Eduard FM-2 Wildcat, 1/48, 'The Wilder Wildcat'

When Eduard released their first F4F-3 Wildcat I bought it straight away and love the model they provided, a great little kit with amazing details and a pain-free good fitting build process. We knew they were planning on doing a whole line of Wildcats so it was only a matter of time before the General Motor's upgraded cat appeared, and I picked that up straight away when it released too.

Unfortunately life takes me away from the bench nowadays, but every now and then when I wasn't on base I've chipped away at the Wildcat and enjoyed the process immensely, just as I did with the F4F-3 and will do again when they come out with some more Martlet variations.

For this build I went for in flight again, being a dual combo set I always prefer to do one in flight and one on the ground. I may have bit off a bit more than I can chew with the second kit by picking up their quite frankly pain the a*s wing fold set, but regardless here is the first of two FM-2 Wildcats.

History

With Grumman's production of the Wildcat coming to a halt in early 1943 in favor of producing the Hellcat, General Motors became the sole producer of the Wildcat. Despite not being as fast or capable as the Hellcat, the earlier Wildcat came with advantages of being cheaper, with shorter takeoff requirements, and a smaller airframe meaning it was greatly suited for operation from small escort carrier or protecting the shores of 'less important' islands.

The FM-2 marked a change from GM producing essentially copies of the Wildcat with minor modifications to armament to a larger change in design. A more powerful R-1820-56 engine with 1,350hp was fitted giving it 150hp more over the F4F-4. The tail was also enlarged to help counter to increased torque of the new engine. Provisions for bombs, depth charges and rockets were carried over from the FM-1 allowing the new 'Wilder Wildcat' to perform in the anti-submarine duties expected of it.

The majority of the FM-2s would serve doing just that, operating from the small escort carriers protecting supply convoys in the Atlantic and Pacific while the F6F and later F4U would operate from the fleet carriers on the front line.

This model depicts an aircraft flown by Ensign Darrell Bennett in August 1944, flying with VC-10 off of USS Gambier Bay. Gambier Bay had previously served to assist the landings of Marines on Saipan in June, Tinian in July and Guam in August. During these operations the FM-2 would be repeatedly used against ground targets in bombing and strafing runs, as well as combat air patrols where VC-10 would fins great success against Japanese air operations.

Most famously for VC-10 is of course the the Battle off Samar in October that year, where the 7 Destroyers and 5 Escort Carriers including Gambier Bay of 'Taffy 3' came under fire from the Japanese Centre Force which consisted of 4 Battleships, 6 Heavy Cruisers, 2 Light Cruisers and 11 Destroyers making it the most powerful Japanese fleet of the time.

Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Taffy 3 put up fierce resistance to the Japanese. Destroyers laid smokescreens, engaged with guns and torpedos, whilst the escort carriers launched their Wildcats and Avengers. FM-2s like the ones in VC-10 would engage with whatever armament they had, performing strafing runs on the bridges of the advancing Japanese vessels and doing all they could to delay the inevitable.

During the Battle the Japanese fleet came so close that the single 5-inch gun that Gambier Bay had was able to engage Japanese cruisers. Despite the resistance Gambier bay was eventually hit damaging her engine room, likely due to a near miss from either Battleships Yamato or Kongo, allowing the chasing cruisers to catch her and engage at point-blank range making her the only US carrier go be sunk by surface fire in the war.

Despite the loss inflicted to Taffy 3 of 2 Escort Carriers and 2 Destroyers, the Japanese fleet would eventually retreat due to the damage they had recieved. Three Japanese cruisers were lost, with many other ships receiving heavy damage in the battle.

As for Ensign Bennett, he was flying with VC-10 during the Battle and managed to survive despite the sinking of the Gambier Bay