Let Let Let – Warplanes

These two squadrons were dispatched on the HMS Emperor (D98) for convoy duty late in the year, where they saw no real combat. When the HMS Emperor returned to Britain in early 1944, the ship was sent north in March as part of Operation Tungsten, the attack on the German battleship Tirptiz in its protected Norwegian fjord. Royal Navy Hellcat I’s (F6F-3) from 800 squadron were involved in escorting Barracuda attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz from April to August 1944 in Alta Fjord, Norway. One of these operations, on 8 May 1944, the Luftwaffe fighters flew up to protect the battleship. Some of the 800 squadron Hellcats from HMS Emperor (D98) went to attack the German aircraft and shot down 1 Fw-190 and two Bf-109G fighters. The Hellcats suffered one loss to the Luftwaffe and another to anti-aircraft fire. Sub Lt. B. Richie claimed the Focke-Wulf and went on to claim a total of 6 kills, becoming one of only a few Royal Navy Hellcat aces.

By the time of Allied invasion of southern France in August 1944, the FAA was receiving the F6F-5, with deliveries running to a total of 930. Most were “Hellcat F.II” fighters, with some unknown number fitted with four extended launch rails under each wing, for a total of eight, to carry British 60 pounder unguided rockets. About 70 of the Hellcat IIs were F6F-5N night fighters, these being given the British designation of “Hellcat NF.II”. Blackburn Aircraft also converted a number of fighters to a photo-reconnaissance standard, with three cameras in the rear fuselage. These machines were given the designation Hellcat PR.II if they were unarmed and Hellcat FR.II if they retained their guns. The FAA Hellcat IIs saw service against the Japanese beginning in August 1944, in particular operating around Malaya and the East Indies. Most of the FAA Hellcats were out of service by the end of 1945, some squadrons being immediately disbanded with the end of the war. Some Hellcat NF.IIs and PR.IIs remained in service into 1946, and a few Hellcats were retained as hacks or other second-line purposes into the early1950s. The FAA Hellcats destroyed 52 enemy planes and proved to match Bf-109 and Fw-190.

A total of 252 Hellcat F.I and 930 Hellcat F.II was delivered through lend-lease agreement to FAA and only one Hellcat F.II (KE209) in original Fleet Air Arm markings is preserved in FAA museum Yeovilton . This aircraft was first delivered to the FAA in April 1945 and was the CO aircraft (Lt Cdr JA Oevers, Lt Cdr Caspar John) at RNAS Lossiemouth 1945-1952.

Related posts:

1. Eduard Grumman Hellcat 8433
2. F6F Hellcat at War
3. Grumman Hellcat from Eduard 1/48
4. Flying Legends Air Show 2007
5. Grumman F-14 Tomcat MDF 15 book

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