F6F Hellkat

[edgemar]

Random airplane question:

I see Corsairs and Wildcats, Tigercats, Bearcats... etc at airshows. I have never seen a Hellkat in person. Why are they so rare since so many deployed during WWII?

12k+ built

[Jon B]

The Wikipedia page lists 7 as currently airworthy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F6F_Hellcat

[svandamme]

as with most WW2 fighter planes, a bunch of them got

shot down
crashed in training
shot down as target drones
sold to allies
lost in Korea as RC flying bombs
sold second hand to private owners
given to museums

the few privatly owned war birds out there, got bought by somebody who typically bought a couple of them, kept 1 and used the others to part out.

I reckon more mustangs ended up in the private ownership because
- slightly more made
- USAF moved to jets faster then the USN (jet's on carriers wasn't as easy)
- Landbased planes probably had an easier maintenance life (no salt, no hard landings)
- USAF could get planes sold a bit easier then the Navy (come pick em up at AFB such and such vs Navy had to offload em, dismantel em at the port ) So Navy probably didn't bother as much and sold more for scrap then for flight.

[KNS]

Tigercats and Bearcats are also pretty rare these days. You just happen to be at airshows where a few types are showing up and another another type (Hellcats) are not. Pure happenstance.

Corsairs were produced well into the '50s and and used by foreign air forces into the 1970s. Mustangs, though production ended in 1945, were used by foreign governments into the '70s and even the Dominican Republic retired its last Mustangs in the early 1980s. So, more of those types survived.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by KNS

Tigercats and Bearcats are also pretty rare these days.

Concur. I think the reason you see so many more Mustangs, Spitfires, and Corsairs is largely because people recognized early on how beautiful and unique they were when compared to other aircraft of the time and made it a point to keep them.

[pavulon]

Supposedly only one Helldiver left flying.

[Dantilla]

Currently six Tigercats in existence, three of them flying.

[Dantilla]

Lots of P-51 Mustangs were used by National Guard units long after WWII.

When the war ended, thousands of "surplus" airplanes were chopped up to recycle the aluminum.
P-51s were still valuable military tools, so there's still plenty around.

[john70t]

The F6F was a game changer. Like the P-38 and P-51.

Coral Sea before was a bloody draw but expansion plans were thwarted.
The Thatch Weave, unit coordination, and many sacrifices saved the day.

I think it was at following Wake Island when the Japanese Navy first encountered them, thinking they were Wildcats and the usual tricks would work. No.
Hellcats were very rugged, fast, and almost as agile as the A6-M Zero/Zeke.
Wake was an overwhelming victory for the USA.

The Hellcat had something like a 15:1 kill ratio. Second to the F-15 at 108:0 in air-to-air.

[edgemar]

That makes sense. Doesn't account for more Wildcats though...

Originally Posted by Ryan_Cunningham

Concur. I think the reason you see so many more Mustangs, Spitfires, and Corsairs is largely because people recognized early on how beautiful and unique they were when compared to other aircraft of the time and made it a point to keep them.

[KNS]

Some Naval reserve units flew Hellcats after the war but they were quickly phased out, sent to storage yards (Litchfield Park, AZ) and scrapped. Foreign Govts wanted the best, most affordable planes for their navies and that would have been the Corsair at the time.

Few Wildcats and Hellcats survived scrapping after the war. Some that are flying today were saved by farsighted individuals with the financial means or even pulled out of Lake Michigan.

Bearcats and Tigercats (developed after the Hellcat) flew with some active and reserve units after the war but they were never manufactured in large number to begin with as jet aircraft showed that the writing was on the wall.

The few Tigercats flying today spent their post military lives fighting forest fires and were retired in the '60s and '70s. If it weren't for their fire fighting roles there probably wouldn't be any Tigercats except one or two museum examples.

[tcar]

Bearcats and Tigercats never really served in WW2.

The first Blue Angels were Hellcats., BTW.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

Originally Posted by john70t

The F6F was a game changer. Like the P-38 and P-51.

Coral Sea before was a bloody draw but expansion plans were thwarted.
The Thatch Weave, unit coordination, and many sacrifices saved the day.

I think it was at following Wake Island when the Japanese Navy first encountered them, thinking they were Wildcats and the usual tricks would work. No.
Hellcats were very rugged, fast, and almost as agile as the A6-M Zero/Zeke.
Wake was an overwhelming victory for the USA.

The Hellcat had something like a 15:1 kill ratio. Second to the F-15 at 108:0 in air-to-air.

Got stuck in Wake for a week and a half after one of our jets broke bringing them back from Japan. It was eerie knowing what had occurred there.

[eastbay]

Originally Posted by edgemar

Random airplane question:

I see Corsairs and Wildcats, Tigercats, Bearcats... etc at airshows. I have never seen a Hellkat in person. Why are they so rare since so many deployed during WWII?

12k+ built

Because they were no good for Unlimited Air Racing in Reno. That is what started the resurgence in the Warbirds.

[TRE Cup]

There is a gorgeous Tigercat kept at Van Nuys. Tom Cruise keeps his P51 there as well.

[smadsen]

In the mid-90's I was wandering around Camarillo Airport and stumbled across the Commerative Air Force collection in their new hanger. I got to talking with an older gentleman working on one of the two or three planes they had at the time. It was the actual plane he had worked on during the Korean War, his name was in the log book. He had discovered it at the airport a few miles from his home after 45 years.

Here is the F8F today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhHaMtc3vrA

[Les Paul]

Late 70’s Confederate Air Force Harlingen Tx. Always amazing aircraft there. Aren’t cutoffs coming back?

[Jolly Amaranto]

Originally Posted by Ryan_Cunningham

Got stuck in Wake for a week and a half after one of our jets broke bringing them back from Japan. It was eerie knowing what had occurred there.

While flying from Oakland to Okinawa in 1958, our Connie stopped at Wake to refuel while we had lunch. They told me we were going to eat in a "mess hall" so you can imagine what was going through the head this literal six year old. I remember there was still a lot of war wreckage on the beach we rode by on the bus that took us from the plane to eat. Here I am posing by an anchor out front of the mess hall.



Our airplane.

[svandamme]

some got restored after recovered from the bottom of the sea.. full list.

Grumman F6F Hellcat Registry - A Warbirds Resource Group Site

[SpyderMike]

edgemar - you are in So Cal...have you been to Chino Planes of Fame Museum? They have all kinds of WW2 warbirds there and fly a different one each month after a seminar on it. Pretty sure I have seen a Hellcat there.