The Grumman F6F Hellcat was not
the fastest or most maneuverable or even the most heavily armed plane of
the Pacific in World War II. It was, however, arguably the best all
around fighter found in the Pacific theater of operations. It has
been said that the F6F did nothing extraordinarily, but it did do everything
well.
Grumman Corp. developed the
F6 to replace the F4F Wildcat in answer to Japan's development of the A6M
Zero. The F6 soon became the workhorse of the Navy and was for the
most part a carrier based fighter. The serial production of the plane
began in July of 1942 with the first deliveries made to the Navy squadron
VF-9 aboard the Essex in January 1943. There were 12,272 of the planes
built between 1942 and its last delivery in November 1945. Pilots
flying the F6F made 4,947 of the 6,477 kills claimed by the U.S. in the
Pacific. After the war, F6F was the first aircraft used by the flight
demonstration team, The Blue Angels.
