Hobby Master 1/48 Air Power Series
HA8904Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat
"White F-15”
LTCDR Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare
VF-3, USS Lexington, WWII
1/48 scale pre-finished.
All markings pad applied for superb results.
Canopy slides open.
Comes with a pilot that can be removed.
Comes with display stand.
Landing gear is fully retractable and can be displayed up or down.
Extremely sought after by collectors.
Early in the Pacific War in WWII the Grumman F4F Wildcat was the best fighter aircraft the U.S.had but was out performed by the Japanese Zero. The Wildcat’s folding wings allowed for agreater number of aircraft that could be carried but added extra weight and reduced the aircraftperformance. New features such as self-sealing fuel tanks, heavy armor made up for theWildcat’s lesser performance. By the end of WWII the F4F had flown approximately 15,500sorties with a kill ratio of 6.9 victories to 1.
On February 20, 1942 LTCDR Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare became the USN’s first Ace and
two months later was awarded the Medal of Honor, the first WWII USN pilot to do so. On
February 20, 1942 O’Hare attacked a formation of nine Japanese Mitsubishi G4M “Betty”
bombers and single handedly shot down five of the attackers and damaged a sixth. On the nightof November 26, 1943 O’Hare was shot down and was never found. He was awarded the NavyCross posthumously. In his honor a USN destroyer and Chicago’s Orchard Depot Airport werenamed O’Hare.
