number. The type originated with a May 1930 specification for a small aircraft carrier-based fighter. The resulting XF9C-1 (Bureau of Aeronautics serial # 8731) was built under a June 1930 contract and delivered in March 1931. Tested over the next several months, it showed good performance but was not particularly suitable for carrier use. However, the plane did have one significant feature: it was the only available combat airplane small enough to fit through the hangar door of the dirigible Akron, which was then nearing completion. Accordingly, the XF9C-1 was modified with a "skyhook" that would allow launching and recovery from the airship's "trapeze" airplane handling device. The plane first "landed" on the older airship Los Angeles (ZR-3) in October 1931 and subsequently was actively employed in developmental operations with the Akron.

The XF9C-1's successful new role resulted in the construction of seven modified versions, the XF9C-2 (Bureau # 9264) which was a 1931 private Curtiss project that was purchased by the Navy in November 1932, and the production F9C-2s (#s 9056-9061). The latter were built under an October 1931 contract and were the only "Sparrowhawks" that were suitable for operational, as opposed to experimental, use. The first of these was flown in April 1932 and began work with Akron late June. Further modifications resulted and all six F9C-2s were in Navy hands by September 1932. These planes worked with Akron until her loss on 4 April 1933. They were then transferred to the heavier-than-air unit of Macon, which was nearing completion. From late 1933 until early 1935 they were vigorously employed in efforts to demonstrate the dirigible's value as a unit of the United States Fleet. Beginning in mid-1934 they generally had their wheeled landing gear replaced with a "teardrop" fuel tank whenever they were based on board Macon, thus considerably improving their endurance, an important element in extending the strategic scouting reach of the airship-airplane team.

Unfortunately, this aspect of Naval aviation history abruptly ended when Macon crashed at sea on 12 February 1935. Four F9C-2s were lost with her. The two survivors (#s 9056 and 9057) were subsequently used in Fleet utility work. F9C-2 # 9057 was disposed of in 1937, but # 9056 remained in Navy service until 1940, when it was transferred to the Smithsonian Institution for preservation as a museum artifact. The XF9C-1 was surveyed in 1936 and the XF9C-2 was wrecked late in that same year.

F9C-2 characteristics:
Dimensions: Wing Span, 25.5 feet; Length, 21.1 feet; Wing Area, 185.4 square feet.
Weights: Empty, 2114 pounds; Gross, 2776 pounds Powerplant: One 400 horsepower Wright R-975-22 single-row radial engine.
Armament: Two .30 caliber fixed forward-firing machine guns.
Performance (at 2776 pounds): Maximum Speed, 176.5 miles per hour.

Grumman F3F Fighters

The Grumman F3F was a development of the F2F-1, featuring a longer fuselage and greater wingspan. The prototype XF3F-1 (Bureau # 9727) first flew in early 1935. It crashed in May of that year and was replaced with a second prototype, with the same serial number. Fifty-four production F3F-1 fighters (Bu#s 0211 through 0264) were delivered to the Navy in 1936, initially serving with USS Saratoga (CV-3) and USS Ranger (CV-4) fighting squadrons.

Featuring a more powerful engine for better performance, a larger engine cowling and a different cockpit canopy design, the prototype XF3F-2 (Bu# 0452) began Navy testing in January 1937. Eighty-one F3F-2 models were ordered (Bu#s 0967-1047). These initially equipped two Marine Corps fighting squadrons and that of USS Enterprise (CV-6) during 1938. One of these (Bu# 1031) became the XF3F-3. Twenty-seven F3F-3 fighters (Bu#s 1444-1470) were delivered in 1938-39, serving with Fighting Squadron Five in USS Yorktown (CV-5).

The Grumman F3F served with front-line squadrons until 1940-41. During the first part of World War II, the surviving planes were used for advanced training and in utility roles.

Grumman F4F "Wildcat" Fighters

The Grumman F4F was the primary Navy and Marine Corps fighter during the first year and a half of World War II. A developed form, the General Motors FM-2, remained in active combat through the end of the Pacific War. Though the stubby little F4F could not equal the speed and maneuverability of its Japanese counterpart, the "Zero", its rugged construction and superior armament, coupled with well-trained pilots and good tactics, ensured that it generally gave at least "as good as it got" during the crisis months of 1942.

The F4F-1 was a biplane design, whose clear inferiority to the monoplane Brewster F2A-1 caused its complete recasting into the single-wing XF4F-2. When the Brewster fighter was chosen for production, Grumman's prototype was rebuilt as the XF4F-3 with new wings and tail and a supercharged version of the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp" radial engine. Testing of the XF4F-3 led to an order for F4F-3 production models, the first of which was completed in February 1940. France also ordered the type, powered by Wright R-1820 "Cyclone" radial engines. These ultimately went to the British Royal Navy, which called them "Martlet I"s. Both the British planes and the U.S. Navy's F4F-3 joined active units in 1940 with an armament of four .50 caliber Browning machine guns and a good ammunition supply.

By the end of 1941 the Grumman F4F-3 (and similar F4F-3A) fighters, which had received the popular name "Wildcat" a few months earlier, had replaced the F2A in most U.S. Navy and Marine Corps fighting squadrons. A folding-wing version flew in April 1941 and entered service in early 1942 as the F4F-4. Prompted by British tactical concepts, it had six guns but less ammunition. The heavier F4F-4 was not as nimble nor as fast as the F4F-3, but the logic of wartime manufacturing left it as the sole remaining production version, and its folding wings made it possible to cram more valuable fighters into each aircraft carrier. By the Battle of Midway in June 1942, all the Pacific Fleet's carriers had the F4F-4 and fighting squadron pilots were learning, sometimes painfully, how to best employ it. Employ it they did, quite successfully, through the Pacific's intense Guadalcanal and Central Solomons campaigns and the Atlantic's North African operation.

In late 1942 and early 1943, Grumman phased out production of the F4F-4 and General Motors' Eastern Aircraft Division took it up as the FM-1 (with two less guns). In all, the two companies produced some three-thousand "Wildcats" for the U.S. and Britain before GM's factories switched to the updated FM-2 in the later part of 1943.

F4F-4 "Wildcat" characteristics:
Dimensions: Wing Span, 38 feet; Length, 28 feet 9 inches; Wing Area, 260 square feet.
Weights: Empty, 5785 pounds; Gross, 7975 pounds Powerplant: One 1,200 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-1830-86 double-row radial engine.
Armament: Six .50 caliber Browning machine guns; Two 100-pound bombs.
Performance: Maximum Speed, 320 m.p.h. (@ 19,800 feet & weight of 7975 pounds).

General Motors FM-2 "Wildcat" fighters

In 1942, automobile manufacturer General Motors converted several of its east coast factories to aircraft production under the name Eastern Aircraft Division. Eastern received contracts to build F4F-4 "Wildcat" fighters and TBF-1 "Avenger" torpedo planes, allowing Grumman to gradually reconcentrate its energies on the new, urgently-needed F6F "Hellcat" fighter. The GM F4F-4s, redesignated FM-1s, had only four .50 caliber machine guns, but were otherwise little changed from the original model. Well over a thousand FM-1 fighters were delivered in 1942-43, including some three hundred for the British Royal Navy.

Meanwhile, Grumman had prototyped a new "Wildcat" under the designation XF4F-8, which was to be produced by Eastern Aircraft as the FM-2. With lightened structure and a more powerful Wright R-1820 radial engine, the FM-2 was notably quicker, faster climbing, longer ranged and more maneuverable than its predecessor. To help control the increased power, the new plane had a distinctive, taller vertical tail. All-in-all, it was a great improvement, and more than four thousand FM-2s were built in 1943-45. Of those, over three hundred went to the British.

The U.S. Navy FM-2s operated exclusively from escort carriers (CVEs), small ships with notoriously lively flight decks. They were used in the Atlantic, teamed with TBM "Avengers" for anti-submarine work, the escort carriers' original purpose. In the Pacific, CVEs did ASW too, but also employed their "Avengers" and "Wildcats" to provide air cover for invasion forces and close air support for ground troops. Those missions produced opportunities for aerial combat against Japanese planes, and two Navy pilots achieved "ace" status in FM-2s. The GM "Wildcat" also played an important role in the 25 October 1944 Battle off Samar, in which a force of the slow CVEs and their escorts out-fought a vastly superior Japanese surface fleet.

FM-2 "Wildcat" characteristics:
Dimensions: Wing Span, 38 feet; Length, 28 feet 11 inches; Wing Area, 260 square feet.
Weights: Empty, 5448 pounds; Gross, 8271 pounds Powerplant: One 1,350 horsepower Wright R-1820-56 "Cyclone" single-row radial engine.
Armament: four .50 caliber Browning machine guns; Two 250-pound bombs or six 5-inch rockets.
Performance: Maximum Speed, 332 m.p.h. (@ 28,800 feet).

(credits: US Navy History Center)