F4F-3

This page is about the American naval fighter F4F-3. For other versions, see F4F (Family).

F4F-3

F2A-3

F4F-4

360://https://wiki.warthunder.com/images/5/56/Cockpit_f4f-3.jpg

F4F-3

F2A-3

F4F-4

USA

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.7	2.3	3.0

Class:

Fighter

Naval aircraft

Research:9 200

Purchase:16 000

Show in game

Description

The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the US Navy's backbone against the Japanese A6M2 and A6M3 Zero in the early stages of the Pacific War. The aircraft was praised for its survivability and reliability, but in most cases, regular pilots could not out-dogfight the skilled Japanese pilots in their Zero fighters. The F4F-3 was a single-engine all-metal plane with midwing construction, armed with four 12.7 mm M-2 Browning machine guns. Because of its lack of manoeuvrability, the F4F-3 lost to the Japanese fighter in close dogfights, so pilots prefer to avoid such situations by diving out of battle, taking advantage of their aircraft's higher speed. It was also used by Britain under the name Martlet II and Martlet III.

It has been in the game since the start of the Open Beta Test prior to Update 1.27. The Wildcat is a beast when piloted well. Its strengths lie in its firepower and diving ability, but it also has the ability to outmanoeuvre most aircraft in War Thunder. This gives you numerous options when dogfighting. The F4F-3 Wildcat is a good all-around fighter, though its top speed and rate of climb are lacking. It is good to go head-on with opponents from other nations as their aircraft won't be able to withstand the damage that the Wildcat can deal, and the good protection for your pilot added to the overall resilience of the aircraft gives it some pretty impressive defence.

General info

Flight performance

Arrestor gear

Accelerates braking by grabbing the brake cable on the deck of the aircraft carrier

Max speed

at 5 800 m518 km/h

Turn time18 s

Max altitude12 000 m

EnginePratt & Whitney R-1830-86

TypeRadial

Cooling systemAir

Take-off weight4 t

In the air, the Wildcat performs pretty well, with roll rate and turn time being adequate for most engagements. However, on the ground (not on a carrier), it does not perform as well. The acceleration, even when fully upgraded, is subpar on the ground. When taking off, you will find yourself still struggling to take off when most of your teammates are already in the air.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 5,800 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	498	481	12000	19.9	20.7	12.7	12.6	210
Upgraded	539	518		18.0	18.9	18.1	15.1

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	✓

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
826	320	420	420	420	~14	~5

Optimal velocities (km/h)
Ailerons	Rudder	Elevators	Radiator
< 300	< 330	< 350	> 335

Survivability and armour

Crew1 person

Speed of destruction

Structural0 km/h

Gear320 km/h

• 6.35 mm steel- behind pilot's body
• 8 mm steel - behind pilot's head
• 38 mm bulletproof glass - armoured windscreen

Modifications and economy

Repair costBasic → Reference

AB467 → 627

RB934 → 1 255

SB1 362 → 1 830

Total cost of modifications8 400

9 390

Talisman cost640

Crew training4 500

Experts16 000

Aces180

Research Aces190 000

Reward for battleAB / RB / SB

30 / 80 / 150 %

118 / 118 / 118 %

Modifications

Flight performance	Survivability	Weaponry
Fuselage repair Research: 560 Cost: 630 85 Radiator Research: 560 Cost: 630 85 Airframe Research: 630 Cost: 710 95 Compressor Research: 630 Cost: 710 95 Wings repair Research: 700 Cost: 790 105 Engine Research: 700 Cost: 790 105 Cover Research: 910 Cost: 1 000 140 Engine injection Research: 910 Cost: 1 000 140	EFS Research: 910 Cost: 1 000 140	bmg50_belt_pack Research: 560 Cost: 630 85 Mk.41 Research: 630 Cost: 710 95 bmg50_new_gun Research: 700 Cost: 790 105

Armaments

Offensive armament

Weapon 14 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine gun

Ammunition1 800 rounds

Fire rate750 shots/min

The F4F-3 is armed with:

• 4 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (450 rpg = 1,800 total)

Suspended armament

List of setups (1)

Setup 12 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bomb

The F4F-3 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

• Without load
• 2 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs (200 lb total)

Usage in battles

The Wildcat is an easy plane to fly. It is very manoeuvrable and well-armed for its class. You can out turn pretty much all German and Soviet aircraft, but beware that you don't get into a turnfight with any of the Japanese planes and especially the British Spitfires. The Wildcat will lose a large amount of energy during a dogfight making it sluggish, and therefore an easy target for enemy planes with good energy retention, like the Yak-1.

The Wildcat will have a hard time downing planes simply because it has only 4 machine guns, you will often get matched with the Bf 109 E-3 and F-1 which have powerful cannons and a very good turn rate. The best way to use this plane is to BnZ since most of your opponents are less armoured and are slower. You can also out turn some of the Soviet aircraft, but you cannot simply dive away, as you may rip the wings off.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Auto control available	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Controllable 3 gears	Not controllable

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Good turn rate, especially when using combat flaps
• Decent armament with loads of ammo, 4 wing-mounted .50 cal MGs with 450 rpg
• Decent roll rate
• Can carry bombs
• Able to endure heavy punishment
• Good pilot protection for its BR
• Good dive speed and characteristic

Cons:

• The F4F-3 is a rather sluggish climber, doing 15 degrees at most
• Terrible at head-ons, due to the exposed engine being a target and the guns being wing-mounted
• Most of the flammable components are stored in the front of the plane, near the pilot
• Bad cockpit rear visibility (SB)
• Engine and oil overheat quickly when using WEP

History

During the early years WW2, the United States' main fighter in its navy was the F4F Wildcat, one of the first monoplane navy fighters of its era. It served well in many battles, like the battle for Wake Island, and most notably in the battle of Guadalcanal. It was a very reliable aircraft, however, was constantly challenged by the infamous A6M2 and A6M3 Zero. However, most of the time skilled pilots like John Smith were able to out-dogfight more manoeuvrable fighters like the Zero and Oscar in those battles.

Archive of the in-game description

The first model, the XF4F-1, was a biplane, but to meet the demands of U.S. Navy's carrier-based monoplane competition, the Grumman Company changed the design, creating the XF4F-2 prototype. Due to a number of defects in the XF4F-2, a competing firm won instead with the Brewster F2A Buffalo. However, the F4F had potential and was sent back for revision. The next model was superior to the Buffalo, and the other new versions of the Buffalo did not satisfy the requirements of the fleet, so in August of 1939, Grumman received an order for the first series of F4F-3 Wildcats. The F4F-3 was a single-engine all-metal plane with midwing construction, armed with four 12.7 mm M-2 Browning machine guns. Because of its lack of manoeuvrability, the F4F-3 lost to the Japanese fighter in close dogfights, so pilots prefer to avoid such situations by diving out of battle, taking advantage of their aircraft's higher speed. The Wildcat had only one major drawback - the landing gear extension system. In order to release or retract the landing gear, the pilot had to crank a mechanical hoist handle 29 times, which was difficult given the need to direct the aircraft and start climbing after takeoff. The Wildcat was exported to Greece, Britain and Canada. All in all, 7251 F4Fs (including all variants) were constructed, including 285 F4F-3s.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the F4F-3 from live.warthunder.com.

Images

• 

  Updated model of the F4F-3

Videos

The Shooting Range #118 - Pages of History section at 04:06 discusses the F4F Wildcat.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• other literature.

Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation
Aircraft
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F4F Wildcat	F4F-3 · F4F-4
XF5F Skyrocket	XF5F · XP-50
F6F Hellcat	F6F-5 · F6F-5N
F7F Tigercat	F7F-1 · F7F-3
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Export	▄Martlet Mk IV · ▄F6F-5 · ▄F6F-5N · ▄F8F-1B · ▄Avenger Mk II · ▄Hellcat Mk II
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