The Brewster F2A Buffalo is an American fighter aircraft which saw service early in World War II. Designed and built by the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, it was one of the first U.S. monoplanes with an arrestor hook and other modifications for aircraft carriers. The Buffalo won a competition against the Grumman F4F Wildcat in 1939 to become the U.S. Navy's first monoplane fighter aircraft. Although superior to the Grumman F3F biplane it replaced, and the early F4Fs, the Buffalo was largely obsolete when the United States entered the war, being unstable and overweight, especially when compared to the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
Brewster F2A Buffalo
Brewster XF2A-1 prototype
LT John S. Thach tipped this F2A-1 onto its nose on Saratoga, March 1940
F2A-3s serving as U.S. Navy training aircraft at NAS Miami, 1942–1943
Brewster Aeronautical Corporation
The Brewster Aeronautical Corporation was an American defense contractor that was founded in 1932, with a focus on naval aircraft. Wrought with fraud, mismanagement and inefficient production, the United States Navy eventually stepped in to take direct control for a period, and the company folded at the end of World War II.
An SB2A-4 near NAS Vero Beach, Florida, 1942–43
The F3A was a license built version of the Vought F4U Corsair