25. The Hellcat That Devastated the Japanese (Part 1)
Casual WWII buffs tend to know far more about the European fighter planes than their Asian counterparts. Perhaps that is understandable, considering the greater scale and intensity of combat in Europe, coupled with the higher stakes against the premier Axis power. It is nonetheless unfortunate, because it overlooks some fine airplanes of the Pacific War, and the brave men who flew them. One such airplane was the Grumman F6F Hellcat, the successor to the F4F Wildcat with which the US Navy began the war.
Shocked, American naval Aviators discovered their standard fighter, the F4F Wildcat, became outclassed, in many ways, by the Japanese Zero. The Japanese Zero boasted faster, more maneuverable, and longer-ranged stats. They adopted some ameliorative operational procedures and tactics in a bid to counter the Zero’s advantages and play up to the Wildcat’s strengths. Clearly, those measures became a stopgap. What it really needed? A new and improved fighter. Enter the Hellcat, which Grumman worked on as a successor to the F4F prior to America’s entry into the war. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor sped things up. It took what became the F6F Hellcat from the experimental stage to operational employment in just 18 months.
