World War II Database

1.  Bill says:
16 Nov 2010 05:04:42 PM

F4F-3 Wildcat from VMF-221 Midway Island 1942
The fixed wing F4F-3 had four .50 Caliber machine guns with 1,800 rounds.
The folding wing F4F-4 carried six .50s with
1,440 rounds.
Wildcat also carried 120 lbs of armor plate
and could even take hits from the Zero's
20mm cannons.

Prewar Navy pilots,were trained in deflection
shooting, firing just ahead of your target,
so your enemy flies into those .50 caliber
slugs.

Those .50 caliber machine guns could down a
Japanese aircraft fast, the Mitsubishi A6M
Zero carried 2x7.7mm machine guns w/ 680 rounds of ammo, plus 2x20mm w/ 120 rounds
cannons, the Japanese pilot had to maintain
fire discipline, and make every round count.

2.  Bill says:
27 Jan 2013 10:13:07 AM

Oops! made an error the Marine Squadron sent to Wake Island wasn't VMF-221, but VFM-211,
left Pearl Harbor aboard the USS Enterprise
and USS Sarstoga on November 28, 1941.

The trip took six days, during that time the
Wildcat fighters were re-painted from peace-time colors to the wartime Non-Specular
Blue-Gray uppersurface and the Non-Specular Light Gray undersurface.

Markings were in six-positions on wings and fuselage, blue disk w/white star red center disk w/red and white rudder stripes.

By 1942 those markings were changed, the red center disk in the star, was deleted because during combat, pilots mistook it for the Japanese Hinomaru marking. The red/white rudder tail stripes were also painted out and deleted.

3. Bill says:
27 Jan 2013 10:34:49 AM

7800 Wildcat fighters were built. Britain received 1200, and General Motors built 5200 FM-1/2's. VMF-211 operated from on Wake Is. and VFM-221 operated from Midway Island.
Just wanted to clear this up...