- Premium Series
- Highly detailed realistic collectible model
- Diecast & plastic parts.
- Folding wings, ordnance load (display stand sold separately)
- Measures approximately: 12.75” L x 16.25” Wingspan
- Box dimensions: 17” L x 14.5” W x 5.6” H
- Display model, recommended for hobbyists and collectors 14 years and above.
The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War. In gaining that role, it prevailed over its faster competitor, the Vought F4U Corsair, which had problems with visibility and carrier landings.
Powered by a 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, the same powerplant used for both the Corsair and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, the F6F was an entirely new design, but it still resembled the Wildcat in many ways.
The F6F made its combat debut in September 1943, and was best known for its role as a rugged, well-designed carrier fighter, which was able to outperform the A6M Zero and help secure air superiority over the Pacific theater. In total, 12,275 were built in just over two years.
Hellcats were credited with destroying a total of 5,223 enemy aircraft while in service with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA). This was more than any other Allied naval aircraft. After the war, Hellcats were phased out of front-line service in the US, but radar-equipped F6F-5Ns remained in service as late as 1954 as night fighters.
This Hobby Master model is a replica of the Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat "Minsi II" flown by LCdr. David McCampbell who was the time assigned Commander of Air Group 15 (CAG-15) aboard USS Essex in 1944. As Commander, Carrier Air Group (CAG) 15, he was Commander of the Essex Air Group (fighters, bombers, and torpedo bombers) when the group was aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex. From April to November 1944, his group saw six months of combat and participated in two major air-sea battles, the First and Second Battles of the Philippine Sea. During the more than 20,000 hours of air combat operations before it returned to the United States for a rest period, Air Group 15 destroyed more enemy planes (315 airborne and 348 on the ground) and sank more enemy shipping than any other Air Group in the Pacific War. Air Group 15's attacks on the Japanese in the Marianas and at Iwo Jima, Taiwan, and Okinawa were key to the success of the "island hopping" campaign.
In Late June 1944 David McCampbell received F6F-5 Hellcat that he named Minsi II. The F6F is often remembered as the "Aluminium Tank" or "The Ace Maker" due to aces like David McCampbell. In the summer of 1944 David McCampbell flew his F6F-5 Hellcat nicknamed it the "Minsi II". McCampbell flew the Minsi II until September 1944, failing to score a single victory. The aircraft was exchanged for a new F6F-5 the "Minsi III" in September, and by the end of the war, McCampbell achieved a total of 34 victories.
