Wildcat question

[Luka]

Britmodellers, I am once again asking for your knowledge.
Can anyone tell me what the pod-shaped object under the port wing is? There seems to be an empty rack under the starboard wing, but I think I have also seen that pod under the starboard wing on other photos, but always only one seems to be carried.
Thanks in advance.

[72modeler]

I seem to recall seeing photos of F4F-3's with red crosses that participated in the November, 1941 war games that had these same pods or carriers under their starboard wings. I think they might have been either a practice bomb or flare carrier. I'm thinking @Dana Bell might know, but there were no photos that showed these in either his Warship Pictorial #3 on the Wildcat, or either volume of the F4F in Detail in Scale by Bert Kinzey. Best I can do from my references.

Mike

[Blimpyboy]

 

Sorry in advance - this is not an answer.

D'you think it's the same as this thing?

 

 

 

If it is the same thing, it might be the object also seen on some SBDs - surely someone will know what this is.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by Blimpyboy

[Jackson Duvalier]

7 minutes ago, Blimpyboy said:

 

 

 

 

 

Panel lines are far too pronounced for scale.  Would not place in a serious judging.  😉

 

My offhand guess is that the Mystery Pod is a training bomblet dispenser.

 

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2014/07/things-under-wings-training-wheels.html

[Blimpyboy]

14 minutes ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

Panel lines are far too pronounced for scale.  Would not place in a serious judging.

Totally agree. I also think it's the wrong shade for RLM02.

 

 

15 minutes ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

My offhand guess is that the Mystery Pod is a training bomblet dispenser.

 

http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2014/07/things-under-wings-training-wheels.html

Nice find!

[Luka]

Yep, definitely looks like the same thing. Thanks for the info!

[Selwyn]

5 hours ago, 72modeler said:

I seem to recall seeing photos of F4F-3's with red crosses that participated in the November, 1941 war games that had these same pods or carriers under their starboard wings. I think they might have been either a practice bomb or flare carrier. I'm thinking @Dana Bell might know, but there were no photos that showed these in either his Warship Pictorial #3 on the Wildcat, or either volume of the F4F in Detail in Scale by Bert Kinzey. Best I can do from my references.

Mike

Why would a fighter have a bomb dispenser fitted? Don't recall wildcats ever being used as a bomber.

 

Selwyn

[72modeler]

5 minutes ago, Selwyn said:

Why would a fighter have a bomb dispenser fitted?

Practice bomb dispenser, Selwyn! Wildcats also had the capability of being fitted with a bomb rack on each outboard wing section that could mount a 100 lb or 250 lb bomb. Used by the Wildcats based on Wake Island or Henderson Field, as seen in numerous photos.

Mike

[Selwyn]

1 minute ago, 72modeler said:

Practice bomb dispenser, Selwyn! Wildcats also had the capability of being fitted with a bomb rack on each outboard wing section that could mount a 100 lb or 250 lb bomb. Used by the Wildcats based on Wake Island or Henderson Field, as seen in numerous photos.

Mike

Sorry, still not convinced, lots of pictures here of this, and  not one carrying a practrice bomb!

 

Selwyn

[72modeler]

3 minutes ago, Selwyn said:

Sorry, still not convinced, lots of pictures here of this, and  not one carrying a practrice bomb!

IIRC, Selwyn, the USN practice bomb dispenser was a torpedo-shaped pod that had clamshell doors, and the bomblets were contained within the pod, so you wouldn't see them unless the doors were open. Look at the link posted by Jackson Duvalier that has photos and text by Tommy Thomason to see what I mean. BTW- are you and yours safe in the middle of this pandemic madness?

Mike

[Work In Progress]

17 minutes ago, Selwyn said:

Why would a fighter have a bomb dispenser fitted? Don't recall wildcats ever being used as a bomber.

That's only because you don't know about it, not because it didn;t happen.

 

VMF-211 at Wake Island proved themselves quite good at sinking Japanese shipping by bombing with the F4F-3. I'm not a Pacific war expert by any means so that's one of the relatively few Pacific war air power episodes I've read about, but I'm sure they were not unique in using the Wildcat thus.

Edited August 23, 2020 by Work In Progress

[Selwyn]

2 minutes ago, 72modeler said:

IIRC, Selwyn, the USN practice bomb dispenser was a torpedo-shaped pod that had clamshell doors, and the bomblets were contained within the pod, so you wouldn't see them unless the doors were open. Look at the link posted by Jackson Duvalier that has photos and text by Tommy Thomason to see what I mean. BTW- are you and yours safe in the middle of this pandemic madness?

Mike

Still have my doubts, the PBs must be very small.

As for the pandemic madness, the last few months have been absolute hell. Lost my aunt to the virus, and my mum to cancer within two days of each other. Not a great time.

 

Selwyn

[Work In Progress]

18 minutes ago, Selwyn said:

Sorry, still not convinced, lots of pictures here of this, and  not one carrying a practrice bomb!

 

Try the actual live bombs dropped by Henry Elrod from his Wildcat, for which among other exploits he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_T._Elrod

You can read the citation here

https://homeofheroes.com/medal-of-honor-citation/world-war-ii-medal-of-honor-recipients/

 

"...succeeded in inflicting deadly damage upon a large Japanese vessel, thereby sinking the first major warship to be destroyed by small caliber bombs delivered from a fighter-type aircraft."

Edited August 23, 2020 by Work In Progress

[Blimpyboy]

I must admit, I too was really dubious about the Wildcat carrying bombs, and also thought that any bomb in that thing would have to be so teeny-tiny as to be useless!

Then I got to thinking, maybe F4Fs could be used to engage submarines - were F4Fs ever used as long range scouts like the SBDs? If so, I s'pose it makes sense that they'd have to practice with something. I must admit, despite having been in the USN, my knowledge of pre-WW2 USN fighter ops is really sketchy (but then, I flew ASW, which is real work...).

 

There is this piccie (from https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/08/14/grumman-f4f-wildcat-in-color-part-i/), the caption for which reads: Three U.S. Marine F4F-3 Wildcats of VMF-111 pose for the photographer.  They wear the overall Light Gray scheme.  The temporary red cross markings denote the Red Force for the 1941 Louisiana War Games, which dates the photograph as being taken during August or September of that year.  The devices mounted under the wings on the national insignia are practice bomb dispensers.

Is this the one you were talking about, 72modeler?

 

 

In Jackson Duvalier's post, the link has some pictures of the bomb - it really is tiny!

 

 

 

I have indeed learned something new today - thanks all, the team works!

 

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by Blimpyboy

[72modeler]

4 hours ago, Blimpyboy said:

Is this the one you were talking about, 72modeler?

Yessir- that's the very photo I was talking about! 👍

Mike

[72modeler]

4 hours ago, Selwyn said:

Not a great time.

Selwyn,

 

I am so sorry to hear of your loss; please accept my condolences; I will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. Aviation and modeling trivia is nothing compared to the passing of family members or loved ones in the middle of this madness. 

Mike

[Dana Bell]

Hi All,

 

Tom Wildenberg's Destined for Glory was the first book I've seen go into the US Navy's change in fighter policy during the 1930s.  Perhaps not without hubris, Navy planners expected their fighters to first destroy all of an enemy's defensive fighters, then bomb and strafe the AAA gunners on enemy ships while torpedo planes and dive bombers delivered their attacks.  It was also the first book to explain why the F11Cs were redesignated BFCs - the planes hadn't changed, but the missions had.  (Remember the anti-aircraft bomblet dispensers buried in the wings of the XF4U-1?)

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana