"A chubby beer keg with two wings with machine guns stuck in it!"

This is what the pilots said about the "Wildcat" fighter.

Its stubby fuselage has two square wings.

So much so that people wonder if this thing can fly.

If we talk about the "Zero War" of the same era, it is a beautiful work of art completed with a carving knife.

Then the "wildcat" is an industrial product that is cheap and easy to produce on the assembly line.

It is permeated from head to toe, the image of the Citi of that era, "a big grinning hillbilly." ”

Now, the equally ugly "buffalo" has been pressed to the ground by the "zero war" of the Japanese Yankees, and they don't even have the strength to fight back.

So much so that the Brewster Company was also unlucky, they lit up a few times like "fireflies", and then they were about to be silent.

Will the "Wildcat" be a little better?

This is really an unknown, because the "Buffalo" is not bad at the hands of foreign pilots.

In particular, in the war between Soviet Russia and Finland, the "Buffalo" killed 496 Soviet and Russian aircraft, and lost only 19 of them, with an exchange ratio of 26:1.

Even Chennault's "Flying Tigers" pilots were envious of the "Buffalo" planes equipped by the British army.

But these damn things don't work when they get into their hands.

In particular, during the Battle of Midway, the Marine Corps, which praised itself as a "fourth-class class" in the army, was surrounded by 36 "Zero Battles" of the opposing side when he piloted 26 "Buffaloes" to meet the Japanese bomber fleet.

Although Citi pilots fought to the death, it was not enough to compensate for the huge performance difference between the fighters.

In the end, 17 were shot down on the spot, 7 were heavily damaged, and only 2 returned safely.

The one-sided result made the upper echelons of the Navy understand that sending "Buffalo" again would be completely sending them to death, and now only "Wild Cats" can be relied on.

For its combat effectiveness, the upper echelons of the Navy also have considerable confidence.

Because, the "Wildcat" has already shown its skills in the European theater.

However, the tendon "John Bull" called it "Rock Swallow", a kind of "chirping" bird.

Because, they can't see them resting, just flying endlessly, and they are also called "footless birds." ”

The British were very satisfied with the performance of the "Yanyan", but the "F4F-3" did not have the function of folding wings, so it could not be put in the tavern-like hangar of the British aircraft carrier.

As the war situation deteriorated further, they needed to fold the wings "Rock Swallow" more urgently than the Citi Navy. ”

Grumman met these requirements, and the subsequent production of the "Rock Swallow" MK.3 played a considerable role on British aircraft carriers.

However, the Citi Navy was not so lucky.

The much-anticipated "Wildcat" just started with a big fall.

On the night of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the aircraft carrier "Enterprise" sent six "F4F-3s" to the Ford Island airport in Pearl Harbor in the hope of increasing the airport's air force.

But in the darkness of the night, the six aircraft were mistaken for enemy aircraft and came under friendly anti-aircraft fire.

Two "Wildcats" were shot down, and two more pilots were forced to parachute.

In the end, this oolong incident caused the death of 3 pilots.

In the ensuing Battle of Wake Island, the "Wildcat" seemed to be in motion.

Although huge losses were suffered in the early stages, the remaining aircraft played an extraordinary role.

He even sank the destroyer "Ruyue" of the Japanese Kingdom.

But this series of results seems to have drained the luck of the "wild cat".

In the subsequent battles of the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands, the "Wildcat" also took part in the battle.

Whether it was providing air cover, or escorting bombers, their performance was not outstanding.

And in the world-famous Battle of Midway, the role of the "Wildcat" fighter was not as good as that of the "SBD Dreadnought" dive bomber.

For this, Rear Admiral John Thatch of the 3rd Fighter Squadron of the Citi Navy sharply criticized the "Wildcat".

He believed that the "Wildcat" piloted was inferior to the "Zero" in terms of rate of climb, maneuverability and speed. ”

After constant summarization, he invented the famous tactic "Thatch scissors." ”

This played an extremely important role in the subsequent Battle of Guadalcanal.

But even so, the "zero war" of the Japanese state still won the game.

If the other party's skills are skilled, the "Wildcat" is more than lucky.

But Major Thatch did not expect that 22 days after he submitted his report, a new carrier-based fighter made its maiden flight on Long Island.

It is the "F6F", the best carrier-based fighter of the Second World War.

It all started in 1938, when the XF4F-2 was still in the process of flying.

But the Citi Navy and Grumman's engineers wanted to stuff this guy with a more powerful engine.

After all, for a fighter, power is crucial.

The more powerful the engine, the better the performance of the fighter.

It can also be equipped with more powerful weapons and better armor protection.

However, the shape of the aircraft had to be redesigned.

For this reason, the "XF4F-3" was born. ”

On February 1, 1938, the Citi Naval Aviation Bureau invited another tender.

They wanted a new type of high-altitude, high-speed carrier-based fighter that required a stall speed of no less than 70 mph and a range of more than 1,000 miles.

This time, Chance Waters submitted the "XF4U-1" proposal, and Grumman submitted the "XF5F-1" proposal.

Chance Walter's aircraft was eventually ordered, and it was the famous "F4U Corsair" fighter.

And Grumman's "XF5F-1" fell unsurprisingly.

Because, it uses a twin-engine engine, just before the cockpit of the aircraft.

The pilot simply did not see the LSO signal of the signal officer when he landed on the ship, which is definitely a serious problem.

In addition to this, the results of the test flights of the prototype were not satisfactory.

The Navy Master immediately throws it into the wasteland and asks Grumman to come up with an alternative.

By September 1940, Grumman proposed the "G-50" prototype.

This is a modification of the Wildcat, equipped with a Wright R-2600-10 engine, which can provide 1700 horsepower at takeoff.

The G-50 can be considered an enlarged version of the Wildcat, and although some changes have been made, it is not too much in general.

After studying it, the Naval Aviation Agency found this to be a very attractive option.

But they also questioned the smoothness of the aircraft and the position of the center of gravity.

At the same time, according to the experience of the European theater, the new fighter is required to have a speed of close to 400 miles per hour, a range of 1,500 miles, six 0.5-inch caliber machine guns, 400 rounds of ammunition each, and armor plates in the cockpit, fuel tanks and other places.

Officials at the aviation authority also said that if Grumman could change the landing gear to the wing position, the new plan would easily pass, even beating Chance Water's F4U proposal.

Grumman, of course, would not miss such an opportunity, and at the sound of his order, the designers began to gather around the "G-50" scheme again.

This time, it was the "blacksmith" team that designed the "Wildcat" fighter.