I believe the FM-2 was equipped with a Wright engine, more powerful than the F4F’s Pratt & Whitney, hence the notably larger rudder for control of propeller-induced torque. Many FM-2s went on board small ASW carriers along with TBMs, the General Motors/Eastern Aircraft version of the TBF Avenger. Both were well suited to operate from the small flight decks.
As a former Grumman employee, I have read some of the history of Grumman products. Grumman, IIRC, stopped making the Wildcat and switched its fighter production entirely to Hellcats. But it developed what the British called the Martlet as a fighter for small ASW carriers, just as you point out. Considering how many merchantmen were sunk in the gap between Britain and Iceland, too far from either for land-based ASW patrols, that mission was a critical application of carrier aviation.
- Freedom's Forge:
- How American Business Produced Victory in World War II
Arthur Hermanis a most interesting discussion of the contrast between America’s woeful lack of inventory of military equipment on the occasion of Pearl Harbor and the dramatic military production accomplished even in 1942, let alone in subsequent war years. It turns out that from 1939, and especially from the fall of France in May 1940, FDR was determined to keep Britain from losing, and equally determined to prepare American industry for war production.
According to
- The New Dealers' War:
- FDR and the War Within World War II
by Thomas FlemingWWII was what forced FDR to back off of “Doctor New Deal" in favor of “Doctor Win-the-War."