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Hobby Master F6F-3 Hellcat

Our Price: $29.95
Setup Cost: -$1.00

Product Code: HA1109

Description

Technical Specs

Mfg Information

1/72 Die Cast Model Roy "Butch" Voris Blue Angels

Background

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a fighter aircraft descended from the earlier F4F Wildcat, but was a completely new design sharing only a familial resemblance to the Wildcat. Some tagged it as "Wildcat's big brother". The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were the primary United States Navy carrier fighters in the second half of World War II.
The Hellcat proved to be the most successful aircraft in naval history, destroying 5,171 aircraft while in service with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps (5,163 in the Pacific and eight more during the invasion of Southern France), plus 52 with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. Postwar, the Hellcat aircraft was rapidly phased out of front line service, finally retiring in 1954 as a night-fighter in composite squadrons.
When Lt. Cmdr. Roy Voris became the lead for the Naval Flight Demonstration Team he selected the F6F-5 as the team aircraft because this was the plane that made him a WWII Ace. To reduce weight the 3 Team F6F-5 aircraft were stripped of guns, ammunition boxes and any non-essential components. The paint scheme was an overall dark blue accented by the letters and number painted using gold-leaf paint. In 1954 the Blue Angels settled at NAS Pensacola, Florida where they remain to this day.
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To keep the public interested in naval aviation Admiral Nimitz ordered the formation of a flight demonstration team. The first show took place in 1946 under the lead of Lt. Cmdr. Roy �Butch� Voris and flying the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Two months later the team transitioned to the Grumman F8F Bearcat. In 1947 Lt. Cmdr. Robert Clarke took over as team lead and introduced what has become the famous �Diamond Formation�. Before the end of the 1940�s the Blue Angels had advanced to their first jet aircraft, the Grumman F9F-2 Panther.