Grumman F6F Hellcat was one of the best fighter aircraft of the World
War Two era and the most effective fighter of the US Navy. There is no
doubt that Hellcats won complete air superiority for the Americans over
the vast areas of the Pacific, largely contributing to the victory over
Japan. Volume One presents this legendary fighter in its first year of
operational service - from the combat debut over Marcus Island and the
Solomons in August 1943 until the end of the Marianas operation in late
summer 1944. By then Hellcats participated, among others, in air strikes
on Rabaul, Wake, Kwajalein and Truk, and supported the invasion of
Tarawa in Gilbert Islands. The culmination of the Hellcats' first year
of service with the US Navy came about during the Marianas invasion in
June 1944, when they took part in the First Battle of Philippine Sea.
This largest aerial and naval battle in the Pacific to date broke the
backbone of the Japanese Navy, and the Hellcats won such a tremendous
victory in the air that the battle was aptly nicknamed the Great
Marianas Turkey Shoot.
Throughout the war the only foreign user of Hellcats was Great Britain,
receiving first aircraft in March 1943. Until late 1944 the Royal Navy
Hellcats operated mainly in northern European waters and in the
Mediterranean, participating in several air strikes on German battleship
Tirpitz moored in Norwegian fiords, supporting Allied landings in
Normandy and southern France, and joining operations in the Aegean Sea.
