Evolution of the Grumman F6F Hellcat - All Variants

[@Riccardo_Silva]

One of my favorite warbirds! Well, i must admit i like a lot of warbirds but several of those i like, for whatever reason, proved underdogs while the Hellcat wasn't definitely one. Real fine video, well documented and with a good photographic support. Keep up your outstanding work and thank you for doing it!

[@svgproductions72]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!

[@leojablonski2309]

Really enjoyed this presentation. I have pictures of Hellcats in 1944 . My dad was a seabee in So.Pacific

[@svgproductions72]

Thank you! I definitely appreciate the hellcat more I read about the Pacific War. We thank your dad for his service!

[@jeremywilson4326]

The hellcat is one of my favorites. It seems that there have always been somebody in the military that wanted to disarm fighter aircraft. Untill they were shown that fighters needed there guns. When a F-4 phantom was caught trying to tangle with a mig over Vietnam with no guns. Thanks man .

[@rooseveltbrentwood9654]

Another high quality in depth video from SVG! I love seeing all the different iterations of an aircraft.

[@svgproductions72]

Thanks for the comment and the support! Starting to research for the next vid this week

[@rooseveltbrentwood9654]

@@svgproductions72 👍 Iooking forward to the next vid!

[@joeschenk8400]

Thanks for the video, probably my most favorite aircraft of WWII. Great photos.

[@svgproductions72]

Glad you enjoyed, thanks for the comment!

[@TJ3]

Cool stuff!

[@gsr4535]

Well done young man! Good, accurate history.

[@svgproductions72]

Thank you for the comment! Glad you liked it

[@jonlobello7151]

Good research! I like it. I didn't know that a late varient of Hellcat attained a speed of 425 mph, but was not put into production because the Bearcat already surpassed it's performance. I have a full set of William Green's Famous Fighters of WW2 which I have had since childhood. He also did good research, but having written these books in the 50s and 60s he lacked access to a lot of information we have today. Shoot, some of that info was probably still top secret at that time. Anyway, I'm 72.

[@terrywallace5181]

Thanks for this video. I love this aircraft, and welcome all the information you have provided.

[@svgproductions72]

Thanks Terry, glad you enjoyed it! Be sure to check out my other videos if you haven’t already

[@jpgiuliotti]

Related to some other comments, I don't know exactly what it is, but I LOVE the F6F. It's not an extraordinary looking aircraft and yes, it was the big cat on the block - a superior, state of the art plane almost specifically designed to counter the A6M Zero - thus not an underdog to root for. But to me, these are what make it attractive. You know, "the Calvary has arrived" type thing. Plus, I love "adjustments" to designs/plans that are deficient in a competition and seeing those adjustments work...especially when the U.S. needed to keep its foot on the gas post Midway and the F6F delivered. A solid, tough aircraft that was no nonsense and did its job! Oh yes, the moniker "Hellcat"....what's not to love about that? :)

[@svgproductions72]

Agreed it’s hard to out your finger on it! Hope you enjoyed the vid

[@briansilcox5720]

Great work, thank you.

[@svgproductions72]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@blight1885]

Man I love the early three color camo of the Hellcat

[@svgproductions72]

@@blight1885 it is very cool! Agreed

[@jockellis]

My father was duty officer for VF-81, which flew Hellcats, on the Wasp, CV-18. I grew up looking at the Wasp’s war diary, Prep Charlie, and wanting to be a Navy fighter pilots. But after becoming a ROC III, I quit wearing hard contact lenses and my vision turned into what it should have been; blind as a bat.

[@anonymousanteater5888]

Neat vid!

[@jonlobello7151]

Evolution of the Corsair, please. Especially the Goodyear varient built in my home town, Akron, Ohio.

[@svgproductions72]

It’s on my list, probably the next video I will make after my battleship series is all done !

[@alexandremarcelino7360]

Realmente uma aeronave Espetácular! 🌟

[@svgproductions72]

I agree!

[@ethanmcfarland8240]

You should do a video on the F4U Corsair

[@svgproductions72]

It’s on my list of soon-to-come videos!

[@ethanmcfarland8240]

@@svgproductions72 Thanks man!

[@kevinburt44]

Great video. The F5 is my favourite ww2 American aircraft, and anything built by Grumman has been good. Hi from England.

[@superwhine]

My great uncle flew a hellcat during ww2, crashed on yap Island, and his plane is a memorial now

[@svgproductions72]

Wow! Very interesting, I may look this up!

[@superwhine]

He flew in vf-20 off the uss enterprise Ens. Joseph cox

[@svgproductions72]

@@superwhine I can do some digging on this!

[@Groux504]

Wow

[@travhammer]

My fav bird. P&R Double Wasp Hellcat

[@svgproductions72]

hope you enjoyed the video! I plan on making more of these for other aircraft

[@mikepette4422]

The Hellcat is probably my least fav WW2 fighter. Why ? because there's nothing controversial about it. It was very well made, not very fast but it was fast enough, it's not beautiful to my eyes they way a Mustang, Spitfire, FW-190 or the stunning Corsair is. But having said all that I can't really critique the plane, it just worked and did its job superbly.

[@svgproductions72]

I’ll admit as well, the Hellcat is not my favorite aircraft of the war, I like an underdog! Looking to do a F4U Corsair video soon enough

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

It is interesting ... a plane so well designed that it had almost no changes during the war. The P-51 had one major change, from B/C to the D bubble canopy, and the Hellcat didn't even get that. Not as fast as the Corsair, but about 1/3 the cost (fewer countersunk rivets, etc). It was what was needed, it did its job really well, and then disappeared after just a couple of years.

[@jackdaniel7465]

It's something that if you look at it long enough you can learn to love it.

[@ditto1958]

I can’t explain why but it’s always been my favorite Pacific Theater airplane. I like how it looks, and I like even more how successful it was.

[@charlesfiscus4235]

Should do one about the Corsair

[@svgproductions72]

I actually have been planning on doing these types of videos again and the Corsair is on the top of the list !

[@finn3408]

What is the best F6F ???

[@svgproductions72]

That’s a great question! I think the best one/most capable one that saw active use was the F6F-5N. Especially the later versions of it with the two 20mm guns and four .50 cals. Plus it could fight during the day and night

[@pauka13]

Well everyone love the Mustang, the Spitfire etc, but my all time favorite is the Hellcat.

[@svgproductions72]

I agree with you, love those planes too and the Hellcat, but I was always a fan of any US Navy and any early-war underdog aircraft. Hope you enjoyed the video!

[@Redhand1949]

I don't think that the Hellcat saw service in WWII with the US Marines unless it equipped some shipboard squadrons. Otherwise, well done.

[@svgproductions72]

Hi Brian, thanks for the comment! You bring up something I also thought for a very long time, when I did research for the video I was surprised to hear about US Marine squadrons of the F6F. I did some “re-researching” last night and came across US Marine Night squadrons - VMF (N) - that used the F6F-5N later in the war based off of islands. Not sure if they saw service with the Marines other than night squadrons though, I may have to do some more reading!

[@kennethhamilton5633]

What gave me a, "REALLY???, moment was the fact that that bird was just inches smaller than a P47, it was huge😲, the F8F looked tiny beside a Hellcat

[@patrickcannady2066]

Having seen one in person, they are massive compared to the Wildcat or smaller ETO fighters like the 109 or Spitfire.