“The Performance.....was pathetic” Dan Ford, Aviation historian.
"...suicide barrel....the flying coffin...." American Airmen
"there's space for a cup of tea.." The Brits
"You can have a sh'moke and a pancake up there..." The Dutch
"you can totally turn that cockpit into a sauna...." The Finns
Here’s a little something for the war effort. Takes me long enough just slinging less than 350 parts together - 20k however, that’s like a life’s work!
Features
-none whatsoever. I could go on saying it’s in an early war two-tone livery used by USMC/USN etc etc but you can see that in the profile picture!
Controls
-Pretty darn basic, no wizardry here!
I knew everyone would be submitting zeros and Gucci looking corsairs etc so I thought I’d build the humble Brewster Buffalo as used by many nations in the early stages of the war.
As anyone remotely versed in history will tell you, the buffalo wasn’t exactly a hit with pilots unless you were Finnish. It was dubbed the ‘the flying coffin’ and ‘the suicide barrel’ early on by American pilots. Lt. Kunz went on to say “it should be in Miami as a training plane, rather than used as a front-line fighter”.
The many issues with the buffalo essentially stemmed from the fact it was an obsolete aircraft by the start of the war. Underpowered - especially at combat typical altitudes of 15,000ft where engine power could be as little as 750hp in the F2A-1 variant, unreliable - engines lubrications issues, nose mounted guns failing to fire due to the cables connecting the interrupter gear wearing out, landing gear too weak for hard carrier landings and too damn heavy - in south east Asia the Brits and Dutch had to halve the guns and fuel to even get close to matching the Japanese’s Zero. That was just some of the problems.
The buffalo in Brit service was also thwarted by some really baffling fighter doctrine. They were to use the same tactics as those used by Spitfires (two very different performing aircraft). After heavy losses, COs developed the same tactics the USMC and USN found best to counter the Zero but faced court martial for employing ‘cowardly tactics’. No wonder Singapore fell.
The Finns, after initially being unimpressed went on to find the buffalo somewhat useful achieving 36 ‘buffalo aces’.
I’ll have to bring my rampage to a close as I can foresee Bogdan grinding his teeth with having to read my spiel - or not, he’s probably still trying to download that 20k part leviathan!! :)
Specifications
Spotlights
- Sgtk 4.4 years ago
- QuiteInactiveWhiteBread 4.4 years ago
- RamboJutter 4.4 years ago
- EpicPigster1 4.4 years ago
General Characteristics
- Successors 2 airplane(s) +7 bonus
- Created On iOS
- Wingspan 34.8ft (10.6m)
- Length 26.6ft (8.1m)
- Height 12.3ft (3.7m)
- Empty Weight 7,230lbs (3,279kg)
- Loaded Weight 8,771lbs (3,978kg)
Performance
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.228
- Wing Loading 26.9lbs/ft2 (131.6kg/m2)
- Wing Area 325.5ft2 (30.2m2)
- Drag Points 3628
Parts
- Number of Parts 342
- Control Surfaces 5
- Performance Cost 1,286
Trying to replicate the real deal. @ValentinGarciaMarquez
its maneuverability is terrible
@Tang0five
Ok thanks!
Of course you can no need to credit me! @switdog08
@TangOfive
Do you mind if I use the insignia's on one of my builds (I will give credit of course)?
Thanks mate! There’s not many on this site I’ll give you that! @LuftwaffeAce262
Honestly my favourite buffalo on this site. If just feels real.
It’s awesome!@Tang0five
Ah the buffalo. The piece of shit that surprised everyone by function well way past the sensible decommissioning period
It is fun and frustratingly realistic. The battles are not always fair because of this. @Tang0five
Thanks for spotlighting this barrel! @Sgtk and @Diloph
I must try that game out! @Shippy456
I associate with the flying coffin reference. War Thunder has taught me so much...
@Tang0five LOL exactly
Thanks for the spot @EpicPigster1 most kind! I agree, as far as general aviation went they had no vicious characteristics and would have/did make good trainers. Powerplants were always a big issue after they chose to fit the more reliable but less performing wright cyclone engines more suited to transport/bombers. A lot of these engines were reconditioned in cottage industry workshops that led to noticeable difference in performance from one engine to another - noticed in sqn climbs etc. Really quite a fascinating kite. Theres a lot of info out there and pilot diaries etc I just got comp[letely absorbed and was in danger of putting together a thesis - but no one reads the description lets face it!
The funny thing is, the F2A-1 Buffalo was actually rather nimble, and according to their pilots they were joys to fly because of their light weight and low wing loading. It only got bad with the F2A-3, which added self-sealing tanks, armor, improved radios and a bunch of stuff that made it so heavy that it was like flying a pig. Great work though, this looks pretty sweet!
@RamboJutter in RAF colours of course? :) Typical Gen-Melchitt-from blackadder-type hierarchy insisting they fight like spits!! The fall of Singapore is a really fascinating subject for me and just goes to show the effects of morale (bloody tea supply must have been cut) and underestimating your enemy. Ever since our armed forces have had good training in extreme environments. I bet Airfix dont sell the buffalo anymore - probably sold the tooling to competitors unless im mistaken and they still produce it!
@Tang0five lol, now there's an idea. I still have 2 (very poor condition) 1/72 scale airfix buffalos from when I was a kid, I always liked it for some reason. I think I have a couple of boxed ones ready to build as well.
Thanks @RamboJutter for the spot, you're a legend! Maybe you could do some hybrid buffalo from the RJ Ltd industries realm in the future?
Oh I like simple, just like me! @CrushburnHQ The buffalo was just like the Fairey Battle when the Second World War came about, they were just obsolete. A lot of early 30s monoplanes went that way, it was a period of rapid change. Kind of like post war jets of the late 40s-early 50s. With that said the Buffalo was a forgiving aircraft to fly apparently and had plenty of room in the cockpit. It just wasn’t front line material in 1941. I tend to focus on the negatives when writing about aircraft like this. Probably my dark sense of humour. Trust me, I think Buffalo pilots had a darker sense of humour though.
@F4Mustang my builds dont normally have that affect but thank you :)
But thanks for the simple enough build that I can actually break down and study
The description made me regret liking the plane irl
I'm speechless.....
Haha yeah, fighter pilots are a different breed @Tang0five