The Nightmare on Brewster Street

[REVRAND]

With the track record of this aircraft why is it that in can out turn almost anything...........?  How can it keep up speed with many....?  And correct me if I am wrong but isn't the default skin GERMAN.....?





The Brewster fighter's only U.S. combat use, on 4 June 1942 during the Battle of Midway, dramatically showed the inferiority of the F2A-3 when confronted by the Japanese Navy's "Zero" carrier fighters and well-trained aviators. In a brief battle against greatly superior numbers, Midway Island's Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221) lost thirteen of twenty F2A-3s. Soon after, the "Buffalo" was removed from combat units and assigned to advanced training duty. In that role, it helped new U.S. fighter pilots enhance their skills before they joined operational squadrons. The aging F2A-2s and F2A-3s remained in the training mission into 1943, and a few were still in service in 1944-45.

F2A-3 characteristics:


Dimensions: Wing Span, 35 feet; Length, 26 feet, 4 inches; Wing Area, 209 square feet.

Weights: Empty, 4894 pounds; Gross, 7253 pounds
Powerplant: One 1200 horsepower Wright R-1820-40 radial engine.

Armament: Four .50 caliber machine guns (two firing forward through the engine cowling; one in each wing).

Performance (at gross weight): Maximum Speed, 320 m.p.h. (@ 14,500 feet

[Anaxogoras]

With the track record of this aircraft why is it that in can out turn almost anything...........?  How can it keep up speed with many....?  And correct me if I am wrong but isn't the default skin GERMAN.....?

[druski85]

The skin is Finnish, not German.

The Brewster in game is different from that which fought at midway.  It is significantly lighter and has a different engine.  Turn radius may be a bit tighter than it should be, but not gratuitously so.

Also, try a search...you'll find plenty of other threads in this vein.  

[ScatterFire]

(Image removed from quote.)

I've always preferred this one:

[REVRAND]

Finland never got the updated versions.........and so by this statement below we do not have the B-239 but the XF2A-2.....


The original prototype got the stronger 1200 hp R-1820-40 engine and also other modifications were made, eg. the nose was shortened to maintain the center of gravity in right place. The prototype which was marked as XF2A-2 had also better performance than it's predecessor, speed increased 20 mph although the empty weight also increased 191 kg. The US Navy ordered 43 of the new F2A-2 planes to replace the planes which went to Finland, the rest of the F2A-1 planes were also modified to the new standard.

The US Navy got more aircraft carriers when the war expanded, also the need of carrier based fighters rapidly increased. The last 108 Brewster F2A-3 model fighters were ordered in January 1941. This version had longer nose, more armour and increased ammunition capacity. Due to this it's empty weight was already 463 kg more than that of the F2A-1. Climb rate and agility decreased considerably. Top speed decreased 20 mph. According to one pilot F2A-2 was better than F4F Wildcat, but F2A-3 was incompetent.

The Brewster factory couldn't produce as much planes as was ordered and there were also many suspicions of malpractice. The company fell to the hands of the US authority in spring of 1942 due to poor management and because the deliveries were continuously late. Brewsters old rival F4F Wildcat took it's place on carriers, Grumman had improved it since 1938. Wildcat became the main fighter type on carriers and in all it was produced over 2000 planes.

[Widewing]

REVRAND, you really need to search this forum for discussions on the Brewster B-239. That will save much time.

Its performance is what it should be.... It is second only to the A6M2 in turning capability, as it should be.

It is a much different aircraft that the F2A-3, the Finn variant being a lightened F2A-1.


My regards,

Widewing

[BnZs]

Dude, if Zeros and FM2s are not striking terror into your heart in the MA, then neither should the Brewster. It is very fight-able and very avoidable with the right tactics.

[REVRAND]

DUDE, ZEKES and FM-2'z in the right hands do wreak havoc and for example the ZEKE and FM-2 can be outrun for by the NIK.... but you can't say that about the Brewster. And I did search the forums for Brewster B-239 and nothing popped up. And if I seem to be wasting anyone precious minutes on the forums, there is  no need to reply............

[REVRAND]

oooops my bad ....found it.......apologies!   

[BnZs]

DUDE, ZEKES and FM-2'z in the right hands do wreak havoc and for example the ZEKE and FM-2 can be outrun for by the NIK.... but you can't say that about the Brewster. And I did search the forums for Brewster B-239 and nothing popped up. And if I seem to be wasting anyone precious minutes on the forums, there is  no need to reply............

The Brewster's top speed is slower than both the A6M5 and the FM-2 IIRC.

[REVRAND]

Not in AH........

[BnZs]

Not in AH........

[REVRAND]

Don't care what the squiggley lines say.....come in the DA and see what the BREW is stirring up........   

[moot]

Test it.  Grab a stopwatch and test the two in level acceleration and find their top speeds at 0, 5, and 10kft.

[Saxman]

Don't care what the squiggley lines say.....come in the DA and see what the BREW is stirring up........   

That's too bad, because the squiggley lines are how the aircraft performs at level flight in the game.

Also keep in mind the Brewster has good E-retention and dives quite well. It's VERY easy for a Brewster to dive to high speeds and then retain that airspeed for a while.