FM-2 Wildcats!

[fighter_ace06]

Aside from the gear chains that are unique, its pretty straight forward, just tubing, chains, gears, and some bendix struts with cheveron seals. We have tons of gearboxes for the chains, but just have enought hand cranks. We are building new overcentering springs and sleves,"the little cartridge on the upper portion of the strut".

[warbird1]

The interesting part of the firewall photo are the brush marks around the holes. After soda blasting these marks became visable. These are factory markings not done by us.

It appears that they would deburr the holes after installation of nutplates, etc. with a pneumatic/electric tool.

I thought that was kinda cool to see these marks.

That is kind of cool! I didn't notice that until you pointed it out, very interesting! Take pictures of anything else interesting like that- i.e., factory "doodles", employees signatures, etc.

[fighter_ace06]

Here is a picture of the bottom of the left floor board in the cockpit.

[richkolasa]

Here is a picture of the bottom of the left floor board in the cockpit.

The Reynolds-wrap fighter!

Rich

[PilotAshley]

Marine Air Wrote: That will be great. Even once or twice a month updates would be super.
I still have hopes that someone will do an "airshow Wildcat" Maybe put the 1525 hp. version of the R-1820, a smoke system, and clean it up aerodynamically. Instead of putting lead ballast in the tail, put a steerable tailwheel off a DHC-3 Otter or even a retractable of some kind. I would love to see a WIldcat that could pull away from the Mustangs at the airshows and then maybe be demonstrated by Delmar Benjamin in aerobatics!
Maybe on the one that will have to have a scratch built set of wings, tweak the airfoil from the 23015 used on WIldcats and Hellcats, to the 23018 used on the Bearcat! Flush rivets, tons of fuel available, sealed gap ailerons, what's not to like?

Greg Shelton is doing an air show in his FM2 Wildcat! Not only is it a rare act to watch, he really flies it like it was meant to be flown! In addition to his solo routine, he also does some flying with Tora! Tora! Tora! when they are at shows together. Here's a link of some of his acro routine on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HfUCuUtfU

[marine air]

Awesome! Now for some high speed passes and chasing an Oscar replica!

[TimAPNY]

Marine Air Wrote: That will be great. Even once or twice a month updates would be super.
I still have hopes that someone will do an "airshow Wildcat" Maybe put the 1525 hp. version of the R-1820, a smoke system, and clean it up aerodynamically. Instead of putting lead ballast in the tail, put a steerable tailwheel off a DHC-3 Otter or even a retractable of some kind. I would love to see a WIldcat that could pull away from the Mustangs at the airshows and then maybe be demonstrated by Delmar Benjamin in aerobatics!
Maybe on the one that will have to have a scratch built set of wings, tweak the airfoil from the 23015 used on WIldcats and Hellcats, to the 23018 used on the Bearcat! Flush rivets, tons of fuel available, sealed gap ailerons, what's not to like?

Greg Shelton is doing an air show in his FM2 Wildcat! Not only is it a rare act to watch, he really flies it like it was meant to be flown! In addition to his solo routine, he also does some flying with Tora! Tora! Tora! when they are at shows together. Here's a link of some of his acro routine on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HfUCuUtfU

If I recall correctly he flew a demo at Thunder a few years ago. It was a great demo! I was really impressed by it. The only downer was that the photo-pit was not in the best spot for the demo, But it was a great act and I hope to see it again.

Tim

[airnutz]

Greg Shelton is doing an air show in his FM2 Wildcat! Not only is it a rare act to watch, he really flies it like it was meant to be flown!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HfUCuUtfU

I wonder how much engine he's using? After seeing a video of the Duxford Wildcat perform with a pronounced
howl and whistle, I'm curious.

[Chris Brame]

Are any of the surviving Wildcats today displayed in VMF-211 markings from Wake Island?

[Ryan Keough]

Marine Air Wrote: That will be great. Even once or twice a month updates would be super.
I still have hopes that someone will do an "airshow Wildcat" Maybe put the 1525 hp. version of the R-1820, a smoke system, and clean it up aerodynamically. Instead of putting lead ballast in the tail, put a steerable tailwheel off a DHC-3 Otter or even a retractable of some kind. I would love to see a WIldcat that could pull away from the Mustangs at the airshows and then maybe be demonstrated by Delmar Benjamin in aerobatics!
Maybe on the one that will have to have a scratch built set of wings, tweak the airfoil from the 23015 used on WIldcats and Hellcats, to the 23018 used on the Bearcat! Flush rivets, tons of fuel available, sealed gap ailerons, what's not to like?

Greg Shelton is doing an air show in his FM2 Wildcat! Not only is it a rare act to watch, he really flies it like it was meant to be flown! In addition to his solo routine, he also does some flying with Tora! Tora! Tora! when they are at shows together. Here's a link of some of his acro routine on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HfUCuUtfU

Ms. Battles I presume?! Welcome to WIX!

[warbird1]

Greg Shelton is doing an air show in his FM2 Wildcat! Not only is it a rare act to watch, he really flies it like it was meant to be flown! In addition to his solo routine, he also does some flying with Tora! Tora! Tora! when they are at shows together. Here's a link of some of his acro routine on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5HfUCuUtfU

Wow, what an awesome demo! That Greg Shelton has an incredible brass pair to do those vertical manuevers so close to the ground like that. The one where he does a split-S and ends up overflying the camera at low altitude is incredibly brave on his part. If you look at the footage, there isn't a lot of margin for error, and he doesn't really "dish out" the bottom of it that much either. So, it's obvious he has really done his homework to figure out the exact energy state he needs to avoid hitting the ground. I'm not impressed by many warbird acts, but that one I am! I used to think Howard Pardue's was the best warbird act around, but now I'm having second thoughts!

[fighter_ace06]

Well finally got around to updating some pictures. Right now we are focusing on getting the fuselage stripped and ready to paint. Some of you may want to help but I am trying to figure out what color to paint the interior of the tail. It should be grumman grey but every thing I look at tells me it was zinc chromate green. See for yourself. I also would like to reaserch the bu numbers a little more. My theory is that they didnt bother with the grey on an airplane so late in the war, or possibly after it ended.


A little fun in the shop



tail cone


fuel tank

fuel tank


interior of turtle deck with tar.

landing gear center section, notice CAD 1 bolts

[Ryan Harris]

It could be that since they're FM-2's, General Motors followed a different set of specs than Grumman did. I think I've only seen chromate in the tails as well.

[CraigQ]

Conrad I sure wished we had your dry weather here in Suffolk! Would love to roll ours outside to do some work. Our FM-2 has gray paint in the aft fuselage over mostly ZC. Appears that it's factory , not only overall in the aft fuselage areas but also underneath previously unremoved covers and components. Although, the bulkhead in front of the tailwheel is zc green.

Craig

[fighter_ace06]

Well I would love to believe that the tail is grey but every thing is telling me different. The drawings call for light grey with three extra cotes 12 inches around the battery. My turtle deck is green on the inside and it has never been off. Also the application of tar on the joints around the antenna most likely wouldnt have been done after a repaint. All placards, "IFF SELECTOR, IMPACT SWITCH" and a few other on the radio racks are still original on top of green. Behind the VAC tank we found a grease pencil mark that said 578 on top of green. Alot of our new old stock for the tail hook and such are green. Now firewall forward was grey, no doubt. My guess is that it is just a late BU number most likely after the war, and they didnt care to go the extra mile.

Our second wildcat, "CAF Crash" has a grey tail that has been painted over a few times, but it is an early Bu 555..