General Motors Fm-3 "bobcat"

[PanzerWulff]

This is one of my enteries in the one week GB thread

October 25,1944 Leyte Gulf
Lt Jg Tom Sweeney sat in his General motors FM-3 "Bobcat" flying CAP over the ships of Taffy 2.On his radio he could hear the chatter of the desperate battle being fought by the escort carriers and destroyers of Taffy 3,Sweeney regretted having to remain on patrol while most of Taffy 2's planes flew to the aid of admiral Sprauge's escort group.He felt he should be helping to drive off the force of Japanese Battleships,Cruisers & destroyers,But they could not leave their own ships undefended either.Shortly after another flight of Avengers and Wildcats sped north from Taffy 2's carriers Sweeney spotted a glint of movement to the northwest "Hey Lead,I have Bogeys 10 O clock high about 3 miles out." he called out."I see em" responded Lt Burke the CAP flight leader,as the flight got closer they recognised the shapes of 6 G4M "Betty" bombers and their Zero escort. Lt burke took 8 of the patrol's fighters to keep the Zeros busy while Sweeney and his wingman Ensign Grady and another pair went for the Betty's.The Japanese were in for a bit of a surprise as the flights "Bobcats while looking like ordinary Wildcats had a few surprises up their sleeves,The first being an increased speed and rate of climb due to 250 extra horses under the cowl a supercharger and a new bigger 4 bladed prop.Sweeney and his wingman bounced the first pair of Bettys and the Japanese felt the effect of the Bobcat's other Surprise,General Motors had removed 2 of the .50 caliber machine guns from the wings and had Shoehorned a 20mm cannon in each wing inboard of the folding mechanisim.A 2 second burst from Sweeneys guns chewed into the bombers right wing causing it to rip away from the fuselage! a quick kick of the rudder slid his Bobcat right behind the second bomber,his gunfire stitched it's way up the fuselage shattering the tail gunners position before swinging across the left wing setting the engine ablaze, Grady cheered "Thats #5 Sweeny you made Ace!!" as the pair banked in on another pair of bombers." Grady you take the one on the right I got the other one."said Sweeney the two bombers didnt stand a chance.......







I hope ya liked it
"Panzer"

[Brian da Basher]

That's totally awesome, Panzer! It's amazing how a couple of modifications can totally change an aircraft! Your "Bobcat" looks great and I think you totally nailed that U.S. Navy dark blue. The white cowl, wingtips and rudder top really sets the scheme off nicely. I thoroughly enjoyed your backstory too, although I find it interesting Ensign Grady didn't rate a promotion between Leyte and "Seven Days in May" (1964).

Great work!!!

Brian da Basher

[PanzerWulff]

Thanks Bri the backstory took more work than most of the kit did lol the one thing that dissapoints me about the pics is due to the dark background you cant really see the Supercharger intake scoop I added under the nose.But I love the kit and I plan on getting a couple more of them
"Panzer"

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Looks really good with that four blade propeller.  Often wondered why the Navy never tried that on the real aircraft.  

Wonder now what an upgraded TBD Devastator would look like with bigger engine and a different propeller.  

Better yet, an SBD Dauntless with folding wings?  

As a what if the Helldiver and Avenger did not make it into production and they had to make do with current aircraft with some improvements like your Wildcat hybrid?

[wolfik]

yes...an improved Devastator ...another wings...wing fold like on the Grumman crafts...would look cool
hmhmm...where are my kits?!?!....where?

[Sisko]

Very nice Panzer!!!!

I had to have closer look to see that it was a whif. You should put that down at a show and see how long it is before people notice it isn't quite "right".

He He subversion is grand!