AERO 125 Grumman F4F-3 a F4F-3A Wildcat & Martlet Mk.I a Mk.III, 2.část – Šnajdr Miroslav (2025)

The popularity of the Wildcat was based (and continues to be based) on the highly successful service of naval aviation machines of the US Navy and the aviation of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in the Pacific theater. However, this type of fighter had already undergone combat baptism significantly earlier, in the European operational theater. Here, aircraft from another significant user of the F4F fighters, the British Fleet Air Arm, operated. The fighters, initially designated Martlet by the British (the designation Wildcat was used by them only from 1944), also received very high praise from the FAA. In October 1941, the admiralty even referred to them as the best available naval fighter aircraft at that time. In the European operational theater, if we also include the vast expanses of the Atlantic Ocean, the Grumman F4F-3 and F4F-3A of the US Navy also underwent their initial combat deployment. This occurred as part of American aircraft carrier operations to protect neutrality, which was nothing more than the deployment of US Navy vessels against German submarines.
In this publication, alongside the initial actions of the Wildcats of the US Navy in the Atlantic, we will particularly explore the circumstances of the creation and history of the initial export variants of Grumman's fighter with the original...