[IGOTMINE]

Mustang. Lightning. Thunderbolt. Those names still give me chills. But I've come to a new favorite...the F4F4 Wildcat. Underpowered and overgunned, they were the only capable combat aircraft our guys had on Guadalcanal from August-October of 1942. Men like Joe Foss, Joe Bauer, Bob Smith, Jeff DeBlanc, Marion Carl and dozens of others flew those "inferior" machines into battle outnumbered almost every day, and they clawed victory from the sky with those stubby Grumman products. (With a little help from Mr. Browning, of course ;)

[FlyVet]

the F4F4 Wildcat

Yes, Wildcat was technically overmatched. But they could take punishment. The Zero could out-dogfight it any day, but would fold up like a cheap lawn chair if it took a few hits. Japanese didn't see the value of protecting the pilot until later in the war, when it was already too late. Read a book called "Samurai!" By Martin Caidin. Our adversaries were extremely tough. They lost because they had bigger idiots in charge than we did, and also I believe we had the Hand of God on our side.