Work in progress: Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo

I’m currently working on the Brewster Buffalo, and starting with the best variant: the F2A-2. Reading about the Buffalo and gathering documentation has been quite interesting. The Buffalo is generally considered as a failed design, but it actually was quite a decent fighter, as the Finns amply proved !

Its bad reputation seems to owe to the fact that the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation was very poorly managed, if not outright corrupt in certain cases, and that its only operational engagement by US forces were in circumstances that made it nearly impossible for it to succeed.

What is your opinion of the Buffalo ? Was it a failed design, or was it the victim of difficult circumstances and a bad reputation ?

1 thought on “Work in progress: Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo

  1. The Finns had the most stripped-down version/variant of the Brewster 339. The VMF at Midway that was taken by the Japanese had what was equated to a “scout fighter” with so much extra fuel tankage and gear for naval flying that the original landing gear was warping and rubbing against the fuselage with every landing.

    On a different note, I wonder what would’ve happened to Naval Aviation if Brewster was an actual well-oiled company and Grumman didn’t have to step in and fill the gap in fighter supply? Would we have ever got the F6F? At the same time, I don’t know how much more development/refinement could’ve gone into the 339, potentially it could’ve handicapped America even more at the beginning of their entry into the war if all VF were equipped with F2As

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