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The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II.Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War.
Grumman's Wildcat production ceased in early 1943 to make way for the newer F6F Hellcat, but General Motors continued producing Wildcats for both U.S. Navy and Fleet Air Arm use. Late in the war, the Wildcat was obsolescent as a front line fighter compared to the faster (380 mph/610 km/h) F6F Hellcat or much faster (446 mph/718 km/h) F4U Corsair.
The Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter-bomber introduced in 1943 was also faster than the Wildcat, had greater range, a rate of climb comparable to the IJN Zero, and was capable of carrying a 4,000 lb total load of bombs, torpedoes, and rockets. Both the Corsair and the Hellcat aircraft were faster than the Zero and, having armor protection and self ...
F6F Hellcat: Naval fighter Grumman Designed to replace the F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero; it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War. It prevailed over its faster competitor, the Vought F4U Corsair, which initially had problems with visibility and carrier landings. 1942
To meet this goal, the Bearcat's fuselage was about 5 ft (1.5 m) shorter than the Hellcat, and was cut down vertically behind the cockpit. This allowed the use of a bubble canopy, the first to be fitted to a US Navy fighter. The vertical stabilizer was the same height as the Hellcat's, but had an increased aspect ratio, giving it a thinner look.
Grumman F4F Wildcat - Fighter; Grumman F6F Hellcat - Fighter/night fighter; Grumman JRF Goose - Amphibian transport; Grumman TBF Avenger - Torpedo bomber; Lockheed JO-2 - Transport; Lockheed R5O Lodestar - Transport; Lockheed PV-1 Ventura - Patrol bomber; Martin JM Marauder - Attack/medium bomber/target tug; North American PBJ Mitchell - Attack ...
To ease carrier storage concerns, simultaneously with the F4F-4 model of its Wildcat carrier fighter, Grumman designed the Avenger to also use the new Sto-Wing patented "compound angle" wing-folding mechanism, intended to maximize storage space on an aircraft carrier; the Wildcat's replacement, the F6F Hellcat, also employed this mechanism. [5]
Comparison of the Grumman F4F Wildcat between folded and unfolded wings North American XB-70 in flight with 65% percent (fully folded) wing position. Since the monoplane supplanted the biplane in the late 1930s, virtually all fixed-wing aircraft designed for shipboard duty have been equipped with folding wings.