Grumman F4F Wildcat
F4F-3 in non-specular blue-grey over light-grey scheme from early 1942.
Type	Fighter
Manufacturer	Grumman
Maiden flight	2 September 1937
Introduced	December 1940
Retired	1945
Primary users	United States Navy United States Marine Corps Fleet Air Arm
Number built	7,722

F4F-3 Wildcat of Lt. Butch O'Hare, April 1942

Grumman F4F-4 of VF-11, Guadalcanal 1942.

Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat of VF-41, early 1942.

Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat on board of escort carrier USS Suwannee (CVE-27) in late 1942.

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the standard carrier-based fighter of the United States Navy for the first year and a half of World War II. An improved version built by General Motors (the General Motors FM Wildcat) remained in service throughout the war, on escort carriers where newer, larger and heavier fighters could not be used. Image File history File links F4F-3_new_pitot_tube_of_later_model. ... An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, and/or spacecraft. ... The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ... The Maiden flight of an aircraft is the first occasion on which an aircraft leaves the ground of its own accord. ... September 2 is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Look up December in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... 1945 (MCMVL) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... USN redirects here. ... Image File history File links File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the U.S. military responsible for providing power projection from the sea,[1] utilizing the mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces to global crises. ... Image File history File links Naval_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom. ... The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. ... Image File history File links WildcatOHareclouds. ... Image File history File links WildcatOHareclouds. ... Lt. ... Image File history File links GrummanF4F-4_VF-111_Guadalcanal. ... Image File history File links GrummanF4F-4_VF-111_Guadalcanal. ... Operation Watchtower On August 7, 1942, the 1st Marine Division performed an amphibious landing east of the Tenaru River. ... Grumman F4F Wildcat From the Naval Historical Center. ... Grumman F4F Wildcat From the Naval Historical Center. ... Image File history File links F4F_Suwanee. ... Image File history File links F4F_Suwanee. ... USS Suwannee (CVE-27) (originally an oiler AO-33, converted to an escort aircraft carrier AVG/ACV/CVE-27) was laid down on 3 June 1938 at Kearny, New Jersey, by the Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company, under a Maritime Commission contract as Markay (MC hull 5); launched on 4... The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ... Four aircraft carriers, Principe-de-Asturias, USS Wasp, USS Forrestal and HMS Invincible (front-to-back), showing the difference in size between a supercarrier, light V/STOL carriers, and an amphibious carrier. ... USN redirects here. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... General Motors Corporation (NYSE: GM), also known as GM, is an American automobile maker with worldwide operations and brands including Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Holden, Hummer, Opel, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab and Vauxhall. ... The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, was a small aircraft carrier developed by the Royal Navy in the early part of World War II to deal with the U-boat crisis of the Battle of the Atlantic. ...

Design and development

The F4F-1 began as a biplane design entered in a US Navy competition, whose clear inferiority to the monoplane Brewster F2A-1 caused its complete remodeling 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 9" radial engines. These ultimately went to the British Royal Navy, which called them "Martlet I"s. Both the British planes and the US Navy's F4F-3 joined active units in 1940 with an armament of four .50 caliber Browning machine guns and a good ammunition supply. The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 was an engine widely used in American aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. ...

All versions of the Wildcat used fuselage mounted, hand-cranked landing gear with a relatively narrow track, making landing accidents, where the landing gear were not fully locked into place, distressingly common. This unusual main landing gear design was originally designed by Grover Loening, for his firm's aircraft in the 1920s, and as Leroy Grumman had worked for Loening before starting up his own company, it was readily licensed to Grumman and was used earlier on all of Grumman's fighter biplanes (from the FF-1 through the F3F) of the 1930s and on the J2F Duck amphibious biplane. Grover Loening Grover Cleveland Loening (Sept. ... The Grumman FF was a 1930s biplane fighter aircraft operated by the United States Navy. ... The Grumman F3F was the last bi-winged fighter aircraft delivered to the U. S. Navy. ... The Grumman J2F Duck was a single-engine amphibious biplane. ...

Variants

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 US Navy orders, but when the F4F-3 development was fitted with a more powerful engine, the Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp, it showed its true potential. The Brewster Buffalo, or Brewster F2A, is a fighter aircraft that was the first monoplane to equip a U.S. Navy squadron. ... This article is about the U.S. company Pratt & Whitney. ... Categories: Stub | Aircraft piston engines ...

US 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 the 8th September 1940. In British service initially these were known as the Martlet I, but not all Martlets would be to the exact same specifications as US Navy aircraft. The four .50-caliber (12.7mm) M2 machine guns of the F4F-3 carried 450 rounds per gun. Poor design of the installation caused these otherwise reliable machine guns to frequently jam, a problem common to wing-mounted weapons of many US fighters early in the war. It was an F4F-3 flown by Lt. Edward O'Hare that in a few minutes shot down five Mitsubishi twin-engine bombers attacking USS Lexington 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. Wright Cyclone was the name given to a family of air-cooled radial piston engines designed by Curtiss-Wright, and used in numerous American aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. ... The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. ... September 8 is the 251st day of the year (252nd in leap years). ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... This article is about the . ... Lt. ...

A shortage of two-stage superchargers lead to the development of the F4F-3A, which was basically the F4F-3 but with a 1,200 hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-90 radial engine with a more primitive single-stage two-speed supercharger. The F4F-3A, which was capable of 312 mph at 16,000 ft, was used side by side with the F4F-3, but its poorer performance made it unpopular with US Navy fighter pilots. The F4F-3A would enter service as the Martlet III(B), the FM-1 as the Martlet V, and the FM-2 as the Wildcat VI (By then the Martlet name was dropped and the planes were reverted to using the name Wildcat). The name Wildcat was still commonly used for these aircraft in spite of the official name change. Radial engine in a cut-away view. ... A supercharger (also known as a blower) is an air compressor used to force more air (and hence more oxygen) into the combustion chamber(s) of an internal combustion engine than can be achieved at ambient atmospheric pressure. ...

A new version, the F4F-4, entered service in 1942 with six guns and folding wings, allowing more to be crammed on a carrier; this was the definitive version and the one that saw the most combat service in the early war years, including the Battle of Midway. This version was less popular with American pilots, because the same amount of ammunition was spread over two additional guns, decreasing firing time. With the F4F-3's four 50-caliber guns and 450 rounds per gun, pilots had 34 seconds of firing time; six guns decreased ammunition to 240 rounds per gun, 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 318 mph at 19,400 ft. Rate of climb was noticeably worse in the F4F-4, while Grumman optimistically claimed the F4F-4 could climb at a modest 1,950 feet per minute, in combat conditions, pilots found their F4F-4s capable of ascending at only 500 to 1,000 feet per minute. Moreover, the F4F-4's folding wing was intended to allow five F4F-4s to be stowed in the space required by two F4F-3s. In practice, the folding wings allowed an increase of about 50% in the number of Wildcats carried aboard US fleet aircraft carriers. 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... Combatants United States Empire of Japan Commanders Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, Raymond A. Spruance Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, Tamon Yamaguchi † Strength 3 carriers, ~50 support ships, 233 carrier aircraft, 127 land-based aircraft 4 carriers, 7 battleships, ~150 support ships, 248 carrier aircraft, 16 floatplanes Casualties 1 carrier...

The F4F-7 was a photographic reconnaissance variant, with armor and armament removed. It had non-folding "wet" wings that carried an additional 555 gallons of fuel for a total of about 700 gallons, increasing its range to 3,700 miles. 21 built.

Grumman's Wildcat production ceased in early 1943 to make way for the newer F6F Hellcat, but General Motors continued producing Wildcats for both US Navy and Fleet Air Arm use. From 1943 onward, Wildcats were primarily assigned to escort carriers ("jeep carriers") as larger fighters such as the Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were needed aboard fleet carriers, and the Wildcat's slower landing speed made it more suitable for shorter flight decks. At first, GM produced the FM-1 (identical to the F4F4, but with four guns). Production later switched to the improved FM-2 (based on Grumman's XF4F-8 prototype) optimized for small-carrier operations, with a more powerful engine, and a taller tail to cope with the torque. In all, 7,722 Wildcats were built. 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat in tri-color camouflage The Grumman F6F Hellcat started development as an improved F4F Wildcat, but turned into a completely new design sharing a family resemblance to the Wildcat but with no shared parts. ... The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, was a small aircraft carrier developed by the U.S. Navy in the early part of World War II to deal with the U-boat crisis of the Battle of the Atlantic. ... The Chance Vought F4U Corsair was an American fighter aircraft that saw service in World War II and the Korean War. ...

Operational service

The Wildcat was outperformed by the Mitsubishi Zero, its major opponent in the early part of the Pacific Theater, but held its own by absorbing far more damage. With relatively heavy armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Grumman airframe could survive far more than its lightweight, unarmored Japanese rival. One Japanese Zero pilot reportedly emptied out his magazines trying to bring down a Wildcat during the Battle of Midway, only to see the Wildcat survive. Many US Navy fighter pilots also were saved by the F4F's ZB homing device, which allowed them to find their carriers in poor visibility, provided they could get within the 30-mile range of the homing beacon. Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Model 52 The Mitsubishi A6M was a light-weight carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. ... A map of the Pacific Theatre. ... Self-sealing fuel tanks are an aviation technology developed during World War II, when it quickly became apparent that fighter aircraft lacked adequate protection. ... Combatants United States Empire of Japan Commanders Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, Raymond A. Spruance Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, Tamon Yamaguchi † Strength 3 carriers, ~50 support ships, 233 carrier aircraft, 127 land-based aircraft 4 carriers, 7 battleships, ~150 support ships, 248 carrier aircraft, 16 floatplanes Casualties 1 carrier...

Four US Marine Corps Wildcats played a prominent role in the defence of Wake Island in December 1941. USN and USMC aircraft were the fleet's primary air defence during the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway and, land-based Wildcats played a major role during the Guadalcanal Campaign of 1942-43. It was only after these crucial engagements that more advanced naval fighters, the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair, came on stream. Battle of the Coral Sea Conflict World War II, Pacific War Date May 4 – May 8, 1942 Place Coral Sea, between Australia, New Guinea, and the United States, Japan Commanders Frank Jack Fletcher Shigeyoshi Inoue Strength 2 large carriers, 3 cruisers 2 large carriers, 1 small carrier, 4 cruisers... Combatants United States Empire of Japan Commanders Chester W. Nimitz, Frank J. Fletcher, Raymond A. Spruance Isoroku Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo, Tamon Yamaguchi † Strength 3 carriers, ~50 support ships, 233 carrier aircraft, 127 land-based aircraft 4 carriers, 7 battleships, ~150 support ships, 248 carrier aircraft, 16 floatplanes Casualties 1 carrier... Combatants United States Australia New Zealand United Kingdom Tonga[1] Solomon Islands[2] Empire of Japan Commanders Robert Ghormley William Halsey, Jr. ... Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat in tri-color camouflage The Grumman F6F Hellcat started development as an improved F4F Wildcat, but turned into a completely new design sharing a family resemblance to the Wildcat but with no shared parts. ... The Chance Vought F4U Corsair was an American fighter aircraft that saw service in World War II and the Korean War. ...

The Japanese ace Saburo Sakai describes the Wildcat's ability for absorbing damage: PO2/c Sakai in the cockpit of a Mitsubishi A5M Type 96 fighter (Hankow airfield, China in 1939). ...

I had full confidence in my ability to destroy the Grumman and decided to finish off the enemy fighter with only my 7.7mm machine guns. I turned the 20mm. cannon switch to the 'off' position, and closed in. For some strange reason, even after I had poured about five or six hundred rounds of ammunition directly into the Grumman, the airplane did not fall, but kept on flying. I thought this very odd - it had never happened before - and closed the distance between the two airplanes until I could almost reach out and touch the Grumman. To my surprise, the Grumman's rudder and tail were torn to shreds, looking like an old torn piece of rag. With his plane in such condition, no wonder the pilot was unable to continue fighting! A Zero which had taken that many bullets would have been a ball of fire by now.

In the European theater, the Wildcat scored its first combat victory on Christmas Day 1940, when a land-based British Fleet Air Arm Martlet (as the type was originally known in British service} destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 bomber over the Scapa Flow naval base. This was the first combat victory by a US-built fighter in British service in World War II. The type also pioneered combat operations from the smaller escort carriers. Six went to sea aboard the converted ex-German merchant vessel HMS Audacity in mid-1941 and shot down several Luftwaffe Fw 200 Condor bombers during highly effective convoy escort operations. These were the first of many Wildcats to see shipboard combat. The Fleet Air Arm was later to abandon the practice of using its own unique names for US-provided aircraft in British naval service, and began to use the US Navy's aircraft names instead. Image File history File links Cquote1. ... Image File history File links Cquote2. ... Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus, at the first Christmas Christmas (literally, the Mass of Christ) is a holiday in the Christian calendar, usually observed on December 25, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. ... The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. ... The Junkers Ju 88 was a WW2 Luftwaffe twin-engine multi-role aircraft. ... Aerial Photo of Scapa Flow Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. ... The escort aircraft carrier or escort carrier, was a small aircraft carrier developed by the U.S. Navy in the early part of World War II to deal with the U-boat crisis of the Battle of the Atlantic. ... HMS Audacity Originally a German merchant ship named MV Hannover captured by the Royal Navy in the West Indies in March 1940, HMS Audacity was the very first escort carrier. ... The Focke-Wulf Fw 200 was a four engine airliner. ...

Specifications (Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat)

Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat with six kill markings (1942).

F4F-4 receives maintenance of its six M2 machine guns.

Grumman F4F-4 Wildcats on USS Wasp, 1942.

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 28 ft 9 in (8.8 m)
• Wingspan: 38 ft 0 in (11.6 m)
• Height: 9 ft 2.5 in (2.8 m)
• Wing area: 260 ft² (24.2 m²)
• Empty weight: 5,760 lb (2,610 kg)
• Loaded weight: lb (kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 7,950 lb (3,610 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830-86 double-row radial engine, 1,200 hp (895 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 320 mph (515 km/h)
• Range: 770 miles (1,240 km)
• Service ceiling: 39,500 ft (12,000 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,950 ft/min (9.9 m/s)
• Wing loading: 31 lb/ft² (150 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 6.65hp/lb (3.01 hp/kg)

Armament

• 6x 0.5 in (12.7 mm)M2 Browning machine guns (240 rounds per gun, 1,440 rounds total)
• Two 100 lb (45 kg) bombs

Image File history File links F4F-4_VF-3. ... Image File history File links F4F-4_VF-3. ... Image File history File links F4F4_Browning. ... Image File history File links F4F4_Browning. ... This article is about the . ... Image File history File links F4F_Wasp_1942. ... Image File history File links F4F_Wasp_1942. ... The distance AB is the wing span of this Aer Lingus Airbus A320. ... In aviation, the Maximum Take-Off Weight (or MTOW) is the maximum weight with which an aircraft is allowed to try to achieve flight. ... Categories: Stub | Aircraft piston engines ... Radial engine in a cut-away view. ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ... The maximal total range is the distance an aircraft can fly between takeoff and landing as limited by its fuel capacity. ... In aeronautics, the service ceiling is the maximum density altitude where the best rate of climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet per minute climb(twin engine) and 50 feet(single engine) at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by the area of the wing. ... Power-to-weight ratio is a measure commonly used when comparing various vehicles (or engines), including automobiles, motorcycles and aircraft. ... This article is about the . ...

Operators

• United Kingdom
  • Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm)
• United States
  • United States Marine Corps
  • United States Navy

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ... The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. ... The United States Marine Corps (USMC) is a branch of the U.S. military responsible for providing power projection from the sea,[1] utilizing the mobility of the U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces to global crises. ... USN redirects here. ...

External links

• Naval Historical Center Wildcat Entry
• VectorSite Wildcat Entry
• AcePilots Wildcat Entry
• How Leroy Grumman and Jake Swirbul built a high-flying company from the ground up
• Ghost of the lake
• Dragon USA - Wildcat aircraft models
• History.navy.mil: "Naval aviation news - F4F"

References

• Lundstrom, John B. The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway.Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1984. ISBN 0-87021-189-7.
• Lundstrom, John B. The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign.Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1994. ISBN 1-55750-526-8.
• Tillman, Barrett.Wildcat: the F4F in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1990. ISBN 1-55750-819-4.

Related content

GM built FM-2 during filming of "Midway" (1976) on USS Lexington museum ship, Corpus Christi, Texas.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

F4F Wildcat

  Image File history File links Midway_FM2. ... Image File history File links Midway_FM2. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Wikimedia Commons logo by Reid Beels The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

Comparable aircraft

Mitsubishi Zero - Supermarine Seafire - Hawker Sea Hurricane Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Model 52 The Mitsubishi A6M was a light-weight carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. ... The Supermarine Spitfire was a single seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in World War II. The Spitfires elliptical wings gave it a very distinctive look; their thin cross-section gave it speed; the brilliant design of Chief Designer R.J. Mitchell and his successors... The Hawker Hurricane is a fighter design from the 1930s which was used extensively by the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. ...

Designation sequence

FF - F2F - F3F - F4F - F5F - F6F - F7F The Grumman FF was a 1930s biplane fighter aircraft operated by the United States Navy. ... The Grumman F2F was a single-engine biplane US Navy fighter with retractable landing gear that was the standard fighter for the Navy between 1936 and 1940. ... The Grumman F3F was the last bi-winged fighter aircraft delivered to the U. S. Navy. ... The Grumman XF5F Skyrocket was a prototype of a twin-engine shipboard fighter interceptor to which Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation applied the model number G-34. ... Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat in tri-color camouflage The Grumman F6F Hellcat started development as an improved F4F Wildcat, but turned into a completely new design sharing a family resemblance to the Wildcat but with no shared parts. ... The Grumman F7F Tigercat was the first twin-engined fighter aircraft design to enter service with the United States Navy. ...

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the United States
• List of fighter aircraft
• List of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm

  This list of military aircraft of the United States includes prototype, pre-production and operational types. ... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... This is a list of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. ...