General info for Hellcat Mk II

• Country Britain
• Vehicle role Naval Fighter / Strike fighter
• Rank 3

• Battle rating in
  • arcade battles 3
  • realistic battles 3.7
  • simulator battles 3.7

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Wiki info about Hellcat Mk II

Official War Thunder wiki

Described as ‘the most important Allied shipboard fighter of World War II’ by record breaking test pilot Captain Eric Brown RN, the Grumman Hellcat was a single-seat, single-engine, all-metal fighter which entered service in 1943. Designed the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation under the direction of Leroy Grumman and William Schwendler, a prototype of the XF6F-1 fighter made its first flight on 26th June 1942. In October 1942, the first production version, F6F-3, was launched and the US Navy began equipping squadrons in January 1943. The aircraft was powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10 Double Wasp radial air-cooled engine and a Hamilton Standard three-bladed propeller. Its armament consisted of six 0.50 calibre Colt-Browning M2.5 machine guns, with 400 rounds each, located in the wings. Weapon racks under the fuselage and under the wings could carry up to three bombs weighing up to 1,000 lb (454 kg) or six 127 mm High Velocity Aircraft Rockets. An external fuel tank could be mounted on the central rack. Hellcats began equipping squadrons of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in July 1943, starting with 800 Naval Air Squadron who used the American fighters to replace their Hawker Sea Hurricanes. In the British service the aircraft was initially named the Grumman Gannet Mk.I, but it was later changed to the Hellcat F Mk.I. The Fleet Air Arm’s Hellcats first saw action in December 1943, when 800 NAS launched a series of anti-shipping strikes off the Norwegian coast from the light escort carrier HMS Emperor. In April 1944, Hellcats formed part of the escort for a series of Fleet Air Arm strikes against the German battleship Tirpitz in Kaafiord; during the strikes Lt Cdr AR Richardson, CO of 1840 NAS, used his Hellcat’s arrestor hook to tear off an enemy radio mast once he had run out of ammunition. It was during operations over Norway that Lt Cdr SG Orr and Lt B Richie both became aces whilst flying Hellcats. From June 1944, British Hellcats fought in the Mediterranean theatre and near the beaches of Normandy in support of the D-Day landings. However, it was with the British Pacific Fleet in the Far East that Hellcats were used in the greatest numbers by the Fleet Air Arm, including acting as escort for the mass raids on the Palembang oil refineries in January 1945. It was with the British Pacific Fleet that the Royal Navy’s top Hellcat ace, Sub Lt ET Wilson, scored 3 kills and four shared. Royal Navy pilots flying Hellcats scored a combined total of 52 air-to-air victories. A rugged, well armed machine with a good blend of agility, performance and firepower, the Hellcat was one of the most successful naval aircraft of the war. Some 1300 Hellcats were delivered to Great Britain as part of the Lend-Lease agreement, and were withdrawn from service in August 1946.