The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the standard carrier-based fighter of the United States Navy for the first year and a half of World War II. An improved version built by General Motors (the General Motors FM Wildcat) remained in service throughout the war, on escort carriers where newer, larger and heavier fighters could not be used.

The Wildcat was outperformed by the Mitsubishi Zero, its major opponent in the Pacific war, but held its own by absorbing far more damage and wielding more firepower. With heavy armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Grumman airframe could survive far more than its lightweight, unarmored Japanese rival.

The original Grumman F4F-1 design was a biplane, which when proving inferior to rival designs was recast as the monoplane F4F-2. This was still not competitive with the Brewster F2A Buffalo which won initial US Navy orders, but when the F4F was fitted with a more powerful engine, the Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp, it showed its true merits and became the F4F-3. US Navy orders followed as did some (with Wright Cyclone engines) from France; these ended up with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm after the fall of France. In British service initially these were known as the Martlet I, but not all Martlets would be to the exact same specifications as US Navy aircraft. The F4F-3A would enter service as the Martlet III(B), the FM-1 as the Martlet V, and the FM-2 as the Martlet VI. The name Wildcat was still commonly used for these aircraft in spite of the official name change.

A new version, the F4F-4, entered service in 1942 with six guns and folding wings, allowing more to be crammed on a carrier; this was the definitive version and the one that saw the most combat service in the early war years including the Battle of Midway.

Grumman production ceased in early 1943 to make way for the newer F6F Hellcat, but General Motors continued producing them for both US Navy and Fleet Air Arm use, as larger fighters such as the Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were too large for use on escort carriers. At first they produced the identical FM-1 model but then switched to the improved FM-2 (based on Grumman's F4F-8 prototype) with a more powerful engine and a taller tail to cope with the torque. In all, 7,251 Wildcats were built.

All versions of the Wildcat used hand-cranked landing gear with a relatively narrow track, making landing accidents where the landing gear were not fully locked into place distressingly common.

Pictured here is a 1:48 scale US Navy Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighter that was piloted by Lt.(jg) Dennis Laird, who was attached to VF-4 "Red Rippers", then embarked upon USS Ranger (CV-4) during October 1943. Pre-order! Ship Date: December 2026.

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 9-1/2-inches
Length: 7-1/4-inches

Release Date: ?

Historical Account: "Diz" - While aboard USS Ranger flying a Grumman Wildcat, Laird was flying CAP (Combat Air Patrol) over the fleet off Norway during Operation Leader in October 1943 when German aircraft were spotted on radar. Laird and other Wildcats were vectored to intercept. Because Laird's plane was slower than the others, he managed to spot two different German aircraft that his squadron mates missed. Laird shot down a German Ju-88 Bomber and an HE-115 Seaplane.

Later, Laird was trained on the new Hellcat fighter and then transferred to the Pacific on USS Bunker Hill from September 1944 to November 1944. While aboard USS Bunker Hill, he participated in a fighter sweep over the former US airbase Clark Field in the Philippines and shot down two "Tony" fighters, sharing credit for one of those to his wingman.

When USS Bunker Hill went for repairs, Laird switched over to USS Essex from November 1944 to March 1945. During this time, in December 1944, Laird was almost shot down. His F6F Hellcat was riddled with bullets over the Philippines after a strafing attack, but he was able to pilot the plane back to USS Essex 250 miles away. His landing gear had been damaged and was not working and Laird landed the plane skidding on its bottom across the flight deck of the aircraft carrier. In January 1945, while participating on a fighter sweep over Hainan island, off coast of China, he shot down a "Hamp" fighter. In 1945, the US carrier groups were directly attacking targets in Japan and while escorting bombers that were attacking an aircraft factory. He spotted two "Sally" bombers leaving the area and shot down one while his wingman got the other one. A few days later he spotted a "Tojo" fighter flying low and chased it with his wingman, shooting at it until it crashed.

All accounted for, Laird shot down six or seven though was officially credited with 5.75 planes shot down. When "sharing" shoot downs with a wingman or other members of the squadron, sometimes pilots would get credited with .5 or .25 of a shoot down.