MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
The new EAA magazine came out and I was struck by this exceptionally nice photo of a restored Wildcat.
I wish it enlarged better.
I wish it enlarged better.
Restored F4F Wildcat
- Thread starter MIflyer
- Start date
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SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Beautiful, just beautiful.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Is it an F4F or an FM-1?
- Thread starter
- #5
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Don't know, but it looks to have only 4 guns so it probably is an FM-1. I think that more FM-1's were recovered from Lake Michigan, where they were pretty well preserved. We have one in a local museum, although they fitted it with 6 guns during restoration.
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SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Again, just beautiful.
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Boy, wait until Terry sees her!
Just stunning
Just stunning
R Leonard
Staff Sergeant
Notice the pitot tube. You only saw them like that on the F4F-3 since the wings did not fold.
- Thread starter
- #10
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Ever look inside the wheel wells of a Wildcat?
Greg Boeser
1st Sergeant
Can't you get arrested for that?
- Thread starter
- #12
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
No, only if you do this, too
.
Warbird Registry - Grumman F4F Wildcat - A Warbirds Resource Group Site
The Grumman F4F Wildcat registry follows the history of all Wildcats that survived military service.
Aerial Visuals - Airframe Dossier - Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat, s/n 12260 USN, c/n 5920, c/r N12260
This Aerial Visuals page provides airframe history details of a specific airframe from the airframe database.
aerialvisuals.ca
cvairwerks
Staff Sergeant
Utmost care has to be exercised when changing the battery in a Wildcat....Thou shall NOT get turned turtle when trying to get out of the heckhole where the battery is. 
It's how I got formally introduced to Howard Pardue, Fast Eddie, Nelson Ezell and a couple other guys from Breckenridge. It took six of them to pull me like a fish out of that hole!
It's how I got formally introduced to Howard Pardue, Fast Eddie, Nelson Ezell and a couple other guys from Breckenridge. It took six of them to pull me like a fish out of that hole!- Thread starter
- #16
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
People have been known to ride - as in flight - in the space behind the seat in a Wildcat. There is a lot of room there, as it was in the F3F. There was a old movie, Flight Command, where a pilot crashed an F3F and another landed next to him, removed the radio transmitter, and put the injured pilot in that compartment.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Like flying on Piedmont!
- Thread starter
- #18
MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Interesting to note that the F3F and F4F, like the P-47, were developed from protoypes that were two seat aircraft.
cvairwerks
Staff Sergeant
The photos are a little deceiving on the belly space, if you have never been close to a Wildcat. The vacuum tank in the first photo is about 14" in diameter. The forward most radio shelf is about 25" wide.... Lots of fore and aft room. I don't remember offhand what the lower tank is for, but the one I was working on, had the battery in that area or slightly forward.
I remember the P-35 had a bunch of room behind the pilots seat. Even think the put a window in the door on some models. Peaked inside one early one day at the NMUSAF. Might have a picture somewhere...
