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Description
Of all the carrier based fighters that were produced in World War II, Grumman's F6F Hellcat was the most successful of them all. Intended to replace the venerable F4F Wildcat (Which held the line for the United States during the early stages of the Pacific War), the Hellcat was designed before Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Powered by the famous Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine, packing six .50 caliber machine guns in the wings, and possessing the structural strength that made Grumman famous, the Hellcat was, in the words of top navy ace David McCampbell: "An outstanding fighter plane. It performed well, was easy to fly and was a stable gun platform. But what I really remember most was that it was rugged and easy to maintain."

The Hellcat racked up an enviable record during it's service in the Pacific scoring a kill to loss ratio of 13:1 against the Zero, 3.7:1 against Mitsubishi's J2M Raiden, and 9.5:1 against the Ki-84 Hayate. It also enabled 306 naval aviators to achieve ace status, and scored 75 percent of the kills made in the Battle of the Phillipine Sea (AKA "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot"). 12,275 Hellcats were built and flew with various other countries including Britain's Fleet Air Arm, and the French Aéronavale. Postwar, the Hellcat was soon replaced in the US Navy by the F8F Bearcat, and was relegated to second line duties such as target towing or expended as target drones or unmanned flying bombs. Today only seven are still airworthy.

The plane depicted above served in Navy fighter squadron VF-27 which flew off the light carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) during the battle of Leyte Gulf in October, 1944.

I think it was the History Channel's TV series "Dogfights" that said it best: "Japanese air power was dead, and the Hellcat was the executioner."

Description
Of all the carrier based fighters that were produced in World War II, Grumman's F6F Hellcat was the most successful of them all. Intended to replace the venerable F4F Wildcat (Which held the line for the United States during the early stages of the Pacific War), the Hellcat was designed before Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, Powered by the famous Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine, packing six .50 caliber machine guns in the wings, and possessing the structural strength that made Grumman famous, the Hellcat was, in the words of top navy ace David McCampbell: "An outstanding fighter plane. It performed well, was easy to fly and was a stable gun platform. But what I really remember most was that it was rugged and easy to maintain."

The Hellcat racked up an enviable record during it's service in the Pacific scoring a kill to loss ratio of 13:1 against the Zero, 3.7:1 against Mitsubishi's J2M Raiden, and 9.5:1 against the Ki-84 Hayate. It also enabled 306 naval aviators to achieve ace status, and scored 75 percent of the kills made in the Battle of the Phillipine Sea (AKA "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot"). 12,275 Hellcats were built and flew with various other countries including Britain's Fleet Air Arm, and the French Aéronavale. Postwar, the Hellcat was soon replaced in the US Navy by the F8F Bearcat, and was relegated to second line duties such as target towing or expended as target drones or unmanned flying bombs. Today only seven are still airworthy.

The plane depicted above served in Navy fighter squadron VF-27 which flew off the light carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) during the battle of Leyte Gulf in October, 1944.

I think it was the History Channel's TV series "Dogfights" that said it best: "Japanese air power was dead, and the Hellcat was the executioner."