Since there are a number of aircraft themed W/I explorations on here att, I thought I'd post this one. My knowledge of aircraft is limited, so this may not even be possible. For those of you who are more learned about making WWII aircraft go, have at it. The challenge is to make the Buffalo a good combat aircraft, or at least a viable one.
Redeem the Brewster Buffalo
- Thread starter Oldbill
- Start date
Finns did it already. Their version had a lot less weight than the USN version. They also were using better tactics 1941-42 than the USN pilots used in early 1941, or the Commonwealth and others in Pacific/Asia. Other than the Finns and a few hundred USN pilots the ilk of the Buffalo pilots in early 1942 were rookies without a lot of flight time or advanced training. Against the superbly trained Japanese naval pilots of January 1942 & their modern state of the art aircraft the Buffalos of the Pacific battles were going to look bad.
I don't know what their kill ratio was but I understand the Dutch did pretty well with them too. They flew with half loads of fuel and ammunition which was fine for point defense missions.
Keep in mind the Dutch and Commonwealth squadrons in the DEI, Malaya, and Burma were outnumbered and were worn down through sheer attrition. I also read somewhere (I need to find the source) that at least some of the Buffaloes in Malaya had commercial grade engines instead of military grade engines which meant they could not stand up to the abuse of combat flying as well.
And that gets me to my next point. The first thing you need to do is change the management at the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation. The company was very poorly managed and had fraud and corruption problems. Management actually decided to shut the company down in 1944 after severe financial losses. Think about that, an aircraft corporation that could not turn a decent profit in the middle of a global war.
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In the case of Malaya it seems the Buffaloes were equipped with older, lower power versions of the Wright Cyclone (1000 HP vs 1200 HP in US service) allegedly including some second hand off commercial aircraft!
Fix that problem, throw in some pilots with a bit more experience and like the Finns and Dutch strip out some of the excess weight and you'll get decent through probably not stellar performance.
Fix that problem, throw in some pilots with a bit more experience and like the Finns and Dutch strip out some of the excess weight and you'll get decent through probably not stellar performance.
Poorly rebuilt civil engines with many incorrect and inadequate parts.
Have the Buffalos built by a company that knew the meaning of the phrase build quality.
The greatest advantage the Finns had was training and tactics. As in, great on the Finn side, lousy on the soviet. I doubt they would have scored that well if the Soviets had been well trained...
or in the case of the dutch, stay away from 7,62mm gun, and keep the 0.50s, and use tracer from the start
Have the British stand up and effective Malayan version of Fighter command with a decentralised network of observer corps and hell why not some radar all reporting back to a fighter command control station and instead of being bombed on the ground have them in the air being vectored into Bomber formations
Hell have them subsequently save POW and Revenge in the South China Sea and take a toll from the 3 IJN land based air groups involved
Hell have them subsequently save POW and Revenge in the South China Sea and take a toll from the 3 IJN land based air groups involved
This last paragraph is the biggest fix possible. Brewster was so badly managed the FBI actually went in looking for enemy agents committing acts of sabotage. They couldn't believe that it was simply the company's utter incompetence cause them to send out aircraft that the Navy had to virtually rebuild after delivery.
Next is put the aircraft into a combat enviroment where its many shortcoming are less of an issue. Finland is a near perfect example, combat at low/medium altitude and in cold weather. Hot weather robs engine power, the Buffalo was an utter pig over 15K in any circumstance. The Soviets fought their air war differently than the West. Their wars were low altitude almost exclusively, rarely getting over 15K and mostly at 10K or below. Keep the Buffalo in that scenario and it will be remembered very differently (much as the Soviet perspective on the P-39 is the mirror image of U.S. forces that used it in the South Pacific)
I would profoundly disagree with the statement that USN fighter tactics were notably inferior to those of the Finns. The Finns fought an opponent who played in the F2A's wheelhouse and did it in an ideal weather environment. As you note, the Finns were able to pull several hundred pounds of equipment off their Buffaloes, something that made a considerable difference.
I would also note that those supposedly inferior USN fighter tactics allowed the American pilots to extract a POSITIVE exchange rate with the admittedly superior A6M while fighting in the ZERO'S wheelhouse when equipped with the F4F-3 (hardly the stellar fighter of the war).
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Perhaps with it's range it could have a niche role as a designated coastal scout plane. They could carry two 100+lb bombs underwing. De-navalized, maybe they could carry a little larger bomb load.
In ATL they get a good reputation for scouting with occasional attacks of opportunity on unescorted shipping.
Maybe the coast of Norway, Indian Ocean, and waters north of Australia
In ATL they get a good reputation for scouting with occasional attacks of opportunity on unescorted shipping.
Maybe the coast of Norway, Indian Ocean, and waters north of Australia
Redeem... Thinking in terms of he original recycling...take it back to the manufacturer and get a dime for the empty.
Seriously, it's such a flawed weapon, the only US use I could think of is going to the variant with 2 20mm, adding drop tanks, and assigning a flight to each carrier assigned to Atlantic escort duties. They could form a constant CAP against snooper aircraft during daylight hours. They'd certainly have the range, and with the oerlikons, they could harass surfaced subs or the occasional s-boat.
Seriously, it's such a flawed weapon, the only US use I could think of is going to the variant with 2 20mm, adding drop tanks, and assigning a flight to each carrier assigned to Atlantic escort duties. They could form a constant CAP against snooper aircraft during daylight hours. They'd certainly have the range, and with the oerlikons, they could harass surfaced subs or the occasional s-boat.
Fatboy Coxy
Monthly Donor
Maybe a redeployment into another role. They were built for carrier operations, could take a knocking, so how about on CAM ships instead of the Sea Hurricane
Have Bearn go Free French instead of Vichy.
The Helldivers and Buffaloes she was carrying when France fell become her regular air wing.
She get pulled away from escorting a convoy when Bismarck breaks out and one of her Buffalo scouts sights the Germans at a crucial time.
Kind of like the mediocre athlete who becomes a fan favorite for making one big play in the championship game.
What the Americans remember most is "It was one of our planes that found the Bismark!"
The Helldivers and Buffaloes she was carrying when France fell become her regular air wing.
She get pulled away from escorting a convoy when Bismarck breaks out and one of her Buffalo scouts sights the Germans at a crucial time.
Kind of like the mediocre athlete who becomes a fan favorite for making one big play in the championship game.
What the Americans remember most is "It was one of our planes that found the Bismark!"
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An American plane did find Bismarck. Not initially but it was a PBY that made the fateful sighting that led to her crippling. The best part is that PBY was brand new and the crew was still getting trained in the use of their weapon system and an American instructor pilot named Ensign Leonard Smith was at the controls. Yeah, they were on a "training mission" so it was okay.