Grumman F6F Hellcat (Fighter aircraft)

[Fredrocker]

Wing span: 42 ft. 10 in.
Length: 33 ft. 6.3 in
Height: 13 ft.
Wing area: 334 sq. ft.
Engine: Pratt and Whitney R-2800-10, 2,000 hp. at 1,000 ft.
Max. speed: 371 m.p.h. at 18,700 ft.
Best climb: 2,260 ft./min.
Climb to: 10,000 ft., 4.65 min.; 20,000 ft., 10 min.
Service ceiling: 35,000 ft.
Range: 1,495 miles with 125 gal. drop tank
Weight: 9,020 empty; 12,800 loaded
Armament: 6-.50 cal. MG; up to 2-1,000 lb. bombs.

 

[Louis]

Added to index, thanks Fred.

 

[Louis]

Hellcats parked on the carrier's flight deck of USS Hornet CV, 1944.

 

[mTk]

 

[Louis]

Checked thread

 

[mTk]

What do you think? Maybe the most under rated U.S. fighter of the war?
It was a beast.
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[Louis]

I thought you were a fan of the Corsair

 

[mTk]

Able to admire lesser planes though.

 

[Wellsonian]

I thought you were a fan of the Corsair

We all, at our age, watched baa baa black sheep. So the Corsair will always be our thing. But the performance from the Wildcat to the Hellcat is amazing. Surprising many Japanese pilots. They look the same

 

[Nort]

My father in law flew fighters off of flattops in the Pacific during WW2. He started with Hellcats, and progressed to Corsairs. He said the Corsairs were the superior machine, but he always had a soft spot in his heart for the Hellcat.

 

[mTk]

Pilots just had to have loved that giant wing and 6-50's!
Anyone want to do a comparison with it to a P-47?

 

[Louis]

Oops!

 

[mTk]

Oops.
I think that guy must be standing on one of his steel balls!
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[mTk]

That cockpit seems oddly narrow given how chonky the rest of the plane is/was.
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[Louis]

A plane handler giving signals to an Hellcat pilot aboard USS Tulagi - Aug 1944.

 

[Louis]

In the flight deck elevator aboard the USS Monterey.

 

[Gunner]

Grumman Aircraft main manufacturing was here on Long Island.
The Grumman family started a museum called “The Cradle of Aviation” with exhibits from early flight to the moon landing to today.
Some exhibits are setup like dioramas.
A little corny but effective a showing the scale of the different aircraft.

The Grumman F6F:

 

[Louis]

Ooops !! This is evidently the result of a small error by the Grumman F6F pilot during a landing.

 

[mTk]

Error? Looks like he nailed it to me!

 

[Louis]

U.S. Navy crewmen working on ordnance, which appear to include two 1000-pounders and one 500-pounder, amid Grumman "Hellcat" fighters parked on the hangar deck of the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10), circa Oct/Dec 1943.