A lack-luster carrier-based aircraft, the Brewster F2A Buffalo had the distinction of being the U.S. Navy’s first monoplane fighter. When the United States entered World War II on 7 December 1941, there were 21 Buffalos in Fighting Squadron (VF) 2 on board the aircraft carrier Lexington (CV-2), 7 with Scouting Squadron 201 in the escort carrier Long Island (AVG-1), and 14 assigned to Marine Fighting Squadron 221, being loaded aboard the carrier Saratoga (CV-.3) at San Diego. Small numbers of Buffalos serving at various U.S. bases brought the total in Navy- Marine Corps service to 107. (All other Navy and Marine fighter squadrons flew the Grumman F4F Wildcat.)
The only F2As to see combat in U.S. insignia were Marine-piloted aircraft at Midway. VMF-221’s had departed San Diego for Pearl Harbor on 8 December 1941 on board the Saratoga. After a brief stopover at Pearl Harbor, the “Sara,” with VMF-221 still embarked, was part of the Navy relief force sent to aid besieged Wake Island. But Wake fell to the Japanese, and the Saratoga flew off the squadron’s F2A-3 fighters to Midway Atoll on 25 December 1941. Eight additional F2As were delivered to Midway on 28 March 1942.
The Lexington delivered 14 F2A-3 fighters of a newly formed VMF-211 to Palmyra Island on 14 April 1942. Thus VMF-221 and VMF-211 flew the only Buffalos that the United States forward deployed during the war.
The Midway-based F2As saw their first combat on 10 March 1942. The Japanese had sent two large Kawanishi H8K1 flying boats (U.S. codename Emily) from Wotje in the Marshall Islands; one plane headed for Midway and the other for Johnston Island. The planes were to fly reconnaissance over the U.S. bases and then refuel from a submarine at French Frigate Shoals, halfway between Midway and Pearl Harbor. Radar on the atoll picked up the Midway-bound flying boat 45 miles away, and a four-plane division of VMF-221 was scrambled. The Buffalos caught the aircraft at 10,000 feet and shot down the four-engine flying boat. (The Marine pilots were rewarded with a bottle of bourbon for their kill.)
At the time of the June 1942 Battle of Midway, 21 F2As and 7 F4F Wildcats were in VMF-221. They were ineffective in stopping the single wave of Japanese bombers that attacked the atoll, although Marine sources at the time credited them with shooting down 18 A6M Zero fighters and 25 D3A Val dive bombers— highly inflated figures.
The Marines lost 13 of the squadron’s F2As and 2 F4Fs in the battle plus other fighters damaged. All 15 Marine pilots were killed. Only two of VMF-22 l ’s remaining 13 aircraft were flyable. One of the pilots who survived the battle, Captain Philip R. White, later wrote, “It is my belief that any commander who orders pilots out for combat in an F2A should consider the pilot as lost before leaving the ground.”1
Marine fighter squadrons discarded their last F2As by September 1942, long after the Navy traded its remaining Buffalos for Wildcats.
Buffalos were also flown by the Finns, British, and Dutch. Finland took delivery of 44 aircraft, which were used with considerable success against the Soviet Air Force in the so-called Winter War between those two countries in 1940-41. Of these Buffalos, 38 had been ordered for the U.S. Navy and delivered to the Finns without guns, gunsights, instruments, or carrier gear. The Navy- ordered engines were replaced by the civilian version of the Wright Cyclone 950-horsepower engine. The other six aircraft were from a Belgian order.
The Finnish Buffalos were shipped to Norway, then taken by train to Trollhattan, Sweden, for assembly. Finnish pilots then flew them to Finland from March to May 1940. A few were engaged in combat against the Soviets in early March. Finland was (again) at war with the Soviet Union in June 1941, participating in the German assault on Russia. The Buffalos were in the thick of the fighting. Buffalo pilot Lieutenant Hans “Hasse” Wind scored 39 confirmed victories over Soviet aircraft. In all, Buffalo pilots claimed 489 aerial victories through September 1944. (Finland, as an ally of Nazi Germany, emblazoned its Buffalos with the swastika insignia.)
The Belgian air force had ordered 40 Buffalos, but when Germany overran the Low Counties and France in the summer of 1940, 28 of those planes were delivered to the Royal Air Force beginning in July 1940. Another 170 Buffalos were built for the RAF. The British had first used the name Buffalo, which subsequently was adopted by the U.S. Navy.
The RAF quickly determined that the Buffalo was unfit for combat against the standard German fighter, the Bf-109, and the planes were sent to North Africa, Rangoon, and Singapore. The rotund fighter was hopelessly outclassed by the Japanese A6M Zero. In an effort to improve the plane’s performance, the British changed the guns from .50 caliber to .303 caliber and reduced their ammunition load while restricting fuel load as well. Useful against other Japanese aircraft, by the time Singapore fell in February 1942, Buffalos were credited with shooting down 30 Japanese aircraft.
The Netherlands also fell to the German onslaught in the summer of 1940, and the Dutch air force took delivery of Buffalos for use in the Netherlands East Indies. There, too, they were easy marks for Zeros and accomplished little before those islands also fell to the Japanese.
The Brewster Aeronautical Company produced the barrel-shaped Buffalo.2 The plane was characterized by a short, stubby fuselage with stalk-like, inward-retracting main landing gear. The large radial engine had a prominent spinner. The F2A was an all-metal aircraft with the control surfaces, e.g., ailerons, elevators, and rudder, being metal framed but covered with fabric. The improved F2A-3 had increased armor for the pilot and fuel tanks, but the added weight further reduced the plane’s maneuverability.
The F2A-1, powered by a Wright Cyclone developing 850 horsepower, had a maximum speed of 300 miles per hour and was credited with a range of more than 1,000 miles; speed was increased to 323 miles per hour in the F2A-2. Armament of the single-seat fighter consisted of two .50-cal. machine guns in the engine cowling and two guns in the wings; two 100-pound bombs could be carried under the wings.
The prototype Brewster XF2A-1 had flown in December 1937. After Navy trials, production was ordered in June 1938 and the first production F2A-1 was completed in June 1939. VF-3 in the Saratoga was the first carrier squadron to receive F2As, with VF-2 being the only other carrier fighter squadron to fly the fighter. Brewster produced 509 Buffalos at its plants in Newark, New Jersey, and Long Island City, New York. Of those planes, 163 went to the U.S. Navy and Marines; Finland flew 44, Britain flew 210; Australia flew 20 (ordered for the Netherlands); and the Dutch flew 72.3
The F2A was the one Brewster- designed fighter produced for the Navy and Marine Corps. The FA was a prototype fighter produced by the General Aircraft firm in 1932, while the F3A was the Vought F4U Corsair manufactured by Brewster.4 The firm built 735 F3A Corsairs.
The Buffalo, like the F4F Wildcat, was a transition aircraft, as high- performance fighters went from biplanes to monoplanes (the never-built F4F-1 was a biplane design). But unlike the Wildcat, the Buffalo fell short of desired performance and was unpopular with U.S. Navy and Marine pilots. None of the three Brewster-developed carrier aircraft attained any significant degree of success, the others being the SBA/SBN (31 built) and SB2A Buccaneer/Bermuda (771 built).5 A number of SB2As became target tow planes; many were scrapped shortly after being completed. None of the carrier-based scout-bombers is known to have been in combat.
1. Quoted in Robert Sherrod, History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II (Washington, DC: Combat Forces Press, 1952), p. 57.
2. The most comprehensive published account of the firm is Jim Maas, “Fall From Grace: The Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, 1932-42,” American Aviation Historical Society Journal (Summer 1985), pp. 118-135. Also see, “Brewsters to Finland” at www.sci.fi/~fta/BWtoFAFl.htm.
3. Some sources cite the Dutch as having 92 Buffalos in the Netherlands East Indies.
4. ln the Navy’s 1922-1962 designation scheme multiple aircraft companies often shared a single manufacturer letter.
5. The single XSBA-1 prototype was built by Brewster followed by 30 production aircraft built as the SBN- 1 by the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia.
