Author: Cory Graff
Publisher: Zenith Press
ISBN: 9780760333068
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 164
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Book Description
A lavishly illustrated look at the most successful aircraft in naval history--from its design and development to its unparalleled performance in the last 2 years of WWII.
Author: Cory Graff
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN: 1616732660
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161
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Book Description
This guide traces the history of the US Navy’s premier WWII fighter plane with archival photos, tech specs and illustrations. F6F Hellcat at War follows the story of this iconic aircraft from its early development to its distinguished combat career in the Pacific. While the F6F was not the fastest or most maneuverable fighter, aviators loved their trusty Hellcats because they were incredibly tough, marvelously powerful, and easy to fly. In the last two years of war, the Hellcat dominated the skies over the Pacific, stopping Japan’s once-vaunted A6M Zero and tallying a victory-to-loss ratio of over 19 to 1. Through compelling accounts, never-before-seen photographs, and detailed drawings, F6F Hellcat at War tells the story of one of the war’s most successful yet underappreciated fighter aircraft.
Author: Corwin H. Meyer
Publisher: Naval Fighters
ISBN: 9780984611454
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The Grumman F6F Hellcat was the most important Naval aircraft in WWII. Without it the Pacific war would have had a very protracted conclusion. The F6F was built to Roy Grumman's simple design philosophy "Grumman will only build an easily-produced, maintained and reliable combat aircraft that can be readily mastered by a 200-hour, war-time pilot trained to fly from a carrier, engage in successful combat, sustain combat damage, return to the carrier, and land his aircraft after dark so that he can be available for combat again the next day." Because the F6F was all that, it earned Grumman the nick name "The Ironworks." Grumman built 12,275 Hellcats during WWII in its successful effort of clearing the skys of the Japanese. The XF6F was first flown on August 8, 1942 and the production version, the F6F-3 flew on October 3, 1942. The F6F-3 first entered squadron service with VF-9 on January 16, 1943 and drew its first blood over Marcus Island on August 31, 1943. The Hellcat shot down 5,156 enemy aircraft, for a kill-to-loss ratio of 19-to-1, while producing 307 aces. This was the aircraft of the largest one-day air battle of all time, the "Marianas Turkey Shoot" where more than 540 Hellcats fought 440 Japanese naval aircraft backed by up to 600 Japanese Army aircraft. Result was 354 enemy aircraft kills were claimed by the Hellcats while only 16 F6Fs were lost to Japanese aircraft. The Hellcat would see combat as photo birds (F6F-3P/5Ps) and night fighters (F6F-3E/3N/5E/5Ns) too as well as the improved F6F-5 fighter. The book covers the F6Fs development, testing, and production written by Grumman's test pilot "Corky" Meyer. This is followed by technical details and a running combat narrative. The Marines, British, French, and European action is covered as well as training command during and after WWII and sections on post war, reserve, drones, and Hellcat prey.
Author: Robert Gadbois
Publisher: Merriam Press
ISBN: 1576383334
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 424
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Book Description
From enlistment in 1942, through cadet aviation training, joining VBF-12/Air Group 12 as a SB2C Helldiver pilot, later switching to the F6F Hellcat, embarking on the USS Randolph (CV-15), and conducting air operations including fighter sweeps over Tokyo, combat missions over Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and fighting off kamikaze attacks.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hellcat (Fighter planes)
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472805593
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 96
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Book Description
An illustrated history of the pilots of VF-2 who had a spectacular scoring rate and fought in many of the major aerial campaigns of the Pacific War. The first VF-2 was a prewar unit that had been dubbed the 'hottest outfit afloat' due to the skill of their non-commissioned pilots. This first unit only saw combat at the Battle of the Coral Sea, although VF-2 pilots flying Grumman F4F Wildcats were able to rack up 17 claims there during the bitter 48-hour period of fighting. The second 'Fighting Two' was armed with the new Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter. Arriving in Hawaii in October 1943, the squadron so impressed Cdr Edward H 'Butch' O'Hare, the Medal of Honor-winning first US Navy ace of World War 2, that he requested the squadron replace VF-6 in his CAG-6 aboard USS Enterprise. No unit US Navy unit created more aces than VF-2, whose pilots went into action over the Carolines, Marianas, Guam, Iwo Jima and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Using exquisite photographs and first-hand accounts from the elite fliers themselves, this volume tells the story of the ace pilots who comprised the original VF-2 and the second.
Author: Edward M. Young
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782003363
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 96
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Book Description
In the course of two combat tours VF-9 pilots shot down 250 Japanese aeroplanes and produced 20 aces. VF-9 was activated in March 1942 as part of Carrier Air Group (CAG) 9, one of the many air groups the US Navy was hurriedly forming in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Equipped with Grumman F4F Wildcats, VF-9 first saw combat during the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, where the squadron engaged Vichy French fighters over Morocco. Returning to the United States, VF-9 became one of the first squadrons to receive the Grumman F6F Hellcat and to deploy on the USS Essex, the first of its class of fleet carriers that would form the backbone of the US Navy's Fast Carrier Task Force. VF-9, the Hellcat, and the Essex all entered combat in the fall of 1943. This book details how, In the hands of the squadron's pilots, and with other Navy fighter squadrons, the Hellcat proved superior to the Imperial Japanese Navy's A6M Zero, which had heretofore been the world's premier carrier fighter plane.
Author: Barrett Tillman
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9781855325968
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Grumman's successor to the pugnacious Wildcat, the Hellcat embodied many of the lessons learnt by F4F pilots in the opening months of the Pacific war. Introduced to the fleet in January 1943, and blooded in combat against the Japanese by VF-5 seven months later, the F6F served as the principal US Navy fighter on board carrier decks until VJ-Day. Despite its lethality in the air when ranged against the best Japanese fighters, it still retained docile handling qualities around the carrier deck. Pilots flying the Hellcat claimed nearly 5000 kills in the Pacific, and over 350 pilots achieved ace status on the type.
Author: Eric Brown
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
Author: Francis H. Dean
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764300721
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 608
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Book Description
America's Hundred Thousand covers in detail the eleven U.S. fighter aircraft types produced just before and during World War II - with a combined production total of just over 100,000 aircraft. Covered are the Army Lockheed P-38 Lightning, P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk/Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, and the Navy F2A - Buffalo, F4F - Wildcat, F4U - Corsair, and F6F - Hellcat fighters. The text is supplemented by more than 650 photographs, and 200 tables and graphs. Fighter production figures are also included. After an introduction of each type, a heavily illustrated overview of earlier inter-war production from 1920-on, along with a discussion and illustration of wartime experimental types, is provided. A lengthy section considering several technical factors affecting fighter performance follows. These include engine models, supercharger types, propellers, aerodynamic thrust, lift and drag, aircraft weight, balance, stability and control, and armament. America's Hundred Thousand also provides details of each U.S. World War II production fighter in terms of models and changes, numbers produced, and major engine and aircraft performance aspects - in tabular and graphical form - details of weights, discussion of handling qualities and general comments, along with detailed descriptions containing many illustrations of aircraft structures and systems showing the technology of that time. In addition a comprehensive week-to-week and month-to-month chronology of development and wartime combat operational life for each fighter is provided, including many photos. This study concludes with comparisons of the eleven types in terms of program milestones, aircraft drag, power available at various altitudes, speed, climb, rolling and turning, acceleration, and diving performance, as well as general evaluations by World War II pilots.
