WOW467 Grumman Wildcat

Description

VMF 224 MF 1 Guadalcanal 1942
Pilot.  Robert Edward Galer (24 October 1913 – 27 June 2005)

The Grumman F4F 3 Wildcat was an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the US Navy. The Wildcat was the only effective fighter available to the United States Navy and Marine Corps in the Pacific Theatre during the early part of WW II. However, many US Naval aviators complained as the Wildcat was generally outperformed by the Mitsubishi Zero, its major opponent in the early part of the Pacific Theatre but held its own partly because, with relatively heavy armour and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Grumman airframe could survive far more damage than its lightweight, unarmoured Japanese rival.  Many U.S. Navy fighter pilots were saved by the Wildcat’s ZB homing device, which allowed them to find their carriers in poor visibility, provided they could get within the 30 mi (48 km) range of the homing beacon. However, the Zed Baker was wildly inconsistent in practice, especially during the Battle of Midway, when an entire squadron of Wildcats crashed in the sea after failing to locate their carriers.

In all, 7,860 Wildcats were built.  During the course of the war, Navy and Marine F4Fs and FMs flew 15,553 combat sorties (14,027 of these from aircraft carriers), destroying a claimed figure of 1,327 enemy aircraft at a cost of 178 aerial losses, 24 to ground/shipboard fire, and 49 to operational causes, an overall claimed kill-to-loss ratio of 6.9:1.

The aircraft we are offering to collectors was flown by Brigadier General Robert Edward Galer, who received the Medal of Honor for heroism in aerial combat during the Battle of Guadalcanal. He went on to command Marine Aircraft Group 12 during the Korean War and retired a few years later in 1957.

After WW2 Galer was also awarded the Legion of Merit with Combat “V” for his service in Korea. On August 5^th 1952, he was shot down behind enemy lines by anti-aircraft fire while leading a flight of 31 warplanes against targets near the North Korean port city of Wonsan. He later admitted he “did a dumb thing”: After completing the mission, “I went back to take a picture. And this anti-aircraft gun, he nailed me.”  He was rescued by a HO3S-1 helicopter flown by 1st Lieutenant E. J. McCutcheon.

For exceptionally meritorious service in combat, he was advanced to Brigadier General upon his retirement on 31 July 1957.

Our 1/30 scale model is priced at $695 plus shipping and is limited to 5 in number worldwide.
The K&C figures and TG accessories are not included and are shown for scale comparison purposes only.