The Hellcat was the U.S. Navys primary carrier-borne fighter in the Pacific Theatre, entering service in the fall of 1943. It officially racked up an impressive kill:loss ratio of 19:1, even accounting for exaggerated claims and lower-quality enemy pilots by 1944. While not as agile as the Zero, it was faster and tougher and when the Hellcat was handled correctly could master the Zero. The F6F was nearly as large as the P-47 and actually had 10% more wing area.
The prototypes for the Hellcat first flew in mid-1942, when it was realized that the Wildcat (p.W:DF81) was not quite up to dealing with current frontline fighters. In late 1942, a larger engine was added and entered production in the spring of 1943. A bit more than 12,000 F6Fs were built, with almost all of them of only the 3 (4,400) and 5 versions (7,900).
One myth that surrounds the Hellcat was that the Zero found in the Aleutian Islands (p.W112) in mid-1942 influenced its development. However, by the time that Zero was found, the Hellcat design was well along (dating back to June 1941) and multiple prototypes had already been flown. Aside from the substitution of a more powerful engine, there was simply no time to have made any significant changes from the date of the discovery of the Zero to the first F6F-3 rolling off the production lines.
The F6F-3 uses 67 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage.
Subassemblies: Heavy Fighter chassis +3, Heavy Fighter
Wings with folding and High-Agility options +2, Medium Weapon nose [Body:F]
+2, three retractable wheels +1.
Powertrain: 1,492-kW aerial HP gasoline engine with 1,492-kW
prop and 235-gallon self-sealing fuel tanks [Body and Wings].
Occupancy: 1 CS Cargo: 0
| Armor | F | R/L | B | T | U |
| All | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 | 3/5 |
| Pilot | 0/+10 | 0/+20 | 0/+40 | 0/+10 | 0/+20 |
Weaponry
6¥ Long Aircraft HMG/M-2 [Wing:F] (400 rounds each)*
* Linked to fire in pairs, plus additional link can fire all six at
once
Equipment
Body: Medium range radio transmitter and receiver, IFF, navigation
instruments, autopilot.
Statistics
| Size: 43'x34'x14' | Payload: 0.75 tons | Lwt: 5.6 tons |
| Volume: 132 | Maint.: 34 hours | Price: $34,900 |
HT: 10
HP: 260 [body], 160 [each wing], 75 [nose pod], 24 [each wheel]
| aSpeed: 371 | aAccel: 14 | aDecel: 23 | aMR: 5.75 | aSR: 2 |
Design Notes
Design speed was 347 mph. The historical value has been used, as well
as the actual wing area (334 square feet). The design was forced to place
all fuel in the body; the historical distribution was 175 gallons in the
wings and 60 gallons in the fuselage.
Like the P-47 Thunderbolt (p.W:DF83), the Heavy Fighter chassis is just a bit too small for the design and uses the same trick with a pod to fit everything in. There are 2 VSP left in the pod, which is used for the water-methanol system in late-model 3s and all 5s.
The F6F-3 could carry a 150-gallon drop tank but had no provisions for any other external ordnance.
Variants
The Hellcat I was the British designation for the 252 3s they received.
The 830 5s were named Hellcat II. An unknown number of Hellcat IIs were
fitted with four rails under each wing for carrying the British 60-lb rocket.
The F6F-5 was generally similar to the 3. It adopted as standard a water-methanol system introduced late in the 3 production run. Additionally, three 1,000-lb hardpoints (one per wing and one under the fuselage) were added. There were also provisions for three 5 HVARs under each wing. Finally, some late-model 5s replaced the two inboard .50-cal HMGs with 20mm cannons (20mm Medium Aircraft ACs) with 200 rounds per gun. Top speed, with boosting, was 380 mph.
Several Hellcats were built as nightfighters (149 3N and 1,434 5N). A small radar unit was attached near the front edge of the right wing, which reduced speed by 20 mph.
Sources
http://www.vectorsite.net/avf6f.html
http://www.aviation-history.com/grumman/f6f.html
Aircraft: World Wars I & II, Longmeadow Press, 1988