Just Wondering....

[Cowboy1968]

I was just wondering if anyone has a completed fairly up to date model of a Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo. This is the model that was flown off the Lexington during the Battle of Coral Sea by VF-2.

And if no one has it, does anyone have a F2A-2 .air and .cfg file? So, i can convert one of the F2A-3 models to fly like a -2?

[TheBookie]

I was just wondering if anyone has a completed fairly up to date model of a Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo. This is the model that was flown off the Lexington during the Battle of Coral Sea by VF-2.

And if no one has it, does anyone have a F2A-2 .air and .cfg file? So, i can convert one of the F2A-3 models to fly like a -2?

Lexington had F4F-3 Wildcats at Coral Sea not F2A-2 Buffaloes. They got the Wildcats January 26.1942 and it was VF-3 while VF-2 trained with the Wildcat.

In April they ferried the Marine squadron 211 which was equipped with the Buffalo and transferred to a land base.

[Cowboy1968]

I stand corrected, and even so, I would still like those files if anyone has them?

[kwb737]

I was just wondering if anyone has a completed fairly up to date model of a Brewster F2A-2 Buffalo. This is the model that was flown off the Lexington during the Battle of Coral Sea by VF-2.

And if no one has it, does anyone have a F2A-2 .air and .cfg file? So, i can convert one of the F2A-3 models to fly like a -2?

Only thing I found Cowboy was this.

http://simviation.com/1/search?submi...&categoryId=83

[msfossey]

One of my favorite planes from the era.

The best F2A Buffalo for CFS2 is right here in the Outhouse. Created by Thicko himself.
Search under “Buffalo” and have the filter look under CFS2 files only. Thicko did several variants and updates; all on the same page. Sopwith Chameleon did several beautiful skins for the A/C, Morton created a great panel for the model, and Lawdog even had a sound file for her.

Also, Revev (aka Evan G. Butterbrodt), did a bunch of prewar skins. You can find them at Simvation.

As an interesting point, on January 10, 1942 U.S. Navy F2A Buffalo’s from VF-2 flying off of the Lexington did participate in an attack on a Japanese submarine near Johnston Island. The I-boat was believed to be damaged from this attack.

Best of luck finding what you need,

msfossey

[Rami]

Darrell,

Good to see your mind active...it's the best path to sanity. Anyway, here's something that Sandydog did which will help you immensely...

http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforum...id=17&id=14185

...he did a complete upgrade pack for the Buffalo. (I just used it for the D.E.I., and if I ever get back to Finland, I will do the same) The F2A-2 is included in that, including instructions on how to complete the transformation!

[Cowboy1968]

Yes, keeping my mind busy, keeps from dwelling on the loss of companionship i had with my Angel Love. She didn't like the content of my hobby, but she encouraged it. It kept me busy she use to say.

Now there is no secret that I love the Buffalo fighter. I have found it to be over vilified in the histories. It wasn't a bad airplane, but it wasn't an airplane you could just climb into right out of flight school either. It required a good hand to fly it.

The later versions of the airplane were overweight for their engines. This was due o the things that the USN found it needed as standard on its fighters in 1939. These included self-sealing full tanks, fuel to give the plane a combat range of around 600 miles, and armor around the pilot. The -3 had all these things incorporated into it, without any real increase in horsepower. This destroyed the balence of the -2.

Now there were ways to make the -3 compensate for the weight increase in equipment. The British just simply chose to remove the equipment all together, including the extra bladder that made up the self-sealing fuel tanks, they pulled out the naval equipment for use on carriers, they pulled the armor from around the pilots, and they replaced the .50 caliber guns with either .30 or .303 weapons. This lightened the plane up considerably and it gave it back its balance in power to weight ratio, but it also lead to some major problems. The plane now would light up like a roman candle because fuel vapor would now build up in the tanks, and like the Zero this made them explode with just a few hits. Pilots were easily more killed when hit , and so on.

On top of the planes weight reduction measures, another problem faced was the machines received very poor maintenance in the field in South East Asia. This didn't help in a situation where they were out numbered every time they left the ground.

The Dutch solution to weight control was simply to cut the fuel and ammo loads in half, while retaining the safety measures. They also were able to maintain a better maintenance record on their machines. The pilots were also experienced flying the machine. Though the Dutch planes could return home, it had a very poor range and a short combat time in action.

Once the weight saving measures were taken these machines were able to turn even with the Oscar.

Now in the hands of the USMC at Midway. The Buffalo was being flown by inexperienced pilots, most of whom, who were just out of flight training in the States. The planes were flown off with full combat and fuel loads. But, that said these planes didn't do any worse then the F4F-3 Wildcat fighters that were also flying with 221. 221 lost 13 Buffalo fighters out of 20, 5 out of 7 Wildcats. Besides inexperienced pilots in the cockpits, 221 also suffered maintenance problems because of hastily trained ground crews, but the worst problem was that 221 didn't use the combat tactics that would have helped against the Zeke, They didn't stay in mutually supporting pairs. that could cover each other. They broke down into individual dog fights. It was reported that guns failed on both Buffalo and Wildcat fighters due to poor servicing and so on. Though it is claimed that VMF-221 brought down 30+ Japanese aircraft achieving a 2 to 1 kill ratio. If they used combat tactics, they probably would have done better.

All these things gave the Buffalo a poor record, but on the other hand in hands of experienced pilots with good ground crews the Buffalo could perform well. Look at the Finns and what they did with the type.

It should be pointed out that many other allied types had similar experiences in similar conditions. Hurricanes, Wildcats, Warhawks, and Airacobras would all have similar experiences and so on. The Allied air forces in the Pacific and South East Asia just weren't ready for War in the first half of 1942.

[kwb737]

Only thing I found Cowboy was this.

http://simviation.com/1/search?submi...&categoryId=83

My apologies Cowboy. I see now that the THICKOSEHASKEL BUFFALO SERIES SUPER UPGRADE was in the "Other" catagory right here at SOH (of all places), and I failed to look there.