Grumman F6F Hellcat Pilot Instruction (1943)

The carrier-based fighter Grumman F6F Hellcat was designed from the beginning to take back the skies over the Pacific from the Japanese Zero.
Successor to the Grumman Wildcat, the F6F Hellcat made history in 1942 when it decisively whipped the Japanese aircraft carrier based fighters opposing it in the Pacific
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[@wramsey2656]

My dad flew the F6F on his 2nd tour of the Pacific in 1944 with VF-11 Sundowners on the USS Hornet CV-12. He shot down 2 more Zeros on this tour, destroyed several on the ground, and beached a sea plane tender ship. In his previous tour Jan thru July 43 he flew the F4 Wildcat at Guadalcanal Henderson Field with VF-11. His squadron fought with the Marine squadron to defend the island against daily Japanese attacks.

[@aviator4662]

That is really cool. As someone fishing for information on what it was like to be a navy pilot in that time, this is not only very cool but very helpful. Your father was a brave man.

[@wramsey2656]

Thank you friend. If you google Commander John W Ramsey USN , there is a little info out there on him. There are a couple books on his squadron Sundowners VF-11 /VF-111, if your interested. Dad’s generation was extremely self sacrificing for our country.

[@peterhoffman9553]

My Father was in Management over the production @Grumman air in Bethpage Long Island ! Where they produced the Hellcat and Wildcat aircraft which enabled the winning of World War ll . The Pilots were superb. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@wramsey2656]

Awesome Peter it took a team to make it all happen and your dad was awesome for his work to make it happen! Salute ! They were great planes.

[@QuantumWrench]

One of my favorite planes in the pacific war. Probably my favorite, wishing it were available early in the war. Good power, armament, and armor. It handled well and was able to take a beating without failing.

[@patillery]

Not only did you have to have your arms inside when the wings fold (as they comment in the video) but you had to have cockpit OPEN. The edge of the wing when folding or unfolding actually came in the cockpit.

[@passionworksbodyshop9738]

I am so glad I found this video! I bought one of these a few Christmases ago and just never bothered to fly it. This video is way easier to follow in the xerox instructions that came with it. Will see you on the runways.

[@hertzair1186]

Me too….got mine at Target.

[@hertzair1186]

Always loved the Wildcat and Hellcat….great basic rugged aircraft . Always surprised the Hellcats weren’t used after the war like the Corsair in Korea etc

[@AmericasChoice]

Corsair was faster, that was the main reason.

[@notaire2]

Die US-amerikanioschen Flieger waren echt glücklich, dass sie durch solch einen verständlichen Erziehungsfilm trainiert wurden. Danke fürs wertvolle Hochladen!

[@badweetabix]

It may seem very difficult to remember all the procedures because in this day and age of computer automation there is very little that requires commitment to memory. But in the days before computers, it was very normal for people to have good memory and math sense. My grandparents could do 2 place multiplications and division in their head, and Grandpa could recite pages of books he read years and decades before. They truly were The Greatest Generation.

[@spottydog4477]

It's just a summary film..when flying you ALWAY follow the checklist found in the cockpits...even on modern jets pilots stil use checklists

[@701CPD]

That's why it took a year to train military pilots back in WWII.

[@jezzmoto]

I'm surprised they managed to have a war at all! Where did they find the guys to remember all these intricate functions!?

[@fabiolean]

Pilot's fuckin' loooove checklists

[@MisterRedBlueBlur]

She's still a true beauty!

[@L33tP1ckL]

Another GREAT submission!

[@CaptWindShear]

Had a chuckle... I found myself watching this with a habitual level of attention, as if I was doing the conversion course to the F6F. Thanks for posting these videos. I would have been in some sort of heaven if they had been as easily available when I was a kid.

[@michaelgmoore5708]

The A. C. Gilbert company of American Flyer trains made the wing flap motors for the Gruman Hellcat plane. The trains used the same type motor!

[@mikegionfriddo5907]

the hellcat was buetiful and was an amazeing plane and the p47 was great too

[@kyle6415]

Went from having no idea on how to fly a plane or read a plane's instrument panel to somewhat understanding how to read some of the gauges.

[@kenowens9021]

One Japanese ace's technique was to have a Wildcat climb after him. Since the Zero can out climb the Wildcat, he would wait for the F4F to staff and fall to earth. The ace would just dive down and easily shoot him. Then one day, he saw a different type of plane, tried the same trick, confident he would get another kill. When he thought it was time he turned and dived, thinking he would find the plane falling. BUT, it wasn't, it was still climbing after him, shooting. That was the last thing the Japanese ace saw. The Hellcat shot him down.

[@patillery]

I did! Flight school at Corpus Christie. Air to ground training.I knew when I flew it that it was a priviledge

[@redbaroniii]

My Uncle, Lt.. Clarence Harms, flew these during the battle of Okinawa, until the war ended. He was flying one of these when, acting as a spotter, he witnessed the last ship to ship combat, a US -v- Japanese destroyer shootout 50 miles from Yokosuka, .

[@MindRiot395th]

Right on! salute to the air force - from the 395th armoured brigade, 370th division, I got to "fly" my M-60A1's and A3's ...but no longer :(

[@JIMJAMSC]

All of these warbirds are treasures today yet then were considered disposable with the fuel in the wings worth more than the aircraft.

[@GTX1123]

Zero pilots got a rude awakening when the Hellcat showed up. No doubt, many of them thought Hellcats were Wildcats and that the pilots were green newbies who didn't know any better than to follow them up into a steep climb. But it didn't end well for the Zero pilots. Instead lining up an easy kill on a stalled Wildcat fluttering like a duck, the last thing they saw before they were vaporized was the flash of the Hellcat's 50 cal's.

[@surearrow]

Keep your gyro retractile at 3.987644 PSI during combat. NEVER exceed operational PSI for it could damage your rear sprocket calibration axle tabs. If this happens, loosen your rear lock knob behind your seat, rotate it counter-clockwise while pushing in at a 37.987 degree angle, turn no faster than 0.6873 RPMs. You will need to turn off the fourth transducer switch, located under the left rear control panel after you've made your adjustment. Follow the procedures in your R-T8746/4-PH4y handout.

[@richardneu9020]

turn no faster than 0.6873 RPMs ???? Is this a joke … makes no sense at all.

[@patrickw8302]

My favorite plane of all time ! Excellent video so nice to hear and see that, thanks

[@Craigers22763]

Gonna build one for my 1/72 model collection.

[@greenseaships]

@imbok Not necessarily. Spitfires (at least those at the time of Battle of Britain) also had only one flap setting. Down or up. I'm guessing intermediate flap settings were for larger planes.

[@jrcadet4]

Nice of Grumman to move that shotgun-cartridge starter out of the cockpit in the Hellcat. Before that, the breech was below and between the pilot's legs. Backfires must've given some guys second thoughts about Naval Aviation.

[@Barium5]

@72troyboy These planes were almost always on carriers, the wings would already be locked out and ready to go. A pilot going into combat wouldn't just have met the plane the day before, he would have been trained until everything was a "habit" and would be automatic. Just like learning to play a game, it takes a while to learn everything, but once it's learned you don't have to keep going back to the manual to see what to do.

[@Treetop64]

...not to mention that it was by far the biggest single-engine fighter of the war. But it was an awesome fighting instrument.

[@Anlushac11]

If I recall correctly F6F has a constant speed prop. You can change engine RPM and the prop automatically changes pitch to keep optimum prop blade angle for rpm and power. Pilot can manually set this too. IIRC is set by hydraulic pressure. Setting manifold pressure has to do with the engine being supercharged so pilot is setting blower pressure. Pilot can also set the fuel ratio to set engine to run lean or rich. Normally it adjusts automatically.

[@darkegalahad]

that makes more sense, the prop changes pitch according to engine speed to a limit

[@jimcoblentz1732]

By the way it's F6F, not f6f.

[@mariamiller1770]

Really docile for a high performance aircraft. Almost general aviation-like in the cockpit.

[@AmericasChoice]

All by design. Grumman really was committed to the F6F. ALL F6f's were built by Grumman in there Long Island facility. No farming out production like other aircraft companies did on some models..

[@kenttowne2611]

Noticed that they are getting more than 30" with neutral blower. Isn't that more than any normally aspirated engine can get for manifold pressure? Atmosphere is in the neighborhood of 30". Is neutral blower position still creating pressure?

[@patriley9449]

There is a lot going on here. I guess that the pilots practiced this until it became routine to them. I can't imagine having to pay attention to all of this stuff when engaged in combat. I guess that's why young people did this. At 70 years of age, my memory is not so good and I would make serious mistakes. Kudos to all of those who flew these warbirds. We all owe you a debt of gratitude.

[@drpoundsign]

I'm in my early Sixties myself. I had a relative who fought on the ground in Italy, and translated at the Nuremberg trials. A German Jew, whose family got out in the nick of time-1939.

[@leftcoaster67]

Wow...what a checklist.

[@jeffreysirtak6875]

P 38 fork tail devil

[@jeffreysirtak6875]

Can i program planes in combat

[@ahmetpekmez528]

Perfeçt .

[@bushpilotfred1738]

.. the landing is the hardest but also the best part

[@dancolley4208]

500 feet for gear up??? How about positive rate on the rate of climb gauge? Never having flown the F6F, I don't know why 500 feet was set as gear up altitude requirement.

[@AmericasChoice]

If you watch carrier operation you will see them retract just after being launched. This was just a training film.

[@underwaterpowerarmor8700]

you have those pilots and then you have the one who did a air to air melee combat with his landing gear

[@KJOSCOT]

It was originally designed for the newer fleet carrier operations. However, as the design developed, it was more practical to make it a land-based aircraft.

[@AmericasChoice]

It did both.

[@KJOSCOT]

@@AmericasChoice Yes. It served both the Marines and the Navy with absolute distinction. A well-built powerful craft that came into service just in the knick of time.

[@imbok]

No intermediate positions for the flaps? That is a surprise - must be because it is a carrier airplane.

[@MartinLeMalin]

Nice machine ! ...

[@cbwelch4]

I don't think so. Kill ratios didn't lie. The F6F's was the best in the war and it shot down more planes than any other American plane. The F4U had an 11:1 and the F6F had 19:1. The F4U would flame easier due to oil coolers in the wing roots. The F6F absorbed more damage. These planes both had the same competition. The F4U rolled better and was faster. The F6F turned tighter and was far more forgiving and easier to fly. The F4U had a nasty unpredictable stall characteristic.

[@brisbanechlorinatorspecial110]

as the zealand pilots found out

[@TroyLuchterhand]

How the hell can they remember all this. I can't see a quick takeoff if under attack. Were all these WW2 fighters this difficult?

[@AmericasChoice]

It became second nature.

[@wrigleyx]

LOVE IT !!

[@jezzmoto]

The last fighter plane I saw was in Topgun.

[@adaorlando]

yes is probably the best warbird of the US in the WWII... powerfull, grate armament and sexy desing :P

[@pholmes241]

Nice bird but f4u has it beat. Gramps had training with the f6f but loved the f4u.

[@horsemumbler1]

Beat how? It had a slightly better climb rate above 10,000 feet, and rolled more quickly, could carry a heavier bomb load, but it wasn't as good in a turn, had inferior rearward visibility, a higher stall speed an much more abrupt and violent stall characteristics. The F6G was affectionately known as the Kitten, and Ace Maker due to it's very stable and forgiving nature, while the F4U was called things like Hog, Bent Wing Bastard, and Ensign Eliminator because of how difficult it was to control, especially at low speeds and altitudes where such temperamentality was most dangerous. F4U sure had F6F beat in fatal accidents, but not in combat record and popularity.

[@bradganz6787]

Hellcat had way more kills than the Corsair.corsair killed a lot of are boys was hard to fly.and was terrible on carrier landings.

[@MindRiot395th]

Wow, you really had to watch your head. Do you still get a chance to fly them?

[@PingHorror]

The engine on this beast had 800 more HP than any of the Engines on a B17. Had the B17 been given 4 of these engines it would of had 3200 more HP than it already did. Creating a much different bird.

[@panzerofthelake506]

Much better plane than the flying brick known as the p40

[@pollopacheco]

That airport must be Green Ville In Texas.

[@bababazuka5122]

naah who needs safety straps with this beauty

[@ncsr111]

The Shinden was German technology loaned to the Nipponese.

[@Treetop64]

I *was* talking about the P-47...

[@gwalker173]

@TheFunkhouser it came in 1942

[@darkegalahad]

that don't make sense, that would have been a helluva transmission, are you sure you know what you're talking about?

[@TroyLuchterhand]

Your right. They would have trained until it was habit. The pilots could probably go through that list in their sleep.

[@cbwelch4]

They didn't call the F4U 'the Ace Maker'. That's the F6F.

[@bradganz6787]

Right the F4u was the widow maker lol

[@badweetabix]

Because by the time the first prototype took off, Japan had no carriers left; we had sank them all.

[@ursenay]

The F6F didn't make its combat debut until 1943...

[@wilburfinnigan2142]

jezzmoto::::: On the FARMS..........

[@RahRahRaharu]

Great info that goes straight out the window in a dog fight.

[@MrKaddyman61]

Airboyd: Any way I can get you to put this on CD and mail it to me I will pay you of course!

[@1har2vey3]

That's a lot of info, maybe I don't want to be a pilot afterall.

[@lolinternetslol]

It only seems difficult because you aren't actually trying to memorize it, and have no real incentive. Most of the old folks who I've taught how to computer primarily complain about "how much there is to remember".

[@spottydog4477]

That's why you ALWAYS read from the checklist and not rely on memory - EVER!!

[@agwhitaker]

Um, no. See - Republic P 47 Thunderbolt.

[@jezzmoto]

I'm not gonna get it off the ground boys.

[@GymChess]

P-47 was both faster and had a more powerful engine. So the answer is most likely no.

[@tjf114]

Easy…the WW2 pilots had it easy with this video on their iPads.

[@maikiboy2319]

in german pleas but i love it

[@danielburgess7785]

Built to fly off of escort carriers.