EAW General Motors FM-2 Wildcat VC-80 (VC meant Composite Air Group) aboard CVE 61 Manila Bay from Oct 1944 to Feb 1945. This Air Group was aboard during the Battle of Leyte Gulf as part of the famous "Taffy 2" tak force that turned back the Japanese battleships attacking "Taffy 3" escort carrier group.

The 3DZ model is further development of my F4F wildcat model to make the "wildest Wildcat" as it was called. It was an improved version of the F4F Wildcat produced by General Motors. It had a more powerful engine and a taller tail to counteract the increased engine torque. While Grumman was busy producing the F6F Hellcat, this version was kept in production to equip the air groups on board the smaller escort carriers which were tasked with the ground attack  / air support role for the many island invasions beginning in 1943 and lasting until the end of the war in 1945.

The model, skin and cockpit are all my work. To get the Blue shades to show properly, you need to load the DAY_FADE.PAL palette by VonBeerhofen - included in this package.

Use with Charles Gunst's new flight profile file included here - it's the P47C.FLT file. Don't reopen the ECAPanel program after you have installed it, or it will overwrite this flight file. It uses the P-47C slot and the markings are designed to use in the Pacific Tide Campaign and Guadalcanal Campaign. Hopefully someday the Carrier Air War campaign will get finished and it can be flown from a carrier as was intended when it was created.


To install, just unzip all the *.TPC and *.3DZ files into your EAW folder. Then install the P47C.FLT and DAY_FADE.PAL files into the EAW folder as well.

There is also a no- marking .PCX file for this aircraft included if you'd like to try your hand at adding your own markings for a different VC group. 

The F4F model mentioned above is a completely redone version of a wireframe that started life as the Wildcat from Microprose's "1942: Pacific Air War" and is also available at Captain Kurt's EAW Collection.

Have fun,

Captain Kurt

July, 2004