.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg#Licensing){kind=link}
Six guns and a place on deck
The Naval History and Heritage Command’s catalogue describes a photograph of an F4F-4 of Fighting Six having its six .50-calibre guns tested aboard Enterprise in April 1942. It is a dated equipment record from before Midway, not a photograph of the battle itself. The catalogue description, rather than the original negative, has been checked here. M49
The F4F-4 also introduced folding wings to the operational Wildcat series. Folding reduced the space occupied by parked aircraft aboard ship. The museum’s account distinguishes it from the fixed-wing F4F-3; later General Motors-built variants must be kept separate too. M50
More compact stowage helped a carrier accommodate fighters. It did not remove the work of moving aircraft, unfolding wings, servicing them and clearing the deck for flight operations.
More barrels was not the only question
Spruance’s post-battle report criticised the ammunition supply for the six guns and suggested reconsidering four guns with more ammunition. This was an operational recommendation, not evidence that Midway’s F4F-4s had already been converted to a four-gun arrangement. M43
The point is a practical one: the number of guns and the time for which they could fire were separate considerations. A heavier battery did not automatically solve every problem encountered in combat.
Protection and performance
Nimitz’s June report judged the F4F-4 inferior to the Japanese Zero in speed, manoeuvrability and climb, while valuing the American aircraft’s armour, armament and protected fuel tanks. That is a contemporary command assessment, not a controlled comparison under identical flight conditions. Its claimed exchange ratio is not adopted here as a verified total. M01
The same page calls for fighter patrols at more than one altitude, larger fighter complements and better training. Aircraft design mattered, but so did where fighters were stationed and whether they could reach an incoming attack in time. M01
The variant matters
This profile does not supply a single top speed or range for all Wildcats. Load, altitude, engine setting and variant must accompany those figures before they can support a fair comparison. The six-gun F4F-4 described here should not be illustrated or specified as a later FM-2 merely because both carry the Wildcat name.
See the fighter defence of Yorktown in Hiryū Fights Back.
A later British connection
Wildcats also took part in the 1944 attack on Tirpitz, including aircraft from HMS Searcher. The Tungsten aircraft table lists Wildcat V and VI with four .50-inch guns each. It does not identify which carrier carried each mark. Those later British aircraft do not change the six-gun F4F-4 specification examined in this Midway profile. YT-T22