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FM2 Wildcat

Axis & Allies War at Sea - FM2 Wildcat
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General TypeAircraft
Unit TypeFighter
Cost6
SetBattle Line
ManufacturerForumini
Available1943
Set ID26
Game Class LimitsGeneral Motors
CountryUnited States (Details)
PrototypeAircraft, Propeller, GM FM2 Wildcat (Details)
Armor6
Vital9
Hull Points1
Speed139
Primary2/0/0/0
AA7/0/-/-
Special AbilityASW Air Patrol 2
Special AbilityRocket Attack 4
Special AbilityDefend the Flattop
Game RarityX
Axis & Allies War at Sea - FM2 Wildcat
This item is not for sale. This is a reference database.



Notes: Built by the Eastern Aircraft Division of General Motors, the FM-2 Wildcat essentially is an improved version of the famous Grumman F4F-4. Recognized by its taller fin than the F4F, the FM-2 was also modified to include an improved power plant, increased ammunition capacity by reducing its armament from six .50-inch machine guns to four, and improved directional stability with a modified fin. This aircraft is an example of the 18,000 Grumman aircraft (TBM and FM-1/2) produced under license by Eastern Aircraft Division.

The famous Grumman F4F Wildcat was the first line fighter for the Navy and Marine Corps at the outbreak of World War II. The first operational models, the F4F-3 and 3A were followed quickly by the F4F-4, the latter's salient improvement the incorporation of folding wings which essentially permitted doubling the complement of fighters aboard existing aircraft carriers. In early 1942, however, the Navy pushed Grumman for development of a follow-on fighter, the F6F Hellcat. With Grumman lacking facilities to meet requirements for sufficient numbers of F4Fs while attempting to develop the newer F6F, the Navy turned to General Motors for help. The auto manufacturer quickly turned three idled auto plants in Tarrytown, New York, Trenton, New Jersey, and Baltimore, Maryland, into aircraft plants that would augment Grumman's production of both the TBF Avenger and the F4F Wildcat. The phenomenal transformation yielded a combined total by Grumman and Eastern Aircraft of more than 35,000 aircraft by war's end.
Aircraft History:
As Hellcat production was to begin in mid 1942, continued Wildcat production, deemed to be critical to the war effort, was transferred by Grumman to the Eastern Aircraft Company early in the year. The Eastern plants were in Linden, Trenton and Bloomfield, New Jersey, as well as Baltimore, Maryland. Linden’s advanced Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac plants, capable of producing an automobile a minute, were completely converted to produce Wildcats. It was required that aircraft components manufacuted at both plants be interchangable. So parts and assemblies were shared from Grumman lines to Eastern and back during the war assuring continuity when snags arose. There were 7,825 Wildcats built. The breakdown was 1,988 F4F Wildcats produced by Grumman between September 1937 and May 1943, and 5,837 FMs by Eastern between August 1942 and August 1945. By the time Hellcat production was in full swing, the lessons learned at Eastern’s Wildcat production in New Jersey enabled Grumman to build 400 Hellcats a month. The FM-1 Wildcat evolved with Eastern and Grumman collaborating on the new FM-2 design, which was required by the USN for its “Jeep” or Escort Carriers. The FM-2 was unveiled at a ceremony at Linden, New Jersey. The FM-2 was the most numerous and best performing Wildcat with 1,350 horsepower, bigger vertical tail surfaces and more fuel capacity, earning the name the “Wilder Wildcat.”
Manufacturer:
General Motors Company was formed on September 16, 1908, in Flint, Michigan, as a holding company controlled by William C. Durant, owner of Buick. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were fewer than 8,000 automobiles in America, and Durant had become a leading manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles in Flint, in the 1880s and 1890s, before making his foray into the automotive industry in 1904 by purchasing the fledgling Buick Motor Company.[ GM's co-founder was Charles Stewart Mott, whose carriage company was merged into Buick prior to GM's creation. Over the years, Mott became the largest single stockholder in GM, and spent his life with his Mott Foundation, which has benefited the city of Flint, his adopted home. GM acquired Oldsmobile later that year. In 1909, Durant brought in Cadillac, Elmore, Oakland, and several others. Also in 1909, GM acquired the Reliance Motor Truck Company of Owosso, Michigan, and the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company of Pontiac, Michigan, the predecessors of GMC Truck. Durant, along with R. S. McLaughlin, lost control of GM in 1910 to a bankers' trust, because of the large amount of debt taken on in its acquisitions, coupled with a collapse in new vehicle sales.

The next year, Durant started the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in the U.S., and in Canada in 1915, and through this, he secretly purchased a controlling interest in GM. Durant regained control of the company after one of the most dramatic proxy wars in American business history. Durant then reorganized General Motors Company into General Motors Corporation in 1916, merging Chevrolet with GM and merging General Motors of Canada Limited as an ally in 1918. Shortly thereafter, he again lost control, this time for good, after the new vehicle market collapsed. Alfred P. Sloan was picked to take charge of the corporation, and led it to its post-war global dominance when the seven manufacturing facilities operated by Chevrolet before GM acquired the company began to contribute to GM operations. These facilities were added to the individual factories that were exclusive to Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Oakland, and other companies acquired by GM. This unprecedented growth of GM would last into the early 1980s, when it employed 349,000 workers and operated 150 assembly plants.

From Wikipedia
Country:
The U.S. is a country of 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. Major Atlantic Coast cities are New York, a global finance and culture center, and capital Washington, DC. Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles' Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.
Item created by: Lethe on 2015-05-31 17:46:30. Last edited by gdm on 2019-06-19 09:49:34

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