Talk:F4F-4/@comment-108.88.197.98-20161119222206

The F4F-4 may have been worse for an individual pilot, but from a commander's point of view, those individual pilots are going to be a lot better off with twice as many buddy's in the sky than they would be from having modestly increased performance. This is an important consideration, because teamwork-based tactics (i.e. Thatch Weave) were the only way Wildcats could mix it up with Zeroes and come out on top.

The torpedo and dive bomber pilots probably weren't too concerned about the F4F-4's performance losses either - more fighters onboard meant that they could finally have adequate escort on missions, rather than being hung out to dry during their bombing runs. Any Wildcat is a big improvement on no Wildcats.