Wildcat locations

[Jerry O'Neill]

The New England Air Museum has an FM-2 that was never Civilan.

why this sits in storage and not by the other naval aircraft, i'll never know

Because their is a Ownership dispute between the US Navy and NEAM hence why it's been in the storage building for the past 20+ years.

Where did you hear that?
The Wildcat was taken off display approx 20 years ago because other aircraft were coming in from being restored and the FM-2 did not have the best restoration done on it by the NY Reserve unit. It was more of a clean up and paint. The Hellcat, B-25H and others were taking up more space so the decsion was made.
I was on the Curatorial Committee at the time it was put into storage but many, many times it has been brought out to remote events as a traveling display. It's been to the Westfield and Westover shows several times and has only stopped being sent out due to the aged and badly damaged tires. They are now shredded. Ownership has never been a problem that I know of and when it was taken out of the display building it WAS NOT because of any controversy or ownership dispute, plain and simple.
The only caveat that was laid down when acquired by the town of Windsor Locks was that it had to be displayed locally, which it has.
NEAM has always had a very good relationship with the Navy so I would need specifics to believe what you have stated.
Jerry

[Buzzking]

Where did you hear that?
The Wildcat was taken off display approx 20 years ago because other aircraft were coming in from being restored and the FM-2 did not have the best restoration done on it by the NY Reserve unit. It was more of a clean up and paint. The Hellcat, B-25H and others were taking up more space so the decsion was made.
I was on the Curatorial Committee at the time it was put into storage but many, many times it has been brought out to remote events as a traveling display. It's been to the Westfield and Westover shows several times and has only stopped being sent out due to the aged and badly damaged tires. They are now shredded. Ownership has never been a problem that I know of and when it was taken out of the display building it WAS NOT because of any controversy or ownership dispute, plain and simple.
The only caveat that was laid down when acquired by the town of Windsor Locks was that it had to be displayed locally, which it has.
NEAM has always had a very good relationship with the Navy so I would need specifics to believe what you have stated.
Jerry

Larry Webster that is who, the ownership issue is this when it was given to NEAM there was no actual paperwork from the US Navy claiming that the plane had been given to the City of Windsor Locks. Hence one reason why it's been kept out of the public view for the past 20 Years which also happens to be basically the same time period that the US Navy started to change their policy on aircraft.

[Buzzking]

Here are some more,

F4F-3 AL246 Fleet Air Arms Museum
F4F-4 Bu12068 Henderson Field
FM-1 JV482 Ulster Aviation Museum
FM-1 Bu14994 Valiant Air Command
FM-2 Bu86773 Bruce Roberts
FM-1 Unknow Bu # Bruce Roberts recovered from Lake Washington
FM-2 Unknow Bu # Bruce Roberts recovered from Lake Washington

[Jerry O'Neill]

Where did you hear that?
The Wildcat was taken off display approx 20 years ago because other aircraft were coming in from being restored and the FM-2 did not have the best restoration done on it by the NY Reserve unit. It was more of a clean up and paint. The Hellcat, B-25H and others were taking up more space so the decsion was made.
I was on the Curatorial Committee at the time it was put into storage but many, many times it has been brought out to remote events as a traveling display. It's been to the Westfield and Westover shows several times and has only stopped being sent out due to the aged and badly damaged tires. They are now shredded. Ownership has never been a problem that I know of and when it was taken out of the display building it WAS NOT because of any controversy or ownership dispute, plain and simple.
The only caveat that was laid down when acquired by the town of Windsor Locks was that it had to be displayed locally, which it has.
NEAM has always had a very good relationship with the Navy so I would need specifics to believe what you have stated.
Jerry

Larry Webster that is who, the ownership issue is this when it was given to NEAM there was no actual paperwork from the US Navy claiming that the plane had been given to the City of Windsor Locks. Hence one reason why it's been kept out of the public view for the past 20 Years which also happens to be basically the same time period that the US Navy started to change their policy on aircraft.

I have no problem with anything Larry says. He were both on the committee when it was moved out of the display building. While I was on the committee with Larry, this ownership issue was never brought up. It has been on public display many times since, but times do change.
Jerry

[whistlingdeath77]

yeah i remember seeing the wildcat everywhere and it wasn't 20 years ago. that's what didn't make sense to me. thanks jerry for clearing that up

[Roger Cain]

Here's what I have as far as the airworthy population goes:


FM-2 BuNo 86572- Tom Camp-?


If anybody has any corrections or updates, let me know and I will correct/add to the list. Hopefully we'll see a few of these flying around a bit next year for the 100th anniversary of Naval Aviation.

As of yesterday, Air Biscuit is up with Sanders in Ione, CA.