Originally posted by brady
A couple pasages from: Americas Hundred Thousand.
p. 490:
" The peek role rate of the F4F-3 was just under 70 degrees per second at about 250 mph IAS. At 350 mph IAS roll capabality fell off to about 50 degrees per second.
The F4F-4,with lots of added weight, was much less maneuverable, and was called uncomplimentary names by it's piolets, such as "A TBD-1 with a torpedo; has the feal of a fully-loaded torpedo plane","unresponsive","Generally sluggish, compared even to F4F-3s and F4F-3as", "Pitifully inferiour to the Japanese Zero in Maneuverabaility", and "An overloaded clunker".
The FM-2, though more powerfull and agile than an F4F-4, had generally similar characteristics. Although the controls were considered effective, it was"heavy to manuaver; needs lighter controls", and had"Heavy controls; heavy elevators in a turn'. In adation "heavy ailerons and slow rolling',and again "Heavy rudder in a turn'. So the general consensus was the controls,were effective and nicely harmonized, were "Heavy".
Does that sound like our Wildcat?
"Maximum G limits were (for the FM-2) 7.5g up to 7700pounds and 7.0g up to 8200 pounds gross weight."
A few points.
If we read Dean's other book, Report of the Joint Fighter Conference, from which many of the comments you quote originated, we find the following for the FM-2 after all pilots had test flown the aircraft.
Rudder: 4 reported high force required, one thought force was average, two others found them light. Four others said "good".
Ailerons at high speed: 6 thought effort was high, one thought it was light. Two others simply said "good". Effectiveness was rated as good by 5, fair by 3.
Elevators received glowing reports, everyone thought they were very good.
Scanning the individual pilot reports I find that some pilots found it heavy on the controls, others thought the opposite. All very subjective.
Ultimately, however, it was concluded that the FM-2 was the best American dogfighter below 10,000 feet. This is especially noteworthy when we look a the other planes tested, which included the P-51D, P-47M, F7F-1 and XF8F-1, as well as several Corsairs.
Virtually every fighter received mixed reviews, wih the exception of the two new Grumman fighters, the F7F-1 and XF8F-1. These completely wowed the test pilots. The only significant complaint about either was the poor rear vision of the Tigercat. Grumman's Bearcat prototype left most of the test pilots in complete awe. The general concensus was that all the Bearcat needed was some improvement in directional stability. Grumman promptly added a dorsal fin to the XF8F-1 and eventually increased the rudder area of the F7F to enhance low speed control.
I have found several accounts by Japanese pilots who were very much surprised by the vastly improved performance of the FM-2. They thought that they were fighting F4Fs, but the older Wildcats never turned or climbed like this new one!
In the game, the F4F-4 can't compete with the FM-2. The later model is lighter, faster and climbs far better.
My regards,
Widewing