Are there any Buffalos still out there ,in museums ? Have any of you ever flown one ?

quote:

Originally posted by mete:
Are there any Buffalos still out there ,in museums ?

Apparently the only one is a work in progress:

http://www.militaryphotos.net/...ast-Brewster-Buffalo


Combat history: http://www.chuckhawks.com/brewster_buffalo.htm

The Buffalo has finally landed back in Sweden where she belongs.

http://www.warbirdforum.com/buff.htm

For such a reviled airplane whe gave sterling service in the Finnish Airforce.

Jerry

Boyington's comments are interesting !

Dumb question. The article speaks of the Buffalo being shot down by a Russian HURRICANE. Where'd the Russians get Hurricanes, or is this a typo?


Grizz

A large part of the Buffalo's poor reputation originated in the poor quality of Brewster's manufacturing. Brewster also built the their own version of the F4U. Some pilots's went out of their way to to fly a Vought plane.

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Dumb question. The article speaks of the Buffalo being shot down by a Russian HURRICANE. Where'd the Russians get Hurricanes, or is this a typo?


Grizz

No typo. Russia got a lot of Hurricanes, in addition to other western aircraft.



http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/...cane_Z5252/index.htm

One thing to keep in mind when talking about aircraft like the Buffalo, which had a lousy reputation in USN/USMC/Allied hands but a decent reputation in Finnish hands, is that not all variants are the same.

The Finnish versions of the Buffalo were not the F2As the Navy & Marine Corps asked for. Different engines, etc. If memory serves, the Finnish planes were much lighter.

The US services often screwed with what were basically good designs, lousing up a plane's reputation. One classic example is the P-39 Airacobra. It was actually a good design. When the prototype first flew it topped out at about 400 mph. But the army had decided to go with exhaust-driven turbochargers versus the European trend to go with multi-stage engine-driven superchargers as power adders, vital for compensating for the lower oxygen levels at higher altitude.

The problem was that turbochargers were/are harder to manufacture due to the high temperature of the exhaust gases. More scarce metals are required, more precise machining, etc. The manufacturers couldn't supply enough of them, so the USAAF reserved them for bombers and the P-38.

So the Airacobra was castrated and given an Allison engine with a single-stage supercharger. And it was a dog as a fighter. The Brits got a few and determined that going into combat against German aircraft was equivalent to suicide.

Ironically, the Airacobra got a good rep in the Soviet airforce. With its 37mm cannon in the nose it was a great attack plane, and air combat didn't take place at high altitude where its engine would run out of steam.

Apparently the Soviet front was friendlier to aircraft that couldn't make the cut elsewhere.

Hey, against the russians the Finns and 'Swedish Volunteers' did bloody well with Gloster gladiator biplanes in 39/40...And don't forget the Good German pilots were able to chalk up genuine kills in the hundreds on the russian front. The ruskies threw in massive numbers of poorly trained crew and demanded ever more planes (and tanks and trucks and and) from the UK and USA to make up what they threw away

quote:

Originally posted by Ganyana:
Hey, against the russians the Finns and 'Swedish Volunteers' did bloody well with Gloster gladiator biplanes in 39/40...And don't forget the Good German pilots were able to chalk up genuine kills in the hundreds on the russian front. The ruskies threw in massive numbers of poorly trained crew and demanded ever more planes (and tanks and trucks and and) from the UK and USA to make up what they threw away

Gloster Gladiators also did pretty well in North Africa during the same timeframe.

Of course, they were going up against Italian Fiat Falcos for the most part. Which actually wasn't a bad biplane; the Italians sent some to the Battle of Britain, and they surprised a few Hurricane and Spit pilots with their ability to out turn them and take punishment.

I've always found it interesting that Gloster built the last biplane fighter used by the RAF in WWII, and in the Meteor the first jet fighter used by the RAF also in WWII.

I don't think anything illustrates the, for a lack of a better term, "meteoric" advance in technology the war produced than that.

When I was stationed at Naval Air Development Center Warminster ((NADC) Warminster, PA) we had a Brewster Buccaneer in the hangar that was being restored. I always wondered if it ever got completed ot not. It looks like not. Now I wonder where it ended up at.

NADC was also known as the Johnsville area at one time. It was there that the Brewster Airplane Company was located. Our hangar was part of the original manufacturing plant.

ETA: It looks like the Buccaneer went to Pensacola.

http://www.warbirdforum.com/inquirer.htm

bob

The Buffalo was obsolete, like many others, when the war began. It was more of an 'Interim' fighter, betwixt and between the biplanes and the New Stuff.The Wildcat was long in the tooth in 1941, but it was so TOUGH that it didn't matter.

quote:

Originally posted by Grizzly Adams:
Dumb question. The article speaks of the Buffalo being shot down by a Russian HURRICANE. Where'd the Russians get Hurricanes, or is this a typo?


Grizz

The Brits sent RAF Wing 151 to Archangel to fly with and train the Russians.. they took Hurricanes with them.. and then handed them over to the Russians..

other Hurricanes ended up in Russia, from Surplus and War Weary Aircraft from the North Africa front, flown to Tehran and then into Russia.. these along with British Tomahawks ( P40s) from the RAF in North Africa when they received never equipment..

As funny as it may seem, many Hurricanes and Tomahawks served on the Leningrad front with RAF Desert Camo on them.. and Russian stars on the fuselage and lower wings..The Soviet AF usually did not put their stars on the upper wings..

Even tho the A/C were usually war weary, it did not matter to the Soviets... A/C in the Soviet AF on the front had a relatively short life span...

reading about the Finns in WW 2 against the Russians has always been one of my favorite reads... right after the Battle of Britain..

From what I have read about the Fin's air war with the Buffalo they did not engage in dogfights.
They stalked, pounced and ran then if the opportunity arose they repeated till they were bingo fuel.
The operative idea was planes were to precious and they took very few chances that might result in the loss of one.

The Finn's greatest strength is their resilience and resourcefulness...along with courage.

on the other end, their foe, the Russian Commies were just plain idiots..

The Russo Finnish War of 39-40 is definitely an interesting read.. when the Finns surrendered, they were basically out of ammo...

the Finns suffered 25,000 troops killed..

The Soviets finally released their losses after the fall of the Berlin Wall... it exceeded 1 million..