ANNALS OF THE BREWSTER BUFFALO

Among the reasons the Buffalo seldom fared well in air-to-air combat, I've always wondered about that Wright Cyclone engine. Elsewhere I've written: "Cyclone-powered planes included the Douglas SBD dive bomber and the Lockheed Hudson light bomber--but not one important fighter. The engine wasn't suited to the high-g stress of fighter combat, probably because of the way lubricating oil reached the cylinders in the early models." Recently this argument was challenged by Gorka Martinez Mezo of Malaga, Spain, who emails:

"I can`t share this opinion: on its Soviet form (the M25 produced by the Shvetsov OKB), the Cyclone powered thousands of I-15, I-152 and I-16 fighters, used in combat successfully in Spain, China, and WWII. In many cases, against Buffaloes flown by the Finns! At least in Spain, the M25 was considered a good, reliable engine and a copy (based in blueprints sent during the war) built in the 1940s and used for many years."

True enough, and in fact the Finns sometimes re-engined their Brewster fighters with captured M-25s. But I doubt that the Polikarpov fighters would have been a match for the Pratt & Whitney powered Grumman Wildcat that fought the Zero to a draw in the first year of the Pacific War. I'm still inclined to regard the Cyclone as one of the best aircraft engines ever built, but not stalwart enough for air-to-air combat. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford