The F6F Hellcat was a World War II fighter aircraft that was designed by Grumman to replace the F4F Wildcat in United States Navy service. Despite the fact that the F6F bore a family resemblance to the Wildcat, it was a new design powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800. The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were the primary USN carrier-based fighters during the second phase of the war.
The Hellcat design took into account the lessons learned in combat with the Japanese Zero. The Hellcat became the most successful aircraft in naval history, destroying 5,271 aircraft while in service with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps (5,163 in the Pacific and eight more during the invasion of Southern France, plus 52 with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm during World War II.) Postwar, the Hellcat aircraft was systematically phased out of front line service, but remained in service as late as 1954 as a night-fighter in composite squadrons.
The Hellcat was designed to withstand significant damage. It was fitted with a total of 212 lb (96 kg) of cockpit armor for the survival of the pilot, as well as a bullet-resistant windshield and armor around the engine oil tank and oil cooler. In order to overcome the A6M Zero’s dominance in the Pacific theater, Grumman decided to install the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp 2,000 hp (1,500 kW), increasing its performance 25%. Instead of the Wildcat’s narrow-track undercarriage retracting into the fuselage requiring hand-cranking by the pilot, the Hellcat had hydraulically-actuated undercarriage struts set wider and retracting backward, twisting through 90° into the wings, exactly as the Chance Vought F4U Corsair’s landing gear did. The wing was low-mounted instead of mid-mounted and folded the same way as the later versions of the Wildcat, allowing the Hellcat to take on a compact, tucked-in appearance on a flight deck.
The Hellcat saw action for the first time on September 1, 1943, when fighters off the USS Independence shot down a Kawanishi H8K "Emily" flying boat. Soon after, on November 23, Hellcats engaged Japanese aircraft over Tarawa and shot down 30 Mitsubishi Zeros for the loss of one F6F. Over Rabaul, New Britain, on November 11, 1943, Hellcats and Corsairs were engaged in day-long fights with many Japanese aircraft including A6M Zeros, shooting down nearly 50 aircraft.
Hellcat Fighter
Hellcat in Combat
