The F6F Hellcat is a single-engine, piston-driven, carrier-based naval fighter and attack airplane produced by American aerospace company Grumman during World War II. The single-seat aircraft, which was designed as an improved replacement for the company’s F4F Wildcat, took its first flight on June 26, 1942 and deployed to combat in August of the following year. It could carry a combination of heavy machine guns, cannons, rockets, bombs, and torpedoes.

The Hellcat, of which Grumman produced over 12,000 in just two years, immediately became a renowned addition to the warfighting effort, ultimately accounting for 75% of U.S. naval aircraft kills in the Pacific. Flown primarily by America’s Navy and Marine Corps, it was also used by Britain and, after the end of World War II, by France and Uruguay.

The F6F measures 33 feet, 7 inches in length and features a low wing with a span of 42 feet, 10 inches that folds for aircraft carrier stowage. A taildragger, the aircraft has retractable landing gear and a fuselage-mounted empennage. The Hellcat is powered by an air-cooled, supercharged, 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W Double Wasp radial engine that produces 2,200 horsepower and drives a 3-bladed Hamilton Standard constant-speed propeller. The burly engine propels the Hellcat to a top speed of 391 miles per hour and gives it a climb rate of 2,600 feet per minute up to its service ceiling of 37,300 feet above sea level.

A proven warfighting workhorse, the Grumman F6F Hellcat is renowned among pilots as rugged, survivable, and very stable. Despite its forgivingness, this aircraft is a beast that can be pushed hard throughout a broad regime of flight, steeply diving, climbing, carving tight turns, and performing a range of aerobatic maneuvers.