The Grumman Martlet was one of the Royal Navy's iconic W.W. II fighters.
Less well-thought-of was its immediate follow-on, the Grumman Bartlett.
This also-ran began when the Royal Navy requested changes to the Martlet to improve speed, high-altitude performance, and pilot vision after suffering terrible losses in the Battle for the Faroes.
Grumman responded by enlarging the Martlet and adding an experimental new engine, the Wright R-3355 Mulitplex-Cyclone X of enormous power. The landing gear was also upgraded with a more robust assembly which retracted back into the wing. Pilot vision was improved when Grumman poached Brewster's chief canopy engineer who designed a glass-house style enclosure for the new Fleet Air Arm fighter.
The U.S. Navy showed little interest, not willing to gamble on an un-proven power plant. The Royal Navy, however, could not afford to be so choosy and quickly placed an order.
The new fighter was put through its paces for the Royal Navy whose own test-flight was abbreviated due to pilot hang-over.
After stumbling out of the plane and weaving back a distance, he declared it reminded him of a certain type of pear and from here on out, the aircraft would be known as the Grumman Bartlett.
Unfortunately, the Royal Navy's short-and-sweet flight masked the Bartlett's fatal flaw which would become all too apparent after the aircraft was taken into service.
It wasn't the not-yet-ready-for-prime-time Wright R-3355 Mulitplex-Cyclone X engine that was the culprit.
It was the seat. Built on the cheap by shoddy sub-contractors, these often caused pilot hemorrhoids, especially on long missions. However, as there were no other modern carrier-borne fighters to be had, the Fleet Air Arm bravely soldiered on with their Bartletts.
The leading Bartlett ace was one Commander Fredrick "Iron Fanny" Fanshawe who is credited with 5.25 kills over the Aegean while commanding 1538 squadron aboard the HMS Preparation.
The Bartlett shown here was flown by Lt. William "Chilly Willy" Childers of 1506 squadron and was known for the epic pursuit and downing of an enemy Wahl flying boat in the North Sea. Even though the Wahl was slower than the Bartlett by a factor of three, the chase took over four hours because of navigation errors.
After all that time in the air (and in that horrid seat), Lt. Childers had to be helped from the cockpit when he eventually landed on the HMS Uncomfortable.
The ship's surgeon stated the only thing saving Lt. Childers from permanent disability was the bitter cold temperature which apparently froze his kiester and thus lessened the injury his Bartlett's poor seat had caused.
Fortunately for the Royal Navy, Grumman continued to work on the design and eventually swapped out the experimental Wright R-3355 Mulitplex-Cyclone X with the tried-and-true R-3350 Duplex-Cyclone which would become famous in its own right. As would the new fighter, the Grumman Hellcat.
The Fleet Air Arm and its pilots couldn't be rid of the Bartlett fast enough and converted to the new Hellcat with whiplash speed. The Bartlett was removed from service and nothing remains of it today except for a long out-of-production conversion set and a few aging fighter pilots who still may not be able to sit quite comfortably.
Brian da Basher