The Worst Fighter of WW II? The Brewster Buffalo

May 2013

John Ellison

AIAA Orange County Chapter ASAT Conference

The Idea for a Historical Perspective

• Two books are titled The World’s Worst Aircraft. The Buffalo is the only fighter from any era to have a chapter in both of them.

The Sorry Saga of the Brewster Buffalo: A 'Flying Coffin' to the Marines, but a 'Sky Pearl' to the Finns by Daniel Ford (Sep 22, 2010)

Buffalo Construction Line

F2-A1 (239 Export Version)

Finnish Air Force

Australian Air Force

The F2-A2 • Length: 26 feet 4 inches

Wingspan: 35 feet, 0 inches Height: 12 feet, 0 inches Crew: 1 Weight: 4,700lbs empty Max Takeoff: 7,100lbsMax Speed: 320mph Cruise Speed: 161 mph Range: 1,160 miles Service Ceiling: 33,000 feet Fuel Capacity: 240 gallons Powerplant: Wright R-1820-40 Air Cooled Radial Engine 1,200hp Armament: Two 50cal Browning machine guns in nose, two more in the wings First Flight: 1937

Model Comparisons

Stats F2A-1 F2A-2 F2A-3 Engine Wright R-1820-34 Wright R-1820-40 Wright R-1820-40 Power 950 hp 1,200 hp 1,200 hp Wingspan 35 feet 35 feet Length 26 feet 26 feet 4 inches Max weight 5,040 lbs 6,518 lbs Max speed 311 mph 344 mph 321 mph Ceiling 33,300 feet 32,600 feet Range 1,000 miles 1,680 miles Mach Guns One .30 Four .50 Four .50 Three .50

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_F2A_buffalo.html

See backup material For detailed text discussion

F2-A1 Engine Selection • Brewster opted for the

Wright Cyclone, an older and simple design with a single row of nine cylinders

• With only a one-stage supercharger, the engine fitted to the F2A-1 developed 950 takeoff horsepower, which fell off to 750 hp at 15,000 feet, a typical combat altitude.

• Worse yet, the early Cyclones also proved to have lubrication problems.

Head on at Midway

• 25 aircraft of VMF-221 took off at 0600, 4 June 1942, to intercept a Japanese air raid

• the first division of five F2As, led by Major Floyd Parks, was completely destroyed.

• The second division of 6 F2As had two survivors

• The third division, 6 F2As and 1 F4F, lost three of their number

• Fourth division, only two F2As, lost one

• After the combat only three F2A-3s and one F4F-3 remained in commission

Buffalo Quotes from Pappy Boyington

• I remember asking him about the Brewster Buffalo (Then, Now and Always, my favorite aircraft). I had no sooner finished saying the word 'Buffalo', when he slammed his beer can down on the table, and practically snarled, "It was a DOG!" (His emphasis). Then he slowly leaned back in his chair and after a moment quietly said, "But the early models, before they weighed it all down with armor-plate, radios and other s**t, they were pretty sweet little ships. Not real fast, but the little f***s could turn and roll in a phone booth. Oh yeah--sweet little ship; but some engineer went and f***ed it up." With that he reached for his beer and was silent again. After that answer, I somehow had the feeling that I had just gotten a glimpse into Boyington's attitude towards life in general.

• http://www.warbirdforum.com/pappy.htm

C.O. VMF-214, Black Sheep Squadron

“Illu" Juutilainen

• "Clearly, the best fighter arriving during the temporary peace [between the Russian invasion of Finland in 1939 and the German invasion of Russia in 1941] was the American designed Brewster 239

• Our Brewsters, contemporary fighters, were fat hustlers, just like bees. They had speed, agility and good weaponry too. In addition to that they also had protective amor behind the pilot's back and under his seat [installed by Finnish mechanics]. We were happy to take them anywhere to take on any opponent.

• http://www.warbirdforum.com/illu.htm

Eino Ilmari "Illu" JuutilainenThe Highest

Scoring non-German of WW2

http://www.warbirdforum.com/buff.htm

Kapt Hans Wind was credited with 38.5 victories against Russian aircraft Finns flying Buffalos was 477. , and the total Russian and German kills by

26 to 1 Kill Ratio in Finland (Some Opposing Russian Aircraft)

Different Swastikas

Nazi

Finnish

Backup

Appendix A: Survivability Features of Several Aircraft Used in World War II The Fundamentals of Aircraft Combat Survivability: Analysis and Design, 2nd

Edition, 2003: 779-798,

The Buffalo was considered by the Navy to have better potential than the Grumman XF4F-2 and the much slower Seversky design and, consequently, won the competition in 1938. The design of the F2A-2 Buffalo continued to change through 1939 and 1940 as the lessons of combat came in from Europe, where heavier armament, faster speed, and more armor were believed to be essential in a fighter. Consequently, the Buffalo got a new Wright Cyclone engine, a new variable-pitch propeller, increased fuel capacity, improved flotation gear, and an increase in armament to two 0.50-in. cowling machine guns and one 0.50-in. machine gun in each wing. Armor was added to the cockpit and around the fuel tanks. The additional weight totaled 900 lb, bringing the aircraft to over 7000 lb loaded, and causing a very high wing loading. The penalty for the increased weight was a decrease in service ceiling, maneuverability, and maximum speed, which was slightly better than 300 mph. This decrease in performance changed a marginally acceptable fighter into an unacceptable one. The F2A-3 model had increased armor protection for the pilot, self-sealing fuel tanks, a bulletproof windscreen, and a more powerful engine. In service the Buffalo suffered from much faulty equipment that either performed badly or simply failed to work. About 160 Buffalos were eventually built.

Other Reference Material

Brewster F2A Buffalo Aces of World War 2

(Aircraft of the Aces) [Paperback]

Kari Stenman (Author), Andrew Thomas (Author), Chris Davey (Illustrator)

The Other “Worst Fighter” ? (A Tale for Another Day)

http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/aircraft/types/boulton-paul-defiant.htm