Grumman F6F Hellcat

Grumman F6F Hellcat; an airbrush illustration by Les Still

Grumman F6F Hellcat

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Grumman F6F Hellcat

Origin;- Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation.
Type;- Single seat naval fighter, later versions fighter bombers and night fighters.

Engine;- Early production, one Pratt and Whitney R-2800-10 Double Wasp 18 cylinder two row radial, from January 1944 (final F6F-3 batch) two thirds equipped with 2,200hp (water injection rating) R-2800-10W.

Dimensions;- Span 42'10" (13.05m), length 33'7" (10.2m), height 13'1" (3.99m).

Weights Empty (F6F-3) 9,042lb (4101kg), loaded (r^f-3) 12,186lb (5528kg), clean 13,228lb (6000kg), maximum (F6F-5N) 14,250lb (6443kg).

Performance;- Maximum speed (F6F-3, -5, clean) 376mph (605km/h), (-5N ) 366mph (590km/h), initial climb (typical) 3,240ft (990m) /min, service ceiling (-3) 37,500ft (11,340m), (-5N) 36,700ft (11185m), range on internal fuel (typical) 1,090 miles (1755km).

Armament;- Standard six 0.5in Brownings in outer wings with 400 rounds each, a few -5N and -5 Hellcats had two 20mm and four o.5in. Underwing attachments for six rockets and centre section pylons for 2,000lb of bombs.

History;- First flight (R-2600) 26 June 1942, (same aircraft R-2800) 30 July 1942, (production F6F-3) 4 October 1942, production delivery (F6F-3) 16 January 1943, final delivery November 1945.
Users;- UK (RN), US (Navy, Marines).

Development;- Though pugnacious rather than elegant, the Hellcat was truly a war winning aircraft. It was designed and developed with great speed, mass produced at a rate seldom equalled by any other single aircraft factory and used to such good effect that from the very day of it's appearance, the Allies were winning the air war in the Pacific. It began as the XF6F-1, a natural development of the F$F Wildcat with a Double Cyclone engine.
Within a month the more powerful Double wasp had been substituted and in the autumn of 1942 the production line took shape inside a completely new plant that was less advanced in construction than the Hellcats inside it. The line flowed at an extraordinary rate, helped by the essential rightness of the Hellcat and lack of any major engineering changes during subsequent sub types. Deliveries in the years 1942-5 inclusive were 10, 2,545, 6,139 and 3,578, a total of 12,272 ( excluding two prototypes) of which 11,000 were delivered in exactly two years. These swarms of big beefy fighters
absolutely mastered the Japanese, destroying more than 6,000 hostile aircraft (4,947 by USN Carrier squadrons, 207 by land based USMC units and the rest by Allied Hellcat squadrons). The Fleet Air Arm, which originally chose the name Gannet, used Hellcats in Europe as well as throughout the Far East. Unusual features of the F6F were its 334 sq ft of square tipped wing, with a distinct kink, and backward retracting landing gear. The F6F-3N and -5N were night fighters with APS-6 radar on a wing pod, the -5K was a drone and the -5P a photo reconnaissance version. After VJ day hundreds were sold to many nations.

from Military Aviation Library - World War 2 United States Aircraft.