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.

2018年6月30日 · The Grumman F6F Hellcat was one of the most important fighter planes of the Second World War, described by many as a war-winning weapon. The Hellcat was developed as an improvement upon a previous Grumman plane, the F4F Wildcat.

2017年3月8日 · 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. The Hellcat’s initial development proceeded virtually without incident.

At first glance, the F6F appeared too big to operate safely from a carrier. But The Grumman Iron Works had a great deal of expertise in building carrier aircraft. The US Navy wanted a much faster plane carrying heavier loads over far greater distances. The only way to achieve all three goals was the obvious way; design a larger aircraft.

2022年7月23日 · As a naval plane, to Navy and 1942 standards, the F6F was extremely well protected. It also had plenty of space in its cavernous fuselage for a lot of gear. As for protection, navy pilots affectionately dubbed it the “aluminium tank”, as they venerated its ability to take enormous punishment.

2024年12月22日 · Equipped with a 2,000-horsepower radial engine built by Pratt & Whitney called the R-2800 Double Wasp, the F6F could achieve a top speed of 380 mph (611 km/h). The small but mighty warbird carried a heavy armament of six .50 caliber M2 Browning machine guns.

2019年7月3日 · Having begun production of their successful F4F Wildcat fighter, Grumman began work on a successor aircraft in the months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat is a single-crew carrier-based fighter aircraft with an external length of 10.24 meters, an external height of 4.4 meters, and a fuselage diameter of 1.5 meters. It has a wingspan of 13.06 meters and a wing area of 31.02 square meters. The tail height is 3.99 meters and the wheelbase is 6.5 meters.

2023年12月23日 · Described by at least one aviation expert as “pugnacious rather than elegant,” the Grumman F6F Hellcat still proved to be a war-winning aircraft. It was also designed and developed with great speed and then mass-produced at a rate never equaled by any other single aircraft in history.

2023年2月24日 · Enter the F6F Hellcat—Grumman’s upgraded F4F Wildcat, with heavier armor plating, a more powerful engine, greater range, and more potent guns—a sturdy and dependable single-seat carrier fighter that decidedly tipped the balance of power toward the U.S.