General Background
Produced in the mid to late 1930s the F3F-1 as well as the 2 and 3 variants belonged to what probably was the most colorful era in US military aviation history. Grumman took all the lessons learned from the F2F and incorporated them into the F3F. The Flying Barrel, as it was commonly called, had a wide fuselage to accommodate the large radial engine and a three-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller. The plane had improved retractable landing gear, longer fuselage. The last F3F was retired by the USN in November 1943.
The Aircraft
The aircraft represented by this model was flown by the Commanding Officer of VF-7, aboard USS “Wasp” in 1939-40, they were the last Navy fighter squadron to equip with the F3F-1. These airplanes were used on the “Neutrality Patrol” in 1940. The Neutrality Patrol was organized in September 1939 as a response to the war in Europe. It was ordered to track and report the movements of any warlike operations of belligerents in the waters of the Western Hemisphere.
