The Hellcat’s initial development proceeded virtually without incident. Unlike other fighters that went through lengthy series of engine, airframe and armament changes, the F6F was hardly modified or updated thereafter, and there were only two basic versions of the airplane during its entire lifetime: the F6F-3 and -5. It resoundingly won the most one-sided, humiliating air battle of any war-the Marianas Turkey Shoot. The Hellcat immediately challenged what had been the most powerful naval air arm on the planet and beat it like a bongo, racking up by far the highest kill-versus-loss ratio of any airplane in American service during World War II (19-to-1, based on claimed shootdowns). This bluff, sensible, utterly workmanlike shipboard fighter arrived in the Pacific theater in August 1943 and went to work straight out of the box. “No more outstanding example of skill and luck joining forces to produce just the right aeroplane is to be found than that provided by the Grumman Hellcat,” wrote legendary British test pilot Eric “Winkle” Brown in his book Wings of the Navy. Rarely has there been a combat aircraft so perfect for its time and place as the Hellcat. Grumman’s F6F Hellcat was perfectly suited to young American naval aviators battling Zeros in the Pacific. Goldilocks Fighter: What Made the F6F Hellcat “Just Right”? Close
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