F4F Wildcat in Detail & Scale Vol 30

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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.

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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

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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

/

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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