Brewster F2-A3 Buffalo Final – 1:72 – Part 2

About the Brewster F2-A Buffalo.

The Brewster F2-A Buffalo was designed in the late 1930s at the request of the United States Navy. This little fighter even beat the famous Grumman Wildcat, but never achieved the latter’s status. He never stood out much in his entire operational history, except for his service with the Finnish air force. It proved highly unsuitable in the hands of Commonwealth defenders against the Japanese hordes of Zeros and Nakajimas.

On that front, the Buffaloes from the Dutch East Antilles, were the ones that obtained the best results defending the Islands of present-day Malaysia. By the time the United States entered the war, the Buffaloes were already being replaced by the Wildcats. The Battle of Midway turned out to be the final nail in his coffin with the US Navy.

Of the 28 Brewster F2-A Buffalo, F2-A3 models, which took off to defend the American facilities, more than half were destroyed. The rest of the defenders ranked back to Midway badly damaged.

Buffalo’s service life.

The operators of the Brewster F2-A Buffalo were Australia, the United States, Finland (until 1945), Indonesia (until 1949), Japan (captured), the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom (both in the RAF and the Royal Navy).

Resuming

Despite all its negative history, in my opinion, the Brewster F2-A Buffalo looks like a beautiful aircraft. Although it was inferior to the Mitsubishi and Nakajima models, like the Wildcat they were the only ones to face the invading Japanese hordes. The brave pilots and their inferior Brewster gave the Allies a chance to search for better designs, which would later gain dominance of the air in the Pacific.

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