First flown in 1937, the Grumman F4F Wildcat was arguably one of the best carrier-borne fighter aircraft of its day, only marginally outclassed by the faster and more nimble Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero. However the Wildcat was tough, able to take punishment that the Japanese planes just couldn’t.
As Japanese ace Saburo Sakai described the Wildcat’s capacity to absorb damage:
“I had full confidence in my ability to destroy the Grumman and decided to finish off the enemy fighter with only my 7.7 mm machine guns. I turned the 20 mm cannon switch to the “off” position, and closed in. For some strange reason, even after I had poured about five or six hundred rounds of ammunition directly into the Grumman, the airplane did not fall, but kept on flying. I thought this very odd—it had never happened before—and closed the distance between the two airplanes until I could almost reach out and touch the Grumman. To my surprise, the Grumman’s rudder and tail were torn to shreds, looking like an old torn piece of rag. With his plane in such condition, no wonder the pilot was unable to continue fighting! A Zero which had taken that many bullets would have been a ball of fire by now.”
Grumman F4F WildCats in Formation, circa mid-1943
In all the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (who flew hundreds of Wildcats as the Martlet), the U.S. Navy and the Marines took possession of 7,860 of these planes, which formed the backbone of those forces in the first half of World War II. However they were very soon replaced by later F6F Hellcats and F4U Corsairs.
By 1945 they were withdrawn, having a service life of just eight years.
Nevertheless, had they not been at the Coral Sea, Midway, and other pivotal battles, the war may have had a much different ending.
