The backgrounder on the F4F
Wildcat that we reprinted from the Olympic Flight
Museum's lovely website, as an adjunct to the weekend's awful
crash, contained some near-misses, according to Rich Dann, who
works on the Space Station for a day job, but researches and writes
warbird history for love.
He wrote us, This
statement is partially true:
"The US Navy's first F4F-3 flew on August 20, 1940. 95 were
ordered with the R-1830-90, single-stage supercharged engine with
deliveries occurring in 1941. The name "Wildcat" was introduced in
service on October 1, 1941. Based on combat experience of the
British export Martlet, the XF4F-4 was introduced with a six-gun
armament, folding wings, self-sealing tanks, and armor. Delivery of
the F4F-4 began in November 1941."
Lt Dann notes, The aircraft with the R-1830-90 were referred
to as F4F-3As. These had a single-stage supercharger and
performance suffered at altitude. Greek aircraft were F4F-3As
(Martlet Mk III). Standard F4Fs had a R-1830-76 or -86
engine.
We called the museum, to make sure we were
headed down the right road. The Museum's Deputy Director, Derrick
Baena, said his information showed the first production models
carried the 1830-86; the later models had a -90.
Rich continued, You should definitely change this as
well:
"Serving initially
aboard the USS Enterprise (CV-6), USS Hornet
(CV-12), and USS Saratoga (CV-3), the Wildcats fought the
significant early battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, and
operations at Guadalcanal. The Wildcats held the operational center
of actions throughout the Pacific until the
American industrial arm introduced more advanced aircraft in 1943.
The Wildcats also saw action with the US Navy in the Mediterranean
region in late 1942."
USS Hornet CV-12 was an Essex class carrier and played no
part in early war operations. You should change it to CV-8 (shown),
which was the original Hornet. Should add USS
Lexington CV-2, USS Yorktown CV-5 Atlantic operations
with Wildcats included Operation Torch and support for Malta
resupply efforts...Carriers here were USS Ranger CV-4
and USS Wasp CV-7.
[Mr. Baena acknowledged the faux pas on the reference
to 'CV-12' -- it's being fixed.]
Nobody's perfect... Rich noted, "Several escort
carriers used at Torch as well, can't remember their names."
[Thanks to our sharp-eyed reader, and to the wonderful folks at
the Olympic Flight Museum. Now everybody's better
off! --ed.]