Grumman F6F Hellcat

The F6F Hellcat was the first American Naval fighter that truly outclassed the Japanese Zero. The zero could still out turn the Hellcat at low altitude but superior speed allowed it's pilots to dictate the terms of the engagement. It was produced and fielded in great numbers and was credited with more kills than any other naval fighter of the war. The Hellcat was one of the main fighters of The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot, which would be an appropriate battle for the map we are getting. It also saw limited service in Europe near Norway and in the Mediterranean with the British.

The Hellcat is must have, at least as an AI plane. F6Fs were even deployed for D-day (aboard HMS Emperor) protecting the flanks of the invasion fleet.

It uses a variant of the same P&W R-2800 engine than the F4U and P-47, thus if ED or Magnitude would be modeling it they can hopefully reuse same work and even sounds (for AI).

Got my vote

+1

I thin that we are going to be lucky!

Cool, we eventually may end up with entire R-2800 family :)

Fingers crossed for F6F-3.

This is great news!

I would actually suggest the later model F6F-5 (dash 5).

It is the most accurate version of the hellcat relevant to all the major actions after the Battle of the Phillipine Sea:

Battle of Leyte (Liberation of the Philippines)

Battle of Iwo Jima

Battle of Okinawa

and for the the following additional reasons:

• Most produced version of the Hellcat
  
• More powerful engine with water injection
  
• Better climb performance
  
• Slightly better turn performance
  
• Increased air to ground munitions capability (wing mountings for bombs + rockets)

The dash 5 was the most produced version of the Hellcat. Grumman switched production from dash 3 to dash 5 in April of 1944. The Battle of the Philippine Sea was in early June, but the campaign for the conquest of the Mariana Islands lasted through August 1944.

While its probably true that all the Hellcats in the battle for the Marianas were probably dash 3s, the dash 5s were being produced at an astounding rate of 16 airframes per day and were just waiting to be logistically moved to the carriers for re-equipping the units rotating in and out of action.

Cheers!

Except we're getting Marianas only for now. So it's not a great idea to get a mismatched aircraft, unless one wants to get bestest aircraft which seems to be the thing coming from your post (most power, best climb rate, turn performance, etc.). I was hoping this trend would stop finally.

Except we're getting Marianas only for now. So it's not a great idea to get a mismatched aircraft, unless one wants to get bestest aircraft which seems to be the thing coming from your post (most power, best climb rate, turn performance, etc.). I was hoping this trend would stop finally.

I'm willing to bet that if LNS would be asked "Why not the F4U-1 or -1A instead of the -1D?" your answers would be similar or the same as the reasons I stated. Hopefully Marianas will not be the only PTO map in DCS.

Cheers

I thin that we are going to be lucky!

 

Thanks for posting this! That's exciting news!

I'm willing to bet that if LNS would be asked "Why not the F4U-1 or -1A instead of the -1D?" your answers would be similar or the same as the reasons I stated. Hopefully Marianas will not be the only PTO map in DCS.

 

Cheers

I actually want birdcage F4U-1. It's my favorite Corsair. Has the beauty of original design. Plus we've been asked countless times why not F4U-4, so there's that :P

Could you post the link to the thread where Mr. Grey says the F6 is happening?

I actually want birdcage F4U-1. It's my favorite Corsair. Has the beauty of original design. Plus we've been asked countless times why not F4U-4, so there's that :P

Whichever it will be, you can be sure that its a day 1 purchase for me :thumbup:

I'm willing to bet that if LNS would be asked "Why not the F4U-1 or -1A instead of the -1D?" your answers would be similar or the same as the reasons I stated. Hopefully Marianas will not be the only PTO map in DCS.

Midway would be nice and doesn't seem like it should be too hard, relatively speaking.

But then we'd need Wildcats.if not Dauntless and Devastators... to say nothing of the appropriate A6M Zero, and Kates and Vals.

I'd love to have a hellcat as a companion to Magnitude's Corsair :)

Could you post the link to the thread where Mr. Grey says the F6 is happening?

Sure mate! There you go:

Sure mate! There you go:

Thanks! I know it'll take years but I can't wait to see a Pacific theatre get filled out. It's nice to know the man himself has an interest in it.

For the japanese side I would love to see a A6M5 Model 52 and the Ki-61-II-KAIa!

I would love to see Bearcat, everyone has own taste .

-4 series Corsair beats the hell out of the F6F-5 in every regard save turn radius, and as far as most pilots were concerned back then turn radius was last on the list of advantages a Naval fighter must have to be a great fighter. The Hellcat was quite slow compared to the other "modern" US Fighters, but since it mainly had to fight Zero fighters or plug slow torp bombers and fixed gear dive bombers that wasn't a huge issue.

Also, the awesome kill ratio enjoyed by the Hellcat is kinda skewed - this number reflects what it did mostly vs Zero fighters; I recently read that it only enjoyed a 3:1 against it's contemporary, the Raiden, and when flown by pilots of equal ability it was pretty much a match.

beauty she is

-4 series Corsair beats the hell out of the F6F-5 in every regard save turn radius, and as far as most pilots were concerned back then turn radius was last on the list of advantages a Naval fighter must have to be a great fighter. The Hellcat was quite slow compared to the other "modern" US Fighters, but since it mainly had to fight Zero fighters or plug slow torp bombers and fixed gear dive bombers that wasn't a huge issue.

 

Also, the awesome kill ratio enjoyed by the Hellcat is kinda skewed - this number reflects what it did mostly vs Zero fighters; I recently read that it only enjoyed a 3:1 against it's contemporary, the Raiden, and when flown by pilots of equal ability it was pretty much a match.

The F4U-4 is a very late war model. It’s comparable to the Bearcat, not the hellcat, and the Bearcat is vastly superior as a fighter, but completely neglected the ability to act as fighter-bomber.

The F6F vs F4U argument is nearly 80 years old. While it is generally agreed that the F4U is a slightly superior fighter, the Hellcat is a vastly superior carrier plane - and for naval aviation this is extremely important. F6F was easier and safer to operate from a carrier, took less space in the hangar, was easier to maintain, was cheaper. But the most important and critical advantage for the hellcat at the time was the ability to mass produce it - while Vought were struggling to get the F4U approved for carrier operations and producing them at a snail pace, Grumman were producing hellcats at a rate exceeding 300 planes a month - enough to equip a full squadron every 2 days. At the end of the day, it does not matter how good you are if you do not there when the fight happens.

The F6F was so successful that it remained nearly unchanged throughout its service, with only 2 models in service (-3 and -5, the -N night fighter being a small side branch) and only minor upgrades between them - Grumann got it right the first time.

The F4U-4 is a very late war model. It’s comparable to the Bearcat, not the hellcat, and the Bearcat is vastly superior as a fighter, but completely neglected the ability to act as fighter-bomber.

 

The F6F vs F4U argument is nearly 80 years old. While it is generally agreed that the F4U is a slightly superior fighter, the Hellcat is a vastly superior carrier plane - and for naval aviation this is extremely important. F6F was easier and safer to operate from a carrier, took less space in the hangar, was easier to maintain, was cheaper. But the most important and critical advantage for the hellcat at the time was the ability to mass produce it - while Vought were struggling to get the F4U approved for carrier operations and producing them at a snail pace, Grumman were producing hellcats at a rate exceeding 300 planes a month - enough to equip a full squadron every 2 days. At the end of the day, it does not matter how good you are if you do not there when the fight happens.

 

The F6F was so successful that it remained nearly unchanged throughout its service, with only 2 models in service (-3 and -5, the -N night fighter being a small side branch) and only minor upgrades between them - Grumann got it right the first time.

F-4U-1 is not so late, the true late models had 4 blade props.

Oh sorry, i cant get rid of feeling that we are not talking about this one in development by 3rd party.

The Corsair eventually became the better fighter, after years of upgrades and improvements, but the Hellcat was there in greater numbers, in better reliability and was much easier to fly.

The great ones, like the Spitfire, the Mustang and the FW-190 allow the pilot to be at his best almost immediately, and the Hellcat had that quality in spades.

Bump

Yess!

On the air combat sim podcast Nineline reiterated many times the that Nick Grey loves the Hellcat. Maybe the next ED WWII module?