Grumman F6F Hellcat in View

Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat taking off OLF Concord 1943.

Curtiss SB2C Helldivers, F6F Hellcats, Grumman TBF Avengers.

Fighter pilots of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3) walk to their Grumman F6F Hellcats on the flight deck. From left: Ens. C.W. Miller, Lieutenant H.H. Dearing, Jr., and Lieutenant B. Albert. Note the F6F-3 Grumman Hellcat with external fuel tank. Ensign Miller holds his gloves in his teeth.

Newly-built F4U Corsair and F6F Hellcats being prepared to be shipped to the Pacific theater. 1944. Stored in a blimp hangar.

Starboard side view of the carrier USS Yorktown (Essex-class) with an F6F-3 Hellcat fighter of VF-1 on the flight deck above the athwartship hangar deck catapult, June 1943.

USS Yorktown (CV-10): A F6F-3 "Hellcat" returns to the carrier from the third attack on Mili Island, during the Gilberts and Marshalls operation, November 1943. Other F6Fs are parked forward, and an SBD-5 is visible in the hangar.

USS Intrepid (CV-11) operating in the Philippine Sea in November 1944. Note the Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter parked on an outrigger forward of her island.

Night fighter class at Vero Beach, Florida, in front of F6F Hellcat, April 1944. The first four pilots kneeling (from left) are Norm Mitchell, Jim Maguire, Bruce Porter, and Wally Sigler.

Grumman F6F -3 Hellcat fighters. The flight line at a Naval air station, circa 1943-44. (U.S. Navy photograph #80-G-K-14890, now in the collections of the National Archives)

F6F-5, 23, flown by Ens. Ardon R. Ives crash lands on the USS Lexington, February 1945 (Ives survived the crash but died in a dogfight in May 1945).

VMF(N)-533 F6F Hellcat night fighters seen from an R5C guide plane on the way from Engebi to Saipan.

"Black Death," Major Bruce Porter's personal Grumman F6F-5N Hellcat night fighter.

Major Bruce Porter walking away from his F6F-5N night fighter Hellcat during night fighter training in 1945.

Pilots of F6F-3 Hellcats who shot down 21 Japanese enemy planes in less than 15 minutes over Truk Atoll, 29 April 1944, aboard USS Langley (CVL-27).

As Rear Admiral J. W. Reeves Jr. (left) watches, F6F Hellcats of Fighting Squadron Ten are launched from the Enterprise in January 1944. The many VF-10 leaders who served in the carrier included commanding officers James Flatley and William “Killer” Kane and the founder of the Blue Angels flight demonstration team, Roy Voris.

The dramatic landing on an aircraft carrier of an Grumman F6F Hellcat that has been damaged.

10,000th Grumman F6F Hellcat manufactured.

F6F Hellcat ace Alex Vraciu.

Grumman F6F Hellcat aircraft carrier deck crash.

Grumman F6F Hellcats and Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers on aircraft carrier USS Essex.

Grumman F6F Hellcat aircraft carrier deck crash.

Manual labor hoisted a Grumman F6F Hellcat fighter aboard a small training aircraft carrier in 1943. A clue to the time in the war comes from the bright red outline on the fuselage star insignia, used only briefly that year. This is one of a large collection of Kodachromes preserved by the Navy and placed in the National Archives for safekeeping. 

 Crashed F6F Hellcat on the deck of USS Belleau Wood, October 1943. 

Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters going through launch procedures aboard the carrier Saratoga, off Gilbert Islands, early 1943.

 The U.S. escort carrier USS Thetis Bay (CVE-90) en route to NAS Alameda, California with a deck-load of war-weary planes in 1944. The planes visible on deck are eight Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats, 18 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters, and a Grumman J2F "Duck" amphibious biplane. 8 July 1944.

F6F has just launched from the hangar catapult.

An F6F Hellcat launches off USS Hornet's (CV-12) hangar catapult.

F6F Hellcat as it clears the hangar during a hangar deck catapult launch.

A view from inside the USS Hornet (CV12) hangar of an F6F Hellcat being readied for a launch.

F6F Hellcat on the hanger deck catapult. With extensions on both sides, they basically threw planes out the side of the ship. You can see the squatting sailor securing the catapult yoke. The idea was they would be able to launch scouts quickly without having to clear the flight deck and spot the plane. In reality, launching under steam meant that every takeoff was against a crosswind. The system survived the first few Essex class carrier but was then removed from all in service. Some carriers were completed before and during World War II with catapults on the hangar deck that fired athwartships, but they were unpopular because of their short run, low clearance of the hangar decks, inability to add the ship's forward speed to the aircraft's airspeed for takeoff, and lower clearance from the water (conditions which afforded pilots far less margin for error in the first moments of flight). They were mostly used for experimental purposes, and their use was entirely discontinued during the latter half of the war.

A U.S. Navy Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter, circa 1943. 

F6F-5 committed an emergency landing on the deck of the US escort carrier USS Takanis Bay (CVE-89), circa 1945.

Grumman F6F Hellcat sits ready for deck launch on aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, Pacific Theater, circa 1943-44. 

 

Grumman XF6F-3 BuNo 02982 June 1942.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats, circa 1943. Aircraft "L2" has a red bordered national insignia.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats circa 1943. "L2" has red bordered national insignia.

Grumman F6F-3 in May 1943.

Grumman F6F-3 on the USS Yorktown with its wings being unfolded before take off circa 1943-44.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats of VF-8.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcats.

Grumman F6F-3N night fighter.

Grumman F6F-5 code 125 photographed from an RNZAF Grumman Avenger.

Grumman Hellcat Mk. I.

Grumman Hellcat Mk. I with codes G (s/n JV163), H and E.

Grumman F6F-5 BuNo 78247.

Grumman F6F-5 on USS Randolph (CV-15 in 1945.

Grumman F6F-5 of VF-5 in 1945.

Grumman F6F-5E BuNo 70678 at NATC on 18 October 1944.

Grumman F6F-5N night fighter.

Grumman F6F-5E.

Grumman F6F-6.

Grumman F6F-1.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat goes over the side of USS Barnes (CVE-20) on 22 October 1943, after the pilot attempted to regain flying speed after receiving the ‘Cut’ signal from the Landing Signal Officer. The pilot, Ensign Olinyock.

Grumman F6F night fighter.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat of Fighting Squadron 33 (VF-33) after dropping into a bomb crater at the Barakoma airstrip, Vella Lavella, Solomons Island, in late 1943.

Grumman F6F-5 of VF-5 in 1945.

Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat from VF-15 after crash landing on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on 12 January 1944.

Grumman F6F Hellcat after landing on a carrier.

Grumman F6F Hellcat.

Grumman F6F Hellcat.

Grumman F6F Hellcat.

Grumman F6F Hellcats.

Flight deck officer motions "pull the chocks" with his thumbs, as chockmen remove chocks from the wheels of a Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter in preparation for take off from a training escort carrier, circa mid-1943. Note tape on plane's .50cal. gun muzzles. Also note the red bordered national insignia.

Grumman F6F Hellcats.

Grumman F6F Hellcats on aircraft carrier.

Grumman F6F Hellcat landing on an aircraft carrier.

Grumman F6F Hellcat.

US Navy ace Captain David McCampbell in a Grumman F6F Hellcat nicknamed "Minsi III".

Gloster Gladiator in View

Gladiator K6143 at Gloster Aircraft Company, prior to delivery to No. 72 Squadron.

The fuselage of Gloster Sea Gladiator Mark I, N5520 "Faith", in Palace Square, Valletta, Malta, on the occasion of its presentation to the people of Malta by Air Officer Commanding Air Headquarters Malta, Air Marshal Sir Keith Park.

This Gloster Gladiator, grounded for lack of fuel, was the only plane that remained of eighteen that flew into central Norway to provide fighter protection to British troops trying to drive back the invading Germans.

Gloster Gladiators s/n K6131, K6130, K6142, K6144.

Gloster Gladiator s/n K8032.

Gloster Gladiator Mk. II.

Gloster Gladiator s/n K6132.

Gloster Gladiators.

Gloster Gladiator cockpit.

A trio of Gladiator Mk. I's display their newly applied camouflage at RAF Kenley in July 1938. At this stage they still lack upper wing-roundels, fin flashes and serial numbers.

A Gladiator Mk. I displays what seems to be newly-applied camouflage. Flight color, blue, is on the prop hub and wheel discs. Other Gladiators, still in their inter-war all-silver finish are in the background, the tail of K7958 on the left showing the squadron number on the fin and it served with No. 3 Squadron between 18 September 1938 and 19 June 1939 when it was transferred to No. 615 Squadron.

Gloster Gladiators, s/n K6143 in foreground.

Gloster Gladiator Mk. II of the Finnish air force.

Gloster Gladiator of the Nationalist Chinese air force.

 Gloster Gladiator refueling. 

Gloster Gladiators Mk. II at Biggin Hill.

Gloster Aircraft advertisement from Aeroplane, 15 September 1937.

Gloster Gladiators and crews of No. 615 Squadron in France during the Phoney War.

Totally burned and destroyed Gloster Gladiator fighter photographed somewhere on the Western Front in Belgium or France May-June 1940. This plane could have been used by Belgian AF or RAF.

Gloster Gladiator s/n K5200 cutaway.

Gloster Gladiators.

Gloster Gladiators, second in line is s/n K3420.

Flight Lt. F. C. A. Lanning, DFC, 141 Squadron, wearing the GQ Parasuit with Irvin jacket and 1939 Pattern boots, alongside a Gladiator.

A motley collection of kit worn by Gladiator pilots of 112 Squadron, Egypt, 1940. Note the instructions printed on the 1932 Pattern life jackets.

Almost certainly taken in September 1940 this is a photograph of another Malta Sea Gladiator fitted with an ex-Blenheim Mercury engine and Hamilton propeller.

On 6 December 1939 King George VI, with the Duke of Gloucester and Viscount Lord Gort (Commander-in-Chief of the BEF), inspected RAF Air Component units at Lille-Seclin. Here, the King reviews personnel from No 615 Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, drawn up in front of one of their Gladiators. A Blenheim IV from one of the Air Component's strategic-reconnaissance squadrons can be seen in the background.