Brewster F2A Buffalo – Gaëtan Marie's Aviation Profiles

The Brewster Buffalo

Gaëtan Marie — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 21:33:12 +0000

Although the maligned Brewster Buffalo’s performances did not place it at the front of the pack, it was nevertheless a robust and capable aircraft whose poor reputation is undeserved. The Finns proved the aircraft was a fighter to be respected, with 36 Finnish pilots becoming aces on the Buffalo.

These profiles were created for the book Squadrons ! No.33 – The Brewster Buffalo de Phil Listemann.

Buffalo Mk I Model 339E serial W8147 of No 243 Squadron Royal Air Force, flown by Sgt Geoffrey Fiskens (RNZAF), in Kallang, Singapore, summer 1941.

Buffalo Mk I Model 339E serial W8245 of No 67 Squadron RAF, flown by Sgt G. Williams, Mingaladon, Burma, December 1941.

Buffalo Mk I Model 339E serial W8138 flown by S/L Noel Sharp of No 488 Squadron (RNZAF), Singapore, late 1941.

Work in progress: Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo

Gaëtan Marie — Tue, 17 Jul 2018 08:14:01 +0000

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 ?