Grumman f6f Hellcat [PDF]

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[1971.022.001] Aircraft - 'F6F-5 Aircraft, Bureau Number 94203'

F6F-5 Aircraft, Bureau Number 94203

Accession Number

1971.022.001

Accession Date

14/07/1971

Creator

Creator

Creator Role

Manufacturer Date Created

1945

Object Desciption

F6F-5 Hellcat that was delivered to the fleet on 27 July 1945, and over the course of the next twenty-six months served in Fighter Squadrons (VF) 3, 3A, 5B, and 6B, also spending time flying with Fleet Air Service Squadrons (FASRON) 5 and 3. Its final service listed was as in the aircraft pool at Naval Air Station (NAS) Alameda, California, in June 1948. Purchased by a civilian and assigned the Federal Aviation Administration registration N7865C, the aircraft was obtained by the museum from Aerial Classics, Inc., of Atlanta, Georgia, in 1971. It is painted in the markings of "Minsi III," one of the aircraft flown by Commander David McCampbell, the Navy's all-time leading fighter ace with 34 kills.

Object Notes

This aircraft was acquired in 1971 as result of a trading accession an F6F-5K drone (1965.009.001).

Place of Origin

Bethpage, New York

Notes

"If it could cook, I'd marry one" was one pilot's assessment of the F6F Hellcat, and few could dispute the magnificence of the fighter that flew from carrier decks during the latter half of World War II. Superior to the fabled Japanese Zero in virtually every way save for rate of turn at low speed, the Hellcat was the platform upon which naval aviation swept the skies of enemy air power during the period 1943-1945. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea alone, nicknamed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot," Navy fighter pilots shot down nearly 300 enemy aircraft in one day. Flown by capable Allied airmen, among them Commander David S. McCampbell, the Navy's leading fighter ace with 34 kills, F6Fs shot down 5,216 Axis aircraft in 24 months and compiled an enviable kill ratio of 19:1. All told, the F6F produced more fighter aces, those with five or more aerial kills, than any other aircraft of World War II. In the island-hopping campaigns across the Pacific, the Hellcats proved invaluable. Invasions were spearheaded by waves of F6Fs conducting fighter sweeps over enemy airfields, destroying planes that could threaten transports and landing craft. As troops went ashore, combat air patrols scanned the skies for aerial attackers while other Hellcats supported Marines and soldiers by hitting ground targets. Indeed, while it was in aerial combat that the F6F achieved lasting fame, it was a capable air-to-ground platform, with Hellcat pilots unleashing 60,000 rockets on land targets and enemy shipping during the war. All told, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation produced 12,275 Hellcats during World War II, at peak production rolling one off the assembly line every hour, around the clock. Reaching the fleet, these aircraft logged a total of 110,162 combat sorties, their final flights in the war they helped so much to win fittingly coming as part of a wave of carrier planes that flew over the battleship Missouri (BB 63) in Tokyo Bay as Japanese government and military official signed the instrument of surrender on her deck.

In the postwar years Hellcats flew primarily in the training command and squadrons of the Naval Air Reserve, with some converted to radiocontrolled drones to support the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Loaded with explosives, some of these drones also were launched against targets during the Korean War. One of the F6Fs on display, an F6F-3, was recovered in 1970 from 3,400 feet of water off the coast of California where it had crashed in 1946 and restored to its present condition. The aircraft is painted in the wartime colors of Fighting Squadron (VF) 31 assigned to the light carrier Cabot (CVL 28), and reflects the fourteen aerial kills scored by Lieutenant (junior grade) Ray Hawkins prior to his 22nd birthday. The other F6F on display, an F6F-5, is painted in the colors of Commander David S. McCampbell, the Navy's leading ace. Specifications for F6F-3 Hellcat Manufacturer: Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation Dimensions: Length: 33 ft., 7 in.; Height: 11 ft., 1 in.; Wingspan: 42 ft., 10 in. Weights: Empty: 9,023 lb., Gross: 12,415 lb. Power Plant: One 2,000 HP Pratt and Whitney R-2800-10 engine Performance: Maximum Speed: 388 M.P.H. at 25,000 ft.; Service Ceiling: 35,500 ft.; Range: 1,085 miles Armament: Six fixed forward-firing .50-in. guns Crew: Pilot Aircraft in the Museum Collection F6F-3 (BuNo 66237) - On indoor static display F6F-5 (BuNo 94203) - On indoor static display F6F-5 (BuNo 70185) - On loan to Quonset Point Air Museum, Quonset Point, Rhode Island Multimedia

[ Image Only ] Title:

1971.022.001

Format:

jpeg

Date:

23/07/2010

Description:

Left Side View

[ Image Only ] Title:

CAPT David McCampbell in F6F-5

Format:

jpeg

Date:

1972

Description: Captain David McCampbell, the Navy's leading fighter ace, pictured in the museum's F6F-5 Hellcat painted in the markings of one of his wartime aircraft.

[ Image Only ] Title:

F6F-5 on Display at Original Museum Building

Format:

jpeg

Date:

1972

Description:

F6F-5 Hellcat pictured on display in front of the original building housing the Naval Aviation Museum.

[ Image Only ] Title:

Close-up of F6F-5

Format:

jpeg

Date:

2006

Description:

Close-up view of markings on museum's F6F-5 Hellcat.

[1991.165.001] Aircraft - 'F6F-3 Aircraft, Bureau Number 66237' F6F-3 Aircraft, Bureau Number 66237 Accession Number

1991.165.001

Accession Date

10/07/1991

Creator

Creator

Creator Role

Manufacturer Date Created

1943

Object Desciption

Grumman F6F Hellcat came on line in VF-9; in January 1943 the squadron stood up for service in newly commissioned USS Essex (CV-9).

Object Notes

The museum's example of the F6F-3 Hellcat (Bureau Number 66237) represents a class of carrier-based fighter aircraft that was credited with shooting down more enemy aircraft than any other type during World War II. This particular aircraft was, at the time of its acquisition by the National Museum of Naval Aviation, one of only six remaining F6F-3s in existence. Bureau Number 66237 was accepted by the Navy on 24 September 1943, and had a relatively short service life. Produced under contract C90071 at Grumman's plant on New York's Long Island, the plane was first assigned to Carrier Aircraft Service Unit (CASU) 5 at Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, on 2 October of that year, after which it joined Fighting Squadron (VF) 21, probably operating from NAS North Island. Originally designated Escort-Fighting Squadron (VGF) 11 and then Composite Squadron (VC) 11, the squadron had become VF-21 in May 1943 and flown F4F Wildcats in combat during the Solomon Islands campaign in May-July 1943. Reforming on the west coast when it took delivery of Bureau Number 66237, VF-21 would eventually deploy in the light carrier Belleau Wood (CVL 24) in the summer of 1944. On 12 January 1944, while being flown by a VF-21 pilot, BuNo 66237 ditched in San Diego Bay. The plane was recovered in 1970 in fairly good condition and thereafter it passed through several hands in the San Diego community. In 1974, Naval Air Systems Command deeded BuNo 66237 as a conditional gift to the Pima Air Museum in Tucson, Arizona, whence the plane was trailered. The unrestored aircraft was put on outside display. In December 1988 the National Museum of Naval Aviation requested acquisition of Bureau Number 66237 with the intention of restoring the airplane using the shell as it then existed plus other F6F parts available through NAS Pt. Mugu, California, and elsewhere. Officially acquired by the museum on 10 July 1991, the aircraft underwent restoration by a third party and was completed in 1993. It is displayed as an F6F-3 of Fighting Squadron (VF) 31 flown from the light carrier Cabot (CVL 28) during the squadron's deployment from January to September 1944. Specifically, the numbers and markings represent the Hellcat flown by VF-31 double-ace Lieutenant Arthur R. Hawkins, USN, who during World War II was credited with 14 kills and received three awards of the Navy Cross. In retirement, he served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation.

Place of Origin

Bethpage, New York

Notes

Concern for the storied Japanese Zero was not the driving force behind development of the F6F Hellcat. Actually, the basis for the airplane was Grumman's interest in a fighter with a bigger, more powerful engine than the F4F Wildcat, the company's first monoplane fighter and the Navy and Marine Corps front line fighter aircraft at the beginning of World War II.

The F6F was equipped with 2,000 horsepower Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10 and R-2800-10W (injected) radial engines. A more powerful version, the R-2800-18W, was considered for what would have been the F6F-6, but this engine was in high demand for the Vought F4U-4 Corsair, considered a better performing aircraft. There was a small irony in this because the first F4Us were not carrier suitable, while the F6F was immediately available for use from carriers. Having the F6F on line also satisfied Navy interest in a hedge against relying solely on F4U production for a high-performance fighter. Changes made between the Hellcat models and variants (notably the F6F-3 and -5, and photo and night-fighter versions) included various production enhancements, the water-injected R-2800-10W engine (rated at 2,000 Hp, as was the R-2800-10, but with greater operating flexibility), aileron spring tabs, strengthened assembly and additional armor, closer-fitting engine cowling, and a greatly revised windshield. Late F6F-5s "lost" the small windows on either side just behind the main canopy. There were also changes to allow more ordnance to be hung beneath the aircraft. F6F variants for special purpose missions had additional modifications. The weapons suite for the F6F included six .50 caliber Browning M2 machine-guns, with 400 round magazines for each gun; some F6F-5Ns were fitted with two 20mm cannons, with limited magazine capacity, replacing the inboard machine guns. F6F-3s were fitted with a single bomb rack, but later production F6F-5s had port and starboard racks permitting a bomb load up to 2,000 lbs or a configuration of 11 �-inch Tiny Tim rockets or 5" HVAR (High Velocity Aircraft Rockets) for ground attack missions. A droppable auxiliary 150-gallon "belly" fuel tank allowed for extended mission range. F6F-3E night intruders were fitted with the AN/APS-4 radar. Other F6F-3s gained the -3N designation when they and the F6F-5N night fighters were provided with the follow-on AN/FPS-6 radar. In both cases antennae were housed in a pod fixed outboard on the starboard wing of the aircraft. In January 1943 the first squadron of F6F-3 Hellcats, Fighting Squadron (VF) 9, formed at Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Oceana, Virginia, for eventual duty in Essex (CV 9), lead ship of a new class of fleet carriers. Additional squadrons either formed or transitioned from other aircraft for duty in succeeding Essex-class hulls and in Independence-class light carriers (CVLs). Some Hellcats eventually served in CVE escort carriers and fought from shore bases, notably flown by Marine Corps squadrons. When fully stood up for combat deployment fighting squadrons had 36 F6Fs in large carriers and 24 in the Independence-class light carriers. Commencing with Japanese introduction of the kamikaze during Leyte Gulf operations (later underscored by the bakka/okha piloted bombs introduced during the Battle of Okinawa), the need for fighter cover rivaled the need for surface attack aircraft. By late 1944 Hellcat squadrons grew to as many as 73 aircraft and 110 pilots. Administration of these large squadrons proved unwieldy. Hence, by January 1945, the huge Hellcat squadrons were split into fighting and bombing fighting (VBF) squadrons, some of the latter equipped with F4U Corsairs. "If it could cook, I'd marry one" was one pilot's assessment of the F6F Hellcat, and few could dispute the magnificence of the fighter that flew from carrier decks during the latter half of World War II. Superior to the fabled Japanese Zero in virtually every way save for rate of turn at low speed, the Hellcat was the platform upon which naval aviation swept the skies of enemy air power during the period 1943-1945. In the Battle of the Philippine Sea alone, nicknamed the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot," Navy fighter pilots shot down nearly 300 enemy aircraft in one day. Flown by capable Allied airmen, among them Commander David S. McCampbell, the Navy's leading fighter ace with 34 kills, F6Fs shot down 5,216 Axis aircraft in 24 months and compiled an enviable kill ratio of 19:1. All told, the F6F produced more fighter aces, those with five or more aerial kills, than any other aircraft of World War II. In the island-hopping campaigns across the Pacific, the Hellcats proved invaluable. Invasions were spearheaded by waves of F6Fs conducting

fighter sweeps over enemy airfields, destroying planes that could threaten transports and landing craft. As troops went ashore, combat air patrols scanned the skies for aerial attackers while other Hellcats supported Marines and soldiers by hitting ground targets. Indeed, while it was in aerial combat that the F6F achieved lasting fame, it was a capable air-to-ground platform, with Hellcat pilots unleashing 60,000 rockets on land targets and enemy shipping during the war. All told, Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation produced 12,275 Hellcats during World War II, at peak production rolling one off the assembly line every hour, around the clock. Reaching the fleet, these aircraft logged a total of 110,162 combat sorties, their final flights in the war they helped so much to win fittingly coming as part of a wave of carrier planes that flew over the battleship Missouri (BB 63) in Tokyo Bay as Japanese government and military official signed the instrument of surrender on her deck. In the postwar years Hellcats flew primarily in the training command and squadrons of the Naval Air Reserve, with some converted to radiocontrolled drones to support the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll. Loaded with explosives, some of these drones also were launched against targets during the Korean War. Specifications for F6F-3 Hellcat Manufacturer: Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation Dimensions: Length: 33 ft., 7 in.; Height: 11 ft., 1 in.; Wingspan: 42 ft., 10 in. Weights: Empty: 9,023 lb., Gross: 12,415 lb. Power Plant: One 2,000 horsepower Pratt and Whitney R-2800-10 engine Performance: Maximum Speed: 388 M.P.H. at 25,000 ft.; Service Ceiling: 35,500 ft.; Range: 1,085 miles Armament: Six fixed forward-firing .50-in. guns Crew: Pilot Multimedia

[ Image Only ] Title:

1991.165.001

Format:

jpeg

Date:

22/07/2010

Description:

Right Side View

[ Image Only ] Title:

Recovered F6F-3 Hellcat

Format:

jpeg

Date:

01/05/2007

Description: The F6F-3 Hellcat currently displayed at the National Museum of Naval Aviation pictured after being recovered from San Diego Bay.

[ Image Only ] Title:

F6F-3 Recovery from San Diego Bay

Format:

jpeg

Date:

01/05/2007

Description: The F6F-3 Hellcat currently display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation being recovered from San Diego Bay.

[ Image Only ] Title:

F6F-3 Hellcat on Display

Format:

jpeg

Date:

2007

Description: View of the museum's F6F-3 Hellcat on display painted in the wartime markings of the aircraft flown by Lieutenant Arthur Ray Hawkins with Fighting Squadron (VF) 31 off the carrier Cabot (CVL 28).