F6F Hellcat

The Grumman F6F Hellcat started development as an improved F4F Wildcat, but turned into a completely new design sharing a family resemblance to the Wildcat but with no shared parts. The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were the primary United States Navy carrier fighters in the second half of World War II. The Hellcat was withdrawn from service shortly after the war's end. Grumman F6F Hellcat. ... Grumman F6F Hellcat. ... The Grumman logo The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ... The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the standard carrier-based fighter of the United States Navy for the first year and a half of World War II. An improved version built by General Motors (the General Motors FM Wildcat) remained in service throughout the war, on escort carriers where newer, larger... Chance Vought F4U Corsair. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for conducting naval operations around the globe. ... An aircraft carrier is a warship designed to deploy and recover aircraft—in effect acting as a sea-going airbase. ... Combatants Allies: • Poland, • UK & Commonwealth, • France/Free France, • Soviet Union, • USA, • China, ...and others Axis: • Germany, • Italy, • Japan, ...and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total: 50 million Full list Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total: 12 million Full list World War II...

The Hellcat was also used by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm where it was initially known as the "Gannet" (continuing the British tradition of alliterative aircraft names such as Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane and even the unfortunate Brewster Buffalo and Short Seamew) However, this name was discontinued in early 1944 and the Hellcat name used instead. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the senior service of the British armed services, being the oldest of its three branches. ... The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. ... The still unpainted Spitfire protoype, K5054, shortly before its first flight The Supermarine Spitfire was a single-seat fighter used by the RAF and many Allied countries in World War II. Produced by Supermarine, the Spitfire was designed by R.J. Mitchell, who continued to refine it until his death... The Hawker Hurricane is a fighter design from the 1930s which was used extensively by the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain. ... The Brewster Buffalo, or Brewster F2A, was the first monoplane fighter aircraft used by the United States Navy. ... The Short SB.6 Seamew was a rather curious looking aircraft ostensibly to the same specification as the Fairey Gannet. ...

Development

A successor to the F4F Wildcat, the F6F was originally to be given the Wright R-2600 Cyclone engine of 1,700 hp (1,268 kW), but the Hellcat was given the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) after British combat experience with the Wildcat indicated better performance was necessary. The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the standard carrier-based fighter of the United States Navy for the first year and a half of World War II. An improved version built by General Motors (the General Motors FM Wildcat) remained in service throughout the war, on escort carriers where newer, larger... The Wright R-2600 Cyclone 14 (also called Twin Cyclone) was an engine widely used in American aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. ... Pratt & Whitney R-2800 The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp was an aircraft engine, and part of the long-lived Wasp family. ...

The contract for the prototype XF6F-1 was signed on June 30, 1941. The first, Cyclone-equipped prototype flew on June 26, 1942, and the first Double Wasp-equipped aircraft on July 30, 1942. The first production aircraft off the line flew on 3 October 1942; the type reached operational readiness with VF-9 on USS Essex in March 1943. For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1941 calendar). ... June 26 is the 177th day of the year (178th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 188 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... July 30 is the 211th day (212th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 154 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... October 3 is the 276th day of the year (277th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... The seventh USS Essex (CV-9) (also CVA-9 and CVS-9) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier, the lead ship of her class. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ...

Construction

Like the Wildcat, the Hellcat was a tough, straightforward aircraft, designed for ease of manufacture and ablility to return safely to the carrier with severe damage. 212 lb (96 kg) of cockpit armor was fitted to aid pilot survival, as well as a bullet-resistant windshield and armor around the engine oil tank and oil cooler. Self-sealing fuel tanks further reduced susceptibility to fire and often allowed damaged aircraft to return home. It was described by one Navy pilot as "tough, hard-hitting, dependable - one hell of an aircraft". Self-sealing fuel tanks are an aviation technology developed during World War II, when it quickly became apparent that fighter aircraft lacked adequate protection. ...

The family resemblance to the earlier aircraft was strong, but the Hellcat wasn't just a bigger, heavier, faster Wildcat. Instead of the Wildcat's narrow-track undercarriage retracting into the fuselage by hand, the Hellcat had hydraulically-actuated undercarriage struts set wider and retracting backward into the wings. The wing was low-mounted instead of mid-mounted. It also had the greatest wing area of any World War II fighter with 334 square feet. The undercarriage or landing gear is equipment which supports an aircraft when it is not flying. ...

Armament consisted of the same six 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Browning machine guns with 400 rounds each, as later Grumman-built Wildcats; later aircraft gained three hardpoints to carry 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs. A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. ... The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a leading producer of military and civilian aircraft of the 20th century. ...

The last Hellcat tolled out in November 1945, the total production figure being 12,272, of which 11,000 had been built in just two years. This impressive production rate was credited on the sound original design, which required little modification once production was underway. Look up November in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ...

Action

The Hellcat first saw action against the Japanese on 1 September 1943 when fighters off the USS Independence (CVL-22) shot down a snooping seaplane. Soon after, on 23 November, Hellcats engaged Japanese aircraft over Tarawa, shooting down a claimed 30 Mitsubishi Zeros for the loss of one F6F. Over Rabaul, New Britain, on November 11, 1943, Hellcats were engaged in day-long dogfights with many Japanese aircraft including A6M Zeroes, claiming more than 100 victories while losing few F6Fs. September 1 is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years). ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) is a common year starting on Friday. ... November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ... Map of the Tarawa atoll For other uses, see Tarawa (disambiguation). ... Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Model 52 The Mitsubishi A6M was a light-weight carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. ... Remains of an internal staircase in Rabaul. ...

Hellcats were involved in practically all engagements with Japanese air power from that point onward, and they were war-winning aircraft. With an overall kill-to-loss ratio of 19:1, the F6F became the prime ace-maker aircraft in the American inventory, with 306 Hellcat aces. (The P-51 Mustang produced 275 American aces.) The F6F's omnipresence in the Pacific firmly swung the air-power balance in favor of the United States. It was the major U.S. Navy fighter type involved in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, where so many Japanese aircraft were shot down that Navy aircrews nicknamed the battle The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The F6F accounted for 75% of all aerial victories recorded by the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. Radar-equipped Hellcat night fighter squadrons appeared in early 1944. A restored North American P-51D Mustang flies with an F-15D over the English countryside (July 2001). ... The Battle of the Philippine Sea was an air-sea battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II fought between the US Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy on June 19 and June 20, 1944, off the Mariana Islands. ... M*A*S*H , see Corporal Walter (Radar) OReilly. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The British Fleet Air Arm received 1,263 F6Fs under the Lend-Lease Act and dubbed it Gannet. The name Hellcat was eventually retained for the sake of simplicity, with the F6F-3 being called Hellcat F.I, the F6F-5 the Hellcat F.II, and the F6F-5N the Hellcat NF.II. They saw action off Norway, in the Mediterranean, and in the Far East. They were rapidly replaced by British aircraft after the end of the war. The Fleet Air Arm is the operational group of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of the aircraft on board their ships. ... The Lend-Lease program was a program of the United States during World War II that allowed the United States to provide the Allied Powers with war material without becoming directly involved in the war. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... Far East is an inexact term often used for East Asia and Southeast Asia combined, sometimes including also the easternmost territories of Russia, i. ...

The French Aéronavale was also equipped with Hellcats and used them in Indochina. The navy of Uruguay also used them until the early 1960s. The Aviation Navale (Naval Air Force) of the French Navy includes 162 airplanes (138 of them combat-capable) and 6 800 men, both civilians and military personel. ... Indochina, or the Indochinese Peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. ...

Operators

• Argentina, France, United Kingdom, United States (Navy, Marine Corps), Uruguary,

Specifications (F6F Hellcat)

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 33 ft 7 in (10.24 m)
• Wingspan: 42 ft 10 in (13.06 m)
• Height: 13 ft 1 in (3.99 m)
• Wing area: 334 ft² (102 m²)
• Empty weight: 9,238 lb (4,190 kg)
• Loaded weight: 12,598 lb (5,714 kg)
• Maximum gross takeoff weight: 15,415 lb (6,990 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W Double Wasp two-row radial engine, 2,000 hp (1,492 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 376 mph (612 km/h)
• Range: 945 mi combat, 1,530 mi ferry (1,521 km / 2,460 km)
• Service ceiling: 37,300 ft (11,370 m)
• Climb rate: 3,500 ft/min (17.8 m/s)
• Wing loading: lb/ft² (kg/m²)
• Power/mass: hp/lb (kW/kg)

Armament

• 6 x 0.5 in (12.7 mm) Browning M2 machine guns
• 3x 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs
• Tiny Tim unguided rockets

The wingspan (or just span) of an airplane is the distance from the left wingtip to the right wingtip. ... In aviation, the Maximum Take-Off Weight (or MTOW) is the maximum weight with which an aircraft can achieve flight. ... Pratt & Whitney R-2800 The Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp was an aircraft engine, and part of the long-lived Wasp family. ... Radial engine of a biplane. ... VNO of an aircraft is the V speed which refers to the velocity of normal operation. ... Service Ceiling—The maximum density altitude where the best rate-of climb airspeed will produce a 100 feet-per-minute climb at maximum weight while in a clean configuration with maximum continuous power. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... In aerodynamics, wing loading is the loaded weight of the aircraft divided by the area of the wing. ... Power-to-weight ratio is a measure commonly used when comparing various vehicles (or engines), including automobiles, motorcycles and aircraft. ... This article is about the . ...

Related content

Comparable aircraft

• Mitsubishi A7M

Designation sequence

F3F - F4F - F5F - F6F - F7F - F8F - F9F The Mitsubishi A7M Reppu (烈風, Hurricane) was designed as the successor to the Imperial Japanese Navys A6M Zero, with development beginning in 1942. ... The Grumman F3F was the last bi-winged fighter aircraft delivered to the U. S. Navy. ... The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the standard carrier-based fighter of the United States Navy for the first year and a half of World War II. An improved version built by General Motors (the General Motors FM Wildcat) remained in service throughout the war, on escort carriers where newer, larger... The Grumman XF5F Skyrocket was a prototype of a twin-engine shipboard fighter interceptor to which Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation applied the model number G-34. ... The Grumman F7F Tigercat was the first twin-engined fighter aircraft design to enter service with the United States Navy. ... The Grumman F8F Bearcat (affectionately called Bear) was the companys final piston engined fighter aircraft. ... The Grumman F9F Panther was the manufacturers first jet fighter and the US Navys second. ...

Related lists

• List of military aircraft of the United States
• List of fighter aircraft
• List of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm

  This list of military aircraft of the United States includes prototype, pre-production and operational types. ... A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for attacking other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... This is a list of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm. ...