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We are pleased to present a new render of the Brewster F2A Buffalo! Read about the history of this interesting plane and then download the images in a range of sizes for your desktop!
This is the story of the Brewster F2A Buffalo, a solid American carrier-based fighter that gained far greater recognition overseas than it did in its homeland. The F2A Buffalo fought in the various theatres of World War II from the Arctic Circle to the Pacific Ocean. However, whilst it became the hero of the Finnish Air Force, it was mocked as old-fashioned back in the USA.
In the mid 1930s, the United States of America was still recovering from the Great Depression. The country’s economy was still recovering, and as a result its defensive capability was somewhat out of date. The main fighters on active military service at the time were the Boeing P-26 Peashooter, an anachronistic all-metal plane with an open cabin belonging to the Army, and the Navy’s Grumman F3F, a biplane equipped with two machine guns. Meanwhile, the other aeronautic nations were actively building high speed monoplanes whilst the world teetered on the edge of a new world war.
In 1935, the US Navy authorities realised that they needed to catch up and requested tenders for the development of a new carrier-based aircraft. Two companies were successful. Grumman submitted a monoplane based on the F3F, which went on to become the famous F4F Wildcat. The other company was the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation. Brewster had been famous since the 19th century for producing mail coaches and railcars. However, its foray into warplane development was a new direction for the company. Brewster won the tender purely for economic reasons – their bid was the cheapest and simplest.
Construction on the F2A Buffalo began, allegedly using railway car technology. However, keeping to the low cost of the tender unsurprisingly resulted in problems. The plane was only able to reach its promised top speed of 444 km/h when it was blasted out of a wind tunnel, and serious improvements had to be made to the aerodynamic scheme.
The first batch of F2A-1s was eventually produced though, consisting of 55 warplanes. 11 of them began service in the US Navy whilst the rest were sold to Finland with the index of B-239. Two more variants appeared later – the F2A-2 which had a Wright R-1820-G40 engine with 1200 hp, and the F2A-3 which was equipped with a larger fuel tank.
Although the Brewster F2A Buffalo was designed to be a carrier fighter, its service with the fleet did not last for long. In early 1941 it was replaced by the superior Grumman F4F Wildcat on the US carriers. Most of the remaining F2A planes were relegated to land bases where they were used for patrolling the seas, spotting and attacking German submarines.
Some F2As did remain in service with the US Marine Corps and were based in Pearl Harbour before moving to the Midway Islands. In June 1942, they participated in one of the most crucial battles of WWII, during which they achieved victories against three enemy bombers and two fighters. However, the Japanese retaliation was harsh and 13 Buffalo fighters were shot down with 6 more crashed on the airfield. The F2A Buffalo really couldn’t stand against the Japanese A6M Zero and the US pilots started to refer to the plane as a ‘flying coffin’.
However, over in Finland, the F2A (now known as the B-239) had a very different story. The planes were used by the Finnish Air Force between 1939 and 1945 and were reconstructed for air-to-ground operations. In 1939, the early Soviet biplanes and monoplanes considered the B-239 to be a very dangerous opponent, although this was mainly due to the excellent flight training of the Finnish pilots. Many of the Finnish flying aces started with the F2A including the legendary Eino Ilmari Juutilainen, who won 92 victories, 34 of them whilst flying a B-239.
In 1945, the fleet was still running strong after peace was signed with the Soviets but Finland’s war continued against Germany.
It wasn’t just Finland who used the F2A. The Dutch and the British also purchased a number of them for defensive purposes. However, the plane wasn’t particularly suited to air defence due to its lack of altitude capability. It was eventually sent to Malaysia and Singapore, regions considered unimportant due to the successful misinformation campaign by the Japanese regarding their military capability. Like the US pilots, the British and Dutch were surprised to encounter the technologically superior Japanese aircraft.
The story of the Brewster F2A Buffalo proves a truth that every pilot knows – that it is the skill of the people operating the plane that really matters. Simple and basic warplanes controlled by true flying aces played a very crucial role in military operations and were essential to overall victory. Whilst it may have been underpowered, the F2A Buffalo really did make a difference in World War II and shall live on in the history books.
