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The Other F4 by 'Cage' =CGE=
Everyone knows that INK, ALW and LEM all like to fly the F4F, and, are real killers in them. I have been flying in AW for almost four years now of which 2/3 of that time has been in the Pac Arena's. I had only flown the F4F once before a long time ago when I was invited to a Cz Big Week in Pac 1. I did terribly in that plane and had only flown it one time after that, and still didn't do so well in it. Finally one night we had three goons heading to Lem to re-supply it, since the Az was porking the heck out of it. I was going to be one of two fighters protecting the C-47's and knew I needed something maneuverable, and durable. I elected to fly the F4F since I could fly low and at least do some kind of damage. This was the night that my views of the F4F would change on that bird forever. So this is what happened on that flight:
The tower gave the C-47's clearance to take off and they started their roll out down the runway. They're engines straining greatly under the heavy load of supplies in their bellies that were so desperately needed for Lem. Slowly all three of the lumbering supply planes reluctantly became airborne. It seemed like all eternity for those planes to reach 100 feet. When they did, they headed off toward Lem skimming the water flying under the radar.
Finally the tower cleared me and an F4U for take off. The hog started its roll down the runway and then the little Wildcat began its slow roll. It seemed like a life time for that little cat to get up to 100 knots to get airborne, and when she lifted off she acted like the laws of flight didn't work for her. After all she looked like a beer bottle that someone had shoved a couple of wings through the center line and placed a prop on the bottom of the bottle. She was an aerodynamic rock of sorts, a left over prewar nightmare that had no business flying at all. I was having serious second thoughts about the choice of planes I had made. I knew though that I had to get this plane back in one piece because it was ALW's plane. He was gone on leave so when I decided to fly the cat, his was the only one available.
Slowly the little cat managed to get up to 700 feet and I leveled her out to get up some airspeed. Not long later I finally caught up with the three C-47's and the now high flying hog. Things were calm and no enemy aircraft were in sight, so I thought this is going to be one easy mission.
Well you know how that goes once you get to thinking that way. I soon heard the hog pilot on the radio, "Inbound High Hog from the West." I spotted the hog and started to circle close around the three goons. I watch the enemy hog blow by our hog and dive on in on the goons. I guess that pilot in that hog thought that the little Wildcat was no threat to him and just blew me off. As I turned inside of him on his first pass on one of the goons, he went into a loop after missing the goon and I looped my plane up and inside of his loop. As he reached the top of his loop, I hit him which I think took him totally by surprise as those six fifty's tore threw his plane. As he started to come out of the loop he went into a break turn to try and avoid me but I soon had him in my sights. His hog went up in a ball of flames in one big explosion. I thought to my self man that was just too easy or I just got lucky big time.
So onto Lem we went and as we got closer to the base radar reports said there were three enemy aircraft attacking Lem. Upon hearing this I broke off from the C-47's to get out ahead hoping to draw the fighters to me and away from the goons. When I got there, I spotted an F6F making a bomb run on the field at Lem. I swung around and down on him as he started his run, locking my self onto his six. As the Hellcat went vertical to loop back to start his second run I fell dead on his tail. I fired and that Hellcat burst into flames and plowed into the ground. I swung the little cat back around to the east to get some more altitude, as four more were inbound according to ground control.
I spotted four planes inbound, one Hellcat and three Corsairs. The first two planes that made their attack run were one of the Corsairs and the Hellcat. Once again I found the enemy was totally blowing off the Wildcat as any kind of threat. As they started their run I turned to close in on their six, and that is when the luckiest thing happened to me. Having all the speed in the world both planes could have just leveled out and left me standing like I was sitting on the ground. But both planes instead did a break turn to the left together. I couldn't believe my luck as I closed in on the two planes. When I got in gun range the Hellcat dove and crashed after only a short bust as the shots ripped through his canopy. Then I pulled back on the stick a slight bit more and the Corsair was in my sights. The bullets ripped threw the hog as the hog pilot tried to break to the right. He rolled over then did a split-s into the ground.
Still the other two Corsairs who now were making their bomb runs still ignored me totally. I rolled back around on the trailing Corsair and managed to get off a shot. He went into a turn while his wing man went into a climb. I chased after the Corsair and we got very low to the deck. Mean while his partner was doing all he could to keep me off his wing man. Luckily for me the wing man ended up kissing old mother earth in an attempt to follow me into a shallow dive on his partner. With full flaps out I dove down and around and killed the Corsair, but his wing man was just to fast and crashed. Then ground control came over the radio and said there were six more enemy aircraft inbound to Lem. Now I was in real trouble, fuel was getting really low, ammo almost gone, and had a few bullet holes to explain to ALW about. Lady luck was still riding with me and reinforcements finally arrived allowing me to land, refuel and get ALW's plane home. Later when I saw ALW I told him that he had a slight fuel problem and that he now had some air conditioning installed on his plane.
So I landed that night with five kills under my belt and was really impressed with that F4F. Later the F4F proved it's real worth over the carrier group SAS giving me my first 10k flight in Big Pac. That however is another story, but the flight over Lem is how I became a convert to the little Wildcat. The little F4F has proven over and over to be a real killing machine. It's slow but flying it is like nothing you have ever experienced.
Cage ©2000 =RAF=™/=CGE= [ Back ] |
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