Even if we speak only of Atlantic convoy duty, aircraft were the #2 threat after submarines. Not only could they damage ships by bombing, but planes like the Fw-200 Condor could remain on station for some period of time, outside of AA range, and report the convoy speed and direction. 30 to 60 minutes of such readings would take the convoy through multiple zigs and zags, provided very useful baseline data for German fleet HQ to help the submarines set intercepting courses.
The issue was important enough that, prior to the availability of escort carriers, the Brits mounted Hurricanes on catapults on merchant ships (the so-called CAM s: Catapult Armed Merchants). These poor sods had no where to land. Their missions almost always resulted in the loss of their aircraft through ditching, unless they were by luck close enough to friendly land bases (rare indeed, as most of the time if they were in range of a friendly airbase, they had friendly air cover). But it was judged worth a 100% loss rate on fighters (and no small number of their pilots, too -- ditching was a dangerous business) to chase away the Condors.
Also, you don't know what missions will be assigned when you work a ship up. Airgroups are not like rounds of ammo … you don't just change the loadout from one mission to the next. While it was certainly possible to ship airgroups with different organizations, once aboard they generally stayed aboard for many missions. So some flexibility in assignment would be a good thing.
He remarked that the Wildcats assigned to escort carriers were a variant (built by Martin, if memory serves) that were considerably "hotter" in performance than the original Grummans.
I don't think Martin built any Wildcats. Later Wildcats were built by General Motors (FM-1 and FM-2 variants). These were indeed "hotter" than earlier Grumman Wildcats.
By mid-war Grumman was too busy building Hellcats and Avengers, and did not have capacity to continue building Wildcats. But the USN wanted to keep the Wildcat in production to serve on smaller carriers (like the escort carriers, but also some of the light fleet carriers), in roles where the larger, more advanced fighters might not be necessary, but an adequate, smaller fighter was useful. So GM took up the production. I think, in both cases, the upgrades were Grumman designed, with newer more powerful engines. Just that they were built by GM.
For those who don't know how to decode USN aircraft designations during late WW2, they are based on:
1) Aircraft type
2) Manufacturer
3) Model, in sequence, of that aircraft type built by that manufacturer.
So FM-2 is a Fighter (F), built by GM (M), that is the second fighter type built by GM for the USN.
This was a later war variation on the earlier designations, which were:
1) Aircraft type
2) Model, in sequence, of that aircraft type built by that manufacturer.
3) Manufacturer.
So F4F is a Fighter (F), that is the fourth fighter type (4) built by Grumman (F). And an F4U is a Fighter (F), that is the fourth fighter type (4) built by Vought (U).
-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)
