Comments by "" (@BobSmith-dk8nw) on "Grumman F4F Wildcat - Shooting Zero's with a Barrel (Re-upload)" video.

Thanks for doing this. I've been reading about F4F's for over 50 years and learned a good bit that I was unaware of. As to pilots not being happy with it ... First off - they had to pump the damn landing gear over a couple dozen times just to get it up and down. I cannot imagine there was a single pilot who liked that particular aspect of the plane. The fact that if you didn't really put some force into that last pump - the landing gear might not fully lock - well that was just one more thing not to love about the process. Next - you have the narrow track of the landing gear. Now - if you are landing on a Carrier - IT is headed INTO the wind - so you don't have to worry about cross winds - but - if you are landing on land - say at Henderson Field - then you DO have to worry about cross winds. And the F4F's were notorious for ground loops. Yet another thing pilots might not like - was that the reason they were flying an F4F - was because they were on one of those smaller flat tops ... which they might also not be to happy about. Of course - one of the main factors in the experience of flying an F4F against A6M's in 1942 - was that they were still going against the cream of Japan's aviators. Whatever anyone may have to say about the P-39's P-40's and the F4F's - THEY were the ones who defeated the Japanese in 1942 and much of 1943. By the time the P-38's, F6F's and F4U's became the dominant aircraft used by the Allies - the P-40's and F4F's had killed most of the best the Japanese had. The Japanese had gotten their licks in but - they could not replace their losses - and we could. The guys flying the P-38's, F6F's and F4U's - not only had better aircraft than the Japanese - they were also not flying against the highly trained aviators the Japanese had in 1942 - because those guys were dead. .
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