Brewster F2A" Buffalo"
Model Airplane News Cover Art for October, 1938 and May, 1941
by Jo Kotula
Click to Enlarge

The Brewster F2A was an American fighter aircraft which saw some service at the beginning of World War II. In 1939, the F2A became the first monoplane fighter aircraft used by the US Navy but was inferior to the Japanese A6M "Zero" and Ki-43 "Oscar". Due to the Buffalo's poor maneuverability and speed, it was derided by USMC pilots as a "flying coffin" and was replaced by the Grumman Widlcar and the Cjance-Vought Corsair.

The Buffalo had some successes. A squadron of F2A planes was given to the Finnish government in their war against the Soviet Uninon in 1938. The Finns lost that war, but allied with Germany against the soviet Union in what is known as "The Continuation War of 1941-1944". Wearing Nazi markings, Buffaloes operated by the Suomen Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force) proved quite capable of destroying most Soviet fighter aircraft operating against Finland. In the first phase of that conflict 32 Soviet aircraft shot down for every Buffalo lost. This is more areflection on the state of prewar Russian design than on the quality of the Buffalo.

     

Brewster F2A "Buffalo"
Design Patent D-137,285
Click to Enlarge

Here is a small animated film showing the Finnish version of the "Buffalo" in action.

Brewster did a lot of "Institutional Advertising" trying to get more business. The leaden performance of the Buffalo was certainly a barrier. The company had artist Jo Kotula create a series of six black and white drawings for use in this campaign. In the ad, a Brewster Buccaneer is ready for takeoff while a cloud of "Buffaloes" circles above the carrier. Other drawings celebrate the various capabilities of the "Buccaneer". It proved to be a dud, although some were passed off on the RAF as the "Bermuda."

These drawings may be found regularly in the online auctions. Here is an ad, and individual print and the entire set of six for your reference. Prices can reach $200 (each print in mint condition) on a good day.

     

Brewster Institutional Advertising
Drawn by Jo Kotula
Click to Enlarge

The Buffalo was always a very desirable subject for modeling. Here are some plans that apepared in Model Airplane News almost contemoraneous with the the XF2 flight tests.

Plans for a Model "Buffalo"
October 1938 Issue of Model Airplane News
Click to Enlarge

Cleveland, however, had the reputation for being the definitive word in models. Here is a very complete Cleveland Kit for the Brewster Buffalo. During the pre-WWII period, the kits included the paint for the model.

     

  

Cleveland Model of the Brewster F2A "Buffalo"
The Paint was included
Click to Enlarge

You can buy the plans and patterns that will enable you to make this model right now. Click Here to go to the exact location on the Cleveland Website to get them.

  

Brewster F2A "Buffalo" on the Cleveland Site

Click to go back and select another cover.

Counter for the Entire Site (not just this page..)