- Yes
- No
Hello again, and welcome to my fourth suggestion for the Grumman Martlet in British Service, today I will be covering the first of the variants to be widely known as the Wildcat instead of the Martlet in british service, the Wildcat Mk.V or more commonly known as the FM-1 Wildcat. I feel this could come to game as a follow on from the Mk.II in order to help fill out the lower ranks of the British naval line
I would like to point out that @Nostalgistic has already made a suggestion for American service FM-1s, i highly suggest you read it for clarity on its development and service with the United States.
History
Spoiler
By 1943 the Wildcat was becoming largely obsolete compared to both newer axis fighters, such as the Fw-190 or later model Bf-109s, as well as the allies own new carrier aircrafts, such as the F4U Corsair or Grummans own Hellcats that were beginning to make their way into both US and British service, however, there was still a hefty demand for a Smaller, lighter aircraft for both nations rapidly increasing fleet of smaller escort carriers operating in all theatres of the war, in which the newer and larger aircraft were either not needed or would have limited the amount of aircraft able to be taken onboard the carriers, this lead to the remaining popularity of the Wildcat, with production shifting to General Motors/Eastern Aircraft in order to free up Grumman to produce the Newer Hellcats.
through 1942 and 43 the british received 300 FM-1s dubbed the Martlet Mk.V, however this name would not stick, with the Martlet name being dropped in January 1944 to simplify the naming designations of American built aircraft, so the Martlet became the Wildcat, the Gannet Became the Hellcat etc.
The Wildcats saw extensive use during the later stages of the Battle of the Atlantic, where the Wildcats 4 x 12.7mm machine guns proved more than enough to deal with both the German long range Bombers like the Fw 200 as well as giving it enough firepower to put holes in U-boat conning towers, severely hampering their ability to dive to escape either Allied destroyers or other aircraft such as the Fairey Swordfish more geared towards ASW. The Martlet also had a minor ability to sink U-boats itself however, although rather limited, it had access to a small amount of bombs and rockets, having access to two bombs of up to 250 lbs each, or up to 6 x 60 lb head RP-3 rockets.
Images
Spoiler
A Martlet Mk.V in flight above the British Coast
A Martlet Mk.V operating from USS Searcher during the battle of the Atlantic
Several Martlet Mk.Vs and Avengers onboard HMS Tracker in support of D-Day operations
A Martlet Mk.V pictured during evaluations at Boscombe down
Specs/Armament
Spoiler
General Characteristics
- Crew: 1 (Pilot)
- Length: 28 ft 9.375 in (8.77 m)
- Height: 12 ft 1.375 in (3.69 m)
- Span: 38 ft (11.58 m)
- Wing Area: 260 sq ft (24.15 sq m)
- Propeller Type: 3-bladed constant-speed propeller
- Propeller Diameter: 9 ft 9 in (2.97 m)
- Powerplant: Pratt & Whitney R-1830-86 air-cooled radial piston engine (1200hp)
- Empty Weight: 5,895 lb (2,674 kg)
- Gross Weight: 8,050 lb (3,651 kg)
- Internal Fuel: 144 US gal. (545 L)
- Oil Tankage: 11 US gal. (41.6 L)
Performance
- Power-to-Weight Ratio: 0.15 hp/lb (246.6 W/kg)
- Sea Level Speed: 284 mph (457 km/h)
- Critical Altitude Speed: 320 mph @ 18,800 ft (515 km/h @ 5,730 m)
- Stall Speed:
- Gross Weight: 81.2 mph (130.7 km/h)
- Empty Fuel: 76.7 mph (123.4 km/h)
- Wing Loading: 30.96 lb/sq ft (151.15 kg/sq m)
- Rate of Climb: 2,303 fpm (11.7 m/s)
- Service Ceiling: 34,000 ft (10,363 m)
- Range: 830 miles (1,336 km)
Armament
Guns
- 4 x 12.7mm Machine guns (430 rounds per gun)
Bombs/rockets
- Up to 2 x 250lbs bombs under wings
OR
- 6 x 60 lb RP-3 rockets under wings
Place in game
Spoiler
Personally I feel this would be a nice analogue to the Martlet Mk.II, it would sacrifice some of the cockpit armour to be given a wider array of suspended armament as well as slightly more rounds per gun (130 rounds more compared to the Mk.II) it would offer a similar yet slightly improved gameplay, in terms of BR it would most likely sit at 2.3, the same as the F4F-3 as despite the FM-1 being a variant of the F4F-4, it lacks the two extra machine guns of the regular F4F-4.
Sources
