Thach's F2A-1

Thach's F2A-1

Thach's F2A-1

USA

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
2.0	2.0	2.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Fighter

Naval aircraft

Purchase:400

Description

The John Thach's F2A-1 Buffalo is a Rank I American naval fighter with a battle rating of 2.0 (AB/RB/SB) It was introduced in Update 1.31. It costs 400 GE. The plane is painted after the camouflage scheme of American pilot John Thach in the U.S. Navy, who was famous for the "Thach Weave" maneuver.

The Brewster F2A Buffalo was the first carrier based monoplane of the US fleet, made to replace the outdated biplanes in service with the US Navy. It had a 950 horsepower engine and two machine guns on the nose of different caliber. Many Countries, including the Finnish Air Force which was highly successful with the buffalo, ordered the Buffalo. By the time WWII started and the attack of pearl harbor, the F2A was outclassed by the Japanese A6M2 and Ki-43s.

The F2A-1 is a competitive machine, if using the proper tactic versus the proper enemy. The "Buffalo", as it is sometimes referred to as, can outrun biplanes and can out-turn most monoplanes. Its only draw back is low ammo count and unreliable armament, however its performance easily makes up for the lack in armament. As said before this plane will get you used to the American style of aircraft of Boom & Zoom along with the particulars of .50 caliber machine guns usage.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 4,600 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
479	468	8,000	19.1	19.4	7.4	7.4	250
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 4,600 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
530	504	8,000	18.0	18.2	18.7	10.9	250

Details

Features
Combat flap	Take-off flap	Landing flap	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	✓

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
761	720	460	~22	~11

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 405	< 400	< 380	> 200

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
1,800 m	860 hp	963 hp
Setting 2
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
4,650 m	760 hp	851 hp

Survivability and armour

• No armour plating
• No armour glazing
• Critical components located at front of aircraft (fuel, pilot, engine, controls)
• More fuel tanks located in wings near fuselage

Armaments

Offensive armament

Thach's F2A-1 is armed with:

• 1 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine gun, nose-mounted (250 rpg)
• 2 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine gun, wing-mounted (400 rpg = 800 total)
• 1 x 7.62 mm Browning machine gun, nose-mounted (450 rpg)

Usage in the battles

The best way to fly this aircraft would be as a Boom & Zoom or energy fighter; it can outrun most aircraft it faces, unless it is uptiered and faces something like the Bf 109 F-1. In such a scenario the best way to destroy more advanced vehicles is through boom and zoom tactics.

In Arcade you don't have to worry about your ammo count as much as in Realistic Battles(RB) and Simulator (SB) since you can reload in the air. The target-lead indicator, which shows you approximately where there enemy plane will when when the bullets reach the target, also eases with aiming, and you are more sure of hitting you target. For arcade, the ammo belts are really useful, it is suggested to use Omni purpose ammo for the .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine gun and stealth for the .30 cal (7.62 mm) machine gun, however another option is to try going all stealth so you can surprise the enemy with bullets they can't see'. There are a variety of enemy planes that the F2A-1 faces, ranging from biplanes to low tier monoplanes. In the common low tier arcade battle we get fur-balls going on at low altitude with planes trying to get on each other's tail, a perfect set up for a Boom & Zoomer like the Buffalo, first you must set you your attack angle, which could be from directly above the enemy you choose to attack, or from behind(it should be your priority to target enemy planes that are chasing friendly planes or for a dangerous threat like, MiG-3s, LaGG3s, Hurricane, bf109s or another Buffalo). Once you are nearing towards the enemy plane, you should know what type of enemy they are, depending on what plane they are flying, is what you do after you make an attack run. Lets say you dived on an enemy, but you didn't kill him on the first pass, if the enemy was a biplane, then you keep your speed and vacant the area, and set up another pass. If the enemy was a Monoplane in the same situation, you can choose to either vacant the area, or turn onto his tail, but it is advisable to leave the area and look and see if he noticed you, if he didn't and he is chasing a friendly or going for ground targets then latch on to his tail and shoot him down!

In Realistic Battles & Simulator Battles, most of the tactics you use against fighters would be the same as in arcade, only with a few restrictions.

1. you cannot dive too fast, or you wont be able to pull up or you will break your wings.
2. No Enemy-Lead indicator, you will have to guess where the enemy plane will be when the bullets reach the targets on your own.
3. Very limited ammo, on top of that the armament isn't reliable outside of 400 meters.

So how does one play this in RB with all these draw backs? A few very simple things will help you with those problems, at the beginning of the match in RB, climb at about a 15 degree angle until you reach about 3,000-4,000 m in altitude (press V until you see the gun cam view, which shows the angle of climb). When you spot an enemy, if he is a biplane you will have to Boom & Zoom him, do not attempt to turn fight, if he is a monoplane you could possibly turn fight him, if he is a British Hurricane or Japanese A5M (not to confuse with A6M much superior to the Buffalo) or Ki-43 do not turn fight with those monoplanes. For the most part, Russian monoplanes are safe to turn fight(I-16s, late I-16s, MiG-3 and LaGG-3s). When you dive on an enemy, put your throttle to 0%, so you don't go to fast, if you can't get a shot on the enemy, pull out by putting throttle at 100% and point your nose up to gain altitude. Once you are on the tail of an enemy, no matter the plane, you should only open fire at close ranges, firing at 300 meters or less would help you conserve your ammo and you won't have to lead as much therefore easier to aim and make your shots more effective.

This can apply to all three game-modes: When someone is on your tail and you see bullets flying past you, if you have the alt, make a short steep dive. With that little dive, you dodge the enemies bullets and it gives you time to look back really quick. If the aircraft is a biplane, you can continue the dive and get out of range of their guns, if he is a monoplane, you can attempt to turn fight, but the F2A is still effective in diving away from even faster monoplanes, so you can try that versus maneuverable monoplanes like the hurricane and A5M. Learning the gun sounds also helps, sometimes you will know automatically what plane is on your tail if you hear some gun sounds behind you which can be helpful in many situations.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Separate	Not ontrollable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator		Offensive 7 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe	New 7 mm MGs
III	Wings Repair	Engine		Offensive 12 mm
IV		Engine Injection	Cover	New 12 mm MGs

• As a premium tank all upgrades are already unlocked. The "Mark of distinction" can be earned, allowing for usage of four decals without needing a premium account.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Great dive speed
• Great vertical and horizontal energy retention
• Good armament for it's tier
• Good top speed
• Good turning circle and speed not a turn-fighter though
• Can land on a carriers
• Powerful .50 caliber machine guns
• Great acceleration (at take-off and on the deck up to ~250 mph)

Cons:

• Low ammo count (can be conserved by firing at close range)
• The telescopic sight is a bit of an annoyance in Simulator battles, as you are forced to look into it when you zoom

History

The Brewster F2A-1 buffalo was designed to replace the Grumman F3F biplane fighter. In a competition between the Grumman XF4F1 and the XF2A-1(the P-35 lost early on), the XF2A-1 won as it was more advanced than the Grumman aircraft, so it went into production as F2A-1.

Although the F2A buffalo fought only a few battles with the US Military, it fought important ones. In the battle of Midway, it was one of the main fighter planes of the US fleet (the other being the F4F Wildcat), it played an important role(along with the other planes)in the battle of Midway, and showed that the F2A and F4F where no match to the A6M, and where soon replaced by more advanced F6F and F4U Corsair.

Many Nations acquired the F2A in there air forces, the most successful country with the type was Finland. From January to February 1940, the Finns received there F2A-1s (Designated B239), in total they received 44 Buffalos. During the Continuation War the Finnish Air Force was highly successful with the type, they developed tactics that the Russians couldn't counter. One tactic they used was baiting, where 2 Buffalos are low and act as bait, as 2 others dive on attacking enemy planes. In the Continuation War, Squadron 24 of Finland, some sources state, had a victory ratio of 26. Buffalos of 24 squadron claimed 477 confirmed kills to 15 Buffalos destroyed.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

Sources

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• topic on the official game forum;
• page on aircraft encyclopedia;
• other literature.