F6F-3 aboard USS Yorktown has its "Sto-Wing" folding wings deployed for takeoff (circa 1943-44). Grumman had been working on a successor to the F4F Wildcat since 1938, and the contract for the prototype XF6F-1 was signed on 30 June 1941.

One of the top fighters of World War II, Grumman's F6F Hellcat went from the experimental stage to operational employment in less than 18 months. Its combat operations began in August 1943 in an...

Mar 8, 2017 · Goldilocks Fighter: What Made the F6F Hellcat “Just Right”? A Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter makes condensation rings as it awaits the take-off flag aboard USS Yorktown. (National Archives) Grumman’s F6F Hellcat was perfectly suited to young American naval aviators battling Zeros in the Pacific.

The aircraft on display (F6F-3, Bureau Number 25910) is a veteran of combat in the Solomon Islands with Fighting Squadron (VF) 38, a land-based unit that scored 22 aerial victories against Japanese aircraft.

The Museum’s Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat is a truly unique airplane, though it never flew in combat. It was the first variable stability aircraft to undergo testing at Patuxent River, Maryland and Moffet Field, California test centers.

The carrier-based fighter Grumman F6F Hellcat was designed from the beginning to take back the skies over the Pacific from the Japanese Zero. The Hellcat moves into a new phase of life, restored to the highest standards of her stock condition.

Jan 21, 2025 · Near the end of August 1943 the Japanese navy had about ninety-five Zero fighters operational at Rabaul, New Britain and in the Solomons. They were usually divided between the two areas but could concentrate in one or the other as …

It seems that our Hellcat should more accurately be termed an Alley Cat, as its official designation, according to the FAA, is “S & S Special Grumman F6F.” It is a parts airplane, consisting mainly of an F6F-3 fuselage mixed with a considerable number of …

The National Air and Space Museum's F6F-3 Hellcat, BuNo. 41834, was built at Grumman's Bethpage, New York, factory in February 1944 under contract NOA-(S)846. It was delivered to the Navy on February 7, and arrived in San Diego, California, on the 18th.

Jan 14, 2013 · The Grumman F6F Hellcat, essentially a larger and more powerful development of the Grumman F4F Wildcat, flew in its original XF6F-1 form on 26 June 1942, with a 1,700 hp Wright R-2600-10 Cyclone engine.