Six months after entering service, the Grumman F4F Wildcat started suffering mysterious, explosive engine problems which shot parts out through the side of the air frame.
The affected F4Fs were sent back to the Grumman factory to determine root cause and hopefully effect repairs.
It turned out the trouble was due to catastrophic crank shaft rocker balancer failure. This was because the parts were contracted out on the cheap and made from sub-standard materials. Eventually all Wildcats were declared No Longer Airworthy. If not for a navalized version of the Curtiss P-36 officially known as the F12C4, the U.S. Navy would be in dire straits indeed.
The Navy showed only lukewarm interest in the F12C4 and Curtiss was pinning their hopes on export sales, Britain being seen as a likely customer.
The Wildcat grounding changed all that. As the F12C4 had been in limited trials, fortunately it was fairly easy to ramp up production to compensate for the missing F4Fs. The Curtiss F12C4 would go on to bear the brunt of U.S. Navy air combat early in the Pacific war.
Eventually, Grumman figured out a fix but this involved a complete re-design of the F4F into what became known as the F6F. Unfortunately, the new Hellcats had teething problems.
However, by 1943, all the bugs had been ironed out and the Grumman F6F replaced the F12C4 in front-line service. The obsolescent Curtiss fighters were re-purposed as advanced trainers, now called the SNAC which is U.S. Navalese for Scout Trainer, Advanced, Curtiss.
The aircraft became ubiquitous at Navy training fields nationwide. Many a rumpled group of pilot trainees were admonished on the flight line to "Get with it! It's SNAC time!"
One of these units was Advanced Training Squadron 4036 based at N.A.S. Cow Creek near Daytona Beach, Florida.
Over-water training flights for navigation were common. Curtiss SNACs were often seen heading out over the vast expanse of the Atlantic. These ops were carefully planned so the student pilots would steer clear of any trouble.
Unfortunately, it's impossible to account for all contingencies. In November, 1943 a training flight of SNACs from N.A.S. Cow Creek ventured into the unknown.
Weather was clear during the flight but radio contact was lost 40 minutes in as the SNACs crossed the 12-mile limit.
Not a peep was heard from the flight which was posted as missing after two hours. Search-and-Rescue were alerted.
Normally, two hours plus was at the edge of the SNAC's endurance, but these aircraft were equipped with auxiliary belly tanks. The extra fuel greatly extended their range.
Just when the SAR aircraft were mid-way through the first leg of their search patterns, the training flight returned to base.
The SNACs' radios and compasses were all found to be inoperable as was their direction-finding equipment. Initially, the base commander was tempted to charge the trainees for going AWOL, but press coverage put the kibosh on that.
Thus the Bermuda Octagonal phenomena was born. The Navy re-routed all but essential traffic away from the area and only a few more strange incidents were reported during the war, mostly concerning navigation aids behaving badly.
These strange incidents would occur with decreasing frequency over the years. While the Bermuda Triangle mystery became a cultural touchstone of the 1970s...
...the Bermuda Octagonal was mostly forgotten.
Very little of the Curtiss SNAC survives today, save for this 1/72 scale model and the fading memories of a few student pilots who have been unable to officially account for their exact whereabouts on that November afternoon in 1943.
Brian da Basher
