F4F with inboard underwing bombs?

[Hoggardhigh]

It is known that later F4F variants, such as the F4F-4 and FM-2, could carry two 58-gallon drop tanks on inboard wing pylons.

It also appears that, at least in principle, bombs could be carried on those pylons as well. Does anyone know if this was ever done in practice?

Thanks

 

[vikingBerserker]

IIRC the ones in British service carried 250#'s during the invasion of France.

EDIT: Or Italy?

 

[fubar57]

I find the -3 fitted for bombs as well

I have found one photo of a Wildcat, a -4 carrying bombs but they were on the outer-wing section.,

 

[Hoggardhigh]

IIRC the ones in British service carried 250#'s during the invasion of France.

EDIT: Or Italy?

Did they carry them on inboard wing pylons or outboard pylons?

 

[MIflyer]

I read one account that described Wildcats flying from Guadalcanal in which the pilot said that the drop tanks had manual fuel pumps. You had to fly along pumping the fuel from the tanks by hand.

Normally in WWII the drop tanks were pressurized by the air pressure from the engine driven vacuum pump that ran the instruments, but of course that required additional plumbing be installed.

Bombs were used by the Wildcats defending Wake Island.


British FM-1 Wildcats (Martlet V) were used in Operation Dragoon, the invasion of the south of France. Pictures show what appear to be bomb racks in the inner wing area on the Martlet V.

The British did test F4F-4B (Martlet IV with R-1920 engine) with rockets mounted under the outer wings.

I do have a cutaway drawing for the F4F-4 showing optional outer wing bomb racks for "fragmentation bombs."

 

[Hoggardhigh]

Apparently the FM-2 could mount two underwing 250-lb bombs.

Anyone know if these could be carried on inboard pylons?

 

[MIflyer]

A picture in the book "Wings of the Navy" by Capt Brown shows a British Martlet V (FM-1) with what sure look like bomb racks on the inboard pylons.. I'll try and scan it for you.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Inboard

"A 250 lb bomb loaded into Wildcat 881 Squadron FAA HMS Pursuer invasion of Southern France 15 August 1944"

 

[fubar57]

Very nice David

 

[Hoggardhigh]

Inboard

View attachment 492329

"A 250 lb bomb loaded into Wildcat 881 Squadron FAA HMS Pursuer invasion of Southern France 15 August 1944"

I imagine the FM-2 could accept a similar bombload to the one depicted there, is that correct?

 

[vikingBerserker]

I would certainly think so.

 

[Hoggardhigh]

I find the -3 fitted for bombs as well

View attachment 492228View attachment 492229View attachment 492230

I have found one photo of a Wildcat, a -4 carrying bombs but they were on the outer-wing section.,

Where'd you get those data sheets?

 

[fubar57]

Detail & Scale...

 

[Rocketman]

Detail & Scale...

View attachment 492428​

I've actually started to update that Detail & Scale volume (and the other F4F volume from the year 2000) for re-publishing and I've learned that even on the XF4F-2, Grumman had built in the capability to carry a 100lb bomb under each wing.

 

[fubar57]

Looking forward to the update

 

[Barrett]

Remember that VMF-211 sank a Japanese destroyer off Wake Island in December 1941. Wildcats scored fatal hits that detonated Kisaragi's depth charges. I knew the maintenance officer, BGEN John Kinney, and wish I'd thought to ask about the ordnance...

 

[leons]

My former squad boss was a F4F driver off the carrier USS Salamaua but for a time they were stationed at Guam. Here is what he said about the speed of that plane. "When I was based on Guam we used to try to make a couple of dummy passes on these babies(B-29s) in our Wildcats but due to their speed we could only make one and they were gone !" This quote was w/his e-mail forwarding a video of the B-29s bombing missions on the Japan mainland.

View: http://www.archive.org/details/TheLastBomb1945

 

[R Leonard]

Sometimes it gets interesting . . . VF-3 F4F-3s operating off Lexington in the Lae/Salamaua raid in March 1942 carried 100 lb bombs, but the F4F-3s from VF-42 off Yorktown not only did not carry bombs, but had their racks removed . . . just another of those things the operators convinced Capt Buckmaster was a good idea.

Those belly windows one sees in F4Fs was part and parcel of the concept of using them in a minor bombing capacity left over from bi-plane era. The pilot could pass over the target and, looking down through the windows, judge the right moment to roll over & execute his attack.