Preserved Grumman Martlet or Wildcat WW2 US UK fighter aircraft at the 2015 Flying Legends airshow

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The Grumman F4F Wildcat first flew in September 1937, it had been designed to meet the USN's need for a new carrier based fighter aircraft but also served with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm as the Martlet. In mid 1942 in order to free-up their production lines for their new F6F Hellcat, Grumman contracted GMC to build the Grumman FM-2 Wildcat for them, General Motors went on to build an improved design prototyped by Grumman fitted with the more powerful 1,350 hp Wright R-1820 engine and a new larger tail fin to counteract the increased torque.

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Size: 4000px × 3199px
Location: Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambrisgeshire, UK
Photo credit: © Niall Ferguson / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 2, air, aircraft, arm, carrier, fighter, fleet, flying, grumman, invasion, martlet, pacific, preserved, raf, stripes, usn, war, wildcat, world, ww2