Maj. Squadron: F6F-5
Hellcat
Welcome to the Maj. Squadron Series of Geocaches.
I needed a theme for this series of geocaches and being a fan of
WW2 era aircraft I decided to settle on the names of some of my
favorite fighters and bombers to hold the title of the geocaches in
this series.
Every cache in the "Maj. Squadron" series is a stand alone,
traditional geocache with the exception of the final cache:
"Maj. Squadron: B-17G Flying Fortress". The coordinates of
that cache are unpublished and in order to find that 7th and
final geocache you will have to first find the other 6 geocaches in
the series as each cache container holds part of the coordinates
for the final cache.
There is a decent amount of quality swag located within the
final container (an ammo can). The First To
Find will have his/her choice of goodies to choose from but
as an intended FTF prize I have provided an 1882 S Morgan
Silver Dollar in about XF condition.
There is traditional geocache and hiking items such as
compasses, LED flashlights, carabiners, hydration pack bite valves
and other miscellaneous bits to rummage through in all the caches
in this series.
About this cache: It is in the
cemetery not the parking lot like the satellite view might
suggest.
Congratulations to ecrane for the First
To Find
The geocaches in the series:
"Maj. Squadron: P-51D Mustang"GC2NFER
"Maj. Squadron - P-38L Lightning"
GC2NFDR
"Maj. Squadron - P-47D Thunderbolt"
GC2NFFJ
"Maj. Squadron - F6F-5 Hellcat"GC2NFCA
"Maj. Squadron - F4U-4 Corsair"GC2NFBV
"Maj. Squadron - P40E Warhawk"
GC2NFCJ
"Maj. Squadron - B-17G Flying Fortress" (Final Cache)
GC2NF45
Have fun.
S! Maj.
The F6F-5 Hellcat:
The highly successful follow-on to the Wildcat. Built specifically
to counter the Japanese Zero, the Hellcat filled the bill, and
earned the nickname "ace maker." Its docile handling
characteristics, especially important for a carrier-based plane to
be used by a large number of reasonably well-trained pilots, made
it the Navy's first choice fighter to deploy with the Essex-class
carriers.
The Hellcat was the first USN fighter for which the design took
into account lessons from combat with the Japanese Zero. The
Hellcat proved to be the most successful aircraft in naval history,
destroying 5,271 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).
Hellcats were involved in practically all engagements with
Japanese air power from that point onward. It was the major U.S.
Navy fighter type involved in the Battle of the Philippine Sea,
where so many Japanese aircraft were shot down that Navy aircrews
nicknamed the battle The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot. The F6F
accounted for 75% of all aerial victories recorded by the U.S. Navy
in the Pacific. Radar-equipped Hellcat night fighter squadrons
appeared in early 1944.
Navy and Marine F6Fs flew 66,530 combat sorties (45% of all
fighter sorties of the war, 62,386 sorties were flown from aircraft
carriers) and destroyed 5,163 (56% of all Naval/Marine air
victories of the war) at a cost of 270 Hellcats (an overall
kill-to-loss ratio of 19:1). The aircraft performed well against
the best Japanese opponents with a 13:1 kill ratio against
Mitsubishi A6M, 9.5:1 against Nakajima Ki-84, and 3.7:1 against the
Mitsubishi J2M during the last year of the war. The F6F became the
prime ace-maker aircraft in the American inventory, with 305
Hellcat aces.
The last major production variant of the Hellcat was the
"F6F-5", which performed its first flight on 4 April 1944 and
entered production at the end of the month. The F6F-5 was an
incremental improvement on the F6F-3, standardizing improvements
introduced during F6F-3 production and adding a few new ones.
TECHNICAL NOTES:
Engine: 2000hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W Double Wasp
18-cylinder radial piston engine.
Weight: Empty 9150 lbs., Max Takeoff 15,410 lbs.
Wing Span: 42ft. 10in.
Length: 33ft. 7in.
Height: 13ft. 6in.
Performance: Maximum Speed at 23,500 ft: 380mph
Cruising Speed: at 6,000 ft: 168mph
Ceiling: 37,300 ft
Range: 1,530 miles with 150-gallon drop tank
Armament: Six 12.7mm (0.5 inch) wing-mounted machine guns
Two 1,000-lb bombs, or six 127mm (5-inch) rockets.