I have the 1/32 scale Buffalo kit and have a question related to the tail wheel. The directions call for the pneumatic rear tire on the AAF version and the hard rubber tire on the Marine and Navy variant. I know the hard rubber tire was used for shipboard ops to keep the back of the plane from bouncing but since the Marines operated their Buffalos on land at Midway, wouldn't they have had the pneumatic rear tire as well?
Does anyone have any definitive info on this?
"bill.woodier" wrote in news:M66dnTi7bfqFkvXVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
My SIA book says they were all Navy hand me downs. I would think the instructions were correct.
Frank
dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
While it is true that most Marine aircraft up to 1942 were Navy hand- me-downs, Marine aviators and their aircraft had to be carrier- capable, since they could be called upon to operate from aircraft carriers. Therefore, it would be logical that Marine F2As would have retained the hard rubber tailwheel. On the other hand, the B-339s that werre exported to Britain and Belgium were build for use as landplanes, only.
Z2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:
To make things worse, the F2A-3 at Midway was a Marine-only variant--a flying gastank to handle long range CAP and intercept for island garrisons. It was carrier capable, but for transport purposes.
tomcervo wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@2g2000hsn.googlegroups.com:
Actually they were envsioned for long range patrol. I think they said it had an potential endurance of 16 hours, with a range of 1600 miles.
Frank
Thank you all for your thoughts on this.
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