In what was to become the penultimate fighter in Grumman's war inventory for WWII, the Eastern Aircraft FM-1 was the epitome of America's homefront industry pulling up it's proverbial bootstraps and working together to support the war effort on both fronts of the war in the ETO and PTO. What was commonly known in most variants as the Wildcat, the aircraft actually started out life as a failed biplane design in the XF4F-1 in 1936 which was losing out in competition to the Brewster XF2A-1. Grumman went back to the drawing board and reworked the design into the monoplane XF4F-2- powered by a 1,050HP Pratt & Whitney R-1830-66 Twin Wasp engine which promised a top speed of almost 300mph. Armament consisted of two .50-caliber machine guns in the cowling and two more in the wings- as well as the ability to carry two 100lb. bombs under the wings. In the end though, the design still lost out to Brewster's early Buffalo.
In October 1938, the Navy contracted for a reworked prototype designated the XF4F-3, powered by an XR-1830-76 engine. The wings, tail surfaces, and fuselage were redesigned. Armament was two .30-caliber cowling machine guns and two .50-caliber guns in the wings. First flight was in 1940 and the top speed reached was 333mph. There were still some small issues- like in engine cooling to be solved, but the Navy ordered 54 production F4F03s in August. Production saw a change in armament to four .50-caliber guns in the wings and a change in engine from the Pratt & Whitney R-1830-76 to the R-1830-86. F4F-3As were delivered with R-1830-90 engines.
Between 1940 and 1941, a second production order was placed and the Wildcats began to replace older types in both the Navy and Marine squadrons. By the December attack on Pearl Harbor, Wildcats were the most numerous fighter in the Navy and Marine arsenals and were quickly pressed into action against the more maneuverable Japanese fighters. Despite the lack of comparable maneuverability, pilot such as Jimmy Thatch, Butch O'Hare, and Joe Foss held their own by designing tactics to optimize the Wildcat's strong points and take advantages of the weak points of the Japanese. In interviews at the time, hands down- American pilots were willing to trade the lack of maneuverability for the sturdiness of their Grumman mounts. Japanese fighters had little armor and were apt to burst into flames after only small bursts of fire from American fighters, whereas time and again, the rugged Wildcats seldom caught fire and often brought their pilots home despite considerable damage to them.
Wildcats operated from both carriers and land bases in the most crucial battles of the early war- playing key roles at Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal. Around the time of Midway in June of 1942, the F4F-4 had begun to replace the F4F-3s. A new feature in the -4 were folding wings which allowed more of them to be able to be stored on carriers. Another less popular change on the -4 was an increase in armament from four to six .50-caliber guns in the wing. The addition of the extra guns cut down on the overall ammunition which shortened firing times for the pilots. Pilots preferred less guns and more ammunition- giving them more time to fire and acquire kills.
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As the war progressed, Grumman looked to further focus on the future-- more importantly on the development and production of the F6F Hellcat. To do so, production of the Wildcat and TBF Avenger was shifted to General Motors. The automobile industry had long since dried up auto production and shifted manufacturing to war goods- including tanks, planes, and guns. GM's Eastern Aircraft division took on the Wildcat- now designated as FM-1s and FM-2s., while the Avengers were designated TBMs. Although it was to be replaced by the Hellcats and F4U Corsair, the Navy was still invested in the Wildcat as it's small size and great handling made it an excellent fighter for the small escort carriers operating in both the Atlantic and Pacific. In the Atlantic, it filled a vital role alongside the TBM Avengers in providing an air umbrella over the convoys operating between the US and England.
The FM-1 was overall the same of the F4F-4- except for one modification that brought great joy to pilots. The armament was switched back to four .50-caliber guns which increased ammunition again. Teamed with the Avengers, it wreaked havoc on German submarine operations in the Atlantic. The FM-2 was a much improved version of the Wildcat- powered by a Wright Cyclone R-1820-56 1,350hp engine. The vertical tail and rudder heights were extended on the FM-2 to counter the additional torque on the more powerful engine. FM-2s operated on escort carriers until the end of the war, thus making the Wildcat one of the few American aircraft to serve in front-line squadrons throughout the entire war.
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OK-- so in giving the kit a quick once over just to preview things, it looks like Hobby Boss did a pretty great job- there are 6 .50-caliber guns on the sprue, but there are only places for four as there should be on the kit. As for my references, I will be using Squadrons excellent Wildcat In Action as well as the Walkaround that I put onto my Nook for easy reference. In addition to these, I will be referring during construction to the Osprey book on Modelling the F4F Wildcat...
My go-to book in any of my Pacific builds though is an excellent one I picked up thanks to Revell. In the early 2000's, with the rebox of their 1/48 Devastator and 1/32 Wildcat, Revell included these awesome volumes in with the kits. Volume 1 on Dive and Torpedo bombers came with the Devastator- and I will be using this Volume 2 on Fighters for this build...
These are basically Bert Kinzey's In Detail & Scale in short form-- with more compressed text and just an overview of key areas like the interiors and engines.
Lastly, this is the scheme I have planned- one of the two that come in the box...
