Brewster F2A 'Buffalo'
The Brewster F2A 'Buffalo' was an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modifications for aircraft carriers. The Buffalo won a competition against the Grumman F4F 'Wildcat' in 1939 to become the U.S. Navy's first monoplane fighter aircraft. Although superior to the Grumman F3F biplane it replaced and the early F4Fs, the Buffalo turned out to be a disappointment for the USN and United States Marine Corps(USMC) because weight of added equipment wasn't balanced by an increase in horsepower.
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The Buffalo was built in three variants for the U.S. Navy, the F2A-1, F2A-2 and F2A-3. (In foreign service, with lower horsepower engines, these types were designated B-239, B-339, and B-339-23 respectively.) The F2A-3 variant saw action with United States Marine Corps (USMC) squadrons at the Battle of Midway. Shown by the experience of Midway to be no match for the Mitsubishi A6M 'Zero'. The F2A-3 was derided by USMC pilots as a 'flying coffin'. The F2A-3, however, was significantly inferior to the F2A-2 variant used by the Navy before the outbreak of the war.
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Development
In 1935, the U.S. Navy issued a requirement for a carrier-based fighter intended to replace the Grumman F3F biplane. The Brewster XF2A-1 monoplane, designed by a team led by Dayton T. Brown, was one of two aircraft designs that were initially considered. The XF4F-1 with a double-row radial engine was a "classic" biplane. The U.S. Navy competition was re-opened to allow another competitor, the XFNF-1, a navalized Seversky P-35 eliminated early on when the prototype could not reach more than 267 mph (430 km/h). The XF2A-1 first flew on 2 December 1937 and early test results showed it was far in advance of the Grumman biplane entry. While the XF4F-1 would not enter production, it would later re-emerge as a monoplane, the Grumman F4F 'Wildcat'. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modifications for aircraft carriers.
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The Buffalo was manufactured at the Brewster Building in Long Island City, New York. The F2A-3 was the last version of the Buffalo to enter service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. A total of 108 examples were ordered in January 1941. By late 1940 it was apparent that the Buffalo was rapidly becoming obsolete. It badly needed a more powerful engine, but the limits of the airframe had been reached, making installation of a larger engine impossible. Soon after deliveries of the F2A-3 began, the Navy decided to eliminate the type altogether. By then, considered a second line aircraft, some were transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps, which deployed two F2A-3 squadrons to the Pacific, one at Palmyra Atoll, and another at Midway Island. Shortly thereafter, F2A-3s still in naval service were transferred to training squadrons for use as advanced trainers.
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In Action
At Midway Island, United States Marine Corps fighter group VMF-221 operated a mixed group of 20 Brewster F2A-3 Buffalos and six F4F-3 'Wildcats'. They were originally assigned to the USS Saratoga as part of a relief force bound for Wake Island, but were diverted to Midway instead after the force was controversially recalled on 22 December 1941. Wake Island fell on the following day. The squadron first saw action on 10 March 1942 when a Kawanishi H8K flying boat was shot down near Midway, the Buffalo's first kill in U.S. service. During the Battle of Midway in 1942, VMF-221 was destined to participate in one of the few aerial combats involving the Buffalo in U.S. military service.
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The initial Buffalo interception of the first Japanese air raid, the 13-aircraft division did not fly in paired flights of mutually supporting aircraft. After attacking a formation of 30-40 Aichi D3A1 dive bombers escorted by 36 Zeros, the Marines, flying in two divisions of aircraft, downed several Japanese bombers before the escorting 'Zeros' reacted and a furious dogfight developed. Thirteen out of 20 Buffalos were lost. With the emergence of new tactics for the F4F 'Wildcat' (which was superior in all respects to the F2A-3 Buffalo, with the sole exception of maximum range), the Battle of Midway marked the end of the Buffalo in both U.S. Navy and Marine Corps fighting squadrons.
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Foreign Service
A number of countries found use for the 'Buffalo'. It was available for export where newer types where not readily available to gain access to it. Though it was already obsolete by the time the countries used the F2A, they were none the less better than having no air defences what so ever.
Belgium
Just before the start of the war, Belgium sought more modern aircraft to expand and modernize its air force. Belgium ordered 40 Brewster B-339 aircraft, a de-navalized F2A-2, fitted with the Wright R-1820-G-105 engine approved for export use. The G-105 engine had a power output of 1,000 hp (745.7 kW) (peak) at takeoff, some 200 hp (149 kW) less than the engine fitted to the U.S. Navy F2A-2. The arrestor hook and life raft container were removed, and the aircraft was modified with a slightly longer tail. However, only one arrived before Belgium was invaded and captured by the Germans.
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Great Britain
Facing a shortage of combat aircraft in January 1940, the British government established the British Purchasing Commission to acquire U.S. aircraft that would help supplement domestic production. Among the U.S. fighter aircraft that caught the Commission's attention was the Brewster Buffalo. The remaining 32 B-339 aircraft ordered by the French, suspended at the fall of France, were passed on to the United Kingdom. The Brewster aircraft delivered to British and Commonwealth air forces were significantly altered from the B-339 type sold to the Belgium and French forces in accordance with their purchase order. The Brewster factory removed the Navy life raft container and arrestor hook, while adding many new items of equipment, including a British Mk III reflector gun sight, a gun camera, a larger fixed pneumatic tire tail wheel, fire extinguisher, engine shutters, a larger battery, and reinforced armor plating and armored glass behind the canopy windshield. While it was considered unfit for duty in western Europe there was a desperatel need of fighter aircraft in the Pacific and Asia for British and Commonwealth air forces, the UK ordered an additional 170 aircraft under the type specification B-339E. The aircraft were sent to Royal Australian Air Force, RAF and Royal New Zealand Air Force fighter squadrons in Singapore, Malaya and Burma, shortly before the outbreak of war with Japan. They were nearly all destroyed in the defense of Singapore. What remained flew out to Rangoon in Burma.
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Netherlands East Indies
The Militaire Luchtvaart van het Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger ('Military Air Service of the Royal Netherlands East Indian Army', ML-KNIL) had ordered 144 Brewster B-339C and 339D models, the former with rebuilt Wright G-105 engines supplied by the Dutch and the latter with new 1,200 hp (895 kW) Wright R-1820-40 engines Brewster purchased from Wright. At the outbreak of war, only 71 had arrived in the Dutch East Indies, and not all were in service. A small number served briefly at Singapore before being withdrawn for the defense of Java.
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Australia
Following the surrender of the Netherlands East Indies in 1942, 17 Buffalos belonging to the ML-KNIL were transferred to the U.S. Fifth Air Force in Australia. All of these United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) aircraft were lent to the Royal Australian Air Force(RAAF), with which they were used mainly for air defence duties outside frontline areas, photo-reconnaissance and gunnery training. Buffalos served with 1 PRU, 24 Sqn, 25 Sqn, 85 Sqn and the RAAF Gunnery Training School. In 1944, all of the surviving aircraft were transferred back to the AAC.
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Finland
In April 1939, the Finnish government contacted the Roosevelt administration in acquire modern combat aircraft for its air force as quickly as possible. On 17 October 1939, the Finnish Embassy in Washington, DC, received a telegram clearing the purchase of fighter aircraft. Prompt availability, and compatibility with 87-octane fuel were the only requirements stipulated by the Finns. The U.S. Navy and State Department arranged to divert remaining F2A-1 fighter aircraft, in exchange for its order of F2A-2 Buffalos scheduled to be delivered later. These F2A-1 Buffalos, given the export number Model 'B-239', were equipped with an export-approved Wright R-1820-G5 nine-cylinder radial engine of 950 hp (708 kW) also lacked self-sealing fuel tanks and cockpit armor. Built and shipped in four batches, the Finnish B-239s were shipped to Bergen, in Norway, in January and February 1940 from New York. The crated fighters were then sent by railway to Sweden and assembled by SAAB at Trollhättan, northeast of Gothenburg. Of the six Buffalo B-239 fighters delivered to Finland before the end of the Winter War of 1939-1940, five of them became combat-ready, but they did not enter combat before the war ended. During the Continuation War, Lentolaivue 24 (Fighter Squadron 24) was equipped with the B-239s until May 1944, when the Buffalos were transferred to Hävittäjälentolaivue 26 (Fighter Squadron 26). Most of the pilots of Lentolaivue 24 were Winter War combat veterans. This squadron claimed a total of 459 Soviet aircraft kills with B-239s, while losing 15 in combat.
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Aftermath
Obsolete by the beginning of the war, the US Navy pilots thought it was a sweet plane to fly, but noticed that the wheel struts sometimes broke, that the engine leaked oil, and that the guns sometimes didn't fire so, they passed it off to the Marines. What they couldnt get rid of, went to training roles. The Royal Air Force fobbed the Brewster fighter onto the Fleet Air Arm and British Commonwealth squadrons which were mauled over Malaya, Singapore and Java when fighting against the nimble fighters of Japan and too often they didn't come back. Yet all the while, the Finns tore great holes through the Soviet Air Force with essentially the same plane.
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