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I was just thinking about the lack of things Buffalo here.Last 2 pages have the reference to a mock dogfight. The previous pages give some background
Didn't I read somewhere that during the trials, it outflew the F4F, climbing faster and turning better? I seem to recall that, but I can't remember where or when. I also seem to recall that the Navy wanted the Buffalo more than the Wildcats at first, possibly due to it's climbing performance. I do NOT recall that there were issues about Brewster's quality, though.
I can't recall where I read this but Brewster was sometimes using rebuilt and/or sub standard engines. This was in addition to poor build quality of the aircraft. There were also allegations of sabotage as well. I'm pretty sure I read this in a link on this forum.
Yes and no.
The US Navy ordered their engines from the manufacturer (Wright) and Wright sent the government owned engines to the Brewster factory. Any shenanigans in substituting used/rebuilt engines and keeping the new engines in the back room would have seen at least a few people at Brewster in prison.
However export aircraft were a somewhat different story. Once again the purchaser of the airframe was responsible for supplying the engines to Brewster and there just were not enough new engines to go around for all the aircraft that needed them. US aircraft were getting first priority. Wither Brewster helped locate the engines or not I don't know but the some of the aircraft that the British wound up with (and maybe some of the Dutch ones) got overhauled engines taken out of DC-3s. This may have been entirely on Wright as they would be the most logical source of used/overhauled Wright Cyclone engines. The engines were not overhauled in AIrline maintenance hangers, at that time, New or newly overhauled engines would be swapped for the time expired engines to keep the aircraft in the air (and making money) while time expired engines went back to the manufacturer or approved service center/overhaul facility.
The stories of sabotage date from the delivery of Buffalos to British forces in Singapore. Upon uncrating and inspecting the aircraft, 2 were found to have poorly welded engine bearers, while an unspecified number had small pieces of metal in the engine oil sump. It's unclear whether these were deliberate acts of sabotage or if they were simply manifestations of Brewster's shoddy quality control.
Part of Brewster's problem is that they lacked an established track record of aircraft production. The company started out as a coachworks, building bespoke bodies for automobiles. They diversified into aircraft components, building wing floats for floatplanes, before deciding to design their own aircraft. When the orders started to come in, Brewster had to find a workforce...and quickly. This meant they hired anyone they could find which caused problems in a demanding field such as aviation. There were also problems between management and the unionized workforce.
Finally, the Brewster "production line" operated over several floors in a downtown factory that had no adjacent airfield. The factory lacked a proper Ford-like production line and completed airframes had to be dismantled and trucked to an airfield for test flying. The set up was ok for small-batch orders under peacetime conditions. It broke down rapidly when order sizes increased and deliver schedules compressed. Of course, the Brewster salesmen promised that entirely impractical delivery schedules could be met.
Overall, not a recipe for success.