Obscure aircraft discovery goes on...

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

I've always wondered that myself.

Although, except for that pesky N-G ban, I've always thought that the Fireball would make an excellent "Pacific 1946" plane to fly against planes like the J7W Shiden or A7M Reppu.

The structurally much improved F2R Dark Shark probably would have made it into service before the Fireball with all the problems the Fireball had. Though VF-66 was scheduled to be out to sea in Sept. 45 Fireballs had so many incidents/accidents in their next cruise in March '46 that operations were halted for modifications and limitations were subsequently imposed when wing cracks were discovered. The aircraft was finally withdrawn from reduced operations in 1947 after several structural failures leading to total losses, some fatal. It's unlikely the Fireball would have been combat operational for long if even at all.