Wildcats in action in Europe 1945 (1 Viewer)

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yulzari

Staff Sergeant
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Mar 24, 2010
Plymouth and Basse Marche
This is an obituary of Lieutenant Ken Atkinson, a Royal Navy Sea Hurricane and Wildcat pilot and an account of actions off Norway in April 1945.
 
I wonder if he was mistaken on the Wildcat model he transitioned into, and instead of the Wildcat IV, perhaps it was the VI?. The Martlet IV was a fairly ponderous performer, and though it was an undoubtedly better deck handling aircraft than a Sea Hurricane, I don't think it significantly outperformed it., as stated in the article.

" By late 1944, 835 NAS was due to be re-equipped with the much more capable American fighter, the Grumman Wildcat IV, which was purpose-built and carrier-borne. It was more manoeuvrable and had a better rate of climb and endurance than the Sea Hurricane, and had been designed for seaborne operations with its powered, folding wings."
 
I wonder if he was mistaken on the Wildcat model he transitioned into, and instead of the Wildcat IV, perhaps it was the VI?. The Martlet IV was a fairly ponderous performer, and though it was an undoubtedly better deck handling aircraft than a Sea Hurricane, I don't think it significantly outperformed it., as stated in the article.

" By late 1944, 835 NAS was due to be re-equipped with the much more capable American fighter, the Grumman Wildcat IV, which was purpose-built and carrier-borne. It was more manoeuvrable and had a better rate of climb and endurance than the Sea Hurricane, and had been designed for seaborne operations with its powered, folding wings."
Probably a simple transcribing error by the Daily Telegraph.IV for VI is easily done by someone who has no idea of the significance.
 
This is an obituary of Lieutenant Ken Atkinson, a Royal Navy Sea Hurricane and Wildcat pilot and an account of actions off Norway in April 1945.

"In their distinctive – and unofficial – all-white camouflage, the Wildcats intercepted the enemy"

-- oooh I think I got me a white FAA Wildcat to build! That sounds cool! Anyone got a pic of one of those? My google-fu failed me.
 
I wonder if he was mistaken on the Wildcat model he transitioned into, and instead of the Wildcat IV, perhaps it was the VI?. The Martlet IV was a fairly ponderous performer, and though it was an undoubtedly better deck handling aircraft than a Sea Hurricane, I don't think it significantly outperformed it., as stated in the article.

" By late 1944, 835 NAS was due to be re-equipped with the much more capable American fighter, the Grumman Wildcat IV, which was purpose-built and carrier-borne. It was more manoeuvrable and had a better rate of climb and endurance than the Sea Hurricane, and had been designed for seaborne operations with its powered, folding wings."

Any version of the Martlet / Wildcat definitely had much better endurance than any Sea Hurricane, which was key for a Naval fighter. The "armored carrier" site gets into this in a lot of detail about why this was so important.
 
re the white paint scheme on the F4F

I have seen a colour picture of the SeaHurricane (in the FAA's white scheme) somewhere on the internet. Otherwise there are several B&W photos of the SeaHurricanes in the white scheme.

I do not know if the scheme is the same as used on the Wildcat.
 
re the white paint scheme on the F4F

I have seen a colour picture of the SeaHurricane (in the FAA's white scheme) somewhere on the internet. Otherwise there are several B&W photos of the SeaHurricanes in the white scheme.

I do not know if the scheme is the same as used on the Wildcat.

Good tip! Definitely something to go on here.

ETdbpY4XQAAtfDc.jpg
 
re the white paint scheme on the F4F

I have seen a colour picture of the SeaHurricane (in the FAA's white scheme) somewhere on the internet. Otherwise there are several B&W photos of the SeaHurricanes in the white scheme.

I do not know if the scheme is the same as used on the Wildcat.
The white paint scheme is attributed to Patrick Blackett's Operation Research Team. Most of the cast off aircraft that Bomber Command gave to Coastal Command were painted black, and U-Boats were spotting them before the the aircraft saw the U-Boat. Painting the planes white, gave the planes a few more seconds to visually spot the U-Boat first.

Ref the Book: Blackett's War.
 
The white paint scheme is attributed to Patrick Blackett's Operation Research Team. Most of the cast off aircraft that Bomber Command gave to Coastal Command were painted black, and U-Boats were spotting them before the the aircraft saw the U-Boat. Painting the planes white, gave the planes a few more seconds to visually spot the U-Boat first.

Ref the Book: Blackett's War.

Later, it was figured out putting lights on the aircraft actually made them harder to spot until they were close.
 
I wonder if he was mistaken on the Wildcat model he transitioned into, and instead of the Wildcat IV, perhaps it was the VI?. The Martlet IV was a fairly ponderous performer, and though it was an undoubtedly better deck handling aircraft than a Sea Hurricane, I don't think it significantly outperformed it., as stated in the article.

" By late 1944, 835 NAS was due to be re-equipped with the much more capable American fighter, the Grumman Wildcat IV, which was purpose-built and carrier-borne. It was more manoeuvrable and had a better rate of climb and endurance than the Sea Hurricane, and had been designed for seaborne operations with its powered, folding wings."
The nomenclature needs to be clarified. The aircraft in question is not a Wildcat IV but the VI:


AKA, the FM2, which was a specially lightened version of the Wildcat with a more powerful engine. It came out in late 1943 and was a close match to the SH1B in performance:



but it's folding wings were a definite advantage.
 

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