All about the Brewster F2A Buffalo fighter of World War II, which fared
so poorly against the
Japanese in the Pacific but was a star in the hands of Finnish pilots
flying against the Russian air force in the 'Continuation War', 1941-1944
WARBIRD HOME > BUFFALO
ANNALS OF THE BREWSTER BUFFALO
The recovery of Brewster 372:
Marya Lampi's film on YouTube
My goodness, it was nearly a quarter-century ago that the small world
of Brewster Buffalo buffs learned that an actual Brewster fighter had been
raised from the chill waters of Big Kolejärvi Lake, just below the
64th parallel of longitude and 60 miles east of the present Russo-Finnish
border. It was an international venture, with Finns, Americans, and Russians
working together, and a central figure was a young woman named Marja Lampi.
She spoke all three languages, and she was herself the daughter of a Brewster
pilot in what the Finns knew as the Continuation War, when they tried to
recover the province of Karelia that Joseph Stalin had annexed in the
Winter War of 1939-1940. Here's the film Marja made about the search and
recovery of BW-372, now streaming on YouTube:
Trigger warning: newcomers to the Finnish Air Force may be startled to see that before 1945 its planes bore the Scandinavian good-luck emblem of the hakaristi (bent-leg cross), similar to the swastika adopted by the Nazi party in the 1930s.
Over the course of ten years, I posted seven files about the odyssey of the Brewster fighter, tying them together with this one in 2008: BW-372, back home in Finland! Blue skies! — Dan Ford
In Finnish service
Photos of Brewsters in Finnish Air Force service
First combat in a Brewster fighter (Heimo Lampi)
Finland's home-built "Humu" copy of the Buffalo
Robert Winston and the Finnish Brewsters (Jarmo Lindberg)
Finnish aces (Brewsterwise & otherwise)
Finland copied Browning mgs for its fighters
The Brewster 239 in Finnish service (Jukka Raustia)
Notes from Double Fighter Knight
Lentolaivue 24: the Brewster vs. the Red Air Force
BW-372, back home in Finland!
First combat in a Brewster fighter (Heimo Lampi)
Finland's home-built "Humu" copy of the Buffalo
Robert Winston and the Finnish Brewsters (Jarmo Lindberg)
Finnish aces (Brewsterwise & otherwise)
Finland copied Browning mgs for its fighters
The Brewster 239 in Finnish service (Jukka Raustia)
Notes from Double Fighter Knight
Lentolaivue 24: the Brewster vs. the Red Air Force
BW-372, back home in Finland!
In British Commonwealth service
Charmed Life: an encounter over Kuala Lumpur
Differences between the F2A-2 and the British B-339s
A British Buffalo undergoing flight test in Pennsylvania
Pilot's Notes: The Buffalo I Aeroplane (downloadable manual)
British pilots critique the Buffalo | What Eric Brown thought
805 Squadron in the defense of Crete
The Buffalo pilots of Southeast Asia
'The performance of some aircraft was pathetic'
The 'secret report': how the Buffaloes fared in Malaya
The war in Malaya: Sergeant Buntain's diary
Sam Case's scrapbook: 67 Squadron in Singapore and Rangoon
Geoff Fisken: New Zealand Buffalo ace
Colin Pinckney: British Buffalo ace
Vic Bargh flies a Buffalo over Rangoon
"What Odds They Faced in Burma's Sky!" (wartime feature)
Notable Commonwealth Buffalo pilots (Santiago Flores)
Bingham-Wallis defends the Buffalo
Buffaloes Over Singapore (Brian Cull et al)
Differences between the F2A-2 and the British B-339s
A British Buffalo undergoing flight test in Pennsylvania
Pilot's Notes: The Buffalo I Aeroplane (downloadable manual)
British pilots critique the Buffalo | What Eric Brown thought
805 Squadron in the defense of Crete
The Buffalo pilots of Southeast Asia
'The performance of some aircraft was pathetic'
The 'secret report': how the Buffaloes fared in Malaya
The war in Malaya: Sergeant Buntain's diary
Sam Case's scrapbook: 67 Squadron in Singapore and Rangoon
Geoff Fisken: New Zealand Buffalo ace
Colin Pinckney: British Buffalo ace
Vic Bargh flies a Buffalo over Rangoon
"What Odds They Faced in Burma's Sky!" (wartime feature)
Notable Commonwealth Buffalo pilots (Santiago Flores)
Bingham-Wallis defends the Buffalo
Buffaloes Over Singapore (Brian Cull et al)
In U.S. service
'Head on at Midway' - the U.S. Marines go to war
Meet Holly Hills, Buffalo pilot (among other types)
'A real dinger' - Gordon Firebaugh remembers
Pappy Boyington and the Buffalo
Problems with the F2A-3 self-sealing fuel tanks
Records of the F2A-1 in U.S. Navy service
The F2A-2 Buffalos--Bureau numbers & deposition
Meet Holly Hills, Buffalo pilot (among other types)
'A real dinger' - Gordon Firebaugh remembers
Pappy Boyington and the Buffalo
Problems with the F2A-3 self-sealing fuel tanks
Records of the F2A-1 in U.S. Navy service
The F2A-2 Buffalos--Bureau numbers & deposition
In Dutch, Belgian, and Japanese service
A history of the Brewsters in Dutch service (Gerard Casius)
A Dutch Buffalo joins the U.S. Army
Notable Dutch Buffalo pilots (Santiago Flores)
Forty Brewsters Meant for Belgium
Dutch prisoners of war: the Japanese Buffs
A Dutch Buffalo joins the U.S. Army
Notable Dutch Buffalo pilots (Santiago Flores)
Forty Brewsters Meant for Belgium
Dutch prisoners of war: the Japanese Buffs
Brewster ghosts
Diving for relics at Midway -
A Buffalo discovered (2013)
The saga of BW-372 and its long road home to Finland
Some Buffalo bits in the Netherlands
Looking for Harry Griffiths's Buffalo
Is this the wreckage of A51-006?
Brewster Buccaneer under restoration
The saga of BW-372 and its long road home to Finland
Some Buffalo bits in the Netherlands
Looking for Harry Griffiths's Buffalo
Is this the wreckage of A51-006?
Brewster Buccaneer under restoration
Brewster Aeronautical and other resources
"The Sorry Saga of the Brewster Buffalo" (Daniel Ford)
A Brewster bibliography
Buffaloes among the Kangaroos (Ralph Brading)
Production record of the Brewster fighters (Jim Maas)
No. 1 - 508: what happened to the planes (Jos Heyman)
'Naval Air Supremacy & the Buffalo' (Malcolm LeCompte)
About that Wright Cyclone engine
'End nears for a plant that made flying junk'
Stock certificate from Brewster Aeronautical Corporation
Brewster worker's badge from Johnsville, Pa.
The Brewster name lives again! (William Dougherty)
A Brewster bibliography
Buffaloes among the Kangaroos (Ralph Brading)
Production record of the Brewster fighters (Jim Maas)
No. 1 - 508: what happened to the planes (Jos Heyman)
'Naval Air Supremacy & the Buffalo' (Malcolm LeCompte)
About that Wright Cyclone engine
'End nears for a plant that made flying junk'
Stock certificate from Brewster Aeronautical Corporation
Brewster worker's badge from Johnsville, Pa.
The Brewster name lives again! (William Dougherty)
For modelers
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Once or twice a month, I send out an email newsletter about my books and the subjects covered in them, most often about military aviation and the wars of the past hundred years. You can unsubscribe at any time.Question? Comment? Newsletter? Send me an email. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
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Posted January 17, 2023. Websites © 1997-2023 Daniel Ford; all rights reserved.