The Wildcat was a carrier based aircraft used by the US Navy and Marine Corpo early in World War 2.
Along with the US forces the Wildcat was also used by other allies, including the Royal Navy where it was known as the Martlet. The prototype first flew in 1937 with a follow on aircraft, with problems fixed flying in Februarty 1939. Early air raft had fixed wings with a folding mechanism added in the F4F-4 version, This folded the wing alongside the fuselage.
The aircraft was fitted with six 50cal Browning machine guns mounted in the wings (three in each). It was powered by a 1200hp Pratt and Whitney R-1830-86 twin row radial engine driving a three bladed propeller. Top speed was 512km/h.A number of cats follwed the Windcat.
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