I photographed these examples of the Grumman F4F and FM-1/2 Wildcat at the Museum of Flight’s Personal Courage Wing; at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor; on the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point; at the Smithsonian NASM; Palm Springs, the Pima Air Museum; and even an FM-2 listed as airworthy the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, England. I took the pics at Charleston, SC, during the 447th BG reunion in October 2013. The National Air & Space Museum visit was in 2015 during the 447th BG reunion in Washington DC.
Note that there are three separate Wildcat examples in photos I have taken at the Museum of Flight. The first was 12296 I shot during the Personal Courage Wing opening in 2004 and I also shot that same airframe 10 years later at the Pacific Aviation Museum in Pearl Harbor during a Hawaii trip in 2014. A second Wildcat (86690) was photographed at the Museum of Flight in 2010 and the third (74512) in 2016.
F4F-3 12320 Wildcat
O’Hare Chicago 2018
General Motors FM-2 86690
Museum of Flight 2010
General Motors FM-2 74512
Museum of Flight 2016
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Grumman F4F-3 12296
Museum of Flight 2004
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Same plane moved from the Personal Corage Wing at the MoF (above in 2004) to the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor, where I photographed it in 2014