General Background

The Brewster F2A Buffalo was USN's first mono-wing fighter. The status of the “Buffalo” is somewhat controversial in the history of aviation. It was designed by US but saw its real success only in Finland, a co-belligerent of Germany during WWII. It was designed as a carrier based fighter but only saw combat from land bases.

The most distinctive feature of the Buffalo was the retractable landing gear. With the right pilot the plane was quite capable in combat. Some historians believe that some units of the Commonwealth squadrons may have achieved a 2 to 1 kill ratio in the Far East.

The Aircraft

The second VF-2 was equipped with Brewster F2A2-2 Buffaloes in 1940 and called the USS Lexington home. In spite of Brewster's engineers' efforts weak landing gear remained a problem in this newer version. The "Fighting Two" was composed entirely of Chief Petty Officers so they became known as the "Flying Chiefs". This squadron was considered the "hottest US squadron in the Pacific" but they were still disestablished mid-1942. The last US combat for the Brewsters came at the Battle of Midway being replaced with F4F Wildcats.