F4F Wildcat, U.S. Carrier Fighter

U.S. Navy

Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat

Specifications:

The Grumman Wildcat was the principal American carrier fighter from the time war broke out until it was replaced with the Hellcat in mid-1943. It was a better match for the Japanese Zero than was appreciated in early 1942. Though the Zero had superior low-speed maneuverability, was slightly faster, and had a better climb rate, the Wildcat was much more rugged, could dive faster, and carried a more effective armament, which allowed it to make effective use of hit-and-run tactics. It was also equipped with reliable radios, which allowed its pilots to use cooperative tactics that the Zeros, which often did not carry radios, could not. It had good visibility from the cockpit, including a pair of windows in the lower fuselage giving downwards vision. The early successes of the Zero against the Wildcat owe as much to the superior training and experience of the Japanese Navy pilots as to the qualities of the Zero itself.

Wildcat pilots quickly learned that attempting to dogfight a Zero was tantamount to suicide, and that Zeros with an altitude advantage had almost complete control over the battle. This meant that the Wildcats had to gain the altitude advantage and use diving attacks to defeat the Zero. Allied radar proved crucial to giving defending Wildcats enough warning to climb to altitude.

The F4F-3 was armed with four machine guns, while the F4F-4 increased the armament to six machine guns. This required a reduction in the number of rounds per gun, which reduced firing time significantly and was unpopular with the pilots. Some pilots used the gun selection switch to fire only four guns, saving the remaining two guns and their ammunition as a kind of reserve.

The F4F-7 was a long-range unarmed reconnaissance aircraft which was to be deployed one to a carrier. It had an enormous fuel tank that could be rapidly dumped if necessary. A large camera was fitted behind the pilot's seat. Frank (1990) claims that Enterprise and Saratoga had their F4F-7s at the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, but the F4F-7 was not a success, and most of the few produced operated from shore facilities.

Production of the Wildcat continued throughout the war. Although by mid-1944 it had been replaced on American fleet and light carriers by the Hellcat, it continued to serve on escort carriers, whose flight decks were inadequate for the higher takeoff speed of the newer model fighter. Production was shifted from Grumman to General Motors' Eastern Aircraft Division, whose FM models were armed with four guns with a larger ammunition loadout.

The Wildcat was known as the Martlet by the British Fleet Air Arm, which received 1082 of the aircraft as Lend-Lease.

References

Bergerud (2000)

Frank (1990)

Gunston (1986)

Parrish (1978)

Sakai et al. (1957)

The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2007-2008 by Kent G. Budge. Index

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