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The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II.Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War.
This influenced the development of the Hellcat which was an improvement over the Grumman F4F Wildcat. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Duncan, then an Ensign, [ 1 ] scored his first and second aerial victories in the Hellcat on 5 October 1943, the second being Japanese flying ace Warrant Officer Toshiyuki Sueda, who previously had downed nine American aircraft ...
The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter-bomber introduced in 1943 was also faster than the Wildcat, had greater range, a rate of climb comparable to the IJN Zero, and was capable of carrying a 4,000 lb total load of bombs, torpedoes, and rockets. Both the Corsair and the Hellcat aircraft were faster than the Zero and, having armor protection and self ...
This episode examines carrier-based aircraft during the Second World War by following the development of the Japanese Zero, the Grumman Hellcat, and the Corsair, and discusses how designers, separated by oceans, weighed weight, range, and maneuverability in their efforts to respond to each other's developments.
The Akutan Zero is inspected by US Navy personnel on Akutan Island on July 11, 1942. The Akutan Zero, also known as Koga's Zero (古賀のゼロ) and the Aleutian Zero, was a Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21 Zero Japanese fighter aircraft piloted by Petty Officer Tadayoshi Koga, that crash-landed on Akutan Island, Alaska Territory, during World War II ...
The Japanese ace Saburō Sakai described how the toughness of early Grumman aircraft was a factor in preventing the Zero from attaining total domination: I had full confidence in my ability to destroy the Grumman and decided to finish off the enemy fighter with only my 7.7 mm machine guns.
The Japanese made several attempts to retake Henderson Field that resulted in almost daily air battles for the Tainan Kōkūtai. US Marines flying Grumman F4F Wildcats from Henderson Field on Guadalcanal were using a new aerial combat tactic, the "Thach Weave", which was developed in 1941 by the US Navy aviators John Thach and Edward O'Hare ...
Grumman's Wildcat production ceased in early 1943 to make way for the newer F6F Hellcat, but General Motors continued producing Wildcats for both U.S. Navy and Fleet Air Arm use. Late in the war, the Wildcat was obsolescent as a front line fighter compared to the faster (380 mph/610 km/h) F6F Hellcat or much faster (446 mph/718 km/h) F4U Corsair.