First Flight:
The prototype XF4F-3 Wildcat made its maiden flight on February 12, 1939.

Grumman’s First Cat :
The F4F was not the first fighter built by Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. Though a monoplane, the design drew upon previous experience with the FF, F2F and F3F biplane fighters, notably in the narrow landing gear (which the pilot had to crank up by hand) and the barrel-like fuselage. The F4F also had the distinction of beginning the Grumman tradition of giving its fighters feline nicknames when it was christened the Wildcat. The F4F-3 was the first variant delivered in large numbers, leading the way for a production run of various versions of the Wildcat that totaled 7,825 aircraft. 

Design:
The F4F-3 introduced the “Sto-Wing” method of folding the wings to reduce the aircraft’s footprint in the limited spaces of an aircraft carrier. Using paperclips to represent wings and an eraser as the fuselage, Leroy Grumman developed a method of folding the wings back along the fuselage. Only 285 F4F-3s were built without folding wings, the museum’s example being one of them. As the front-line U.S. naval fighter in the first years of World War II, the Wildcat faced off against the Japanese Zero, which boasted superior maneuverability, speed and range. The F4F took advantage of firepower, defensive armor and tactics like the “Thach Weave” to counter these advantages. 

Service:
The F4F-3 entered squadron service on November 26, 1940. By the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, it equipped a number of Navy and Marine Corps units. The latter included VMF-211. This squadron was based at Wake, joining the rest of the garrison there in facing off against overwhelming Japanese forces that invaded and ultimately captured the atoll in late December 1941. F4F-3s and later F4F-4s flew against the Japanese during the early carrier hit-and-run raids, the battles of Coral Sea and Midway, and the intense air and naval battles of the Guadalcanal campaign. F4Fs also flew in support of the invasion of North Africa and in antisubmarine warfare missions from escort carriers in the Atlantic. During World War II, the Wildcat achieved a 6.9:1 kill ratio, the aircraft flown by more Medal of Honor recipients that any other naval aircraft.

The Museum’s Aircraft:
Delivered in June 1941, the museum’s F4F-3 was first assigned to Fighting Squadron (VF) 72 on board USS Wasp (CV 7) and participated in the Neutrality Patrol in the Atlantic Ocean. Six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the aircraft was briefly transferred to VF-9 before eventual assignment to the Carrier Qualification Training Unit (CQTU) at NAS Glenview, IL, in May 1943.

On the afternoon of August 17 1943, Lieutenant Albert Newhall was launching from USS Wolverine (IX 64) in this aircraft when he allowed the torque of the engine to pull the plane to port with a final loss of positive control. The plane plunged into Lake Michigan, where it sank after Newhall was rescued.

Recovered from the lake in 1990, the aircraft arrived at the museum that same year for restoration. It is painted in the markings of its first squadron, VF-72.