Talk:Brewster Buffalo
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Stan, do you think this one should be under Brewster Buffalo? In general, US military aircraft are known by their number rather than their name, but I think this one is an exception. It's far better known under the "Buffalo" name - possibly not in the USA (I'm no expert on th USA) but it's primarily known for its service with foreign operators, in particular the British Empire. (Service? Being thrown into action against fighters that entirely outclassed it, shot it to ribbons, and killed a lot of very brave pilots counts as "service"? Oh well, you know what I mean.) Tannin
- I guess I was thinking of it from purely the US point of view, where the naming rule would would disallow "Buffalo" because it's not official. Google shows 800 for "brewster f2a buffalo" leaving just 700 for "brewster f2a" without the "buffalo", and 2300 for "brewster buffalo", which seems pretty definite for what's the most common usage. I'll sleep on it, but moving the page does seem like the right idea. Stan 05:32 Apr 28, 2003 (UTC)
[edit] Pedantic correction & comment
As far asa the name goes, I think the aircraft is generally known as the Buffalo, at least in the English speaking world, and we should probably go with commonusage, especially as it was largely used by nations other than the US. I removed reference to Zeros in Malaya in 1941 as RAAF RAF RNZAF opposition there was not Zeros, (Oscars yes, but didn't want to add a whole heap about it).
- Indeed, yes, there were Zeros at Singapore, just as there were army fighters in the Indies! It's true however that I can find no specific instance of a Buffalo in combat against a Zero.
"Buffalo" is of course the universal name, everywhere but Finland. Even the Marines at Midway called them Buffaloes. (The U.S. Navy never used them in combat.) --Cubdriver 5 July 2005 17:50 (UTC)
Apologies, let me rephrase that, there is no record of the Singapore Buffaloes meeting zeros, except for combat claims of pilots at the time, (while these were generally dismissed I notice some were at least capable of recognising an Oscar). Actually was unuaware of Zeros being involved at all until after Buffaloes were withdrawn but would welcome correction. As far as RNZAF squadron goes, you are quite right to say there was no RNZAF Buffalo squadron as such, I am uncerain whether the RNZAF controlled some of the ex-Singapore Buffaloes temporarily as they did with the Hurricanes, (see list of RNZAF aircraft on Wikipedia or Kiwi Serial numbers web site). 488(NZ) or 488(RNZAF) squadron of the Royal Air Force is frequently referred to as an RNZAF squadron - I have corrected the link so it goes to the entry for this unit, but left it under "RAF". Incidentally we are also missing Japan from the list of users - I know they got at least one airborne, but I'm not sure if it was ex Dutch, RAF or RAAF. :-)
