General Motors FM-2 Wildcat


Plane: General Motors FM-2 Wildcat

Weight (Empty/Loaded/Max): 5,542lb / 7,412lb / 8,221lb

Wing Area: 260 sq ft

Wing Loading: 21.3lb/sq ft / 28.5lb/sq ft / 31.6lb/sq ft

Length: 28' 10"

Span: 38'

Wing Aspect Ratio: 5.6

Engine: 1350hp Wright R-1820-56 Radial

Flaps: 2 settings

Visibility: (same art as F6F)

Control Feel:

Stall Speed 1k (No Flaps/Full Flaps) 85/75mph

Guns:

  type/ammo ROF Duration WB Punch Muzzle Velocity Ammo/Gun
Primary: 2x.50cal Browning MG 12/s 36s 3x.50cal/ping 2810ft/s 430
Secondary: 2x.50cal Browning MG 12/s 36s 3x.50cal/ping 2810ft/s 430

Ordnance:
0: none
1: 6xRockets
2: 2x100lb bombs
3: 2x500lb bombs

Fuel Time/Percent: 28 seconds/percent

Power/weight (Empty/Loaded/Max): 4.1lb/hp / 5.5lb/hp / 6.1lb/hp

Corner Velocity: 230mph

Durability:

WEP time: 5 minutes

Maximum Angle-of-Attack (no flaps/full flaps): 14.5/14.0 degrees

Wing Incidence Angle (no flaps/full flaps): 4.5/4 degrees


Accleleration:

  1,000ft 5,000ft 10,000ft 15,000ft
Stall-200mph 23.3s 27.6s 37.4s 52.4s
150mph-200mph 11.9s 15.9s 23.1s 32.1s
200mph-250mph 18s 24.8s 38.5s -
250mph-300mph - - - -

Climb:
1k-5k: 57s
5k-10k: 97s
10k-15k: 114s

Zoom Climb:
1k 400mph: +4,700ft
1k 300mph: +3,000ft

Dive:

  Max Speed After 30s After 60s
15,000ft to 10,000ft 370mph 300mph 280mph
15,000ft to 5,000ft 480mph 340mph 300mph
10,000ft to 5,000ft 395mph 315mph 300mph
10,000ft to 1,000ft 480mph 340mph 310mph
5,000ft to 1,000ft 370mph 320mph 310mph

 

Max Speed:

  1,000ft 5,000ft
Climbing before levelling 290mph 285mph
Diving before levelling 300mph 285mph

Turn Performance

300mph 1,000ft 5,000ft 10,000ft 15,000ft
One 360 12.0s 12.3s 13.9s -
Two 360s 25.9s 25.8s 31.1s -
250mph
One 360 11.9s 12.6s 13.1s -
Two 360s 25.9s 28.4s 32.8s -
Sustained
No Flaps 16.4s 17.6s 21.2s 23.1s
Full Flaps 15.9s 18.3s 21.7s 24.9s
Best Flap full none none none
Speed/best 100mph 110mph 110mph 105mph

Corner Speed and Radii (1,000ft):

Speed: 230mph
Radius: 385ft
Sustained Turn Speed: 130mph
Sustained Turn Radius: 497ft
Full Flaps Speed: 110mph
Full Flaps Radius: 408ft

Corner Times 1,000ft 5,000ft 10,000ft 15,000ft
180 degrees 5.7s 5.6s 6.2s 6.9s
360 degrees 12.2s 13.2s 13.9s 15.5s

Roll Rate:
150mph: 6.4s
200mph: 4.7s
250mph: 4.0s
300mph: 3.8s
350mph: 3.8s
400mph:

Minimum Full-Flaps Full-Power Split-S altitude:
150mph: 900ft
200mph: 1100ft
250mph: 1500ft
300mph: 1800ft


Hoof's Tips and Opinions:

The FM-2 is one of the rare cases (the P38 being another) where a later variant of a plane results in improvements across the board. Most later variants of planes sacrifice something (usually maneuverability) for something else (usually speed). Not so here. The FM-2 is faster, more maneuverable, rolls better, handles better at higher speeds, climbs better, dives better, and has more ammo for it's guns. The only advantage the F4F has over the FM-2 is the extra 2 .50 cal guns, but this is more than made up for by the larger ammunition load in the FM-2. The FM-2 is a fairly competent arena plane, able to turn with P38s and Spits just fine. It is still slow, unable to catch virtually any plane that tries to get away, and it has a rather low punch to it's guns. A Zero or Ki43 should still eat it alive unless the FM-2 pilot has a few thousand feet with which to disengage.

See the write-up on the F4F for more information on flying the Wildcat.

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