F4F Wildcat-USN's Early War Fighter

Flights of F4F Wildcats were all the USN/USMC had to hold off the excellent Japanese Zero in the early years of the War in the Pacific.

While the agile Zero was by far the more maneuverable of the two fighters, the solidly built, well armored Wildcat with self-sealing fuel tanks was able to take far more damage.

As the war progressed and the American pilots became more experienced at taking advantage of the Wildcats strengths vs the Zeros weaknesses slowly changed the battle for control of the air.

By the end of the war Allied Wildcats (it was used by the British and Canadian Naval Air forces as well) had earn a 7 to 1 kill ration vs the Japanese.

These are small (the base is only 20mm wide) plastic pieces from a long lost (50 years at least) plastic USN Essex Aircraft Carrier model kit. I just found them this week in an old box and repurposed them for "Victory at Sea" Naval Rules. I made sea bases, used push pin as stands and pained in a beat up three tone paint scheme, dark blue top, blue gray sides and gray bottom.