Hellcat Mk I - NICE ! ! !

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.

"Graham" wrote in message
...

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. Dunno
if the RAF operated them.

As this pic is of a model in British markings, should we not refer to it
as a Martlett then?


The Grumman Wildcat was known as the Martlet in FAA service. The British
originally named their Hellcats "Gannet", until deciding separate names for
American aircraft was not worth the bother.

On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 2:37:42 +0000, Mitchell Holman wrote
(in message ):

A Hellcat with DDay invasion stripes? What
Hellcats were flying in the ETO?

Not the ETO but close: a couple of USN escort carriers with
Hellcats supported the landings in southern France in August 1944
(Operation Dragoon).

The attached picture shows one of these vessels, the USS Tulagi, on
its way to the Riviera beaches.

--

Netko wrote:
On Tue, 27 Feb 2007 2:37:42 +0000, Mitchell Holman wrote
(in message ):

A Hellcat with DDay invasion stripes? What
Hellcats were flying in the ETO?

Not the ETO but close: a couple of USN escort carriers with
Hellcats supported the landings in southern France in August 1944
(Operation Dragoon).

The attached picture shows one of these vessels, the USS Tulagi, on
its way to the Riviera beaches.



------------------------------------------------------------------------


I am guessing that they would have been used for close air support - air
to ground? The fast movers (Mustangs, Lightnings, T-Birds, Spits) would
have been up at altitude to kill any bombers or fighters?

And thanks for the pictures .. I thought the F4F was out of the fight by
1944.

Cheers,

Dave

"CWO4 Dave Mann" wrote in message
. ..
I am guessing that they would have been used for close air support - air
to ground? The fast movers (Mustangs, Lightnings, T-Birds, Spits) would
have been up at altitude to kill any bombers or fighters?

And thanks for the pictures .. I thought the F4F was out of the fight by
1944.

The Wildcat soldiered on right to the end, mostly FM-1s and FM-2s built by
Eastern so Grumman could concentrate on Hellcats. The Wildcats were used
mainly in the Atlantic on Jeep carriers for convoy escort / antisubmarine
duty, since you didn't need a Hellcat to deal with a Kondor...

In the Pacific, FMs were used behind the lines, where you might run into at
worst a bomber or recon plane, or the occasional sub. Again, allowing
Corsairs and Hellcats to stay at the front.



--
--Llarry Amrose

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice, but in
practice, there is.
-- Jan L.A. van de Snepscheut

"Mitchell Holman" wrote in message
...

A Hellcat with DDay invasion stripes? What
Hellcats were flying in the ETO?


FAA and USN Hellcats supported the invasion of southern France in August
1944.

"[4] HELLCAT IN FOREIGN SERVICE

* The Hellcat was also heavily used by the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air
Arm (FAA). A total of 252 F6F-3s were supplied beginning in March 1943. The
FAA had originally wanted to call it the "Gannet F.I (Fighter Mark I)", but
by this time they were realizing that changing the names of Yank aircraft in
their service caused more confusion than it was worth, and so the aircraft
was simply called the "Hellcat F.I".

Two squadrons were built up in 1943, being dispatched on the HMS EMPEROR for
convoy duty late in the year, where they saw no real combat. When the
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 TIRPITZ
in its protected Norwegian fjord. The Hellcats fought in wintry weather,
taking on German Bf-109Gs and FW-190As, and claiming three kills for the
loss of one of their own.

The Hellcat Is did not participate in the Normandy invasion in June 1944,
but the EMPEROR did participate in the invasion of southern France in
August. US Navy Hellcats also fought in that operation, flying from the
"jeep" carriers KASAAN BAY and TULAGI. The Hellcats performed strikes and
shot down a handful of German aircraft."

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

Brian