HobbyMaster Diecast Model
Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat US Navy USS Essex CV-9
David McCampbell 1/72 Scale - HA1101
Wingspan: 7"
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The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a fighter plane descended from the earlier F4F Wildcat, but was a completely new design sharing only a familial resemblance to the Wildcat. Some tagged it as "Wildcat's big brother" [1]. The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were the primary United States Navy carrier fighters in the second half of World War II. The Hellcat proved to be the most successful aircraft in naval history, destroying 5,163 aircraft in service with the US Navy and US Marine Corps, plus 52 with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. Postwar, the Hellcat aircraft was rapidly phased out of frontline service, finally retiring in 1954 as a night-fighter in composite squadrons. |
