RangerJoe
Posts: 13450
Joined: 11/16/2015 From: My Mother, although my Father had some small part. Status: offline
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The shorter flight deck and the lower speeds of the CVEs made the Hellcar marginal. quote:
Grumman's TBF Avenger and F4F-4 Wildcat were to equip the escort carriers, as their flight decks were considered marginal for the heavier F6F Hellcat. But increased demands on Grumman for the Hellcat and newer designs led to an agreement with auto maker General Motors to take over production of the Avenger and Wildcat. http://www.rwebs.net/dispatch/output.asp?ArticleID=22 also: quote:
The FM-2 vs. the Zero On board the Gambier Bay, Ensign Joe McGraw of Composite Squadron 10 (VC-10) raced for his FM-2 Wildcat as the battleships Yamato, Nagato, Kongo and Haruna and heavy cruisers Kumano, Suzuya, Chikuma, Tone, Haguro and Chokai opened fire with 8-inch to 18-inch guns. His story is excerpted from Barret Tillman's Wildcat Aces of World War 2, which is reviewed later in this issue: "I got off as the last fighter, I think, as I had to dodge a big hole on the forward port corner of the deck just as Capt. Viewig was throwing the ship into a turn." Armed with small bombs, 0.50 caliber machine guns and 5-inch rockets, the Wildcats and Avengers attacked the Japanese ships, many FM-2 pilots making strafing runs on the bridges of the battleships. Planes from Taffy 1 and 2 plus those from land bases joined the attack, the carriers of Taffy 1 and 2 landing and rearming the planes as quickly as possible. On McGraw's third launch, his flight was vectored to attack a number of Val dive bombers and Zero fighters. He describes his FM-2's combat with a well-flown A6M5 Zero: "The leader of the Zeros was good and he hit our division leader in the engine, putting him in the water (he was later picked up). As I had pulled up so hard and steep, I lost my wingman, but avoided the Zeros as they dove by." McGraw described how he got in position to shot down the Zero leader's wingman, and described what happened next: "That either surprised or made the Zero lead really mad, because he did the tightest turn I've ever seen to try to get on me. Bit I also pulled up into a tight climbing left turn into him, and he missed his shot behind me. The FM-2's tight turn must have surprised him because I got around quickly on him into a head-on, and put a fast burst into his engine. That really made him mad, because he quickly pulled into me in what I thought was an attempt to ram. I had also pulled up hard to avoid him; it was a close thing." McGraw last saw the Zero smoking heavily and diving for the clouds. He continued: "I had the feeling he was an old hand and had expected the old Wildcats to be easy prey, so he was surprised and let his temper get the better of him – he probably didn't know about the much-improved FM-2 version. I don't know what happened to him, but with his engine shot up I don't suppose he made it back to base." By dark, McGraw had flown 11 hours in three missions and had to land aboard Manila Bay, his own ship, Gambier Bay, having been sunk by gun fire. The FM-2 was lighter and faster than the F4F-4 with more ammo for the 4 guns. It also had a more powerful engine.
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Seek peace but keep your gun handy. I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing! “Illegitemus non carborundum est (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”).” ― Julia Child
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