This plane was a hard luck story the moment it came out of the factory. That the US Navy forced the US Marines to utilize this plane as a first line fighter is outrageous. Lots of brave men died because of that sort of idiocy.
Here’s an article from the New York Times about one of the old planes just found:
In the generally upbeat annals of American military aviation, the plump, snub-nosed little fighter called the Brewster Buffalo stands out as a turkey. The plane had its day of ignominy in the epic Battle of Midway in June 1942, when 19 Marine pilots valiantly engaged Japanese Zeroes in dogfights above Midway Atoll, a strategic speck some 1,300 miles northwest of Honolulu. Only five of the pilots and planes returned….
Maritime archaeologists photograph and document the engine and propeller section of a Brewster Buffalo wrecked in the Midway Atoll lagoon. The stubby plane did not fare well against Japanese Zeros.
[Source and Image: New York Times.]