Roles Of The Hellcat




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(A Carrier Task Force) Image courstesy of (The Naval Historical Center)



                Originally the Hellcat was designed with only one mission in mind. That mission was to utterly defeat the Japanese Zero. But as the war progressed the Hellcat would have a few more mission capabilities to put under its belt. It would still play a large role in the fighter arena but it would also provide bomber escort, day and nighttime raiding, bombing and strafing of airfields and ships, close air support, and kamikaze termination.

                Kamikazes would place a great strain on Hellcat pilots. Since kamikaze pilots knew they were going to die anyways, they tried at all costs to complete their mission. When they did a carrier or other surface ship the results were usually very effective. A kamikaze pilot could inflict hundreds of casualties on unsuspecting vessels. All in the blink of an eye. The time taken to fight the fires they caused, repair the damage, cart off the wounded, and get back to business was considerable. As the war progressed and the Japanese started losing more and more ground, they stepped up their kamikaze flights. Soon waves of kamikaze fighter planes would head inbound towards the carrier groups. It was the Hellcat pilot's job to intercept and destroy these planes before they made it to a ship and blew up. Because the Japanese pilot's missions were so rigid, many of them offered no resistance when fired upon by the Hellcats. They were hell bent for the carriers and if they got shot down along the way then so be it. Many Japanese pilots would lose their lives. Because of the danger of kamikazes, a change in tactics was at hand. Hellcats were in the air at all times of the day and night. They were on the lookout for stray reconnaissance birds or kamikaze pilots. With the help of the carrier's forward air controller (using radar) Hellcat pilots were often vectored in towards blips on the far reaches of the carrier's radar screen. Sometimes the Night Fighters came in handy here. The AN/APS-6 allowed the hellcat pilots to "see" the other plane with their radar guiding them towards the Zeros where they would ultimately destroy them. Hellcats would now cover every possible Japanese land based airfield within striking range of the battle groups. This coverage was a huge success. Enemy fighters were shot down with great frequency and they were soon in short supply. The strain of carrying on 24-hour ops was also taking a toll on the Hellcat pilots. Many would not receive adequate rest after their long "coverage" flights. Because the Americans shifted their tactics, the Japanese shifted theirs. As the fleets neared the homeland a new Kamikaze threat was found. These would be rocket propelled "Cherry Blossom Aircraft." With a 2,600 lb warhead in its nosecone, these new threats packed a powerful punch. These "human RPG's" of sorts had a weakness though and had to be carried underneath a larger aircraft before it could be launched. Because of the Hellcat's prowess at blowing anything out of the air, these made easy targets. The potential for disaster coming from these huge new threats quickly diminished. It seemed nothing was too hard to take on for Hellcat pilots.

               
(Map of the Pacific) Image courstesy of (The Naval Historical Center)
The Hellcat is probably most famous for "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" where the battle was so lopsided in our favor, it almost seemed comical. In the end 275 Japanese aircraft had been shot down by Hellcats. There were only 22 Hellcats lost in that battle. I believe this was largely due to the collective teamwork of the Hellcat pilots. With Zero's on pilots' tails, Hellcat drivers and their wingmen were still able to coordinate with each other to destroy the enemy planes on their tails even in the face of great odds. Often, the Hellcats were outnumbered by the waves of incoming enemy fighter planes. How did the Hellcat's emerge victorious you may ask? They did so because they had advanced radar warning. They also did so because the Japanese pilots were no match for the experienced Hellcat pilots. Their aircraft were inferior to boot. Air discipline also had a lot to do with why the Hellcat won. Our people in the air knew what they were doing and they did so with precision and expert communication amongst themselves. So, even though they were outnumbered, the Hellcats were able to take on that larger number and still emerge victorious.

                The same would happen in other battles elsewhere in the Pacific. Battles such as Wake, Rabaul, Tarawa, Truk, Iwo Jima, Formosa, Leyte Gulf, and others would solidify the belief that the Hellcat was the best at its job. Even the British had some experience with the Hellcat. The British had screwed up and did not have the right kinds of planes on board their carriers. Their planes were not exactly suited for the types of roles that they had envisioned their aircraft as doing. As a result, the British sought outside help and America had the answer. The Hellcat. We sold 252 F6-F3's and 930 F6-5F's to the British throughout the course of the European war. In August, 1943 they made their European debut. Their first battle was not against waves of fighters but instead a battleship. The Germans battleship Tirpitz to be exact. While the Hellcat was not quite made to go head to head with a battleship, they did make a lasting impression on the battleship. The battleship was hit over 19 times by dive bombing tactics and by torpedoes from other aircraft. This would leave the Tirpitz in the repair yards for a good 4 months. The British had tried to attack the ship a couple more times but all attempts failed and the effort was scrapped in lieu of better targets. The British, like the Americans mainly used the Hellcat as a carrier based aircraft. It seems nobody had much faith in Hellcats being based on land.


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