Hellcat Mk I - NICE ! ! !

Graham wrote:
Wasn't the Hellcat known as the Martlet or some such when used by the
poms? I think the FAA (Fleet Air Arm of the RN) called them that.

It was originally intended to be called the "Gannet", but reverted to the
name Hellcat before the first ones were delivered.

"Martlet" was the name given to earlier versions of the Wildcat, although
the FM-2 was known as the "Wildcat VI" in FAA service.

As for FAA Hellcats in the ETO, those markings are accurate. They depict an
aircraft from 800 NAS, flying from HMS Emperor (ex-USS Pybus CVE-34).
Emperor operated Hellcats as fighter cover during Operation TUNGSTEN, an
attack on the German battleship /Tirpitz/ on 2 April 1944. One Hellcat was
severely damaged and ditched. Emperor provided aircraft for the
anti-submarine screen during the D-Day landings, again with Hellcats as
fighter cover.

--
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

It is a legit and fascinating scheme. I actually have a decal sheet of it,
making this part of my long term "build list."

Brian

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 10:11:59 +0000, Enzo Matrix wrote
(in message ):

As for FAA Hellcats in the ETO, those markings are accurate. They depict an

Here are some striped Martlets/Wildcats but I have no further
information about the picture.

--

"Enzo Matrix" wrote in message
...

Emperor provided aircraft for the anti-submarine screen during the D-Day
landings, again with Hellcats as fighter cover.


Are you sure about that?

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Enzo Matrix" wrote in message
...

Emperor provided aircraft for the anti-submarine screen during the
D-Day landings, again with Hellcats as fighter cover.


Are you sure about that?

Pretty much.


--
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

"Enzo Matrix" wrote in message
...

Pretty much.


I think you're wrong. Do you have anything to support your assertion?

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Enzo Matrix" wrote in message
...

Pretty much.


I think you're wrong. Do you have anything to support your assertion?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Emperor_(D98)

http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/034.htm

One of the photographs here clearly shows a Hellcat with invasion stripes,
although the carrier was engaged on Operation DRAGOON at the time.


--
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

"Enzo Matrix" wrote in message
...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Emperor_(D98)

http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/034.htm

One of the photographs here clearly shows a Hellcat with invasion stripes,
although the carrier was engaged on Operation DRAGOON at the time.


The presence of invasion stripes does not indicate an aircraft participated
in the D-Day landings, it just indicates it operated over western Europe on
June 6 1944 or later.


http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avf6f.html#m4

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Enzo Matrix" wrote in message
...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Emperor_(D98)

http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/034.htm

One of the photographs here clearly shows a Hellcat with invasion
stripes, although the carrier was engaged on Operation DRAGOON at
the time.

The presence of invasion stripes does not indicate an aircraft
participated in the D-Day landings, it just indicates it operated
over western Europe on June 6 1944 or later.

Agreed. However we have two documents that mention Ermperor's service during
the D-Day landings. One document states that Emperor "served on
anti-submarine detail during Operation Overlord". The other states she
"served as an ASW patrol ship at Normandy".

The same two documents also claim that Emperor took part in Operations
TUNGSTEN and DRAGOON. TUNGSTEN preceded OVERLORD, DRAGOON was after it. Both
TUNGSTEN and DRAGOON involved the use of Hellcats from Emperor. It doesn't
seem likely that the Hellcats were removed from Emperor before D-Day and
replaced with some other naval fighter, only to be returned to the ship
immediately afterwards.

My statement, which you questioned, was "Emperor provided aircraft for the
anti-submarine screen during the D-Day landings, again with Hellcats as
fighter cover", which seems pretty much supported by those two documents.


--
Enzo

I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Enzo Matrix" wrote in message
...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Emperor_(D98)

http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/034.htm

One of the photographs here clearly shows a Hellcat with invasion stripes,
although the carrier was engaged on Operation DRAGOON at the time.


The presence of invasion stripes does not indicate an aircraft participated
in the D-Day landings, it just indicates it operated over western Europe on
June 6 1944 or later.


http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avf6f.html#m4




From http://www.navsource.org/archives/03/034.htm comes this quote:

HMS Emperor was outfitted as a strike/CAP carrier. Provided fighter cover for a strike on German battleship Tirpitz;

served as an ASW patrol ship at Normandy and supported invasion of southern France before transferring to the Pacific.

which does support Enzo's statement that the ship was at Normandy on D-Day.

--
Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs Italian, the mechanics
German, the lovers French and it is all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the police are German, the chefs British, the mechanics
French, the lovers Swiss and it is all organized by Italians.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/paul1cart/albums/