F4F-4 Wildcat Wooden Model Airplane

Item#: AF4FT

MSRP Price: $183.55

Factory Direct Price: $137.66

Wing Span: 10.75
Length: 14.25

Manufacturer: Grumman

Introducing Factory Direct Models F-4F-4 Wildcat Military Scale Model, This Model Airplane Replica was hand crafted with absolute precision using the finest Philippine Mahogany. Working from our library of blueprints, reference materials and their photographs, Factory Direct Models master artisans recreated this historic military warplane into an incredibly desktop display model.

Please note that the stand shown in this photograph may vary or change with the model you receive.

We also make Custom Made Airplane Models to meet your specifications with the capability to include your company logo and inscribed inscription plaque to make your model a personalized work of art. If you would like personalized Custom Model Model Please Call (866) 580-8727.

F-4F-4 Wildcat History:

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter that began service with both the United States Navy and the Fleet Air Arm in 1940. Although first used in combat by the British in Europe, the Wildcat would become the primary carrier fighter for the first year and a half of the United States Navy's involvement in World War II in the Pacific Theater. The FM Wildcat, built by General Motors, remained in service throughout the remainder of the war on escort carriers, where larger and heavier fighters could not be used.

The F4F was taken on by the British Fleet Air Arm as part of an interim replacement for the Fairey Fulmar; navalised Supermarine Spitfires not being available because of the greater need of the Royal Air Force. In the European theater, the Wildcat scored its first combat victory on Christmas Day 1940, when a land-based Martlet (as the type was then known in British service) destroyed a Junkers Ju 88 bomber over the Scapa Flow naval base. This was the first combat victory by a US-built fighter in British service in World War II. The type also pioneered combat operations from the smaller escort carriers.

Six Martlets went to sea aboard the converted ex-German merchant vessel HMS Audacity in mid-1941 and shot down several Luftwaffe Fw 200 Condor bombers during highly effective convoy escort operations. These were the first of many Wildcats to see shipboard combat. The Fleet Air Arm was later to abandon the practice of using its own unique names for US-provided aircraft in British naval service, and began to use the U.S. Navy's aircraft names instead.

The Wildcat was outperformed by the Mitsubishi Zero, its major opponent in the early part of the Pacific Theater, but held its own partly because of its ability to absorb far more damage. With relatively heavy armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Grumman airframe could survive far more than its lightweight, unarmored Japanese rival. Many U.S. Navy fighter pilots also were saved by the F4F's ZB homing device, which allowed them to find their carriers in poor visibility, provided they could get within the 30-mile (48 km) range of the homing beacon.

In the hands of an "expert pilot" using tactical advantage, the Wildcat could prove to be a difficult foe even against the formidable Zero. After analyzing Fleet Air Tactical Unit Intelligence Bureau reports describing the new carrier fighter, USN Commander "Jimmy" Thach devised a defensive strategy that allowed Wildcat formations to act in a coordinated maneuver to counter a diving attack, called the "Thach Weave."

Four U.S. Marine Corps Wildcats played a prominent role in the defence of Wake Island in December 1941. USN and USMC aircraft were the fleet's primary air defence during the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway and, land-based Wildcats played a major role during the Guadalcanal Campaign of 1942-43. It was not until 1943 that more advanced naval fighters capable of taking on the Zero on more even terms, the F6F Hellcat and F4U Corsair, reached the South Pacific theatre.

Grumman's Wildcat production ceased in early 1943 to make way for the newer F6F Hellcat, but General Motors continued producing Wildcats for both U.S. Navy and Fleet Air Arm use. From 1943 onward, Wildcats were primarily assigned to escort carriers ("jeep carriers") as larger fighters such as the Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were needed aboard fleet carriers, and the Wildcat's slower landing speed made it more suitable for shorter flight decks. At first, GM produced the FM-1 (identical to the F4F-4, but with four guns). Production later switched to the improved FM-2 (based on Grumman's XF4F-8 prototype) optimized for small-carrier operations, with a more powerful engine, and a taller tail to cope with the torque.

In all, 7,860 Wildcats were built. The British received 300 Eastern Aircraft FM-1s as the Martlet V in 1942/43 and 340 FM-2s as the Wildcat VI. In total nearly 1,200 Wildcats would serve with the FAA. By January 1944, the Martlet name was dropped and the type was identified as "Wildcat."

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 1,327 enemy aircraft at a cost of 191 Wildcats (an overall kill-to-loss ratio of 6.9:1). True to their escort fighter role, Wildcats dropped only 154 tons of bombs during the war.