F4F Wildcat references, by Dirk Broer

The last years have seen a big increase in the number of WW2 aircraft references, and the Grumman F4F Wildcat is no exception. Though not as well published as the Bf 109, the Spitfire, the Zero or the P-51, the Wildcat even got some international interest. But as a modeller with limited budget you might ask yourself “which books offer the best value for money?”

And that is a question easier asked than answered. What exactly are you after? Detail drawings, detail photographs, color side views, scale plans, or historical information?

Do you want proof of the fact that the ammunition for the guns was loaded from below or not? Do you want to see the actual rivet detail before you sand down and engrave your own kit with panel lines? In what language(s) do you want to read? (remember that not everybody has English as his/her first language)

In this overview I will present the Wildcat references from my own library, and mention their strong and weak points, hopefully adding yet a few more in the future. In chronological sequences of their first publishing date they are:

Reprinted at least once in 1972 (blue cover compared to the original red)

Pros: it has everything, if only in small amounts. This is mainly because of its size:

It has only 12 pages. There are general reference guides offering you as least as much text on the Wildcat and sometimes with comparable artwork/drawings as well.

Cons: it is long out of print, so hard to get. Costs (second hand between $5 and $15) are as high as later, bigger and better books.

Pros: A surprising lot of color photographs not appearing in later books about the Wildcat. A real original book both in text and illustrations, not a translation (though one chapter is borrowed from Ian Cameron’s “Wings of the Morning”). Also a review about the 1967 Monogram 1:48 Wildcat.

Cons: It’s in French, so a basic knowledge of that language is required to be able to understand the textual parts of the book.

(republished in 1991 and 2001 by the Naval Institute Press)

Pros: very thorough on historical information compared with the others. (200+ pages)

Cons: for modellers the use as a reference is limited to the 113 black-and-white photographs. No color art, no drawings, and no side views. Definitely not written with the modeller in mind. Great reading though.

Pros: the best all-round Wildcat reference when it appeared. Four times the size of the Aircraft in Profile and very affordable (less than $9). Good color art.

Cons: out of print, amount of historical information less than in later references.

Pros: in approach comparable to the aircraft in profile, but by its far bigger content 970 pages (including the cover) in a class of its own. Great for drawings (not only in 1:72, but also in the non-standard scale 1:36) and engine details. Relatively cheap: bought mine for € 12,21 (about $15)

Cons: the text can only be read by people with at least a basic knowledge of Polish. Might be out of print (an eventual second print may be available in English in the future, like with their Hellcat and Corsair publications)

Pro: much color side views, information about the actual pilots flying that plane (the one from the side view) and the actual photographs.

Cons: by nature of the subject not much variety in the side views, series is more aimed at (amateur) historians than modellers.

Pros: very much color and black-and-white photographic detail of just about every part of the plane. See ammunition loaded from below, see the rivet detail. The king of detail.

Cons: the photographic color detail is mainly taken from not always very accurately restored warbirds; the color side views are strangely 2-dimensional for a Squadron/Signal publication (compared to their three other Wildcat publications), though great care has been taken to present the colors well, and in much variety. Weak on historical text. No more-way-views and no scale plan(s) make this actually quite valuable book drop considerably in the overall modeller’s worth category in the table below.

Pros: comparable to the aircraft in profile, but about three times the size. Cheap: bought mine for € 8,60 (about $10).

Cons: the text can only be read by people with at least a basic knowledge of Czech

Captions are in Czech, English and German though.

Pros: it is the utter king of side views both in number and in varieties. It also offers an overview of every Wildcat kit up to 1997. Really written with the modeller in mind. Worth every dime you have to pay for it.

Cons: the color art is a bit 2-dimensional compared to other modern color art.Not much detail information and not much on the various Wildcat variants either.

Pros: this is actually the second edition of vol. 30 (the 1988 Tab Books edition) in this series and promises twice the color of that edition. Those detail color photographs are among its strongest features, together with the black-and-white detail pictures and the small ‘scale’ section at the end, which almost eluded me by being glued together somehow.

Cons: more expensive than the AJ-Press Polish reference, which is just as good. Considerably more expensive than the Czech reference, which is almost as good. The ‘Walk Around’ is just as expensive and offers even more (color)detail.

Pros: a improved edition of the 1988 in action classic offering much new material and even better color art. At a price below $9 very good value for money

Cons: still a bit weak on historical information compared to the polish references.

Pros: the total and utter king of (detail) drawings, and the only one to offer them in the three major modeling scales (1:72, 1:48 and 1:32). Very good color art. Free decals.

Completely bi-lingual (Polish/English)

Cons: a bit expensive, though worth its money (around $25 in the USA, bought mine for € 18,95). The detail color photographs are indeed from a rather ratty looking and inaccurately restored warbird (a FM-2 in 1941 colors, note the Cyclone engine), but there are very few of those and plenty other, better pictures.

* General guides with as much information about the Wildcat as the ‘Aircraft in Profile’ include:

Originally published in two volumes, this book gives you, along with 28 other planes, the Wildcat on pages 236-250. Presented with 26 b&w photographs, 16 variant drawings, a cutaway drawing and three way view it only misses color detail to make it a worthy “Aircraft in Profile” opponent.

William Green and Gordon Swanborough, “US Navy and Marine Corps Fighters”, ©1976 Macdonald and Jane’s Publishers Ltd, London, England. ISBN 0-356-08222-9 (Published in the USA by Arco Publishing, 1977)

William Green updates his story and recycles part of his material on pages 33-45. 19 b&w photographs, 16 variant drawings, the same cutaway view and four color side views (at least one of them, the USS Block Island FM-1, suspiciously incorrect)

Surviving Wildcats warbirds are quite nicely presented on pages 8-31 of

ISBN 1-85532-247-1

Book might be a bit hard to get though, seems out of print. Those Osprey people publish real gems without realising which is which sometimes.

Original Wildcat WW2 color photographs can be found on pages 22-31 of

Material overlaps a bit with “F4F Wildcat in Detail” and there is not that much of it either.

All books by courtesy of my own wallet. Much obliged to the Luchtvaarthobbyshop at Aalsmeerderbrug, the Netherlands (near Schiphol) for stocking most of them. Other were bought at Foyles in London, or straight from Squadron/Signal.

Dirk Broer