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I agree. But that does not mean the F4F was heavily armed.Hurricane I was armed with 8-303s. I believe that 4-50s with 400 rounds per gun is a lot more firepower.
Dave, it is my understanding that the Hurricane I was armed with 8-303s. I believe that 4-50s with 400 rounds per gun is a lot more firepower. No less an authority than Eric Brown stated that the Wildcat 'Had a heavier punch than the ME109F". and that the Wildcat was 'powerfully armed."
I don't disagree with you but what I like to know is what unit was aboard the Wasp. I often indicated that these "dogfights" mean little as the pilots flying are an unknown quantity as opposed to what is known about their aircraftPb, that story about Hurricanes defeating Wildcats with depth charges on board sounds a little questionable to me. The F4F4 was certainly not a high performance AC but if the Hurricanes were that much better then the pilots flying Hurricanes in the CBI and PTO must have been terrible because their record against Zekes was not great and the Wildcat's record was no worse than even.
GREAT RESEARCH!!!!!pb, I think I have found out why those Wildcats got trounced by the Hurricanes. The story says the USS Wasp arrived in St Johns on 6 July, 1943 after completing a tour of duty against the Japanese in the Pacific.. Wasp, CV7 was torpedoed and sunk on 9/15/42. Wasp, CV 18, an Essex class was not completed until 8/17/43. So, either those Wildcats were salvaged from the bottom of the Pacific and did not fly well or the story is not accurate. I doubt if any Wildcats served on CV18, the Essex class CV.
Joe B, as usual we can rely on you to fill in the blanks. Many thanks. Another point about the early Hurricane is that somewhere I read that it could barely exceed 300 MPH, though if that was at SL that is not bad. Also, it could barely get to 25000 feet and was out of breath there. The early F4F3 in 1940 had a critical altitude of 22000 feet. To add to the Ranger operations, during Torch, VF9 with 27 F4F4s, VF41 with 28 F4F4s operated from Ranger and VGF 26 operated 14 F4F4s from Sangamon and VGF27 operated 12 F4F4s from Suwanee. Martlets operated during Torch in 802 squadron from Victorious and Martlets of 805 Squadron operated in the Western Desert from Dekheila.
7/6/43 would indicate the Grumman's were most likely F4F-4's or FM-1's.I'm aware this doesn't indicate the model of the Wildcat that would be up to some one in the know on the USN but the Hurris were Mk XII's...