The Brewster Aeronautical Corporation operated from the early 1930s until the end of World War II, producing several lackluster aircraft for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps and Allied air forces. Originally known for producing carts, wagons, and carriages, Brewster was manufacturing automobile bodies and aircraft parts by 1932. That year aeronautical engineer James Work purchased part of the firm and began making seaplane floats and wing panels.
Work hired Dayton Brown as his chief engineer to initiate new aircraft designs. Their first effort was a two-seat scout bomber for the Navy, with the single prototype XSBA-1 making its first flight on 15 April 1936. This was a monoplane with a retractable landing gear and an internal bay for carrying a 500-pound bomb. After an engine change, the aircraft reached the then-impressive speed of 263 miles per hour—believed to be the fastest single-engine bomber in the world at the time.1 Initially the maximum speed was listed as 254 miles per hour with the original Wright R-1820-4 engine; the range was estimated at just over 1,000 miles at cruising speeds. The “backseater” operated a flexible machine gun.
Because of other work at Brewster, the Navy assigned production to the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, which built the 30 production SBN-1 models. They were delivered between November 1940 and March 1942, most to Bombing Squadron 3 on board the Saratoga (CV-3). Some later served as trainers on board the Hornet (CV-8). None was in combat.
Simultaneous with dive-bomber development of the SBA/SBN and the follow-on SB2A Buccaneer, Brewster designed the U.S. Navy’s first monoplane fighter: the F2A Buffalo. The prototype XF2A-1 first flew on 2 December 1937. The fighter had a short, stubby fuselage, stalk-like, inward retracting main landing gear, and a retractable tail wheel. The large radial engine had a prominent spinner. Because of its short wingspan (35 feet), there was no need for folding wings.
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, there were 21 F2A Buffalos in Fighting Squadron 2 on board the Lexington (CV-2), 7 with Scouting Squadron 201 in the Long Island (AVG-1), and 14 assigned to Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 221 that were being loaded on board the Saratoga at San Diego for shipment to Hawaii. Small numbers of Buffalos at various U.S. bases brought the total to 107 in Navy and Marine Corps service.2
The only Buffalos that saw combat in U.S. insignia were Marine-piloted aircraft at Midway in June 1942. At the time, there were 20 F2As and 6 or 7 F4F Wildcats in VMF-221 on the atoll. The Marine fighters were ineffective in stopping the single wave of Japanese carrier-based bombers that attacked Midway. Some sources have credited them with shooting down 18 A6M Zero fighters and 25 D3A Val dive bombers—likely highly inflated figures.
The Marines lost 13 of the F2As and 2 F4Fs in the battle, plus several others damaged. The last F2As were discarded by the Marines in September 1942, long after the Navy traded its last Buffalos for F4F Wildcats.
Brewster also produced Buffalos for Australia, Finland, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and New Zealand, with production totaling 163 for the United States and 340 for Allied air forces. The Finns used them with great success against the Soviets in the 1939–40 “winter war.” The British and Dutch Buffalos served mostly in the Far East, where they were badly outclassed by the A6M Zero. (A few Dutch fighters captured by the Japanese were extensively flight tested with rising sun insignia.)
The Buffalo—like the SBA/SBN—was not a success story.
1. See Peter C. Smith, Dive Bomber! (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1982), 110. Also see David Mondey, American Aircraft of World War II (Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books, 1994), 45.
2. See N. Polmar, “Brewster’s Buffalo,” Naval History (April 2007), 12–13.