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I think both the Wildcat and Warhawk (P40) deserve their share of the spotlight! They weren’t as advanced as their counterparts but they were nonetheless essential to getting those first pilots into the fight after the USA entered the war!
Butch O’Hare was lost in combat in 1943 during a night mission against Betty bombers. It is ironic that he defeated the Bettys while in a Wildcat, but he died while engaging them in a Hellcat, the Wildcat’s replacement. He was a true warrior and naval legend.
Great information on the F4F Wildcat. I have a RC of the F4F as well but needs to be a wind free day since land gear very narrow compared to other WW2 fighters.
So here's something not many people know about. The O'Hare family had connections with the South Side Gang, led by Al Capone. Butch's father Edward worked as a lawyer, and collaborated with Capone for a few years, before turning against him and providing the necessary evidence to lock Capone up in Alcatraz. It's likely Edward turned on Capone because Butch was in a military academy at the time, and wanted to go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Whether it's true or not, Butch did attend Annapolis, and graduated in 1937. Tragically, in 1939, Edward O'Hare was assassinated by gunmen believed to be affiliated with the South Side Gang. Butch had only just started flight training some months before. No one was ever arrested for the murder. Finally, Butch wasn't the only aviator in the family, for Edward was also a pilot for a time, and involved young Butch in some of his flights, letting the young boy briefly take over the controls. Butch O'Hare's final combat mission was the first nighttime carrier attack conducted by the U.S. Navy. During the ensuing fighting, O'Hare's F6F was caught in a crossfire. A Japanese gunner in a Betty bomber fired through his canopy while attempting to shoot down the TBF Avenger accompanying the Hellcats on the mission. Andy Skon, Hazen Rand, and Alvin Kernan, three of the participants of the action, have all confirmed this likely outcome. O'Hare received the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Gold Star, and the Purple Heart. At a time when American public morale was at its lowest, O'Hare became the first hero from the U.S. Navy, for his courage and skill under fire.
When you notice Kings and Generals is more about having a reader with a strong, manly voice, rather than about making logical sense: Examples: 1. The zero outperformed the wildcat in every regard. The zero wasn't armoured ... Do you know what "every regard" means? 2. It was fruitless for F4F pilots to engage the zero head-on... Except better armour means that head-on is actually a good approach 3. To understand the wildcat, we must understand the pilots' strategies.. you mean if we want to understand the pilots' strategies, we need to understand the wildcat (so we can see why their strategies were what they were, considering the plane's limitations) 4. Grumman.. It would have taken them 1 min to check how to actually pronounce it. The reader's convincing voice doesn't make it right, sorry 5. The climb rate was XYZ, but this was impossible to achieve with perfect conditions.. what? You mean "it was only achieved under perfect conditions" 6. The F4F had a crucial advantage in the form of pilots continuously adapting.. how was this an "advantage of the F4F (the plane)"? If pilots were good, then they were good. Has nothing to do with the F4F's characteristics
Basically, the Americans were learning to achieve more with less, aka using f4f wild cat and the p40, planes that were inferior in almost all the hard stats but were easy to maintained, sturdy enough to make sure their pilots make it home safely, and good enough to perform well enough with pilots who survived and learned
F4F hellcat,the world first anti-kamakize vechile and the same company that produced the hellcat is currently working on an anti-kamakize or anti-drone weapon.
Never underestimate the value of survivability. I remember Saburo Sakai saying something to the effect that only his cannons did anything to a Wildcat. And they had very few rounds for their cannon.
60 shells per cannon, to be exact. Which were fired at a rate of 8.5 shells per second. So the Zero had only 7 seconds of ammunition for their cannons - enough for 3 bursts of roughly 2 seconds each. Zero pilots were encouraged to only use the cannon at very close range, as the cannons had a low muzzle velocity compared with the Zero's 2 rifle calibre machine guns and would miss at long range. To facilitate this, the Zero's cannon trigger was located on the throttle handle, not on the joystick.
Most US verdicts wasn't that negative on the F4F. Compared to the "Zeke", which was just a aluminum tube, with wings and stabilizers and an engine, the Wildcat was far more rugged and kept her pilots alive. The Wildcat's main task was to protect the CVs against attacks, therefore her main adversaries were "Vals" and "Kates".
In all, 7,860 Wildcats were built. During the course of the war, Navy and Marine F4Fs and FMs flew 15,553 combat sorties (14,027 of these from aircraft carriers), destroying a claimed figure of 1,327 enemy aircraft at a cost of 178 aerial losses, 24 to ground/shipboard fire, and 49 operational causes (an overall claimed kill-to-loss of 6.9:1). True to their escort fighter role, Wildcats dropped only 154 tons of bombs during the war.
7:06. F4F "Wildcat" not F6F "Hellcat" The Wildcat was known to (you) Brits as the "Martlet". It would be good to see a video on the Martlet in RN service. Bravo K&G!
In its guise as the Grumman Martlet, the Wildcat also performed well with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. And this at that crucial time before the US entered WW2. The later Hellcat, Avenger as well as the Corsair also performed well with the FAA. 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
The AVG adopted their tactics with the P-40 similarly: spotter network in China would relay aircraft information to the squadrons who would scramble according to location and wait at altitude to perform zoom attacks where they would dive on the enemy, fire, and use the momentum to assist climbing back to altitude, knowing that attempting to out-turn the Japanese fighters was a terrible idea. I look forward to the future installments.
Corsair's and Hellcats get all the glory and accolades but it was the F4F Wildcat that had to do the heaviest lifting against Japan's most skilled and combat experienced pilots and crews. By the time the Corsair and Hellcats showed up at the party there were a lot of empty seats. Thanks for showing the Wildcat some well earned love and respect, Semper Fidelis.
F4F wasn't perfect, but it was good enough when flow by a skilled well trained pilots with a wing-man and the resources of US factories producing producing more planes.
The Zero certainly didn't "outperform the F4F in every regard". For instance dive speed. I seem to recall that high speed maneuverability may also have favored F4F as did dive speed.
Another thing that made the zero so deadly was that since it was made out of light wood it could almost come to a complete stop while flying. This causes many over-shoots and also lets the pilot of the zero set up for advantage.
You are a bit usa fanside, the japan planes was not that bad as ther reputatitons. Search for end war captured test's! But the fuel inside the plans was realy not good. Second Usa pilots get rotated and send back to teach the new pilots. Japanies capt ther ace's until ther die on the front, ans run out of fuel to training to. The last kamikaze pilots have learned to take off and fly near straigt line.
Hey bro at 7:02 in your video you have a picture of the F4F labeled hellcat the hellcat was the f6f and the wildcat was the F4F so please square your picture away with a little edit
@@KingsandGenerals …and I am mostly happy with your content! This was not any bad criticism but just an honest observation and if it’s not the case, I’m really sorry. Still think you can do better than this though….
Its a valid critic. Not AI graphics, but retro "late 90s-early 00s". Can be a style, if you prefer. I like more 2d graphics, dont mind manga/comic/realistic/any other option. Or modern 3d graphics. Some zero and wildcat models, with black background and lowres textures, remember me my first models in 3dstudio, back in 1992...
Coral sea, and then Midway saw many highly trained, very experienced Japanese pilots die. Often aboard their ships. American industry pumped out planes, wildcats along with superior types. Well trained pilots. Meanwhile, Japan left experienced pilots on the front line until they died. Did not rotate them out to train more pilots. Less industrial capacity, same planes at the end of the war that they had at the start, fuel shortages for training, pilots with very few hours. The wildcat was inferior to the zero and experienced pilots. It actually became better as the war went on against poorly trained replacement s. Wildcats were mostly used from escort carriers. The better planes, corsair and hell cats needed full fleet carriers.
🎥Check out our series on the Pacific War, Biography of Sulla, Punic Wars and Persian Wars on RUclips ruclips.net/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fwjoin or patreon: www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals
Its not pronounced GR-EW-MAN. it's G-RUM-AN
I think both the Wildcat and Warhawk (P40) deserve their share of the spotlight! They weren’t as advanced as their counterparts but they were nonetheless essential to getting those first pilots into the fight after the USA entered the war!
p40 tomahawk ftw
go flying tigers!
I think the F4F is getting its reputation reviewed, this is about the 4th such video to show it was as good as the zero.
I wouldn't complain much about the Wildcats... It could be much worse, USA could have started the war with Gladiators and Blackburns... lol
Another British classic
an interesting little focus on air warfare, not my favourite topic but engaging enough to wait for the next episodes
09:16 Butch O'Hare, not 'O'Hara'. O'Hare airport is named in his honor.
When describing the Wildcat you label the F4F as a Hellcat.
For those that want a better bio about "Butch" O'Hare, the Ace of Aces, check out The Fat Electrician's video about him. Very well done and funny.
Butch O’Hare was lost in combat in 1943 during a night mission against Betty bombers. It is ironic that he defeated the Bettys while in a Wildcat, but he died while engaging them in a Hellcat, the Wildcat’s replacement. He was a true warrior and naval legend.
Every combat mission is a roll of the dice.
Please... Make 30 minutes corsair video!!!!
Great information on the F4F Wildcat. I have a RC of the F4F as well but needs to be a wind free day since land gear very narrow compared to other WW2 fighters.
"As you guys know i fought in Gadalcanal(94 battles) was shot down in all of them...."
So here's something not many people know about. The O'Hare family had connections with the South Side Gang, led by Al Capone. Butch's father Edward worked as a lawyer, and collaborated with Capone for a few years, before turning against him and providing the necessary evidence to lock Capone up in Alcatraz. It's likely Edward turned on Capone because Butch was in a military academy at the time, and wanted to go to the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Whether it's true or not, Butch did attend Annapolis, and graduated in 1937. Tragically, in 1939, Edward O'Hare was assassinated by gunmen believed to be affiliated with the South Side Gang. Butch had only just started flight training some months before. No one was ever arrested for the murder. Finally, Butch wasn't the only aviator in the family, for Edward was also a pilot for a time, and involved young Butch in some of his flights, letting the young boy briefly take over the controls. Butch O'Hare's final combat mission was the first nighttime carrier attack conducted by the U.S. Navy. During the ensuing fighting, O'Hare's F6F was caught in a crossfire. A Japanese gunner in a Betty bomber fired through his canopy while attempting to shoot down the TBF Avenger accompanying the Hellcats on the mission. Andy Skon, Hazen Rand, and Alvin Kernan, three of the participants of the action, have all confirmed this likely outcome. O'Hare received the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Gold Star, and the Purple Heart. At a time when American public morale was at its lowest, O'Hare became the first hero from the U.S. Navy, for his courage and skill under fire.
When you notice Kings and Generals is more about having a reader with a strong, manly voice, rather than about making logical sense:
Examples:
1. The zero outperformed the wildcat in every regard. The zero wasn't armoured ...
Do you know what "every regard" means?
2. It was fruitless for F4F pilots to engage the zero head-on... Except better armour means that head-on is actually a good approach
3. To understand the wildcat, we must understand the pilots' strategies.. you mean if we want to understand the pilots' strategies, we need to understand the wildcat (so we can see why their strategies were what they were, considering the plane's limitations)
4. Grumman.. It would have taken them 1 min to check how to actually pronounce it. The reader's convincing voice doesn't make it right, sorry
5. The climb rate was XYZ, but this was impossible to achieve with perfect conditions.. what? You mean "it was only achieved under perfect conditions"
6. The F4F had a crucial advantage in the form of pilots continuously adapting.. how was this an "advantage of the F4F (the plane)"? If pilots were good, then they were good. Has nothing to do with the F4F's characteristics
Basically, the Americans were learning to achieve more with less, aka using f4f wild cat and the p40, planes that were inferior in almost all the hard stats but were easy to maintained, sturdy enough to make sure their pilots make it home safely, and good enough to perform well enough with pilots who survived and learned
F4F hellcat,the world first anti-kamakize vechile and the same company that produced the hellcat is currently working on an anti-kamakize or anti-drone weapon.
Always liked these planes, they look so futuristic compared to the classic planes of ww2.
Very interesting information on the Wildcat.
I love videos about WW2 planes and air combat!
Will the F4U Corsair be discussed in the future?
Yep!
@@KingsandGenerals Wonderful!
I thought Gruman was supposed to rhyme with woman, not poo-man, man.
Love your videos ! Well animated and thought out ! 😀👌🏽
Excited for this🎉
Zero next? :)
yep yep
However, when the hell cat and Corsair or mustang came along, it just obliterated any Japanese fighter planes
12:10 Cool! I remember this historical excerpt from the classic ps2 game, Heroes of the Pacific.
That was a fun scenario to reenact. Did you try it in the arcade mode or in the cockpit?
As a Zero to Hero myself, I liked this video in no time flat
Never underestimate the value of survivability. I remember Saburo Sakai saying something to the effect that only his cannons did anything to a Wildcat. And they had very few rounds for their cannon.
60 shells per cannon, to be exact. Which were fired at a rate of 8.5 shells per second. So the Zero had only 7 seconds of ammunition for their cannons - enough for 3 bursts of roughly 2 seconds each.
Zero pilots were encouraged to only use the cannon at very close range, as the cannons had a low muzzle velocity compared with the Zero's 2 rifle calibre machine guns and would miss at long range. To facilitate this, the Zero's cannon trigger was located on the throttle handle, not on the joystick.
I do enjoy these
Interesting, thank you!
And then the F6F Hellcat came...
What was the tactic after "The Weave"?
We got wildcat before zero 😮
help me f4f you are my only hope
Most US verdicts wasn't that negative on the F4F. Compared to the "Zeke", which was just a aluminum tube, with wings and stabilizers and an engine, the Wildcat was far more rugged and kept her pilots alive. The Wildcat's main task was to protect the CVs against attacks, therefore her main adversaries were "Vals" and "Kates".
In all, 7,860 Wildcats were built. During the course of the war, Navy and Marine F4Fs and FMs flew 15,553 combat sorties (14,027 of these from aircraft carriers), destroying a claimed figure of 1,327 enemy aircraft at a cost of 178 aerial losses, 24 to ground/shipboard fire, and 49 operational causes (an overall claimed kill-to-loss of 6.9:1). True to their escort fighter role, Wildcats dropped only 154 tons of bombs during the war.
Where's Hellcat?
7:06. F4F "Wildcat" not F6F "Hellcat" The Wildcat was known to (you) Brits as the "Martlet". It would be good to see a video on the Martlet in RN service. Bravo K&G!
In its guise as the Grumman Martlet, the Wildcat also performed well with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. And this at that crucial time before the US entered WW2. The later Hellcat, Avenger as well as the Corsair also performed well with the FAA. 🇬🇧 🇺🇸
thanks, kings and generals.... this kind of video is right up my alley (perhaps unfortunately)
The AVG adopted their tactics with the P-40 similarly: spotter network in China would relay aircraft information to the squadrons who would scramble according to location and wait at altitude to perform zoom attacks where they would dive on the enemy, fire, and use the momentum to assist climbing back to altitude, knowing that attempting to out-turn the Japanese fighters was a terrible idea. I look forward to the future installments.
First comment!
The good old kitty
Corsair's and Hellcats get all the glory and accolades but it was the F4F Wildcat that had to do the heaviest lifting against Japan's most skilled and combat experienced pilots and crews. By the time the Corsair and Hellcats showed up at the party there were a lot of empty seats. Thanks for showing the Wildcat some well earned love and respect, Semper Fidelis.
F4F wasn't perfect, but it was good enough when flow by a skilled well trained pilots with a wing-man and the resources of US factories producing producing more planes.
'Thatch Weave'.
really interesting and thought provoking. THANKS
The Zero certainly didn't "outperform the F4F in every regard". For instance dive speed. I seem to recall that high speed maneuverability may also have favored F4F as did dive speed.
Claire Chennault created the American Pilot. The P-40 proved him right.
Another thing that made the zero so deadly was that since it was made out of light wood it could almost come to a complete stop while flying. This causes many over-shoots and also lets the pilot of the zero set up for advantage.
The F4F was clearly not obsolete as it ended up with a favorable LER vs the Zero.
You are a bit usa fanside, the japan planes was not that bad as ther reputatitons. Search for end war captured test's! But the fuel inside the plans was realy not good. Second Usa pilots get rotated and send back to teach the new pilots. Japanies capt ther ace's until ther die on the front, ans run out of fuel to training to. The last kamikaze pilots have learned to take off and fly near straigt line.
Nice!
Hey bro at 7:02 in your video you have a picture of the F4F labeled hellcat the hellcat was the f6f and the wildcat was the F4F so please square your picture away with a little edit
F4F go brrr
With only four M2's, it is more like bdbdbdbdbdbdbdbdp.
I always give your video a like because your history channel is one of the best in the genre
Very nice, informative video but the AI visuals are really terrible…..
No AI was used in this video. You have been watching our channel for 6 years. Come on.
@@KingsandGenerals …and I am mostly happy with your content! This was not any bad criticism but just an honest observation and if it’s not the case, I’m really sorry. Still think you can do better than this though….
@@itifonhom again, we don't use AI. It is ok not to like our animations, but they are not AI.
Its a valid critic. Not AI graphics, but retro "late 90s-early 00s". Can be a style, if you prefer. I like more 2d graphics, dont mind manga/comic/realistic/any other option. Or modern 3d graphics. Some zero and wildcat models, with black background and lowres textures, remember me my first models in 3dstudio, back in 1992...
Also compliments for the correct pronunciation of some names. 😤👍
uh in the navy they are called aviators in the air force they are called pilots
The plane that replaced the f4f wildcat was the "Hellcat"
Coral sea, and then Midway saw many highly trained, very experienced Japanese pilots die. Often aboard their ships.
American industry pumped out planes, wildcats along with superior types. Well trained pilots.
Meanwhile, Japan left experienced pilots on the front line until they died. Did not rotate them out to train more pilots. Less industrial capacity, same planes at the end of the war that they had at the start, fuel shortages for training, pilots with very few hours.
The wildcat was inferior to the zero and experienced pilots. It actually became better as the war went on against poorly trained replacement s.
Wildcats were mostly used from escort carriers. The better planes, corsair and hell cats needed full fleet carriers.
That's not true. Mostly support personal perished.
I love that you are showing conversion to the metric system! As a non-american viewer, the D&D units are not very instinctive...
Yeah, we should always do that. Please call us out when we forget.
Thanks for the video
7:17 error - F4F "Hellcat"
12:00 tks ad share video❤
P40 video??
🤴👑🤴🧙♂
👍👍👍
like
I prefer the F4U Corsair.
Best American plane of the war.
There is never a "best plane", it all depends what kind of missions are required
@@EK-gr9gd yeah, could be. But among the naval fighter planes of the war, it was the best available for the time.
One like for Allah