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My folks went to the "Warbirds Museum" near Cocoa Beach, FL yesterday and took some pictures. Much to my surprise they only had three WW 2 planes there according to my dad. Two of them were in a separate hanger being restored practically from bare bones. The only one on display in the main hangar was this Wildcat. Can anyone tell if it's an F4F-3, F4F-4 or FM-2? I'm not really sure.

Well, it's definitely not an FM-2, as the tail plane isn't tall enough, and the exausts are on the bottom of the engine cowl, as opposed to the sides of it on the FM-2.

Now, whether or not it's a dash 3 or dash 4 is more difficult to see. However, in the second photo I do see the slightest ever hint of a seam about where the joining ends are for the folding wing of the dash 4...

No doubt about it, the Wildcat is an ugly aircraft. And that small undercarrige must have given the pilot's spincter a real workout[X(]

The Valant Air Command's Museum is at the Space Coast Reginal Airport located in Titusville, FL not Cocoa Beach.
I have been a member of the VAC for at least ten years now.
The aircraft is a F4F-4.
It was recovered from Lake Michigan about 15 years ago, and is on loan to the museum by the Navy.
The aircraft crashed either landing or taking off from one of the paddle wheel training carriers that operated out of the Great Lakes Training Center during WWII.
The pilot who was flying the aircraft at the time of its loss visited the museum a few years back when the aircraft's restoration was completed.
The aircraft was restored over a 7 to 8 year period by retired Grumman workers.
The aircraft is not flyable, as it was badly corroded after spending nearly 50 years on the lake bottom.
The restoration was as exact as possible, and is well worth visiting.
Gregg

are you sure? hard to tell from the picture but are the wings retractible?

Pretty sure...

On the second photo, look at the wing's leading edge right where the the back of the engine cowling meets, and you will see a very faint crack about where the seam would be for the folding wing. On the -4 that seam traces a bit of an "S" bend if you followed it from the leading edge to the trailing edge. You can just see a faint, intermittent trace of that path, then the seam shows up just a bit again right at the trailing edge.

It's tricky to see, but it's there if you look closely enough.

What we really need is a shot from the front of the AC. At least then we could just count the guns! (four for the dash 3, six for the dash 4)

Beautifully restored!

They were a bit squirrly in the trap. My father flew them in the Atlantic during the first part of the war before transitioning to Corsairs and then Bearcats. He really liked the F4F's flying characteristics because it put the pilot's center of gravity at plane's center of moment and made all maneuvers feel natural. One sat higher relative to CM in Hellcat and he said it felt like it was trying to toss you out of the plane during rolls (they used them when he was at LSO school after the war). One thing that the pilots used to do was see who could fly the straightes course while manually (using the handcrank) retracting the Wildcat's gear.

I think it's an F4F-3 as well. Don't see the wing seam and the cowl flap is small enough to be consistant with the -3.

The wing was "retractable"? [:D] My, my, my. That could pose a problem.

That's why the Wildcat was so fat; had to have room for the wing to retract...[;)]

"And that small undercarrige must have given the pilot's spincter a real workout"

After the truly weak undercarriage of the F2A Buffalo, the Wildcat was a relief to the carrier pilots.