Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat


Plane: Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat

Weight (Empty/Loaded/Max): 5,895lb / 7,765lb / 8,762lb

Wing Area: 260 sq ft

Wing Loading: 22.7lb/sq ft / 29.9lb/sq ft / 33.7lb/sq ft

Length: 28' 10"

Span: 38'

Wing Aspect Ratio: 5.6

Engine: 1200hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-86 Radial

Flaps: 2 settings

Visibility: (same art as F6F)

Control Feel:

Stall Speed 1k (No Flaps/Full Flaps) 85/70mph

Guns:

  type/ammo ROF Duration WB Punch Muzzle Velocity Ammo/Gun
Primary: 2x.50cal Browning MG 12/s 20s 3x.50cal/ping 2810ft/s 240
Secondary: 4x.50cal Browning MG 12/s 20s 6x.50cal/ping 2810ft/s 240

Ordnance:
0: none
1: 2x100lb bombs
2: none
3: none

Fuel Time/Percent: 28s/%

Power/weight (Empty/Loaded/Max): 4.9lb/hp / 6.5lb/hp / 7.3lb/hp

Corner Velocity: 225mph

Durability:

WEP time: 5 minutes

Maximum Angle-of-Attack (no flaps/full flaps): 14.5/14degrees

Wing Incidence Angle (no flaps/full flaps): 3.5/4 degrees


Accleleration:

  1,000ft 5,000ft 10,000ft 15,000ft
Stall-200mph 31.9s 35.7s 45.1s 60+s
150mph-200mph 19.1s 21.9s 31.5s 35.7s
200mph-250mph 30.3s 38.1s - -
250mph-300mph - - - -

Climb:
1k-5k: 81s
5k-10k: 122s
10k-15k: 136s

Zoom Climb:
1k 400mph: +4,300ft
1k 300mph: +2,900ft

Dive:

  Max Speed After 30s After 60s
15,000ft to 10,000ft 360mph 290mph 275mph
15,000ft to 5,000ft 480mph 330mph 295mph
10,000ft to 5,000ft 360mph 300mph 280mph
10,000ft to 1,000ft 480mph 330mph 295mph
5,000ft to 1,000ft 360mph 305mph 285mph

Max Speed:

  1,000ft 5,000ft
Climbing before levelling 270mph 260mph
Diving before levelling 280mph 270mph

Turn Performance

300mph 1,000ft 5,000ft 10,000ft 15,000ft
One 360 - - - -
Two 360s - - - -
250mph
One 360 12.0s 12.8s 14.3s -
Two 360s 27.3s 30.3s 33.6s -
Sustained
No Flaps 17.8s 18.0s 20.2s 21.8s
Full Flaps 16.1s 16.9s 19.5s 23.8s
Best Flap full full full none
Speed/best 95mph 100mph 90mph 110mph

Corner Speed and Radii (1,000ft):

Speed: 225mph
Radius: 369ft
Sustained Turn Speed: 125mph
Sustained Turn Radius: 519ft
Full Flaps Speed: 105mph
Full Flaps Radius: 394ft

Corner Times 1,000ft 5,000ft 10,000ft 15,000ft
180 degrees 5.5s 5.5s 5.8s 6.3s
360 degrees 12.1s 12.6s 13.3s 14.6s

Roll Rate:
150mph: 5.9s
200mph: 5.4s
250mph: 5.0s
300mph: 5.6s
350mph: 7.3s
400mph:

Minimum Full-Flaps Full-Power Split-S altitude:
150mph: 1000ft
200mph: 1200ft
250mph: 1400ft
300mph: 1700ft


Hoof's Tips and Opinions:

With the P39D's rework for 2.0, the F4F now is, IMO, the worst plane to be in 1 vs 1 in Warbirds. The F4F excels only in horizontal turning, and even then most TnB planes can turn with the F4F. Vertical maneuvers are rather difficult due to poor energy retention, and acceleration/climb are horrible. Almost every other plane can beat the F4F in several critical areas, making getting kills in it really impressive.

When Japan started the war, their primary opponents were the F4F carrier based fighters. It is easy to see how the zero was superior to the F4F as the F4F is slower, climbs poorer, and has inferior roll and turn at low speed. It's only advantage is high speed maneuvering (which it can't exploit most of the time due to poor acceleration/climb), and diving capability.

As far as tips on how to do well with this bird, turn turn turn. Don't bother chasing anything as almost any plane will leave you in the dust in any form of extension maneuver, and the F4F doesn't have the ammo to take out planes at range 8 or so. Try to get planes to turn with ya, and try to get above the crowd so you can dive down and use some of that high speed handling. And don't get anywhere near any variant of the Zero, or for that matter a Ki43!

Where the F4F really shines in is scenarios. Here her other big asset comes to play: her durability. While her durability is rather meaningless in the cannon-toting world of the arena, against the Ki43 in particular, the durability of this plane really pays dividens. F4F pilots have to work together, in fairly large numbers, and remember *not* to turn with a Japanese plane. The trick to defeating the Japanese planes is teamwork, and the F4F is very well equipped for this vs the early Japanese planes. A 1/2 second burst from those six .50's is all she wrote for an IJ plane, while a Ki43 takes several seconds of fire to down a F4F on the average, and the A6M2/A6M3 a few less seconds but still quite long. Thus comes the key to the F4F vs IJ planes: Pick up an IJ plane and fly near another F4F. The 2nd F4F can spray at the IJ plane forcing one of two things to happen: the IJ plane dies, or it breaks off, both of which are good. If a wingman pair is good, continually flying to the other plane (thatch weave is one example) is the way to go. Any Zeke or Ki43 pair has to get close and fly predictable for a rather long time to guarantee a kill, and it the other wingie gets a chance, he can take a shot during this time. Sure this results in lots of holes in the F4Fs, but it results in lots of downed Japanese planes, and something for the maintenance crews to do back on the carriers :)

1 vs 1 the F4F is totally outclassed by the Ki43 and A6M. But in a many vs many fight, even against odds, the F4F should do quite nicely. This is a classic example of how different situations result in different strengths/weaknesses coming into play.

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