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Description
| Manufacturer: | Grumman | |
| Base model: | F6F | |
| Designation: | XF6F | |
| Version: | -6 | |
| Nickname: | Hellcat | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Navy / Marines | |
| Designation Period: | 1922-1962 | |
| Basic role: | Fighter | |
| Status: | Experimental | |
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| Peter Horn pshorn@msn.com , CA | According to the anthology: "The American Fighter" by Enzo Angelucci with Peter Bowles: Orion Books: New York: 1985: The figure for the rate of climb for the Grumman XF6F-6 was 936 m./min., or 3,070 ft./min., slightly faster than that for the F6F-5; (2,980 ft./min.); but marginally slower than that for the F6F-3; (3,100 ft./min.).
Peter S. Horn 02/20/2005 @ 22:32 |
| Royce Gladden rgladden@riverats.sesc.k12.ar.us Monticello, AR | The XF6F-6 Hellcat prototypes were powered by a Pratt and
Whitney R2800-18w powerplant and a four-bladed propeller. Officially its top speed was listed as 417 mph. However, the prototypes were, I believe, two converted F6F-3 aircraft and may have had the original air speed indicators, which did not function properly. These old systems consistently read 20 knots slower than the -3 Hellcat's actual speed. The top speed for the -3 is listed, for instance as 376 mph. Twenty knots translates to 23 mph and therefore the actual top speed was 399 mph. The top speed for the -5 Hellcat is listed as 386 mph, but shortly into its production run, the -5 converted to a new and more accurate air speed system, which listed its tops speed as 409 mph. If the XF6F-6 pro- totypes had the old airspeed system, which in all probabil- ity they did, then the actual top speed of these aircraft would have been about 440 mph. This performance equals that of the F4U-C Corsair. Does anyone have information about this prototype's climb performance? 10/15/2001 @ 12:00 |
