FM-2 Wildcats!

[the330thbg]

How come you do not see many of the FM-2's around these days with the bomber window?

Thanks,

S.

That is an F4F. I don't think the FM-2s had that window...

Darn WWW is messing with me again! This is identified as an FM-2.

Thanks for the heads up!

Attachments

[cooper9411]

Didn't some of the later FM-2's have the window? I thought that I read somewhere that they did, but I could be mistaken because I can't remember what I did this morning. It has nothing to do with the smiles or alcohol

[fighter_ace06]

The prototype F4F-8 had them but they were done away with on the FM-2. There is just a dzus panel covering the hole.

[cooper9411]

Thank you for the clarafication, why yes, I'll have another

[Dan Jones]

There's some great (current?) pictures on Courtesy's website. http://courtesyaircraft.com/Current%20I ... ildcat.htm

[cooper9411]

Has anyone ever recovered the one in Lake Monroe? There were quite a few that went down in and around the lake, most were stripped and left

[Dan Jones]

Has anyone ever recovered the one in Lake Monroe? There were quite a few that went down in and around the lake, most were stripped and left

Lake Monroe, Florida?

[cooper9411]

Has anyone ever recovered the one in Lake Monroe? There were quite a few that went down in and around the lake, most were stripped and left

Lake Monroe, Florida?

Yes Florida.
There were many rumors floating around about one in Lake Monroe and some that had crashed around that area. I've never been to that lake so I don't know anything about it, but from what I hear there is quite a bit of swampy, wooded area that surrounds it.

[fighter_ace06]

Well it’s been a while since my last post on the Wildcat BU 86774. We have been hard at work this whole time, and a lot of progress has been made. I am happy to say we are now in the race for Oshkosh 2013 and we will be keeping the Wildcat for our personal collection. I am working very hard to get her airworthy in the next few months, but I am going to try to keep yall informed on all of the progress.

When I last left off we were building the RH wing from scratch using a few corroded patterns, and the fuselage was coming together and starting to look like an airplane. The RH wing is now finished and I am very happy with the result. Using a digital protractor I found only a maximum of .2 degrees between the wings.

We recently started it using the original Coffman "Shotgun" starter, and to my surprise it started on the first shot. Here is a video of the first start. I have run it two times since then and even got to taxi her around for a bit to test the original, but optimized brakes.
http://youtu.be/65qrzgbTTcQ

We are currently going through the FAA inspections to receive our LIMITED certificate and should start throwing some paint on it in the next few weeks.


Here are a few pictures of her current condition.










































3 of the 4 ANM2 .50s getting a good cleaning. Each has gun heaters installed.


Here is an aft gun mount that I built today, I couldnt find an NOS mount that was the style I needed.

[planenutti]

The Cat looks great, good luck on getting her done this summer and out on the road in time.

My question is about the ex-CAF Cat, have you started her rebuild yet? She was based locally here in VA and there is a keen interest in the airplane still with those that worked on her. Any update would be greatly appreciated.

Bob

[Jim MacDonald]

Thanks for posting the update, Conrad. She looks great. Have you guys decided on a paint scheme yet?

Good luck with Oshkosh.

Mac

[fighter_ace06]

We have not done any work to BU 55585 as we are focused on finishing BU 86774. We will be painting it overall Nonspecular "Flat" Sea Blue, VC-79 "Diamond 16" flown by Lt. Francis P McElroy.

[Malo83]

Beautiful Bird

[Pat Carry]

Fantastic! Thanks for the photos. For those of us who have forgotten including myself, can you give us a brief summary of the history of this Widcat?

[Chris Brame]

In the words of Dr. Horse, "Jack, that Cat Was Clean!" I remember seeing it at Chino with the one replica wing (which looked pretty good unless it was folded; you could see inside it); maybe you can make a coffee table out of it. Good luck making it to Oshkosh!
In the 13th photo, what is the black cylindrical piece in the rack?