Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat

From The Air Combat Wiki

Contents 1 Fighter Ace Screenshots 2 Fighter Ace Ratings 3 Fighter Ace Performance 4 Historical Statistics 5 Strengths 6 Weaknesses 7 History 8 Sources 9 See Also

Fighter Ace Screenshots

Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ
Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ	Fighter Ace museum screenshot by Doug@HQ

Fighter Ace Ratings

Durability: 4

Speed: 7

Maneuverability: 7

Firepower: 5

Climb Rate: 6

Ground Attack: 2

Fighter Ace Performance

Top Speeds						Climb Rates
	Sea Level	4921'	9843' 3000m	19685' 6000m	Best Speed	Best IAS	to 1000m	to 3000m	to 6000m
mph	328	345	343	375	380@ 24606'	171 mph	1:22	3:41	7:40
mph WEP	335	351	348	378	383@ 24606'
kph	528	555	552	603	611@ 7500m	275 kph
kph WEP	539	565	560	609	617@ 7500m

Historical Statistics

Service Date: January 1943

Primary Guns: 2x Browning M2 0.5" (12.7mm) machine guns with 400 rpg in wings

Secondary Guns: 4x Browning M2 0.5" (12.7mm) machine guns with 400 rpg in wings

Ordnance: 1x 250 lb (113 kg) or 1x 500 lb (227 kg) or 1x 1000 lb (454 kg) bomb or 1x 900 lb (408 kg) drop tank

Engine(s): 1x Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W radial rated for 2,000 hp at sea level (2,110 hp with WEP)

Int Fuel Capacity: 1,410 lbs (640 kg)

Ext Fuel Capacity: 900 lb (408 kg)

Maximum Speeds: 335 mph (539 kph) at sea level, 376 mph (605 kph) at 17,300 ft (5,273 m)

Ceiling: 38,400 ft (11,704 m)

Loaded Weight: 11,381 lbs (5,162 kg)

Wing Area: 334 sq ft (31.1 sq m)

Wing Loading: 34.1 lbs/sq ft (166.0 kg/sq m)

Strengths

Guns: The typical US armament of six .50 caliber machine guns gives the Hellcat pilot a good combination of hitting power and fire time.

Maneuverability: The Hellcat can turn with the best of the mid- to late-war aircraft.

Durability: Like all Grumman designs, the Hellcat is capable of sustaining considerable battle damage.

Weaknesses

Speed: While not slow, the Hellcat is at a definite disadvantage when facing the faster mid- to late-war planes.

History

The XF6F-1 was originally ordered on June 30, 1941 as a potential successor to the Wildcat, but Grumman engineers went back to the drawing board after Pearl Harbor to look into improvements suggested by actual combat experience in the Pacific. The modifications were extensive enough to warrant changing the designation of the prototype to XF6F-3, the XF6F-2 being a version with a turbo-supercharged R-2800-21 engine.

The new prototype was first flown on June 26, 1942 and the first production version was flown only four days later. By the end of 1942, the Hellcat was being delivered to US Navy combat units. VF-9 of the USS Essex was the first recipient, but the Hellcat was first blooded in combat with VF-5 operating from the USS Yorktown on August 31, 1943.

Equipped with a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10 "Double Wasp", the Hellcat could reach 315 mph at sea level and 380 mph at altitude. Armed with the standard US fighter armament of six .50 caliber machine guns with 400 rounds per gun, the F6F-3 could knock out the competition with relative ease. As with the Wildcat, the Hellcat could absorb a significant amount of combat damage and keep on flying. These attributes were perhaps best illustrated by David McCampbell on October 23, 1944 when he shot down nine enemy fighters on a single mission, the only damage to his Hellcat being dents in the wings from flying through the debris of his victims.

Possessing a combination of good speed and maneuverability, the F6F-3 was well suited to combat against the highly maneuverable Japanese Zero fighters. While not as fast as contemporary US Army aircraft or the phenomenal Corsair, the Hellcat is a great dogfighter that can be adapted to either turn or energy fighting by an experienced pilot.

Sources

Green, William; War Planes Of The Second World War: Fighters Volume Four; Macdonald & Co., London; 1961.

Sullivan, Jim; F6F Hellcat In Action, Aircraft Number 36; Squadron/Signal Publications, Carrollton, Texas; 1979.

Spick, Mike; The Ace Factor; Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD; 1988.

See Also

Fighter Ace Planes Inventory

Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation

Aircraft Manufacturers During World War II