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Grumman F4F/General Motors FM Wildcat

Although the F4F Wildcat family of aircraft started with a Biplane XF4F-1 prototype that competed with the Brewster F2A-1 for a US Navy fighter contract in the late 1930's, the design was  reworked first into a monoplane XF4F-2 prototype design and then a prototype XF4F-3 design, which entered service with the US Navy and US Marine Corps as the F4F-3 in December 1940.

The production Grumman F4F Wildcat was an all-metal monoplane Fighter aircraft with retractable landing gear.  It was used operationally by the US Navy, US Marine Corps, the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy throughout WWII.  

During the early part of the war in the Pacific the F4F was the US Navy's primary carrier based fighter plane, and later in the war it continued to serve on escort carriers of the US and Royal Navies.  During the war due to the need for increased production aircraft of this type were also built by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Moters as the FM series of aircraft.  Variants of the F4F family in use during the war include a fixed wing variant fitted with a two-stage, two-speed supercharged engine designated the F4F-3, a similar aircraft fitted with a single-stage, two-speed engine designated the F4F-3A, a folding wing variant designated the F4F-4/FM-1, and a later war modified aircraft with a more powerful engine and reivsed vertical tail fin designated the FM-2.  The primary variants analyzed at this website include:
 As shown in the images below distinguishing features of this aircraft including;
F4F_FM
[Image Sources: Public Domain via Ref [8] - as annotated by this site]

F4F_3-view_B
                                            [Source: Ref [14b] - US Government/Public Domain]

F4F-4_3-view
                        [Source: Ref [4] - Public Domain]

The table below summarizes the current data collected on this type aircraft, identifying sources for the data

    F4F-3 F4F-3 F4F-4 F4F-4 F4F-4 FM-2 Secondary Sources Notes
Primary Source   1 4 1 2 4 1
No of Crew   1 1 1 1 1 1
Engine:  
   Qty   1 1 1 1 1 1
   Model   R-1830-86 R-1830-76 R-1830-86 R-1830-86 R-1830-86 R-1820-56  5, 8
   Displacement  (cu in) 1830 1830 1830 1830 1830 1820 5, 8
   Power  
     Military (HP)
     War Emergency (HP)
    Normal (HP) 1100 1100 1100 1100 1100 1200 5, 8
    Take Off (HP) 1200 1200 1200 1200 1200 1300 5, 8
   Eng Dims  
     Length (ft) 5.62 5.94 5.62 5.62 5.62 3.96 5, 8
     Width/Dia (ft) 4.02 4.01 4.02 4.02 4.02 4.59 5, 8
     Height (ft)
   Base Engine Wt (lb) 1560 1550 1560 1560 1560 1333 5, 8
Propeller  
   # Blades   3 3 3 3 3 3
   Dia (ft) 9.75 9.75 9.75 9.75 9.75 10
   Manufacturer  
   Type  
Wing  
   Span (ft) 38 38 38 38 38
   Root Thickness (%) 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0%
  (in) 14.7 14.7 15.2 15.2 15.2
   Total Area  (sq ft) 260 260 260 260 260 260
     Wing (less Ailerons & Flaps) (sq ft) 218.82 218.82 217.04 217.04 217.04
     Ailerons (sq ft) 11.48 11.48 13.26 13.26 13.26
     Flaps (sq ft) 29.7 29.7 29.7 29.7 29.7
Tail Area (sq ft) 71.63 71.63 71.63 71.63 71.63 3
   V Tail Area (sq ft) 22.58 22.58 22.58 22.58 22.58 22.58 3
     Fin (sq ft) 13.2 13.2 13.2 13.2 13.2  
     Rudder (sq ft) 9.38 9.38 9.38 9.38 9.38  
   H Tail Area (sq ft) 49.05 49.05 49.05 49.05 49.05 49.05 3
     Stabilizer (sq ft) 30.43 30.43 30.43 30.43 30.43  
     Elevator (sq ft) 18.62 18.62 18.62 18.62 18.62  
Total Control Surf Area (sq ft) 69.18 69.18 70.96 70.96 70.96
Length  
   Overall (ft) 28.78 28.78 28.89 28.89 28.89
   Fuselage (ft) 26.92 26.92 25.2 25.2 25.2 25.2
   Body  (ft) 25.94 25.94 25.94 25.94 25.94 25.935
     Body Depth (ft) 25.94 25.94
    Body Width (ft)
Fuel Tank Volume (gal) 147 147 144 144 144
   Wing Tanks (gal)
    FuselageTanks (gal)
Oil Tank Volume (gal) 11 11 11 11 11
Water Injection Fluid Tank Volume (gal)
Wetted Area (sqf) (sq ft)
Pwr Ldng (lb/HP) 5.75 6.57 6.19
Wing Ldng (lb/sq ft) 26.52 30.30 28.56
Struct. Des. GW  (lb) 6436 6436
Ultimate Load Factor (G's) 13.5 13.5
Design Speed (mph) 470 470
Not to Exceed Speed (mph)
               
Total Struct Weight   2207 2200 2532 2484 2561 2469
   Total Wing   893 882 1181 1119 1181 1154
     Wing     805     1030  
     Ailerons     38     38  
     Flaps     39     43  
     Fuselage Carry-Through           70  
   Tail   144 147 148 147 148 150
     H Tail     106   112 112  
       Stabilizer     64     65  
       Elevator     42     47  
     V Tail     41   35 36  
       Fin     18     13  
       Rudder     23     23  
   Body + Eng Section + LG  
   Body + LG   1170 1144 1203 1195 1203 1165
   Body   819 793 852 842 852 723
     Fuselage   525 495 517   517 470
     Engine Section   294 298 335   335 253
   Landing Gear   351 351 351 353 351 442
     Mn Landing Gr     319   322 319  
     Tail/Nose Aux LG     32   31 32  
   Tail Hook   27 23 29
   Booms  
   Nacelles              
Total Propulsion Weight   2450 2432 2493 2553 2493 2176
   Engine w/ Accessories   1807 1782 1810 1789 1810 1401
   Engine(s) as Installed   1565 1540 1568 1568 1568  
     Accessories   242 242 242 221 242  
    Turbocharger(s)  
   Controls   22.5 23 25 27 25 20
   Propeller(s)   314 312 315.5 321 315.5 394
     2-Blade              
     3-Blade   314 312 315.5 321 315.5 394
     4-Blade              
   Starting System   43 43 43 45 43 30
   Water Injection System  
     Tanks              
     Piping Etc              
   Cooling System  
   Lube System   30 30 35 94 35 99
     Tanks     10     10  
     Piping Etc     20     25  
   Fuel System   233.5 242 264.5 277 264.5 232
     Tanks     164     200  
     Piping Etc     78     64.5  
Total Sys. & Eqpmt.   769 661 753.9 761 724.9 693
   Instruments   58 58 61 50 61 52
   Surface Controls    113 113 161.5 130 161.5 126
   Hydraulics   - - 195.9 -
   Electrical Equip   140 140 143 168 143 162
Electronics (Purple means incl in Furn/Gray in Useful Ld)         113
   Arm Prov/Equipment & Armor   155 155 162.5 237 162.5 223
    Furnishings   183 172 195.9 63 80
   Anti-Ice (If not in Furn)  
   Other /Misc   30 23 30 1 50
     Hoisting Gear   1 1
     Floatation Gear   90 22
     Armor Plate              
               
Empty Wt   5426 5293 5778.9 5798 5778.9 5338
Basic Mission Useful Load     1602   2081 1647.1  
   Crew   200 200 200
   Equipment  
   Oil   68 83 68
   Fuel   660 864 660
   Fuel & Oil Trapped in Systems  
   Water Solution for Engine Injection  
   Bombs/Torp Etc   0 0
   Radio (if Not Included in Empty Wt)   62.3 113.2
   Nav Equipment   3.5 4.5
   Oxygen System  
   Armament   546.1 882 554.2
     Guns & Ammo     524.5   882 528.7  
       Guns         450    
       Ammo         432    
     Pyrotechnics     7.9     11.8  
     Camera     13.7     13.7  
     Other              
   Other Useful Load   62.1 52 47.2
Basic Mission GW     6895   7879 7426  

Notes: This website has been developed with a number of low cost or free programs including Hot Metal Pro, KompoZer, MicroSoft Designer and Da Button Factory.com

Rev 3-16-25

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