Wildcat Awakened
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
- For nearly half a century, Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat BuNo 12260 rested on the bottom of Lake Michigan, a relic of World War II Navy aircraft carrier training. More than 30 years after it emerged from the chilly waters of the lake and 28 years after the restoration, the aircraft is still airworthy, and is the only known flying F4F in the world.
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My two favorite WWII aircraft when I was a kid were the P-40 Warhawk and the F4F Wildcat. Neither were "the best", but they were tough and reliable, and kept the USA in the fight during dark days. Awesome to see this one brought back to life and in the sky again, where it belongs.
2 aircraft that often get overlooked and are underappreciated yet we're used right to the end of the war infact wildcats did one of the last attacks on the Germans at the end of the war in Europe. The Moral of the story of P40 and Wildcats are really just because you're not the best at something or better than someone doesn't mean you're still not capable of getting the job done and that to me is the legacy of these two respective aircraft.
The P-40 and F4F were there from the start of the war all the way to the finish. The US Navy Escort Carriers used the F4F till VJ Day and P-40’s were still flying and fighting in the China-Burma-India theater till the Japanese surrendered. The Royal Australian Air Force LOVED the P-40! They knew that if you kept throttle at full power a P-40 Kittyhawk could outrun and roll with a Zero. Both could take more punishment than a Zero possibly could. In August of 1942 Imperial Japanese Navy Air Ace Sakai, Saburo got into a dogfight that pitted his A6M Zero against US Navy Lieutenant “Pug” Sutherland flying an F4F-4 over Guadalcanal. That dogfight is now legendary. After 10 - 15 minutes Sakai was soaked with sweat, he had never fought such an outstanding fighter pilot before. He finally got a good shot a Sutherland but the Wildcat would not go down. Sutherland chopped throttle and Sakai shot past him. Sakai braced himself for a fusillade of .50 cal bullets but they never came - Sutherland was out of ammo. Sakai eased behind Sutherland and shot him down but Sutherland bailed out and made back to American Lines. If you read Sakai’s autobiography carefully you’ll see that he Purposely Let “Pug” Sutherland bail out BEFORE he shot the F4F out of the sky.
“Samurai!” by Saburo Sakai with Martin Cadin.
I love the wildcat look, and how the gears fold. However, if I had the choice between it or the Hellcat, then Hellcat all the way.
@@williampaz2092 I saw a documentary recently where they found Pugs airplane, it still had live rounds but the ammo feeding chute for the guns was damaged, and the ammo also add signs of damage from hits from Sakai's A6M, shedding new light on the "out of ammo" theory. I am sure it was here on UA-cam.
And God bless the brave men who flew them✌️👌
What a beautiful story, beautiful aircraft, and beautiful video. Such a good thing the recovery groups do.
Wow, the original engine! And it’s flying! Awesome aircraft.
It was a good restoration job thats for sure.
Hard to believe this plane sat on the bottom of Lake Michigan!
Why? There were two training aircraft carriers on Lake Michigan, Sable and Wolverine. Also, there were no Japanese or German torpedoes to dodge. To this day there is the US Naval Station of Great Lakes. Chicago has a fair maritime heritage.
@@Easy-Eight Yessir, having a giant inland sea was a boon for naval training.
Yep. A lot of naval activity on the Great Lakes for years.
We Canadians decided to keep USS Little Rock for a year… and a few years before sent a couple of your ships over Niagara Falls.
@@calvinnickel9995 ... and now you Canadians are abused over COVID regulations and are treated like absolute sh!t by Air Canada or your government. I rather like that trick by Trudeau of stopping province to province travel. That is expressly forbidden in Canadian law. BTW, good show on that Truckers' Strike. Freezing bank accounts of single mothers who give a few dollars to support a strike is alway a nice way of showing a totalitarian regime. Also, compelled pronouns or face jail is something right out of 1984. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is wrong with your nation? Signed, a next door neighbor to your immediate west.
Look for the documentary Heroes on Deck. It's the story of carrier training on Lake Michigan during WWII. The SBM that hangs in Midway airport was recovered from Lake Michigan. There is also a rare "birdcage" Corsair recovered, that I believe is being restored down in Florida.
A little back story. Once recovered, it was sold to Dick Hansen. The aircraft has flown since the late 1990s. First, out of Aurora Municipal in Sugar Grove, IL. Next, it was sold to Rod Lewis, the current owner, in the mid to late 2000s. Both gentlemen have taken great care of this Wildcat
Along with the Hawker Hurricane, the Wildcat is one of the most unappreciated, and overlooked aircraft of all time! Both the Hurricane and Wildcat did their duty far better than could be expected, holding their own against more recent designs, keeping the Axis Powers at bay, in the desperate early years of WW2. Wonderful to see a beautifully restored F4F still flying!
Right?? Agreed !
😵 beautiful air shots. Beautiful wildcat. Nice work done by all. 👍
My favorite naval fighter. So underrated.
Not as clumsy as a blaster, a more elegant weapon from a more civilized age.
What an unbelieveable beauty! Remembering and upholding the bravery of those who flew them against a merciless enemy. We owe it to these men, that we may freely write and talk in every way today.
This is amazing. Incredible restoration.
Not bad after flying for 26 years
Being such a buff 💪🏽 and rugged aircraft with an infamous reputation, the wildcat naval program is under appreciated, it is great to see this ol warrior airborne once more !! One of my personal favorite variants of this aircraft is the fm2 however nothing beats this sight ❤
rip Butch O’ Hare
I love that people will go out of their way to resurrect a fallen fighter. Even more so from water. It's a testament to those who decided to take to the skies in a time where flight was still quite in it's adolescence. Those people hold the mantle in maintaining the remembrance of our fathers in a time of unknown.
Don't forget it's service in the Royal Navy, where it served as the Martlet. The legendary pilot Eric Brown said of it "I would still assess the Wildcat as the outstanding naval fighter of the early years of World War II ... I can vouch as a matter of personal experience, this Grumman fighter was one of the finest shipboard aeroplanes ever created."
At 1:32, I love that there is a burbot, just camped out in the plane. Great work getting this plane up and restoring it.
I was lucky to spend part of a day at the Kalamazoo Airzoo about 2002
With Kathy... on the way back from Livonia..
Got into the landing gear mech of their Wildcat...
What a gizmo!
Sat in a HOT P-47, just after it came in...
they did not know I had the manual at home!
What a temptation!
With their Ford Ti-motor just after it..
AFTER seeing a low wing Stinson Tri-Motor over at the airport on US 30 near I-65
a day or two previous
We had gone to Wright Pat a few years earlier
160 frames with my Half Frame Olympus PenF SLR.
B-23 Dragon best of all! XF-83 parasite fighter withthe B-36...
Memories
Still miss my Tampa FLA Vandenberg Airport grass strip FBO
1955 - 1976
A Go-Fer....
As all us kids were...
No fences....
9-11 ended all that....
J.C.
Age 73...
So this aircraft proves twice that you should never give up ? Roger that. Inspiring.
one if my favorite aircraft
I cannot believe they salvaged this airplane from the deep and restored it to flying condition! The amount of love and dedication are written all the airplane…
The Wildcat did stellar work in the Pacific. Till the Hellcat and Corsair supplanted it in frontline service. An underdog. An overachiever
Yep, she was what we had at the time.
And they served to the end of the war
Wonderful! Wildcat was always a tubby favorite of mine. And the ending of the video... The music and that break...🤗👏👏👏👏
Absolutely brilliant A2A footage. Forgot to mention it is also the only flying Wildcat with the double row 14 cyl engine (R-1830). Very different music than what the Wildcat usually makes.
This old chap has been under the water for fifty years and you brought it in the sky again...what can be said about that? MARVELOUS, incredible achievement! And, BTW, how beautiful it is, in its light blue camo? Great video!!!
Its easy to underappreciate the "in flying condition" part until you see it flying, it looks... just magical
This Grumman fighter maybe not sleek as a Spitfire, but one of the coolest looking among the WW2 fighters. I love it, especially with the pre-war yellow-silver paintsheme, looked like a plane from cartoon. :)
Read reviews of British pilots of the F4F and the naval Spitfire. They loved the former and detested the Spitfire. The Spitfire had to have a wooden shim jammed into the flaps to set them at 18 degrees for take off. The propellers were know to hit the deck on landing. If it was a good landing the landing gear could fail. One British aviator referred to the Wildcat (Marlet) lovingly as an "Angry Bumble Bee." It could out turn all the BF-109 models with ease, the later FM2 could match the BF-109G in a climb. The BF-109 had the Wildcat in a dive or in sheer speed. The RN operators noted that if 24 Wildcats were on a carrier at the beginning of a patrol then there would be 24 Wildcats operating a month later. The Spitfire or the Hurricane, in a month over half would be broken from landings. Oh, last thing on the Spitfire. On a hard landing the propellor could sheer off on the spindle and then go spinning down the length of the deck.
@@Easy-Eight Angry Bumble Bee, that's really a cool name for it. 😊
@@Easy-Eight plus the Spitfire had a relatively short range for a carrier aircraft. It was just not designed for carrier operations.
the polikarpov i-16 is another cartoony fighter
@@Easy-Eight That's what happens when you take a land based design and try to send it to sea. Not designed to take the stress of a carrier landing. Same thong would happen to an F‐15 or F‐16 today. They could land (all U.S. tactical aircraft have a tailhook), but it would overstress the airframe. Just not designed for carrier operation.
Wow that machine had to hold its breath a long time, great job bringing it back. History
I'm always glad to see get a second chance.
Wow! What a beautiful old bird! The restoration job that was done is just incredible! The F4F was always my favorite plane after I read a book about the Battle of Midway in 3rd grade way back in 1978. She was not the best looking or fastest bird flying in the Battle, but she could take a punch and bring her pilot home. Awesome video!
What a BEAUTIFUL Aircraft! Absolutely Magnificent!
Nice to see an actual flying F4F Wildcat that's not an FM 2. What a fine piece of flying history.
My 2 favs from WW2 are the F4F and P-40 so glad they have them both flying!!!!
Love it, love it, can't say it enough. This looks like the one that was at Dover AFB when I was there. Thanks for restoring this one and your love of the Wildcat
Geez-Louise! Great work. And such beautiful shots of the F4F-3 flying in the final few seconds of the video. I mean, just wow!
Wow .. Wow ... Wow!!! Great video
What a BEAUTIFUL restoration!!!!! My Grandfather worked on these @NAS Barbers Point, Oahu during WWII.
Theres something so charming about this aircraft.
Thank you! Fabulous looking airplane.
Incredible! I was a structures mech at Boeing, now a QA there. Bringing something like that to life must have been amazing. Thank you for your effort.
They recovered the aircraft, but thankfully they did.
Tremendous videography! Well done EAA media!
Flying with the canopy open reminds me driving top down with my Miata!
It's bizarre how these war machines back then look so beautiful and agile even at standstill.
Wow the cinematic footage just unbelieveable! From the bottom of the lake right back to the sky. My mind still can not process the level of hard work they had to put into a project like this. Hats off to everybody involved in this work.
Ive seen Wildcats in aviation museums, but to see one in the air, , , wow !
Gorgeous filming of this beautiful bird!
Now is the perfect time to go get the lake mead B-29!
Wow it's hard believe this thing is flying again. A big thanks to everybody who go out of their way to find, salvage, donate lots of money and mechanics who get these buitifull birds up in the air again.
Yup. It's first post restoration flight was in the late 1990s
It does my heart good to see that beauty flying!
I can’t remember all the details but I worked on parts of one of those in the mid-seventies. I don’t recall if the wings folded or not. I think they did. A machine shop in Hinsdale IL is where most of the restoration was done. I know it made the cover of a magazine back in the day. I wish I knew where that plane was and what happened to it. The workmanship and research that those guys did was inspirational to me as a young man and continues to be to this day. I worked for a small shop in Sandwich IL. If any of you see this or have hints to that airframe’s history please let me know!
The fact that they pulled that plane out of the bottom of Lake Michigan, undid 50 years worth of water damage, and got the damn thing to fly again just absolutely bewilders me
Took a few years of restoring her, in the 1990s
Thank you and God bless you and America!
She's a beauty!
I recall seeing the story on this aircraft's discovery. Great work on the restoration!! I'd love to see her fly in person.
She's beautiful, well done!
absolutely beautiful plane restored by by great people.
That nostalgia is hitting hard
That is nice
My favorite aircraft.
Beautiful and well done bringing it back to tip top shape!
jaw dropping beauty
Beautiful, great to see her flying.
Absolutely awesome work on the restoration. These men are truly superb craftsmen.
Phenomenal
Amazing.
hat's off to all involved!
Beautiful!
82ND AIRBORNE
Effing Beautiful!!
I dont know why but the Wildcat has always been one of my Favorites. The early Pacific War was just so interesting
Spectacular.. Amazing
Thanks for saving history
Beautiful
That is beautiful airplane!
Oh wow what a recovery!
Amazing how you did that. Makes me proud
Wow and the original engine, that's amazing
she is beautiful
Fighting back the tears, what a beauty.
That is fantastic to say 50 years under water to this
Well done to all 👍👍👍
Cold fresh water.
What a beautiful machine
You know, these were damn advanced - for the time - and not as outclassed as you might think. Tough as heck too, and that is important if you want to have enough pilots.
A former Hellcat pilot, Alex Vraciu, can tell all about this plane.
“The Wildcat was the one that was out there holding the line in the beginning. It had some disadvantages. The climbing was not that good. The guns weren’t always working properly. You couldn’t outturn a (A6M) Zero. If you were behind a Zero and didn’t maintain your speed properly, they would say that the Zero would be on your tail inside of two turns.”
I'm a little choked up. Well done.
Music is definitely NOT NEEDED here. Thanks to all who recovered & rebuilt this beauty to flying condition. Outstanding achievement.
Thank you!!
Lovely to see
Wow - incredible work, thank you.
Wow! What an incredible restoration.
great result
It’s a incredible restoration of this beautiful aircraft during the Pacific War.
Fantastic!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Wow what a great recovery and restoration.
I flying a radio controlled model of this very aircraft piloted by Butch O'Hare.
So do I, still have it in the shop on a rack, an original Parkzone model. Hand launched, easiest warbird to fly.
@@whalesong999 E-flite brought it back a few years ago so I stocked up on parts before they discontinued it again.
I fly it a lot
amazing background music !!
Buteful machine 😊👍
Thank You.
Amazing
Awesome!
Magnificent!!!
Must be nice to know when everyone pasts away that bought this plane back to life there is part of you in this plane.
What a pretty little thing!
The FW 190 is still my favorite. The Wildcat is not too far behind though.
That’s amazing
Wildcats and their pilots don't get enough love. Everyone loves to laud the Hellcat and its 19:1 KDR, but everyone forgets that it was the Wildcat pilots (along with USAAF Airmen and USN AA Gunners) who managed to shoot down so many of the competent pilots that made the Kido Butai such a terror upon the seas.
Others have said it better, but: the Zero was a spectacular dogfighter, but it was incredibly fragile, and mistakes were often fatal. Combined with an incredibly inefficient pilot training program, losses became irreplaceable, and by the time the Hellcat was introduced the Japanese Air Forces were shells of the former selves. Meanwhile, the Wildcat was spectacularly survivable, enabling pilots to survive otherwise lethal mistakes and pass on their experiences. Combined with a fantastically efficient training system, overall pilot quality grew, and when the Hellcat entered theater the pilots were better trained, in objectively superior aircraft, against much poorer trained pilots. It's no wonder the Hellcat was as successful as it was.
Great job! 🎉
Million thanks for the great video..
One of my favourite aircraft.. chubby wildcat..