Grumman F6F Hellcat
| F6F Hellcat | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats in tricolor camouflage | |
| Role | Fighter aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | Grumman |
| First flight | 26 June 1942 |
| Introduction | 1943 |
| Retired | 1960 Uruguayan Navy |
| Primary users |
United States Navy United States Marine Corps Royal Navy French Navy |
| Produced | 1942–45 |
| Number built | 12,275 |
| Unit cost |
$35,000 in 1945
|
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. The Hellcat competed with the faster Vought F4U Corsair for that role and prevailed, as the Corsair had significant issues with carrier landings. The Corsair instead was primarily deployed to great effect in land-based use by the U.S. Marine Corps.
Powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800, the same powerplant used for both the Corsair and the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, the F6F was an entirely new design, but it still resembled the Wildcat in many ways. Some military observers tagged the Hellcat as the "Wildcat's big brother".
The F6F was best known for its role as a rugged, well-designed carrier fighter which was able, after its combat debut in September 1943, to outperform the A6M Zero and help secure air superiority over the Pacific Theater. 12,275 were built in just over two years.
Hellcats were credited with destroying a total of 5,223 enemy aircraft while in service with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. This was more than any other Allied naval aircraft. Postwar, the Hellcat was phased out of front line service but remained in service as late as 1954 as a night fighter.
Grumman had been working on a successor to the F4F Wildcat since 1938 and the contract for the prototype XF6F-1 was signed on 30 June 1941. The aircraft was originally designed to use the Wright R-2600 Twin Cyclone two-row, 14-cylinder radial engine of 1,700 hp (1,268 kW) driving a three-bladed Curtiss Electric propeller. Instead of the Wildcat's narrow-track, hand-cranked main landing gear retracting into the fuselage that it had inherited, little changed in design from the 1931-debuted Grumman FF-1 fighter biplane, the Hellcat had wide-set, hydraulically actuated landing gear struts which rotated through 90° while retracting backwards into the wings, much like that of the earlier Chance Vought F4U Corsair, but with full wheel doors fitted to the struts that covered the entire strut and the upper half of the main wheel when retracted, and twisted with the main gear struts during retraction. The wing was mounted lower on the fuselage and was able to be hydraulically or manually folded, with each panel outboard of the undercarriage bay folding backwards from pivoting on a specially oriented, Grumman-patented Sto-Wing diagonal axis pivoting system much like the earlier F4F, with a folded stowage position parallel to the fuselage with the leading edges pointing diagonally down.
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