Thanks folks.
Brian: Putting an Allison in the
Buffalo was great fun as a whif. I'm just stunned that Brewster actually consider the idea for real!
... wondering why it never occurred to me before to put an Allison on a Buffalo.
A 'Super Buffalo' into ServiceA variation on the 424A
Bruant light fighter for the French was the Brewster Model 424G (P-24G)
Brétailleur (
Duelist). Using
Bruant wings and empennage, the
Brétailleur was to have a more corpulent fuselage to accommodate a Gnome-Rhône 14M
Mars twin-row radial engine. A further develpment was the P-24N with a larger-diameter Gnome-Rhône 14N. That concept led to the
Twin Wasp-powered P-28/F4A
Brigand shipboard fighter prototype.
The XF4A-1 was a light fighter only by American standards. The XF4A-1 could be seen as an evolution of the XF2A-5 concept. As with the XF2A-5, the XF4A-1's engine was fitted with an extension shaft. In the case of the XF4A-1, the R-1830 was fan-cooled. To counter the weight of the
Twin Wasp and its cooling fan, the rear fuselage was extended.
Compared with the XF2A-5, the XF4A-1 was a great success but it lacked the performance edge to be the '
Zero Killer' that Dayton T. Brown had been counting on. Pax River Navy test pilots were also critical of control and visibility on simulated carrier approaches. More work was needed.
The XF4A-2 incorporated a sliding bubble canopy to improve visibility but, if anything, this worsened slow-speed control. This prototype was reworked as the XF4A-3 with a revised rear fuselage and a completely new empennage. The
Buffalo-style tailfin and rudder was abandoned in favour of a taller unit reminiscent of that used on the production SBN divebombers.
The F4A-3 was ordered into production for the US Navy but Brewster Aeronautical was very slow in delivering completed airframes and workmanship was often poor. In the event, almost all of the
Brigands went to Marine Corps squadrons in the Pacific.
Shown here are the XF4A-1 prototype and an F4A-3A
Brigand which replaced the F2A-3s of VMF-222.