The little fighter that could

There is no dearth of historic aircraft that helped to change the course of World War II — the B-17 Flying Fortress, the Vought F4U Corsair and the P-51 Mustang, to name a few.

But scarcely any could be called heroic.

In the case of the F4F Wildcat, usually outnumbered and almost always outclassed by its opponents, an exception can be made.

Distinctive in that it was first designed as a…