F6F Hellcat: Flying the "Brute" 

Many thanks for Dad's service. I was a baby at that time, and men like him were looking after me.

Was the Hellcat the best aircraft made? Of course not. Crucially though it was a great plane readily available to wherever in the massive Pacific ocean it was needed, and even more crucially it was better than the vast majority of the opposition it faced.

Corsair!!!! It went on to Korea, last produced prop fighter, the undisputed King!!

@HarvHR - that's exactly why I love the hellcat, it was perfect for its job and its theater, and I imagine it gave the Japanese quite the shock

I’m a “proof is in the pudding” kind of guy, and the Hellcat’s record speaks for itself.

Not., the Hellcat was as the Liberty ships were. A quickly built design produced for quantity. As far as solid it's the first of the grumans that had the habit of breaking in half on bad landing, this carried on into their first carrier jet fighters. The Hellcat had the power and of course it was designed proper enough, but as far as being the greatest fighter is like saying the liberty ships were the greatest ships. Would also note the Hellcat like the Liberty ships were not a very attractive design

That's quite a side note

@@robertsmith2227 Herb passed away several years ago. I met him later in his life, when the numbers of those who served on the nine Independence Class CVLs dwindled to the point their individual reunions were simply combined. Sorry to say our dad passed away three months ago, (three months after commenting on this thread), just a month before what would've been his 98th birthday. 'Bonus time' is what he considered his post-combat years and he genuinely lived like it was. He is missed greatly but will ever be remembered gratefully and lovingly.

I have seen that clip hundreds of times in the last 45+ years, really. I did not know the reason for it though. 98 years is along time and it sounds like your lucky he made it that far. Mine went to the hospital yesterday, it seems he's going to be right behind yours. It's all I can think about right now so thank you.

@@robertsmith2227 Hey Robert, I'm sorry to hear that about your dad. Im sure there's a lot on your mind. If you want or need to chat ddecay at gmail. ☮️

@@davidkoloc1313 thank you David, I don't know why I wrote that, it's tough. Not something I'd normally do but it's a lot. I do appreciate your thoughts. The internet strikes again. I'll be back to watch more of these tonight, it calms me down and always has.

My favorite aircraft is the F6F Hellcat for many reasons but it's still impossible not to love those beautiful lines of the F4U Corsair.

Thanks very much. I also enjoy listening to them relate personal experiences. That's what inspired me to make these videos.

The British were given F4U because our navy didn’t want them. There was British pilot while stopping at an American depot, noticed many corsairs being sent back to the states. On inquiring, it was because they reached 500 hours, and were due for rebuild. The British policy was to operate for 2500 hours before this procedure. He asked and was told he could swap. Unfortunately the one being sent back were blue and his color was green

A flap style braking system, similar to the air brake aft of the canopy on the more modern fighter as the Tomcat may have been useful during that time period, aerospace scientists should have called the ball!

Like this?😁

For Carrier pilots it was more user friendly than the Corsair as carrier fighter, Corsair was bigger, the view for carrier landing was quite obscure (so the turning approach comes in mind) and quite rugged. While the Hellcats and later Bearcats had easier landing approach on carrier landings than Corsairs

War thunder needs to get on it

Absolutely All the way to the Tom Cat !

The F-4F was at first a bit underpowered. Grumman fixed that by upgrading the engine after the F-6F was in production

Wildcat, Hellcat, Tomcat…I wonder what the next one would be? 😼

Check out the bear cat

@@robertsmith2227 Exactly. To think of how far things progressed in such a short time from the Wildcat to the Bearcat is mind-boggling.

Talking about that engine, my Dad served in 205 Sqn RAF from 1946 to 1955. 205 flew the Sunderland flying boat which was a WW2 era maritime patrol and anti submarine aircraft. They also served in the SAR role. They were fitted with P&W Twin Wasps in the latter versions although they only produced around 1,200 hp each.

@@nomdeplume798 they fitted them with the same engines as the consolidates PBY/5 Catalina. Seen this mentioned in another video.

I'm really curious how the Japanese battle hardened, experienced and well trained pilots in the early phase of the war would cope against the Hellcats

@@ramal5708 I've asked myself that same question for over 20 years, read a bit about Japanese aces, and I believe I have the answer: They actually did cope against the Hellcats, and favorably so. Saburo Sakai, stationed at Rabaul (rather than a Carrier, he never flew off carriers), then Iwo Jima and Mainland Japan, was among their greats, in his Zero, out of ammo, faced 15 Hellcat's and survived. He later mentioned in his autobiography that Kaneyoshi Muto, another ace, had actually done something similar, also at the controls of a Zero fighter, facing 12 Hellcats, and he had ammo, so he dispatched 4. And then there's their top man, Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, another Rabaul ace, he fought like hell and was called "the devil of Rabaul". 87 kills to his name, many of them Hellcats, only died when shot down in Ki-49 Transport while rotated back to Japan, then there's Shigeo Fukumoto, 72 kills, Tetsuzō Iwamoto, etc, I could go on. Not to mention IJA aces too, guys like Satoru Anabuki, 39 kills, Ryotaro Jobo, 30+, Goro Furugori, 25+, etc, at least some of these must have been Hellcats. All with rickety A6M's and Ki-43's. As far as veteran pilots in planes that were actually competitive... I believe the 343rd Kokutai, which received the N1K "George", is a pretty good example. The F6F's faced the N1K in it's inaugural engagement, F6F's strafing targets of opportunity, so usually fishing boats etc (and this can be documented via guncam footage here on RU-vid, for instance /watch?v=msb8OdvBBjU&ab_channel=airailimages), which I can imagine the members of 343rd were less than impressed with and more than happy to do something about. And they did, by inflicting 50% losses on the F6F's and suffering none of their own. Unlike what some might state, experienced Japanese pilots were a lot more similar to Western pilots than some would like to admit, right down to the womanizing & partying bit, and actually knew a great deal about energy fighting. Japan just didn't have many enough of them, pilots that were more than good enough for wartime standards were rejected during peacetime training, and sent to die in infantry units later on. Their ground crews also left much to be desired, they simply weren't trained to scavenge aircraft for useable parts to keep others flying, so even in situations where they had enough pilots they didn't have the aircraft to keep them flying. Surviving IJN carrier crews at Midway = Sent to die on far away islands as punishment for their "failure", end result: Newer Japanese carriers setting sail with badly trained crew, sinking after just one or two torpedo hits.

...he he he.

@@davidh6300 😁

Iirc most IJ pilots didn't realize they are fighting a larger "Wildcat", the Hellcat was, until mid 1944 or so, in 1943 they still thought they are Wildcats and use similar tactics to fight the Wildcat against the F6F. They thought the Americans didn't change aircraft like the Japanese did with the Zero.

I suspect the ashtray bit was an in-joke from the era... and not real. But I could be proven wrong.

@@ArmouredCarriers I think so too... but then again no one really believes that British tanks are fitted with a kettle to make tea with. Or coffee if you have visitors.

@@ArmouredCarriers No joke probably. Adolf Galland was famous for having an electric cigar lighter (as you would have had in cars) in his Bf109. I just assume that inofficial customization was down to the pilot and his ground crew, so an ashtray makes sense.

I might be wrong, but I think early Spitfires had a similar mechanism. When you see old footage of scrambling Spitfires, they all seem to wave a little after clearing ground. This is because the pilots are busy cranking up the landing gear

@@ottovonbismarck2443 I didn't know that but you're right. State of the art at the time for these planes and they used hand cranks to raise and lower the landing gear. Almost comical but it was deadly serious when war came.

The I-16 also had hand cranked landing gear. There was a usually some wobbling after take off as pilots flew with one hand and turned the crank with the other.

The benefits of competition. A foundation requirement of both capitalism and democracy.

@@peterclark6290 Until there is so much consolidation that there aren't enough competitors left for there to be true competition.

@@brunopadovani7347 Anti-trust legislation and a government willing to use it. It has been done before, against Standard Oil. Or they can just announce they prefer it and deal with the public.

He joined the Navy in 1918 so never flew a combat or patrol mission. He became a navy flight instructor because he was too cautious a flyer. After he completed a tour of duty the Navy sent him to M.I.T. to study the new field of aeronautical aviation. He completed his service as a Navy test pilot. After the Arminstance the Navy reduced his rank for peacetime service. After his discharge he became a test pilot and designer for Loening Aircraft before starting his own firm.

and 25 years later? on the Moon!...if I recall correctly, Grumman made the Lunar Lander.

@@andywebster4701THAT’S the one that makes me smile. 66 years from powered flight to the moon is so cool of humanity.

On the Corsair the UK had to shorten the wings to fit in the hangar of the Armoured Carriers, this cured floating down the deck problem due to less lift, found by accident. Lowering pressure in suspension oleo legs cured the bounce. A modification to leading edge meant it stalled evenly rather than dropping one wing and flipping. Then a curved landing approach allowed sighting through kink in wing allowed sight down to deck. Also the cowling flaps in front of cockpit where wired closed to prevent oil droplets/mist from engine compartment running up the windscreen just as you are landing. The Cowling flaps open at low speed to maintain cooling of the engine.

@@anthonywilson4873 Fascinating, Anthony. I didn’t know any of that. Monstrous thanks! 💛🙏🏼

@@anthonywilson4873 Great summation of the modifications performed on the Corsair to make it more carrier friendly. On a side note the Hellcat only used static air while in neutral blower (which was warmed by convection heat coming off the engine). This was a safety measure put in place by Grumman which helped minimize carburetor icing during carrier landings, and resulted in far less crashes on final approach. Conversely, the Corsair pilot could select either ram or static air, which inadvertently caused a few more crashes on carrier approaches in colder climates due to icing if pilots selected ram (unheated) air to the carburetor. However the ability to select ram air in neutral blower did provide the Corsair more horsepower than the Hellcat at low altitude with practically the same engine and added to the Corsair's overall speed advantage.

The US was completing production of a Hellcat every hour once it went in to full scale production. We needed fighters in the air. Flying the Corsair from carriers was a secondary consideration.

@@cvr527 The F4U was not designed as a carrier aircraft?

Same in US service, even though it had a better kill ratio than the Corsair.

yes it's a shame - I think as Brits we go ooooh Seafire, Sea Hurricane, etc and forget how good the Grummans were. Can I say Martlet please? Thank you.

The Marianas Turkey Shoot, that was all Hellcats.

British naval aircraft still had to go through the RAF design bureaucracy, and the ingrained interservice competition for resources.

Ha, 'Applecores', never heard that phrase before. Typically British .

@@jonathansteadman7935 Indeed, a nice play on Albacore. 🧐

@@jonathansteadman7935 Yeah, it is! Albacores (Applecores:) where replaced by Swordfish but they Applecores we’re supposed to have replaced the Swordfish in the first place!!

Yep; The Hellcat is my favorite also. My Grandfather was a SBD Dauntless radioman/gunner on the original Hornet CV-8 at the Battle of Mid-Way, and retired a Senior-Chief in Norfolk, Va.

@@ebsmokymtn9445 Way to go with your grandad! I salute his service.

I scrounge them from wherever I can, but largely the Imperial War Museum. The recordings can vary in age from the 1960s to the 2020s. Different places have had different audio history projects at different times.

The audio interviews were done by me , as an oral history interviewer for the Imperial War Museum , in the 1990s mainly.

I should say that other interviewers probably did some of the recordings. But on the odd occasions that I hear the interviewer speak , it is me with my distinctive Hull accent and baritone pitch!

Nice to read stuff about the Hellcat that all the English & Commonwealth Pilots agreed on...it was the best Carrier Fighter of WWII!

The USN did not sort out their problems with the F4U, the Royal Navy and in particular their FAA did that. The Corsair was flying of RN carriers a full year(or longer) before the USN got their act together. It was an aircraft of contradiction's. A nose engine combination that made the Seafire's seem benign, awfull forward visibility in the take off and approach configuration. Hopeless rebound undercarriage characteristic"s, resulting in further horrific landing incident's and cockpit, wing placement; nose length, juxtaposition, making overall pilot vis pretty ordinary. The time and cost to design, develop, test and modify the aircraft to a flyable and servicable state were excessive. The Brit's sorted it in 3to4 months, while in full service. No such issues with Grumman"s product.

@@kenjones2973 Well yes, the Royal Navy sorted it out for them, LOL

Hellcat climbed slightly better than Corsairs before the -4. Rolled worse at 50 degrees/s vs 80-90, but turned better.

Plenty of comments by these aircraft pilots of having candy wrappers, pens, loose screws etc floating around the cockpit in dogfights!

Yes. Just struggling to find sufficient footage to fill out 20 to 30 minutes of narrative. I will fall back on mixing footage with photos as I've done in the past if I have no further luck.

@@ArmouredCarriers Good hunting! Now I need to make the time to listen to you, Drach and Dr Clark natter about on BilgePumps...

They do and that's it, been trying to think how to describe what it's like watching the avg. Brit flyng not a spitfire, Typhoon or Hurricane but a Hellcat or Corsair. Imagine Pappy Boyington in a Spitfire. Me either.

Yes below 200 knots the Zero was arguably the tightest turning low-winged fighter of the war. Above that the speed stick forces increased to a point where is became severely handicapped against faster, more modern fighters like the Hellcat. With the largest wing of any single-engined WWII fighter, the Hellcat had a very respectable turn radius but unfortunately suffered in overall roll rate. The later F6F-5 incorporated spring tabs which did improve this rate at higher speeds, giving the Hellcat a flatter and thus more predictable roll performance.

NOT a pilot but I read where USAAF P-47 Thunderbolt pilots used the same "Zoom & Boom" tactics because of the superior diving speed & tremendous firepower & ruggedness-very similar to the F6F Hellcat. As the British pilots showed with landing the F4U Corsair on carriers -you have to know your aircraft AND the enemies as well.

This looks more like a rocket flare launcher to me..

@@ottovonbismarck2443 Look at the barrel taper, sight location and mounting point. Definitely a Lewis Gun.

Provided on lend lease - paid off in full

Eric Brown said that compared to the Seafire the Hellcat was like flying a steamroller!

Thankyou, and yes - that clip is of Indomitable.

@@ArmouredCarriers thank you for your quick reply. That's great. Do you have enough material to do a segment on the Indomitable?

@@4hillines67 She is part of the Outflank and Iceberg video series, as well as Pedstal of course. But I may someday see if I can find enough commentary on the individual ships to stand up some "profile" videos.

@@ArmouredCarriers Thanks. That would be great. I have about 9 photos of my dad’s if would be of interest?

@@4hillines67 Always! Thanks. They could be useful for both a video, and for the relevant pages on www.armouredcarriers.com

Sea Hurricanes, Fulmars, Fireflies, Avengers, Skuas, Swordfish, Albacores......

Nothing that was very good, mostly under-powered, obsolete, poorly designed.

@@colinmartin2921 Wow that's a lot of homework.

Think this was a different pilot his voice was the same. Apologies.

I'll try to get to the PNG campaign at some point.