Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat
The F6F Hellcat began as a simple update to the successful F4F Wildcat, which by 1941 was recognized as approaching obsolescence. The XF6F-1 proposal was to upscale the basic Wildcat airframe to accept a more powerful Wright R-2600 Cyclone engine; besides having a larger airframe, the mid-mounted wing of the F4F would be moved to the bottom of the fuselage, allowing the XF6F-1 to have a wider-tracked landing gear, as the Wildcat’s narrow-tracked landing gear had caused some handing problems.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entry into World War II, dogfights between Wildcats and Japanese A6M Zeroes revealed just how maneuverable and fast the Zero was—far better than any Allied fighter then in service. With this in mind, Grumman now sought an even more powerful engine for greater performance: the XF6F-3 design would mount a Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, half again as powerful as the Cyclone. Also building on combat experience with the Wildcat, Grumman would retain the earlier fighter’s strengths in the new design, namely easy handling, heavy machine gun armament, and most of all the Wildcat’s ruggedness. The first XF6F-3 Hellcat flew in July 1942. Not long afterwards, a Zero captured in the Aleutian Islands was flown against the Hellcat. While the Hellcat still could not turn with the Zero, it had a higher rate of roll and could easily outdive the more fragile Japanese fighter, and above 15,000 feet, was superior in the vertical plane.
F6F-3 Hellcats began reaching the ever-expanding US Navy in February 1943; its first combat tour was to be on the first of the new Essex-class fast fleet carriers. The combination of the two was to be a war winner. In its first major engagement, Hellcats covering the Marine landings on Tarawa in November 1943 accounted for 30 Zeroes for the loss of only one F6F. The Hellcat rapidly replaced the Wildcat in frontline service, and with the F4U Corsair having teething problems, would become the only shipboard fighter available to US Navy units. As a result of combat experience, Grumman switched production to the F6F-5 in early 1944, which included water injection for the engine, a redesigned minimal-frame canopy for better visibility, and strengthened airframe. Even after the problems with the Corsair were solved, the Hellcat would remain the primary US Navy air superiority fighter for the rest of the war. The F6F-3 and F6F-5 were the only variants of the fighter produced, which cut down production time and made field maintenance relatively simple: the Hellcat did not need much improvement.
The Hellcat’s effect on the war in the Pacific was undeniable. Using tactics known to the Navy as “the Big Blue Blanket,” F6Fs from carrier battlegroups would flood a target area, hunting down any and all Japanese aircraft. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea in July 1944, Hellcats shot down nearly 400 Japanese aircraft, with the result that the battle became known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” F6Fs also began to be pressed into the ground support role, and armed with rockets and bombs, supported the American advance across the Pacific. Finally, Navy and Marine nightfighter units flew F6F-5Ns equipped with radar, which shielded the fleet from Japanese night intruders. A number of Hellcats were supplied to the British Fleet Air Arm, and these saw action in both the Pacific and Europe.
By war’s end, the F6F Hellcat had become the most successful fighter of the war, downing 5163 aircraft for the loss of 275 Hellcats, producing 363 aces at an unmatched kill ratio of 19:1—the highest ever achieved in aerial combat. 12,275 Hellcats were produced in less than three years, with the last rolling off the line in November 1945. Like most World War II era fighters, the Hellcat did not stay in service much longer after the war, with most US Navy and Marine fighter units reequipping with the F8F Bearcat or jets. The last Hellcats in US Navy service were expended as remote-controlled flying bombs against North Korean rail tunnels in 1952; the French Aeronavale also used them in the Indochina War. Last to withdraw the F6F from service was Uruguay, which used theirs until 1962. Today, at least 22 survive, most flyable.
Built as BuNo 42874, this F6F-3 never served with a Navy line squadron. Instead, it was supplied to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and used as a test aircraft, namely to test deliberately unstable aircraft designs. It was still flying with NACA in 1958 when the organization became NASA, and so was the only Hellcat to fly with NASA! In 1960, it was finally retired, and was placed in storage at its last base at Moffett Field, California. In 1974, it was moved to NAS Miramar and repainted as an operational Hellcat, and in 1979, was donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
42874 has since been repainted again, this time as a F6F-3 of VF-10, flying off of the USS Yorktown (CV-10) during World War II. It is painted in midwar tricolor camouflage; the green spinner was generally exclusive to Yorktown aircraft. SDAM has it displayed with the wings stowed and the engine cowl open, against a backdrop of a famous picture taken of the Yorktown in 1943. There's also a small mockup of part of the carrier's bridge. As my dad served aboard the Yorktown during its Vietnam service, this was a nice thing to see when we visited in June 2023.
Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat
The F6F Hellcat began as a simple update to the successful F4F Wildcat, which by 1941 was recognized as approaching obsolescence. The XF6F-1 proposal was to upscale the basic Wildcat airframe to accept a more powerful Wright R-2600 Cyclone engine; besides having a larger airframe, the mid-mounted wing of the F4F would be moved to the bottom of the fuselage, allowing the XF6F-1 to have a wider-tracked landing gear, as the Wildcat’s narrow-tracked landing gear had caused some handing problems.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entry into World War II, dogfights between Wildcats and Japanese A6M Zeroes revealed just how maneuverable and fast the Zero was—far better than any Allied fighter then in service. With this in mind, Grumman now sought an even more powerful engine for greater performance: the XF6F-3 design would mount a Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, half again as powerful as the Cyclone. Also building on combat experience with the Wildcat, Grumman would retain the earlier fighter’s strengths in the new design, namely easy handling, heavy machine gun armament, and most of all the Wildcat’s ruggedness. The first XF6F-3 Hellcat flew in July 1942. Not long afterwards, a Zero captured in the Aleutian Islands was flown against the Hellcat. While the Hellcat still could not turn with the Zero, it had a higher rate of roll and could easily outdive the more fragile Japanese fighter, and above 15,000 feet, was superior in the vertical plane.
F6F-3 Hellcats began reaching the ever-expanding US Navy in February 1943; its first combat tour was to be on the first of the new Essex-class fast fleet carriers. The combination of the two was to be a war winner. In its first major engagement, Hellcats covering the Marine landings on Tarawa in November 1943 accounted for 30 Zeroes for the loss of only one F6F. The Hellcat rapidly replaced the Wildcat in frontline service, and with the F4U Corsair having teething problems, would become the only shipboard fighter available to US Navy units. As a result of combat experience, Grumman switched production to the F6F-5 in early 1944, which included water injection for the engine, a redesigned minimal-frame canopy for better visibility, and strengthened airframe. Even after the problems with the Corsair were solved, the Hellcat would remain the primary US Navy air superiority fighter for the rest of the war. The F6F-3 and F6F-5 were the only variants of the fighter produced, which cut down production time and made field maintenance relatively simple: the Hellcat did not need much improvement.
The Hellcat’s effect on the war in the Pacific was undeniable. Using tactics known to the Navy as “the Big Blue Blanket,” F6Fs from carrier battlegroups would flood a target area, hunting down any and all Japanese aircraft. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea in July 1944, Hellcats shot down nearly 400 Japanese aircraft, with the result that the battle became known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.” F6Fs also began to be pressed into the ground support role, and armed with rockets and bombs, supported the American advance across the Pacific. Finally, Navy and Marine nightfighter units flew F6F-5Ns equipped with radar, which shielded the fleet from Japanese night intruders. A number of Hellcats were supplied to the British Fleet Air Arm, and these saw action in both the Pacific and Europe.
By war’s end, the F6F Hellcat had become the most successful fighter of the war, downing 5163 aircraft for the loss of 275 Hellcats, producing 363 aces at an unmatched kill ratio of 19:1—the highest ever achieved in aerial combat. 12,275 Hellcats were produced in less than three years, with the last rolling off the line in November 1945. Like most World War II era fighters, the Hellcat did not stay in service much longer after the war, with most US Navy and Marine fighter units reequipping with the F8F Bearcat or jets. The last Hellcats in US Navy service were expended as remote-controlled flying bombs against North Korean rail tunnels in 1952; the French Aeronavale also used them in the Indochina War. Last to withdraw the F6F from service was Uruguay, which used theirs until 1962. Today, at least 22 survive, most flyable.
Built as BuNo 42874, this F6F-3 never served with a Navy line squadron. Instead, it was supplied to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and used as a test aircraft, namely to test deliberately unstable aircraft designs. It was still flying with NACA in 1958 when the organization became NASA, and so was the only Hellcat to fly with NASA! In 1960, it was finally retired, and was placed in storage at its last base at Moffett Field, California. In 1974, it was moved to NAS Miramar and repainted as an operational Hellcat, and in 1979, was donated to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.
42874 has since been repainted again, this time as a F6F-3 of VF-10, flying off of the USS Yorktown (CV-10) during World War II. It is painted in midwar tricolor camouflage; the green spinner was generally exclusive to Yorktown aircraft. SDAM has it displayed with the wings stowed and the engine cowl open, against a backdrop of a famous picture taken of the Yorktown in 1943. There's also a small mockup of part of the carrier's bridge. As my dad served aboard the Yorktown during its Vietnam service, this was a nice thing to see when we visited in June 2023.