Photo: NHHC

HISTORY

FM-2 from the aircraft carrier USS Card (CVE-11) of the Bogue class. The aircraft, in its typical Atlantic

camouflage, was photographed on February 10, 1944, and belonged to VC-55.

ensure that parts from both manufacturers were

interchangeable. Many parts manufactured by

GM factories were sent to Grumman’s assembly

line and vice versa.

The First “Fine Modification” (FM-1)

The first Wildcat produced in Linden had

its maiden flight on August 31, 1942, i.e., at the

time of the intense battles for Guadalcanal,

which exposed the shortcomings of the F4F-4

version. Its poor climb rate and significantly

reduced ammo supply per gun compared to the

F4F-3 did not win much favor among the pilots.

The first ten FM-1 aircraft were assembled

from Grumman parts in their original form, but

starting with the eleventh aircraft, it was decided

to remove the external machine guns to reduce

the aircraft’s weight, resulting in improved

climbing performance. After solving some

problems related to the wing folding system,

the ammunition supply was almost restored to

the original level. While the F4F-3 carried 1800

rounds (450 per gun), FM-1 pilots had 1720 rounds

available (430 per gun). This was a significant

improvement compared to the mere 250 rounds

per gun on the F4F-4.

In May 1943, Grumman ceased the production

of Wildcats entirely. By that time, Linden’s

production was running relatively smoothly,

although out of the initial order for 1800 aircraft,

only 839 were produced. Some of them were

assigned to Composite Squadrons, which

combined fighter and attack aircraft, i.e., Wildcats

and Avengers. Many of FM-1s were allocated to

training units, and 311 aircraft were delivered to

the British Fleet Air Arm (FAA) under the initial

designation Martlet V, which was later changed

to Wildcat V in January 1944.

With the introduction of Hellcats and Corsairs,

it seemed that the fate of the aging Wildcat was

sealed. However, the enormous need for air cover

for numerous task forces and transport convoys

required more aircraft carriers than the Navy

had available. Building one Essex-class aircraft

carrier took at least 20 months (pre-war periods

could take up to 37 months) despite increased

war efforts. Due to the required construction

time and limited shipyard capacity, it was not

possible to expect any significant increase in the

number of conventional aircraft carriers before

the end of 1944, which was too late. However,

a solution was found. At the end of 1942, the

Navy began to receive the first escort aircraft

carriers of the Casablanca and Bogue classes.

These were mostly conversions of merchant

and cargo ships that received flight decks and

other necessary equipment for carrying up to 27

aircraft in composite squadrons (although there

were exceptions, and some operated purely

fighters, such as VF-26).

Compared to Essex-class carriers, the

escort carriers were more than 110 yards

shorter, lacked armor, multiple elevators for

rapid flight deck and hangars exchanges, and

other amenities. As a result, their designation

CVE was ironically interpreted by the crew as

Combustible, Vulnerable, Expendable. They were

slow vessels with limited space on the flight

Squadron

Aircraft Carrier

Number of

Victories

VC-27

USS Savo Island

61.5*

VF-26

USS Santee

31

VC-81

USS Natoma Bay

21*

VOC-1

USS Wake Island/USS Marcus Island

20

VC-84

USS Makin Island

19*

VC-21

USS Nassau/USS Marcus Island

18

VC-3

USS Kalinin Bay

17

VC-75

USS Ommaney Bay

17

VC-93

USS Shamrock Bay

17

VC-5

USS Kitkun Bay

16

VC-10

USS Gambier Bay/USS Tacloban Field

16

VC-80

USS Manila Bay

16

*Plus one victory achieved by a TBM Avenger pilot.

8

INFO Eduard

Photo: NHHC

Top-Performing FM-2 Squadrons

One of the aces on FM-2 was Lt. Thomas B. Sedaker. In the photo,

he poses with a cake baked by the cooks of the USS Makin Island

to celebrate the 2,000th catapult launch from the deck of that ship.

Thomas Sedaker was the one who performed the launch.

August 2023