Grumman F4F Wildcat

Grumman fighter development began with the two-seat Grumman FF biplane. The FF was the first U.S. naval fighter with a retractable landing gear. The wheels retracted into the fuselage, leaving the tires visibly exposed, flush with the sides of the fuselage. Two single-seat biplane designs followed, the F2F and F3F, which established the general fuselage outlines of what would become the F4F Wildcat. In 1935, while the F3F was still undergoing flight testing, Grumman started work on its next biplane fighter, the G-16. At the time, the U.S. Navy favored a monoplane design, the Brewster F2A-1, ordering production early in 1936. However, an order was also placed for Grumman's G-16 (given the navy designation XF4F-1) as a backup in case the Brewster monoplane proved to be unsatisfactory. It was clear to Grumman that the XF4F-1 would be inferior to the Brewster monoplane, so Grumman abandoned the XF4F-1, designing instead a new monoplane fighter, the XF4F-2. The XF4F-2 would retain the same, fuselage-mounted, hand-cranked main landing gear as the F3F, with its relatively narrow track. The unusual manually-retractable main landing gear design for all of Grumman's U.S. Navy fighters up to and through the F4F, as well as for the amphibious Grumman J2F utility biplane, was originally created in the 1920s by Leroy Grumman for Grover Loening. Landing accidents caused by failure of the main gear to fully lock into place were distressingly common. and cowling guns The overall performance of Grumman's new monoplane was felt to be inferior to that of the Brewster Buffalo. The XF4F-2 was marginally faster, but the Buffalo was more maneuverable. The Buffalo was judged superior and was chosen for production. Testing of the new 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 a Wright R-1820 "Cyclone 9" radial engine, but France fell to the Axis powers before they could be delivered and the aircraft went instead to the British Royal Navy, who christened the new fighter the Martlet. The U.S. Navy officially adopted the aircraft type on 1 October 1941 as the Wildcat. The Royal Navy's and U.S. Navy's F4F-3s, armed with four .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning machine guns, joined active units in 1940. ==Operational history==

" Even before the Wildcat had been purchased by the U.S. Navy, the French Navy's Aeronavale and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA) had ordered the Wildcat, with their own configurations, via the Anglo-French Purchasing Board. Royal Navy The Martlet was taken on by the FAA as a single-seat, high-performance fighter to supplement the Fairey Fulmar in carrier service. The Fulmar was a two-seat fighter with good range, but it operated at a performance disadvantage against single-seat fighters. The Royal Navy decided it needed single-seat fighters to go with their two-seaters, but because, in 1940, every modern single-seater that could be produced domestically (Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires) was needed by the Royal Air Force. for service against German bombers, the Grumman plane was adopted by the Fleet Air Arm as soon as it became available. The first types received, the Martlet I and Martlet II, were aircraft diverted from French and Greek orders after those countries were overrun by the Axis powers in 1940 and 1941, respectively. Martlet Is were used for training and the defense of naval bases, with the type's first combat victory coming on Christmas Day 1940, when a land-based Martlet destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 bomber over the Scapa Flow naval base. The type also pioneered combat operations from escort carriers. Six Martlets went to sea aboard the very first operational escort carrier, the converted former German merchant vessel , in September 1941, and shot down several Luftwaffe Fw 200 Condor bombers during highly effective convoy escort operations. These were the first of many Wildcats to engage in aerial combat at sea, including Convoy HG 76 to Gibraltar, in December 1941. In March 1945, Wildcats shot down four Messerschmitt Bf 109s over Norway, the FAA's last Wildcat victories. The pilots saw it as, if not a great naval fighter, at least a genuine one, designed by a company which understood what was needed; and, unlike most in the British Air Ministry (which was fixated on the power of 20-mm cannons), they were very pleased with the plane's Browning M2 heavy machine guns. self-sealing fuel tanks, and reflector gunsights, and its guns tended to jam; but all these defects were addressed by squadron mechanics, though not always before the planes saw action. Although it was slower in level flight, had a lower rate of climb, and was less maneuverable in those regimes than the Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero, its major opponent in the early part of the war, it was faster and more controllable in a dive, more sturdily built (even before armor was applied), and had a more effective gun battery. Four U.S. Marine Corps F4F-3s played a prominent role in the defense of Wake Island in December 1941, and seven other land-based examples operated off of Midway Island during the battle there in June 1942. Carrier-based F4F-3s served as the U.S. Navy's principal shipboard fighters from Pearl Harbor through the Battle of Coral Sea. Curiously, the F4F-3's reputation among its pilots benefitted from the fact that its pilots exaggerated its capabilities: experiences at Coral Sea left many pilots believing that the type's speed and climbing ability were equal to those of the Zero (things that were manifestly untrue), falling short only in maneuverability. By the time of Midway the last F4F-3s based on Pacific Fleet carriers had been superseded by F4F-4s. This ostensibly improved model was equipped with folding wings (which allowed the size of fighter squadrons to be increased from 18 to 27) and two extra guns; but it was equipped with the same engine as the F4F-3, and the extra weight from the modifications contributed to a reduction in performance. U.S. Navy pilots were not pleased with the changes (which also included a reduction in the number of rounds per gun, and therefore a reduction in the length of time that firing could be sustained), and a general belief in the F4F-4s inferiority developed. The solution to this crisis of confidence was to be found in technology and tactics. Regarding technology, during this period many U.S. Navy pilots were saved by the Wildcat's ZB (Zed Baker) homing device, an electronic beacon which allowed them to find their carriers in poor visibility, provided they could get within the range of the homing beacon. The system was far from foolproof; during the Battle of Midway 10 F4F-4s from Hornet's VF-8 crashed in the sea after failing to locate their carrier, even though the planes they had been escorting, for the most part, made it home. As for tactics, one vocal critic of the F4F-4 was Lieutenant Commander John Thach, commander of Saratoga's fighter squadron, VF-3. In mid-1941, after reading Fleet Air Tactical Unit Intelligence Bureau reports describing the new Japanese fighter and concluding that the still-untried F4F would be no match for it, then-Lieutenant Thach devised a defensive tactic (later named the "Thach Weave" by fellow fighter pilot James Flatley) which called for friendly fighters in formation to maneuver in a coordinated manner to counter diving attacks. Thach used his tactic successfully at Midway. However, it took some time for the tactic to be disseminated widely, and as a result the most widely employed tactic used by American pilots during the Guadalcanal campaign was high-altitude ambush, in which pilots pre-positioned at relatively high altitudes used diving, hit-and-run maneuvers against enemy aircraft below, swooping in, gaining speed, and then, after firing, using that speed to climb back up to altitude and position themselves to attack again. The pre-positioning was made possible by a combination of coastwatchers and radar, which together served as an early warning system. The early warning system did not always deliver results. On 7 August 1942, the day of the Guadalcanal landings, while American carriers were the sole providers of air cover for the invasion force, USS Enterprise lost 10 F4F-4s and an SBD performing CAP duty to Rabaul-based Tainan Kōkūtai Zero fighters, in exchange for one Zero that was forced to crash-land later. These losses included US Fighter Ace James 'Pug' Southerland who was shot down by IJNAS ace Saburō Sakai (but survived--as did Sakai, who was severely injured later in the day, but brought his plane back to base). Later, on 2 October 1942, a Japanese air raid from Rabaul was not detected in time, and the Cactus Air Force lost six Wildcats to only one Zero destroyed. During the most intense initial phase of the Guadalcanal Campaign, between 1 August and 15 November, combat records indicate that US lost 115 Wildcats and Japanese lost 106 Zeros to all causes; the Japanese lost many more pilots compared to the US. Even after his success at Midway Thach remained greatly dissatisfied with the F4F-4s performance at this and later battles, stating in his Midway action report From 1943, Wildcats equipped with bomb racks were primarily assigned to escort carriers for use against submarines and ground targets, though they also continued 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. In the Battle off Samar on 25 October 1944, escort carriers of Task Unit 77.4.3 ("Taffy 3") and their escort of destroyers and destroyer escorts found themselves as the sole force standing between vulnerable troop transport and supply ships engaged in landings on the Philippine island of Leyte and a powerful Japanese surface fleet of battleships and cruisers. In desperation, lightly armed Avengers and FM-2 Wildcats from Taffys 1, 2 and 3 resorted to tactics such as strafing ships, including the bridge of the Japanese battleship , while the destroyers and destroyer escorts attacked the Japanese surface force. This action contributed to buying enough time for Taffy 3's escort carriers to escape into a rain squall. Atlantic U.S. Navy Wildcats participated in Operation Torch. USN escort carriers in the Atlantic used Wildcats until the end of the war. In October 1943 F4Fs participated in Operation Leader, an anti-shipping strike on Norway. Totals In all, 7,860 Wildcats were built. Nearly three-quarters of this total were built by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors, which took over production in 1942. During the course of the war, Navy and Marine F4Fs and FMs flew 15,553 combat sorties (14,027 of these from aircraft carriers), destroying a claimed figure of 1,327 enemy aircraft at a cost of 178 aerial losses, 24 to ground/shipboard fire, and 49 to operational causes (an overall claimed kill-to-loss ratio of 6.9:1). True to their usual pure fighter role, Wildcats dropped only 154 tons of bombs during the war. ==Variants==

U.S. Navy Wildcats F4F-1/-2 The original Grumman F4F-1 design was a biplane, which proved inferior to rival designs, necessitating a complete redesign as a monoplane named the F4F-2. 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. F4F-3 U.S. Navy orders followed as did some (with Wright Cyclone engines) from France; these ended up with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm after the fall of France and entered service on 8 September 1940. 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. In British service initially, the aircraft were known as the Martlet I, but not all Martlets would be to exactly the same specifications as U.S. Navy aircraft. All Martlet Is featured the four .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns of the F4F-3 with 450 rpg. The British directly ordered and received a version with the original Twin Wasp, but again with a modified cowling, under the manufacturer designation G-36B. These aircraft were given the designation Martlet II by the British. The first 10 G-36Bs were fitted with non-folding wings and were given the designation Martlet III. These were followed by 30 folding wing aircraft (F4F-3As) which were originally destined for the Hellenic Air Force, which were also designated Martlet IIIs. On paper, the designation changed to Martlet III(A) when the second series of Martlet III was introduced. Poor design of the armament installation on early F4Fs caused these otherwise reliable machine guns to frequently jam, a problem common to wing-mounted weapons of many U.S. fighters early in the war. An F4F-3 flown by Lieutenant Edward O'Hare shot down, within a few minutes, five Mitsubishi twin-engine bombers attacking off Bougainville on 20 February 1942. But contrasting with O'Hare's performance, his wingman was unable to participate because his guns would not function. A shortage of two-stage superchargers led to the development of the F4F-3A, which was basically the F4F-3 but with a Pratt & Whitney R-1830-90 radial engine with a more primitive single-stage two-speed supercharger. The F4F-3A, which was capable of at , was used side by side with the F4F-3, but its poorer performance made it unpopular with U.S. Navy fighter pilots. The F4F-3A would enter service as the Martlet III(B). At the time of Pearl Harbor, only had a fully equipped Wildcat squadron, VF-6 with F4F-3As. Enterprise was then transferring a detachment of VMF-211, also equipped with F4F-3s, to Wake. was in San Diego, working up for operations of the F4F-3s of VF-3. 11 F4F-3s of VMF-211 were at the Ewa Marine Air Corps Station on Oahu; nine of these were damaged or destroyed during the Japanese attack. The detachment of VMF-211 on Wake lost seven Wildcats to Japanese attacks on 8 December, but the remaining five put up a fierce defense, making the first bomber kill on 9 December. The destroyer was sunk by the Wildcats, and the Japanese invasion force retreated. In May 1942, the F4F-3s of VF-2 and VF-42, aboard and Lexington, participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Lexington and Yorktown fought against the fleet carriers and and the light carrier in this battle, in an attempt to halt a Japanese invasion of Port Moresby on Papua. During these battles, it became clear that attacks without fighter escort amounted to suicide, but that the fighter component on the carriers was completely insufficient to provide both fighter cover for the carrier and an escort for an attack force. Most U.S. carriers carried fewer than 20 fighters. F4F-3P In June 1942, 17 F4F-3s and one F4F-3A (18 total) were converted into F4F-3P photoreconnaissance planes. The F4F-3Ps were for short-range tactical reconnaissance, as their reserve fuel tanks were removed and replaced with Fairchild F-56 cameras. 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. 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. Boston, MA, USA: Little, Brown and Co./Atlantic Monthly Press F4F-3S "Wildcatfish" This floatplane version of the F4F-3 was developed for use at forward island bases in the Pacific, before the construction of airfields. It was inspired by appearance of the A6M2-N "Rufe", a modification of the Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zeke". BuNo 4038 was modified to become the F4F-3S "Wildcatfish". Twin floats, manufactured by Edo Aircraft Corporation, were fitted. To restore the stability, small auxiliary fins were added to the tailplane. Because this was still insufficient, a ventral fin was added later. The F4F-3S was first flown 28 February 1943. The weight and drag of the floats reduced the maximum speed to . As the performance of the basic F4F-3 was already below that of the Zero, the F4F-3S was clearly of limited usefulness. In any case, the construction of the airfields at forward bases by the "Seabees" was surprisingly quick. Only one was converted. F4F-4 -design folding wings, a Grumman patented design A new version, the F4F-4, entered service in 1941 with six machine guns and the Grumman-patented Sto-Wing folding wing system, which allowed more aircraft to be stored on an aircraft carrier, increasing the number of fighters that could be parked on a surface by more than a factor of 2. The F4F-4 was the definitive version that saw the most combat service in the early war years, including the Battle of Midway. Navy F4F-3s were replaced by F4F-4s in June 1942. During the Battle of Midway, only VMF-221 still used F4F-3s. 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. The F4F-4 version was less popular with American pilots because the amount of ammunition was spread over two additional guns, decreasing firing time. With the F4F-3's four .50 in (12.7 mm) guns and 450 rpg, pilots had 34 seconds of firing time; six guns decreased ammunition to 240 rpg, which could be expended in less than 20 seconds. The increase to six guns was attributed to the Royal Navy, who wanted greater firepower to deal with German and Italian foes. Jimmy Thach is quoted as saying, "A pilot who cannot hit with four guns will miss with eight." Extra guns and folding wings meant extra weight and reduced performance: the F4F-4 was capable of only about at . Rate of climb was noticeably worse in the F4F-4; while Grumman optimistically claimed the F4F-4 could climb at a modest per minute, in combat conditions, pilots found their F4F-4s capable of ascending at only per minute. The G-36A also had French instruments (with metric calibration), radio and gunsight. The throttle was modified to conform to French pre-war practice: the throttle lever was moved towards the pilot (i.e. backward) to increase engine power. The armament which was to be fitted in France was four 7.5 mm (.296 in) Darne machine guns (two in the fuselage and two in the wings). The first G-36A was flown on 11 May 1940. After France's defeat in the Battle of France, all contracts were taken over by Britain. The throttle was modified again, four 0.50 in (12.7 mm) guns were installed in the wings and most traces of the original ownership removed. The Martlets were modified for British use by Blackburn, which continued to do this for all later marks. British gunsights, catapult spools and other items were installed. After attempts to fit British radio sets, it was decided to use the superior American equipment. The first Martlets entered British service in August 1940, with 804 Naval Air Squadron, stationed at Hatston in the Orkney Islands. 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. In April 1942 Illustrious transferred two Martlet I aircraft to HMS Archer while in port at Freetown. One of her four retained Martlet I aircraft were subsequently fitted with folding wings by ship's staff during passage to Durban. 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 in July 1941. The majority of the Martlet Mk IIs were sent to the Far East. The first shipboard operations of the type in British service were in September 1941, aboard , a very small escort carrier with a carrier deck of by , no elevators and no hangar deck. The six Wildcats were parked on the deck at all times. On its first voyage, it served as escort carrier for a convoy to Gibraltar. On 20 September, a German Fw 200 was shot down. On the next voyage, four Fw 200 Condors fell to the guns of the Martlets, and of the combined total, two of these five Condors were shot down by Eric "Winkle" Brown during his time aboard. Operations from Audacity also demonstrated that the fighter cover was useful against U-boats. Audacity was sunk by a U-boat on 21 December 1941, and of the pilots only Brown and one other survived, but it had already proved the usefulness of escort carriers. Ten fixed-wing G-36Bs were used by the FAA as Martlet III(A). Martlet Mk IV The Royal Navy purchased 220 F4F-4s adapted to British requirements. 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. These machines were named Martlet Mk IV. Boscombe Down testing of the Martlet IV at weight showed a maximum speed of at and at , a maximum climb rate of at at weight, and a time to climb to of 14.6 minutes. The service ceiling at was . Martlet Mk V The Fleet Air Arm purchased 312 FM-1s, originally with the designation of Martlet V. In January 1944, a decision was made to retain the American names for US-supplied aircraft, redesignating the batch as the Wildcat V. Wildcat Mk VI The Wildcat VI was the Air Ministry name for the FM-2 Wildcat in FAA service. ==Operators==

; • Belgian Air Force: at least 10 G-36A's ordered, never delivered, transferred to France (who then transferred them to the Royal Navy) after surrender. ; • Aeronavale: 81 aircraft ordered, never delivered, transferred to Royal Navy after French defeat. ; • Hellenic Air Force: 30 Martlet Mk III's ordered, delivered to Gibraltar, transferred to Royal Navy after defeat. ; • Royal Canadian Navy: RCN personnel assigned to the Royal Navy , were to provide the RCN with experience in aircraft carrier operations. The RCN flew 14 Martlets as part of 881 (RN) Squadron from February–July 1945. ; • Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm ; • United States Navy • United States Marine Corps ==Surviving aircraft==