F6F Hellcat Arrival and Walk Around at the Western Museum of Flight
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.พ. 2025
- Betty Wheaton covers arrival of the F6F Hellcat and Japanese Zero at the Western Museum of Flight, and interviews Hellcat pilot Chris Rushing about the features of the aircraft. Don't miss the Chris' demo of folding the F6F wings. Produced by Jarel & Betty Wheaton for Peninsula Seniors www.pvseniors.org
I’m 29 and this is one of the best TH-cam channels. Peninsula seniors?! My ass!’
One of the best aircraft for sustaining battle damage...the stories of them getting back on deck, cylinders popping out, shot full of holes, still running and fighting...just a great plane.
A great series. My Dad flew F6f-5s in the Pacific, he was in the invasion fleet steaming for Japan when the A-bombs were dropped, ending the war. He was on one of the little carriers, corks compared to the big ships, quite a challenge to get back aboard with all the pitching and rolling. He liked the Hellcat, called it a great gun platform. Later in the Korean War era he flew F9f Panther jets.
Great history thanks
What was the name of the carrier?
What a great gun platform it was, from the stories I hear it seems they only needed to get a few rounds into a zero and it was all over in flames.
I knew a WWll U.S. Navy pilot who told me he got away with sloppy flying in the F6F that would have killed him in a Corsair. It was his testament to the docile nature of this fine airplane.
This fine plane made my dad an ace, and brought him home.
john harris Mine too 7 kills
They don’t call em the ace maker for nothin’.
And I thank them both!!
Yes, great respect to both of your dads, as well is this brilliant, tough aircraft.
Such a good job with the checkout, thanks a million
Great job people, she appears as 1944 once more, and what a fine gentleman as well!
The Pima air museum lacks a Hellcat.
The Blue Angels first flight demo craft, would be wonderful to fly her in a missing man formation with the present day teams hornets.
Down and dirty with her gear extended, worlds best speed brakes. Put em' up and she'll cut the air as good as a big radial can. She was a player in the Marianas shoot out. Would be cool to hear those fifties rip in a low pass " sand bank" . Amelia Earhart could have used that Garmen .
The Grumman Iron Works.
Really enjoyed this video. What a beautiful plane!
Originally the “Confederate Air Force”. When I was a kid my dad took me to to Rebel Field in Harlingen. So cool...Got to sit in a Corsair.
That was amazing. I love the hellcat and all of the American ww2 fighter planes. As a child I would study those airplanes and bought every model I could, I always dreamed of flying one. I think I was born too late I think that I would have been a good fighter pilot in that era.
Thank you
Betty you rock, thx I love this.
Thank you !
My dad was Navy WW II. This was my first model. Got it for Christmas about 1952
that was fascinating ... enjoyed that
My grandfather worked on those planes (and others) in Guadalcanal.
Thanks man I appreciate it
Nice!
That is one tough bird.. It would take a lot to knock one out .. It was almost unfair, The Zero was kinda delicate.. But it was pretty swift. Interesting how the two philosophies where in those days.
That was so cool. :)
good video!
How many of these planes survive and where did they come from? I know a lot were built but they were probably less popular on the post-war surplus market than a land-based fighter such as a Mustang or a Thunderbolt.
I've seen one of these on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in the UK :) Royal Navy markings.
Very interesting. Unfortunately I doubt that I can come ever to the USA and visit the museum.
Why’s that?
I was a docent there and when the museum was in Hawthorne. I met some interesting veterans to say the least. Cindy has really done a fantastic job of bringing history to the public.
This is the first model f6f 3 after this was the f6f 5..these planes were it, LOTS OF DUTIES TO MANY TO LIST,,lots of brutal numbers range climb payload kill ratio ect ect. a practical fighter plane made quickly easily and lands greatly on a aircraft carrier and is structurally designed to take alot of gun fire damage.. one thing the guy showing this plane should have mentioned was that the hellcat has a giant wing surface area more than all the single engine fighters. =more than the p-47 thunderbolt ,corsair ,and the twin engine p-38 lightning and nearly twice the wing surface area of alot of good fighter planes of ww2... They called the hellcat (The Big Blue Blanket over the Pacific.******
6 fifty cals......wow!!
What’s the little flap on the vertical stabilizer for? Rudder trim?
Yep, Rudder trim, and with the torque of that big ole P&W R-2800 out front, She needs it.An interesting thing on the 50 cal's Most people automatically think Browning M-2 machine gun. But American aircraft used the M-3 version which had a lighter barrel and bolt. end game was a lighter weapon ( much needed) but also the lighter barrel bolt assembly caused the rate of fire to increase The ground pounders m-2 fired around 500-550 rounds per minute, the M-3 fired about 1150 rounds per minute. Down side the CAT only carried about 15 to 20 seconds of ammo.
I have seen period photos of F6F-3's with the staggered length machine guns sticking out of the wings, but most photos of F6F-5's I have seen have the machine gun ports without the barrels sticking out....is this an F6F-5? did they make -5's both ways? a little confused about this...
I believe all the guns are the same length but are staggered to make room for the ammo belts..
L------
L------
L------
^^^^^^^
a bad diagram, but the ammo is fed down the L into the gun. All 3 ammo belts start from the ammo locker shown in the video.
Brilliant cockpit design, but one question - the red Landing Gear lever, it sticks out so far? Does that make it easy to accidentally raise the gear with a bump from the knee for example? Are there any safeguards to preventing "stupid" mistakes? I could wee my big fat knee accidentally hitting that lever :(
The RED part isn't the landing gear lever. You have to pull the red part to the right to reveal the grey lever it's protecting & then you have to move the grey lever
Quite a complex but rugged, compact plane.
With over 12.000 were made by grumman's, how many still airworthy today?
If they removed the supercharger, how are they able to achieve 50" of manifold pressure?
William Hammond
I think he meant that the blower is limited to low. The engine would have had a two stage supercharger, the high setting for higher altitudes. I can't imagine how the entire blower would be removed.
The Hellcat normally has two superchargers. One is the engine's internal supercharger that runs all the time, and the other is an auxiliary supercharger. It's activated by moving the SC lever from "neutral" back to "low" for low gear and "high" for high gear. On this plane it looks like it's locked on the neutral position, so he was probably referring to the auxiliary supercharger being removed. The internal SC can provide 50" up to a thousand feet or two, which is more than enough for the CAF folks. You can see a diagram of it all at zenoswarbirdvideos DOT com/Images/F6F/F6FINDUCTIONSYS.pdf
Confederate Air Force just sounds more better.
The man knows his aircraft. I didn't know they had a catapult hook under the wing.
Try and be civil...
w8stral2 I agree...chill..
Rob Mackenzie great
Carriers in ww2 never had cat the planes were so light the just took off into the wind
Also more efficient
I'll name her the "TORRENCE TORNADO ".