It's so good to hear a more detailed and intelligent assessment of a WWII aircraft than the usual stereotypical commentary provided by other sites that seem to just copy each other. Good job! 👍🏻
One of the things left out of the Buffalo story is the issue of engines. The Cyclone had various versions, at different power levels, with their own difficulties. As well as the weight increases caused by additional equipment and armor, the availability and reliability of different versions of the Cyclone also had a major impact on the Buffalo's performance. IIRC some of the Dutch variants in particular ended up having to make do with used, reconditioned lower-powered earlier model Cyclones actually salvaged from commercial aircraft. The Buffalos in Dutch service in the Pacific War did _not_ fare particularly well.
I had planned to touch upon the engine difficulties during the planes development but sadly ran out of time and shelved it in order to makeway for talking about the planes service with its various operators.
My grandfather worked at Brewster. He later moved to Consolidated where he built PBY', which turned out just fine. The issue was poor management and quality control at Brewster Aeronautical, not the fundamental aircraft design.
Exactly, Brewster as a company was a nightmare and at no point I think well managed. The fact the Buffalo actually got off the design table in any sort of good standing is almost a miracle considering that fact.
@@davidmurphy8190 Well, by that point the company wasn't in the control of the original owners (the US Navy had direct control of it to ensure smooth production) and the blueprints were already developed, they were just using the manufacturing capacity of Brewster to make em. Yeah they worked fine but thats, kinda expected? The Corsair was a good design and by that point the Navy had sussed out 'most' of Brewsters insanity in regards to manufacturing.
I built an MPC 1/72 version that I consider a watershed moment in my model building career. The first model I built I thought looked as good as the stuff I saw in the hobby shop. I didn't have any yellow paint so it was all silver. Beautiful little plane.
Look closely and you'll find its quit similar to an early wildcat , the wildcat first models were an improvement till the navy added more 50 cals , armor , self sealing tanks , heavy radios , and more . Pilots were then dissatisfied with performance of the Cat .
The Early Wildcats were, okay. . .they had some teething issues, especially with the engine having overheating problems due to the cowling and spinner design (which is why the -3 doesn't have the spinner hub of the earlier prototypes). The -4 could've been great. . .if they hadn't messed with the machine gun layout. The Armor, Self Sealing Fuel Tanks, and Radios included on the -3s were well liked for the fact they kept their pilots alive which is pretty important. If they had tried to make the F4F as light as possible like what happened with the Zero it would've been a flying fuel air bomb ready to ignite on the first round. Pilots were only dissatisfied with the Wildcats because the Zeros they were fighting were tuned to near perfection for air superiority duties *at the cost of the pilots survivability*.
The Cutlass at least flew. . .kinda, and was at least attempting to be a innovative and advanced fighter. If they fixed the explodey problem it could've been pretty neato
@@5MinuteGuidesToAircraft And would crash if you tried to recover normally from a stall, gave a bunch of pilots spinal injuries due to the front landing gear design, the hydraulics repeatedly failed, together with the engine fires... Yeah, innovative in the number of ways it could potentially kill its pilot... A plane getting a reputation that it's trying to kill its pilots is generally not a good indication.
G'day, A couple of points... "Dissolvement" is not a word. Dissolution is the word you were looking for. Also, I admit to having a couple of Videos on my Scroll, in my Personal Aeroplanology Playlist, which deal with the two extremes of the Buffalo...; and I've long planned a third - but have not yet got a Round Tuit as required for the job... On the one hand, "World's Greatest Fighter Pilot ; Ulmari Juttilinen...!" (94 witnessed & confirmed Aerial Victiries without his Aeroplane ever being hit by anything fired from any Enemy Aeroplane...; and about 35 (?) of his Victories were achieved in a Buffalo. So, Y'know... I KNOW that a Buffalo With a good Jockey Could be an actual Worldbeater... On the other hand, The Buffalo Series..., and the Fokker Eindekker Series...; are the ONLY Two Fighter Aeroplane Designs which Shot down More Enemy Aircraft... Than ever rolled off their own Production Line. And while there was once One Sopwith Camel which, As an Airframe, had (probably) over 40 "Aerial Kills" - but it went to Italy for it's Pilot's final posting, and while he came back a big Hero - that Camel disappeared after the Armistice. But in Finland they have a Buffalo in a Museum which, as an Airframe, has 37 (from memory) "Kill Tally-Marks painted on it - scored by Five different Pilots who were Assigned to fly it at various times. Buffaloes created 11different Finnish "Aces", who all scored their "first 5" while riding a Buffalo, and ONE British Commonwealth "Buffalo Ace" (a Kiwi in the RAF in Malaya/Singapore, racked up 6 "Kills" in Buffaloes and then another 2 in P-40s - in the Southwest Pacific. And in the Gripping Hand though, I also made and uploaded "World's Worst Fighter Aircraft...; The 1942 RAAF Brewster Buffalo !". Featuring second-hand badly-overhauled overweight underpowered Engines.., Pneumatic Fuelpumps incapable of delivering enough Fuel for Full Power above 10,000 ft - requiring manual Pumping by the Pilot to maintain Fuel-Pressure..., HF Radios which after 10:00 AM every Morning in Malaya could only receive Static, from the Lightning, produced by the daily crop of Tropical Storms building up..., and fitted with .50" Browning Machineguns, in Modificated Mounts - which had been designed & built for .30" Brownings... The Wing-Guns were prone to breaking out of their Mounts, when triggered, sometimes jamming their own feed if the pilotvwas lucky - because otherwise the Gun "ran away" firing fully automatically, unstoppably, until it ran out of Ammunition...; OR until the Gun - firing wild and unconstrained Inside the Wing, butting upbagainst the Rear-Spar, with Gunfire emerging randomly THROUGH the upper & lower Wing-Skins... Until the forward Wing-Spar/s were Shot Through and Failed - allowing the so effected Wing to Depart the (thus) falling Wreckage. The Cowling Guns had their Mountings Field-Modified to stand the strain... And most such "Fightworthy" Aircraft were repossessed by the RAF & sent to Burma, with the RAAF being issued with a fresh lot of Gunmount-buggaring Buffaloes mere days (weeks?) Before the Japanese commenced to cut through the Commonwealth Farces defending Malaya... Only once in Combat did the RAAF discover that the belted US Naval Ammunition, shipped in Sheetmetal Cans, was Corrosion-proofed by filling the Cans of Belted Ammo. with molten Cosmolene Grease, A US Navy favourite precaution, apparently. Thus, when fired, the .50-calibre Brownings With rectified Mountings On the Buffaloes' Cowlings ; Expelled with each Red-hot .50-inch Projectile, A CLOUD of hot glowing Vapourised Cosmolene Grease ; Which, in the frigid 300-mph Propeller-Blast, immeduately Condensed into Droplets..., which then Impacted onto the equally Frigid Forward Windscreen, the Canopy top, and side windows, CONGEALED wherever it hit, And a 2-second "Burst !" from the Cowling's .50-Calibre Brownings Completely BLINDED the poor Bewildered Pilot... They who survived that first attempt to attack Fighter-escorted Japanese Bombers, went up Next time equipped with a spare set of Socks in their Pockets...; so as to be able to Dive & fire, then scoot away and - with the Canopy open, unstrap, stand up while flying with one hand..., reach out with a Sock over the other Hand And Scrape away enough Grease to be able to see... At least well enough to go and try to find the Bombers again, And have another go at, "Setting out to Pursue And chastise The designated Enemies of the King of England....!" Or, Words to that effect. No US Airman ever Became an "Ace" in a Buffalo. AmeriKa's Buffaloes were Successful only in Trying to do something Useful ; but they all got Shot To the Shittery... At Midway. And, as for the Dodo-Eaters' Descendants..., And their Buffalo-Jockeying to protect "Batavia" (see "Indonesia"...) ; Well, the Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Farce "Fought so very valiantly"..., To retain possession of the Colon-ised, annexed (stolen at Gunpoint) "Spice Islands"... That as they were RUNNING AWAY, the Oh so very brave Dodo-Eaters Left an entire SQUADRON of Buffaloes as a present to their Asian Conquerors - in such good condition, and with sufficient Spare Parts & Consumables...; that the Japanese were able to make a Feature-Film about their successfully defeating the EuroPeon Colon-ists..., using the Buffaloes to play the Starring part of the Aerial Losers, On-Camera. Until all the captured stashed Buffalo-fettling Stores were used up. The Finnish Buffaloes were very good. The Australian Buffaloes, as delivered, were useless, after a bit of DIY modification they could safely ascend with no functional Communication to Base - and get lost, struggle for Fuel at any serious altitude and then Blind their own Cockpit whenever the Cowling .50s were triggered. Which was better than the Wing Guns which were apt to shoot off the Wing Which they were firing Wildly, from within... The AmeriKan Buffaloes were overweight, underpowered, they apparently had the same Comically suicidally Useless Weapons-Fitout as the Yanquis sold to the Britz, who repeatedly Dumped them on Oz... Back when Oz Was Converting each Douglas DC-2 or DC-3 into Two "CAC Boomerangs". Featuring mainly modified Wirraway Components (originally a North AmeriKan T-6 Texan). And the Buffaloes operated by Dodo-Eaters, who as previously mentioned, initially ran away terrified, neglecting to even destroy their own Weaponry. And, my guess is that the Kiwi Buffalo Ace had one of the rare Buffaloes which had had their Wing-Guns removed, for safety, and a lower Takeoff Weight - While their Stupid Grease-Cloud Projecting Cowling-Guns...(Grrr) were Replaced with Browning Machineguns, chambered for British Military 0.303" FMJs. Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
It's so good to hear a more detailed and intelligent assessment of a WWII aircraft than the usual stereotypical commentary provided by other sites that seem to just copy each other. Good job! 👍🏻
2:54 That is one of the crash landed Marine VMF Buffalos from the Battle of Midway. Thanks, I'd never seen this picture before!
Well it wasn't called the Brewster quarter horse or the Brewster Cheetah !🖖🤣
Pappy Boyington had a few good things to say about the Buffalo. Check it out.
One of the things left out of the Buffalo story is the issue of engines. The Cyclone had various versions, at different power levels, with their own difficulties. As well as the weight increases caused by additional equipment and armor, the availability and reliability of different versions of the Cyclone also had a major impact on the Buffalo's performance.
IIRC some of the Dutch variants in particular ended up having to make do with used, reconditioned lower-powered earlier model Cyclones actually salvaged from commercial aircraft. The Buffalos in Dutch service in the Pacific War did _not_ fare particularly well.
I had planned to touch upon the engine difficulties during the planes development but sadly ran out of time and shelved it in order to makeway for talking about the planes service with its various operators.
My grandfather worked at Brewster. He later moved to Consolidated where he built PBY', which turned out just fine. The issue was poor management and quality control at Brewster Aeronautical, not the fundamental aircraft design.
Exactly, Brewster as a company was a nightmare and at no point I think well managed.
The fact the Buffalo actually got off the design table in any sort of good standing is almost a miracle considering that fact.
The F3A Brewster-built CORSAIR a models were fine. It is sad that this fact is forgotten.
@@davidmurphy8190 Well, by that point the company wasn't in the control of the original owners (the US Navy had direct control of it to ensure smooth production) and the blueprints were already developed, they were just using the manufacturing capacity of Brewster to make em.
Yeah they worked fine but thats, kinda expected? The Corsair was a good design and by that point the Navy had sussed out 'most' of Brewsters insanity in regards to manufacturing.
Fine compared to what?@@davidmurphy8190
I hadn’t thought about the weight differences …very good point.
IJN pilots removed radios and other excess weight to improve the maneuverability of the ZERO. See SAMURAI! by Saburo Sakai.
I built an MPC 1/72 version that I consider a watershed moment in my model building career. The first model I built I thought looked as good as the stuff I saw in the hobby shop. I didn't have any yellow paint so it was all silver. Beautiful little plane.
Look closely and you'll find its quit similar to an early wildcat , the wildcat first models were an improvement till the navy added more 50 cals , armor , self sealing tanks , heavy radios , and more . Pilots were then dissatisfied with performance of the Cat .
The Early Wildcats were, okay. . .they had some teething issues, especially with the engine having overheating problems due to the cowling and spinner design (which is why the -3 doesn't have the spinner hub of the earlier prototypes).
The -4 could've been great. . .if they hadn't messed with the machine gun layout.
The Armor, Self Sealing Fuel Tanks, and Radios included on the -3s were well liked for the fact they kept their pilots alive which is pretty important. If they had tried to make the F4F as light as possible like what happened with the Zero it would've been a flying fuel air bomb ready to ignite on the first round.
Pilots were only dissatisfied with the Wildcats because the Zeros they were fighting were tuned to near perfection for air superiority duties *at the cost of the pilots survivability*.
Guess they were sending them into combat?
Airplane must be very good if some one try do copy from it. Finns did made copy only from Buffalo and BF-109. Both too late for war.
Pyörremyrsky was not a copy of me-109 but an original all new finnish design.
"The worst plane ever built. . .or is it?"
F7U Cutlass.
The Cutlass at least flew. . .kinda, and was at least attempting to be a innovative and advanced fighter.
If they fixed the explodey problem it could've been pretty neato
@@5MinuteGuidesToAircraft And would crash if you tried to recover normally from a stall, gave a bunch of pilots spinal injuries due to the front landing gear design, the hydraulics repeatedly failed, together with the engine fires...
Yeah, innovative in the number of ways it could potentially kill its pilot...
A plane getting a reputation that it's trying to kill its pilots is generally not a good indication.
@@DIREWOLFx75 Hey I said "attempting" to be innovative, I wasn't stating it succeeded in being such XD
G'day,
A couple of points...
"Dissolvement" is not a word.
Dissolution is the word you were looking for.
Also, I admit to having a couple of Videos on my Scroll, in my Personal Aeroplanology Playlist, which deal with the two extremes of the Buffalo...; and I've long planned a third - but have not yet got a Round Tuit as required for the job...
On the one hand,
"World's Greatest Fighter Pilot ; Ulmari Juttilinen...!"
(94 witnessed & confirmed Aerial Victiries without his Aeroplane ever being hit by anything fired from any Enemy Aeroplane...; and about 35 (?) of his Victories were achieved in a Buffalo.
So,
Y'know...
I KNOW that a Buffalo
With a good Jockey
Could be an actual Worldbeater...
On the other hand,
The Buffalo Series..., and the
Fokker Eindekker Series...; are the
ONLY Two
Fighter Aeroplane Designs which
Shot down
More Enemy Aircraft...
Than ever rolled off their own
Production Line.
And while there was once
One Sopwith Camel which,
As an Airframe, had (probably) over 40
"Aerial Kills" - but it went to Italy for it's Pilot's final posting, and while he came back a big Hero - that Camel disappeared after the Armistice.
But in Finland they have a Buffalo in a Museum which, as an Airframe, has 37 (from memory) "Kill Tally-Marks painted on it - scored by
Five different Pilots who were
Assigned to fly it at various times.
Buffaloes created 11different Finnish "Aces", who all scored their "first 5" while riding a Buffalo, and ONE British Commonwealth "Buffalo Ace" (a Kiwi in the RAF in Malaya/Singapore, racked up 6 "Kills" in Buffaloes and then another 2 in P-40s - in the Southwest Pacific.
And in the
Gripping Hand though,
I also made and uploaded
"World's Worst Fighter Aircraft...; The 1942 RAAF Brewster Buffalo !".
Featuring second-hand badly-overhauled overweight underpowered Engines.., Pneumatic Fuelpumps incapable of delivering enough Fuel for Full Power above 10,000 ft - requiring manual Pumping by the Pilot to maintain Fuel-Pressure..., HF Radios which after 10:00 AM every Morning in Malaya could only receive Static, from the Lightning, produced by the daily crop of Tropical Storms building up..., and fitted with .50" Browning Machineguns, in
Modificated
Mounts - which had been designed & built for
.30" Brownings...
The Wing-Guns were prone to breaking out of their Mounts, when triggered, sometimes jamming their own feed if the pilotvwas lucky - because otherwise the Gun "ran away" firing fully automatically, unstoppably, until it ran out of Ammunition...; OR until the Gun - firing wild and unconstrained
Inside the Wing, butting upbagainst the Rear-Spar, with
Gunfire emerging randomly
THROUGH the upper & lower Wing-Skins...
Until the forward Wing-Spar/s were
Shot
Through and
Failed - allowing the so effected
Wing to
Depart the (thus) falling Wreckage.
The Cowling Guns had their Mountings
Field-Modified to stand the strain...
And most such "Fightworthy" Aircraft were repossessed by the RAF & sent to Burma, with the RAAF being issued with a fresh lot of Gunmount-buggaring Buffaloes mere days (weeks?) Before the Japanese commenced to cut through the Commonwealth Farces defending Malaya...
Only once in Combat did the RAAF discover that the belted US Naval Ammunition, shipped in Sheetmetal Cans, was Corrosion-proofed by filling the Cans of Belted Ammo. with molten
Cosmolene Grease,
A US Navy favourite precaution, apparently.
Thus, when fired, the .50-calibre Brownings
With rectified Mountings
On the Buffaloes' Cowlings ;
Expelled with each
Red-hot .50-inch Projectile,
A CLOUD of hot glowing
Vapourised Cosmolene Grease ;
Which, in the frigid 300-mph Propeller-Blast, immeduately
Condensed into
Droplets..., which then
Impacted onto the equally
Frigid
Forward Windscreen, the Canopy top, and side windows,
CONGEALED wherever it hit,
And a 2-second
"Burst !" from the Cowling's
.50-Calibre Brownings
Completely BLINDED the poor
Bewildered
Pilot...
They who survived that first attempt to attack Fighter-escorted Japanese Bombers, went up
Next time equipped with a spare set of Socks in their Pockets...; so as to be able to
Dive & fire, then scoot away and - with the Canopy open, unstrap, stand up while flying with one hand..., reach out with a Sock over the other Hand
And
Scrape away enough Grease to be able to see...
At least well enough to go and try to find the Bombers again,
And have another go at,
"Setting out to
Pursue
And chastise
The designated
Enemies of the
King of England....!"
Or,
Words to that effect.
No US Airman ever
Became an "Ace" in a
Buffalo.
AmeriKa's Buffaloes were
Successful only in
Trying to do something
Useful ; but they all got
Shot
To the
Shittery...
At Midway.
And, as for the
Dodo-Eaters' Descendants..., And their
Buffalo-Jockeying to protect
"Batavia" (see "Indonesia"...) ;
Well, the
Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Farce
"Fought so very valiantly"...,
To retain possession of the
Colon-ised, annexed (stolen at Gunpoint)
"Spice Islands"...
That as they were
RUNNING AWAY, the
Oh so very brave Dodo-Eaters
Left an entire
SQUADRON of
Buffaloes as a present to their
Asian Conquerors - in such good condition, and with sufficient Spare Parts & Consumables...; that the Japanese were able to make a Feature-Film about their successfully defeating the
EuroPeon Colon-ists..., using the Buffaloes to play the Starring part of the Aerial
Losers,
On-Camera.
Until all the captured stashed Buffalo-fettling Stores were used up.
The Finnish Buffaloes were very good.
The Australian Buffaloes, as delivered, were useless, after a bit of DIY modification they could safely ascend with no functional Communication to Base - and get lost, struggle for Fuel at any serious altitude and then
Blind their own Cockpit whenever the Cowling .50s were triggered.
Which was better than the Wing Guns which were apt to shoot off the Wing
Which they were firing
Wildly, from within...
The AmeriKan Buffaloes were overweight, underpowered, they apparently had the same
Comically suicidally
Useless Weapons-Fitout as the Yanquis sold to the Britz, who repeatedly
Dumped them on
Oz...
Back when Oz
Was
Converting each Douglas DC-2 or DC-3 into
Two
"CAC Boomerangs".
Featuring mainly modified
Wirraway Components (originally a North AmeriKan T-6 Texan).
And the Buffaloes operated by Dodo-Eaters, who as previously mentioned, initially ran away terrified, neglecting to even destroy their own Weaponry.
And, my guess is that the
Kiwi Buffalo Ace had one of the rare Buffaloes which had had their Wing-Guns removed, for safety, and a lower Takeoff Weight -
While their Stupid Grease-Cloud Projecting Cowling-Guns...(Grrr) were
Replaced with
Browning Machineguns, chambered for
British Military 0.303"
FMJs.
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !