Plastic Model Airplane Kits

Archive for the ‘F6F Hellcat’ Category

Grumman F6F Hellcat

F6F Hellcat

The F6F Hellcat was a major step forward in carrier aviation. By the end of the war the Hellcat and her sister the Corsair, dominated the Pacific. There were over 12,000 produced, the F6F is a perfect example of a simple design being in the right place at the right time.

The Hellcat F6F was developed as a carrier based aircraft to replace the F4F Wildcat for the United States Navy. The F6F looked somewhat like the Wildcat but she was a completely new design power by the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 at 2,000 hp. Some referred to the Hellcat as the Wildcat’s big brother. The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were the United States Navy’s primary fighter aircraft during the second half of World War II.

A lot of lessons learn from combat with the Japanese Zero were incorporated into the Hellcat by the US Navy. The F6F Hellcat became a very successful for naval history destroying 5,271 enemy aircraft while in the service of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps. 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.

In 1941 the first contract for a prototype XF6F-1 was signed. The plan was to give the F6F the Wright R-2600 Cyclone engines a 1,700 hp engine. But the experience of the F4F Wildcat against the Zero, Grumman improved the new fighter to the point of being able to dominate the A6M Zero in the Pacific theater. So Grumman upgraded the power to the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp 2,000 hp giving the Hellcat a 25% increase in performance. The first prototype with the Cyclone flew on the 26th of June 1942 and the first aircraft with the Double Wasp-equipped engine had its first flight on the 30th of July 1942.