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Surviving Brewster Buffalo are extremely rare, as their construction quality was generally poor, and most were quickly dispatched to foreign military service. It was long thought no intact Buffalo remained, but during Summer 1998, a Finnish B-239 (serial no. BW-372) was discovered in a Russian lake, Big Kolejärvi, about 50 kilometers from Segezha, Russia. This aircraft was identified as one of the 44 Model 239s sold to Finland during the Winter War.
On 25 June 1942, BW-372 piloted by Lieutenant Lauri Pekuri was in a formation of eight Brewsters that encountered a mixed squadron of Soviet Hurricanes and MiG-3s. In the clash, seven Soviet aircraft were damaged. Lieutenant Pekuri shot down two Hurricane fighters (he had to his credit 18 kills, including seven Hurricanes) but his fighter was hit by heavy cannon fire from a MiG-3 and he was forced to ditch the burning Brewster in Big Kolejärvi lake. Pekuri survived with minor injuries and managed to walk 20 km to the Finnish lines.
The aircraft was recovered from the lake in 1998, and after extensive negotiations with Russian officials, it was finally transported to the United States. The Brewster fighter finally reached the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, on 18 August 2004. After discovering the historic nature of the aircraft, original plans to restore and display it as an F2A from the Battle of Midway were quickly dispensed with. The museum plans to reassemble the Brewster and display it exactly as it came from the lake in Russia. Damage caused by enemy fire and subsequent crash landing will not be disturbed. As near as possible, it will be fully authentic and original and instantly recognizable as a Finnish Air Force B-239 at a point in time when it made its last flight in hostile skies and settled to the bottom of the lake.
Oh and I forgot about the VL Humu, though it was a copy and only a single built. (with much subtitute materials due to shortages, similar in construction to the Myrsky)
What are those engines in front of the Brewster? Do you know? The one on the left looks like a DB601, and the one on the right looks like a V-1710.
However, the Wright Cyclone engine was at that time in short supply, and the Dutch government was forced to cut its Brewster order to only 72 planes. There were two separate batches delivered. The first 24 Brewsters delivered to the Netherlands East Indies were powered by Dutch-supplied 1100-hp Wright R-1820-G105 engines, some of which had been taken from DC-3s operated by commercial airlines and reconditioned at the Wright factory. These aircraft were assigned the Dutch serial numbers B3-95 through B3-118. The second batch of 48 aircraft were powered by 1200 hp Wright R-1820-G205 engines purchased directly from Wright. These planes were re-designated Model 339D by the company, and were assigned the Dutch serials B3-119 to B3-167. The two batches were otherwise identical.
KK89,kool kitty89 said:And I've done some more reading on export B-339's and most were fitted with R-1820-G105 engines rated for 1,100 hp (the F2A-2 used the 1,200 hp R-2800-40)
The Brewsters were completely outclassed by the Japanese fighters which opposed them. The Model 339C and D were inferior to the Japanese Zero in speed, maneuverability and in climb rate. During three months of combat, 30 Brewsters were lost in air combat, 15 were destroyed on the ground, and a number were lost in accidents. 17 pilots were killed in action. Against these losses, Dutch Brewsters claimed 55 enemy aircraft destroyed, a victory-to-loss ratio of almost two to one.
Many official British historical sources blame the loss of Malaya and Singapore largely on the Buffalo's poor performance. However, the picture is not entirely that of an unmitigated disaster, and many Buffalo-equipped units gave a good account of themselves before they were overwhelmed by superior Japanese numbers. Accurate figures on the combat losses of British Buffalos are difficult to come by. Approximately 60 to 70 Buffalos were lost in air combat, 40 were destroyed on the ground, twenty were lost in various non-combat related accidents, four were transferred to the Dutch, and six were evacuated to India. Commonwealth Buffalo squadrons claimed at least 80 kills, and some units may have achieved a 2-to-1 kill ratio.
I always thought that paint scheme had a cool "Art Deco" look to it.Some good pictures of the F2A here: Brewster F2A Buffalo
That second one has pictures of the "dazzel camoflauge" shown earlier.