Modelling the F4F Wildcat


Book Description

The F4F Wildcat was an aircraft of the type of which legends are made. Without the handling performance that made the Japanese Zero so famous, it was well regarded for its ruggedness and firepower and, in the hands of a skilled pilot who understood both its strengths and weaknesses, it was capable of holding its own against the best that its opponents had to offer. This book details projects that encompass four variants of the F4 Wildcat. As they were supplied to a number of air forces during the war, including the RAF, there is a wide range of markings available to modellers which are also dealt with in detail. Covering a range of modelling abilities from a beginner's first build to an expert scratch-building extras, this book is illustrated with full-colour step-by-step photographs.




Modelling the F4F Wildcat


Book Description

The F4F Wildcat was an aircraft of the type of which legends are made. Without the handling performance that made the Japanese Zero so famous, it was well regarded for its ruggedness and firepower and, in the hands of a skilled pilot who understood both its strengths and weaknesses, it was capable of holding its own against the best that its opponents had to offer. This book details projects that encompass four variants of the F4 Wildcat. As they were supplied to a number of air forces during the war, including the RAF, there is a wide range of markings available to modellers which are also dealt with in detail. Covering a range of modelling abilities from a beginner's first build to an expert scratch-building extras, this book is illustrated with full-colour step-by-step photographs.




Modelling the F4U Corsair


Book Description

The F4U Corsair's combat career was longer than that of almost any other World War II fighter aircraft. Its success led to its service around the globe, and it was employed by the US Navy, British Fleet Air Arm and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. After the war, the Corsair also served with the French Navy, in various Latin American Air Forces, and with forces fighting in Korea. This book showcases seven separate Corsair variants modelled across 1/32, 1/48 and 1/72 scales. Among the aircraft featured are an F4U-1 Birdcage, an F4U-1A from VF-17 'Jolly Rogers', a Fleet Air Arm Corsair Mk.II, a Korean War F4U-4 and an F4U-7 French Corsair.




F4F Wildcat vs A6M Zero-sen


Book Description

The Grumman F4F Wildcat and the Mitsubishi A6M Zero-sen were contemporaries, although designed to very different requirements. The Wildcat, ruggedly built to survive the rigors of carrier operations, was the best carrier fighter the US Navy had available when the USA entered World War II, and it remained the principal fighter for the US Navy and the US Marine Corps until 1942–43. With a speed greater than 300mph, exceptional manoeuvrability, long range, and an impressive armament the slick Zero-sen could out-perform any Allied fighter in 1941–42. The battles between the Wildcat and the Zero-sen during 1942 represent a classic duel in which pilots flying a nominally inferior fighter successfully developed air-combat tactics that negated the strengths of their opponent.




The Silver Waterfall


Book Description

The Silver Waterfall is the story of the men who fought the Battle of Midway over three momentous days in June, 1942. Men uncertain, determined, fearful and courageous. Men under crushing pressure, desperate and hopeful. Their story is one of daring, of unfathomable loss, of survival inside rickety airplanes and burning ships. What happened off Midway is a story of reckless pride, and cold realization. The Silver Waterfall is an unforgettable human story - a factual historic fiction account honoring those who fought in one of the most pivotal naval battles in world history.




Modelling the Mitsubishi A6M Zero


Book Description

The A6M Rei Shiki Sento Ki (meaning Type Zero fighter) was the result of an order by the Imperial Japanese Navy for a low-wing monoplane with superior speed, range, climbing powers, and manoeuvrability. It famously served as a fighter escort during the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and ended the war as the kamikaze plane of choice. This book provides a detailed guide to modelling this popular aircraft across a variety of scales, and features an A6M2-N Rufe, a kamikaze A6M5c, an A6M2 model 21, and a captured A6M5b of TAIC #7, as well as a gallery and walkaround section.




F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-2


Book Description

An illustrated history of the pilots of VF-2 who had a spectacular scoring rate and fought in many of the major aerial campaigns of the Pacific War. The first VF-2 was a prewar unit that had been dubbed the 'hottest outfit afloat' due to the skill of their non-commissioned pilots. This first unit only saw combat at the Battle of the Coral Sea, although VF-2 pilots flying Grumman F4F Wildcats were able to rack up 17 claims there during the bitter 48-hour period of fighting. The second 'Fighting Two' was armed with the new Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter. Arriving in Hawaii in October 1943, the squadron so impressed Cdr Edward H 'Butch' O'Hare, the Medal of Honor-winning first US Navy ace of World War 2, that he requested the squadron replace VF-6 in his CAG-6 aboard USS Enterprise. No unit US Navy unit created more aces than VF-2, whose pilots went into action over the Carolines, Marianas, Guam, Iwo Jima and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Using exquisite photographs and first-hand accounts from the elite fliers themselves, this volume tells the story of the ace pilots who comprised the original VF-2 and the second.




The Blue Devils


Book Description

When America was plunged into war in the wake of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the first aircraft to take the fight to the Japanese were manned by naval aviators flying from Pacific Fleet aircraft carriers that had miraculously escaped the carnage in Hawaii. Escorting bombers attacking the Imperial Japanese Navy, a handful of Wildcats succeeded in fending off attacks by the superior A6M Zero-sen fighter. The pugnacious Grumman fighter held the line in the Pacific until the arrival of better aircraft in the shape of the Corsair and Hellcat during 1943. Both types duly proved more than a match for their Japanese counterparts to the point where the Hellcat was dubbed the ace maker. The exploits of the Wildcat, Hellcat and Corsair are all detailed in this exhaustively researched volume combining Aircraft of the Aces 3, 8 and 10 in a great value special edition.





Book Description




Grumman F4F Wildcat - F6F Hellcat


Book Description

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was a single-engine fighter embarked wing media developed by the US Air Force Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation in the late thirties. Produced between the end of the decade to the early forties was the main hunting, usually embarked on aircraft carriers, the United States Navy in 1941 and 1942, ie in the first year of participation in the Second World War and successor, and descendant of the F3F, last the biplane fighter of the US Navy and Air Force of the entire United States of America. The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the standard fighter of the US Navy to operate from the deck of aircraft carrier in the first two years of war and as such he was called to take the weight to counter the Japanese air offensive, mainly conducted by the formidable Mitsubishi A6M Zero (Zero fighter) . The Grumman F6F Hellcat was developed quickly as a standard fighter of the US Navy in World War II, entering service in 1943 and remained the most important aircraft of the US Navy until the end of the conflict. It was the direct descendant of the F4F Wildcat that, according to forecasts, had to be a useful replacement for the Navy aircraft carrier in order to better counteract the way to the Japanese fighters. According to statistics gathered by the Defense, 75% of enemy planes shot down by American aircraft operating from aircraft carriers in all theaters of war is to be credited all'Hellcat. In addition to the 4,947 Japanese aircraft shot down by the Germans and F6F operating from aircraft carriers, the Hellcat which started from bases on land destroyed 209 enemy aircraft, bringing the total number of victories in each military sector worldwide in 5,156.