"F4F-3 Wildcat" jacket

With the discovery of the wreck of USS Lexington (CV-2) in the depths of the Coral Sea in March 2018, a large number of aircraft wrecks from the carrier’s embarked air group were located near the aircraft carrier.

Among them was an F4F-3 Wildcat bearing the “Felix the Cat” insignia, which at first glance seemed out of place. It is true that Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3) had operated from Lexington earlier in the Second World War, but at the time of the Battle of the Coral Sea, on May 7–8, 1942, VF-3 was based ashore in Hawaii.

However, a closer examination of the historical records reveals that, before embarking aboard Lexington on April 15, 1942, for what would prove to be the ship’s final cruise, VF-2 took possession of nineteen of VF-3’s Wildcats for the upcoming campaign.

In addition, twelve pilots from the “Felix the Cat” squadron were transferred to VF-2. As part of the squadron’s aircraft reorganization, the maintenance personnel assigned new side numbers to each aircraft. With the pressure of unfolding events, no effort was made to cover the markings already carried by the former VF-3 aircraft, including the squadron insignia, the Japanese Rising Sun flags representing air-to-air victories, and the bomb silhouettes indicating air-to-ground attack missions.

One of these former VF-3 aircraft was assigned the side number F-5 and allocated to Lt. Albert O. Vorse Jr., who had previously served with the “Felix the Cat” squadron. This is the aircraft that inspired our jacket.