Royal Navy Wildcats – Grumman’s carrier-based fighter excels in His Majesty’s Service

Brian Smith positions Grumman Wildcat VI (FM2) for the camera of John Dibbs, offering a close look at the wonderful Royal Navy and D-Day color scheme. This aircraft is owned and operated by The Fighter Collection, based at Duxford in the UK. It wears the markings of a Wildcat of the Royal Navy’s 846 Squadron that operated from the carrier HMS Tracker during the D-Day period in 1944. (Photo by John Dibbs/Facebook.com/theplanepicturecompany)

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“I would still assess the Wildcat as the outstanding naval fighter of the early years of World War II ... I can vouch as a matter of personal experience that this Grumman fighter was one of the finest shipboard aeroplanes ever created.”—British Royal Navy Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC First Wildcats (“Martlets”) At the onset of World War II, the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) had only 232 frontline aircraft on...

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