Hellcat vs Corsair ...
Tue Aug 12, 2025 10:13 pm
With two good pilots? .... who knows!!
F6F-3 on ground lined up with with Vought F4U-ID for comparison tests.
Corsairs of VF 43 with an F6F-5 Hellcats over NAS Atlantic City NJ 1945.
Aerial View F4U Corsair & F6F-5N Hellcat.
F6F-3 on ground lined up with with Vought F4U-ID for comparison tests.
Corsairs of VF 43 with an F6F-5 Hellcats over NAS Atlantic City NJ 1945.
Aerial View F4U Corsair & F6F-5N Hellcat.
Re: Hellcat vs Corsair ...
Fri Aug 15, 2025 9:16 am
Hit and run: Corsair
Knife fight: Hellcat
Personality and looks: Corsair. The Hellcat seems largely overshadowed by other WW2 types, despite an impressive combat record. Perhaps due to short service life, the remoteness of the Pacific theatre, arguably fugliness, limited presence on the Warbird scene and no Baa Baa Black sheep TV show
Eric Brown, RN:
The Corsair was the mixture of the good, the mediocre, and the bad. It had excellent acceleration, speed, and firepower, and was rugged in construction, but its slow-speed characteristics left much to be desired. Maneuverability was mediocre from the point of view of dogfighting, but it had a good rate of roll that could be used to advantage defensively. In summary, as a fighter the Corsair was a formidable aircraft to introduce into the Pacific theater, but as a shipboard aircraft it had serious shortcomings...
The Hellcat was a first-class fighter, and although not outstanding in performance compared with land-based fighters, it was superb in the environment of the Pacific, where its performance, maneuverability, firepower, and ability to absorb punishment would give it supermacy of the much-dreaded Zeke. It was unquestionably the most important Allied shipboard fighter of WWII." (Source: Duels in the Sky: World War II Naval Aircraft in Combat)
Knife fight: Hellcat
Personality and looks: Corsair. The Hellcat seems largely overshadowed by other WW2 types, despite an impressive combat record. Perhaps due to short service life, the remoteness of the Pacific theatre, arguably fugliness, limited presence on the Warbird scene and no Baa Baa Black sheep TV show
Eric Brown, RN:
The Corsair was the mixture of the good, the mediocre, and the bad. It had excellent acceleration, speed, and firepower, and was rugged in construction, but its slow-speed characteristics left much to be desired. Maneuverability was mediocre from the point of view of dogfighting, but it had a good rate of roll that could be used to advantage defensively. In summary, as a fighter the Corsair was a formidable aircraft to introduce into the Pacific theater, but as a shipboard aircraft it had serious shortcomings...
The Hellcat was a first-class fighter, and although not outstanding in performance compared with land-based fighters, it was superb in the environment of the Pacific, where its performance, maneuverability, firepower, and ability to absorb punishment would give it supermacy of the much-dreaded Zeke. It was unquestionably the most important Allied shipboard fighter of WWII." (Source: Duels in the Sky: World War II Naval Aircraft in Combat)