This rebuild of the stock CFS3 P-51B converted to a A-36A Mustang/Apache/Invader dive bomber. The model has moving parts and working VC, LODs and breaking parts.
Paints are of the 225th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 27th Fighter Bomber Group in French Morocco during the spring of 1943 and British A-36A EW998 was supplied to the RAF in March 1943 for experimental purposes at Boscombe Down, England and Lt. William Creech, 238th FS, 311th FB, 10th Air Force Burma 1944.
Note: This package was modified by the SOH librarian emeritus on 13 January, 2024 to include the following fix: The .dp for the F4F-3 Wildcats had the wrong number of rounds per gun. This .dp corrects the that with the correct ammo load.
Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat VF-2 USS Lexington (CV2) Lt. Albert O. Vorse Coral Sea May 1942
The original Grumman F4F-1 design was a biplane, which proved inferior to rival designs, necessitating a complete redesign as a monoplane, the F4F-2. This design was still not competitive with the Brewster F2A Buffalo which won initial U.S. Navy orders. Grumman completely rebuilt the prototype as the XF4F-3 with new non-folding wings and tail and a supercharged version of the Pratt & Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp" radial engine.Testing of the new XF4F-3 led to an order for F4F-3 production models, the first of which was completed in February 1940. The U.S. Navy officially adopted the aircraft type as the Wildcat. Armed with four .50 in (12.7 mm) Browning machine guns, it joined active units in 1940. At the time of Pearl Harbor, only Enterprise had a fully equipped Wildcat squadron, VF-6. By the end of February, 1942 the US Navy had replaced its Brewster F2A's with the F3F-3 and F3F-3A Wildcats.
The fixed wing F4F-3 Wildcat was generally outperformed by its major opponent the Mitsubishi Zero, but it was more successful in combat partly because, with relatively heavy armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Grumman airframe could survive far more damage. In the hands of an expert pilot with a tactical advantage, the Wildcat could prove a difficult opponent even against the formidable Zero. USN Commander "Jimmy" Thach devised a very effective defensive tactic that allowed Wildcat formations to act in a coordinated crossover maneuver to counter a diving attack, called the "Thach Weave".
Credits
Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, drop tank, bomb rack, bomb, VC, paint textures, aircraft flight files, and .dp.
Shessi: Pilot figure.
Morton: 2D F4F instrument panel modified to an F4F-3 version.
Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture.
Microsoft: Gauges and .air file.
General Motors FM-2 Wildcat VC-4 on USS White Plains (CVE-66) 1944
V.2 Corrected air files
In 1942, automobile manufacturer General Motors converted several of its east coast factories to aircraft production under the name Eastern Aircraft Division. Eastern received contracts to build F4F-4 Wildcat fighters and TBF-1 'Avenger' torpedo planes, allowing Grumman to gradually reconcentrate its energies on the new, urgently-needed F6F 'Hellcat' fighter. The GM F4F-4s, redesignated FM-1s, had only four .50 caliber machine guns, but were otherwise little changed from the original model. Well over a thousand FM-1 fighters were delivered in 1942-43, including some three hundred for the British Royal Navy.
Meanwhile, Grumman had prototyped a new Wildcat under the designation XF4F-8, which was to be produced by Eastern Aircraft as the FM-2. With lightened structure and a more powerful Wright R-1820 radial engine, the FM-2 was notably quicker, faster climbing, longer ranged and more maneuverable than its predecessor. To help control the increased power, the new plane had a distinctive, taller vertical tail. All-in-all, it was a great improvement, and more than four thousand FM-2s were built in 1943-45. Of those, over three hundred went to the British.
The U.S. Navy FM-2s operated exclusively from escort carriers (CVEs) with their small flight decks. In the Atlantic, they were teamed with TBM 'Avengers' for anti-submarine work. In the Pacific, CVEs performed ASW too, but also frequently employed their 'Avengers' and 'Wildcats' to provide air cover for invasion forces and close air support for ground troops. Those missions produced opportunities for aerial combat against Japanese planes, pariclarly at Okinawa against kamikazes. At least two Navy pilots achieved 'ace' status in FM-2s and there were many others with lesser scores. The GM Wildcat also played an important role in the 25 October 1944 Battle off Samar, in which a force of the slow CVE carriers, their FM-2s and TBM-3s, and their destroyer escorts drove off a vastly superior Japanese surface fleet.
There were several minor variations during the production run. This aircraft was an early version. It had a Curtiss propeller, no rocket rails, hub capped main gear wheels, and the early antenna installation. It also was painted in the 1943 camouflage tri-color pattern of NS Blue, Medium Blue and Matt White.
Credits
Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, drop tanks, bomb racks, rockets, VC, paint textures, aircraft flight files, and .dp.
Shessi: Pilot figure.
Morton: 2D F4F instrument panel modified to an FM-2 version.
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