FHC's Hellcat rumbles to life today...

[Steve Nelson]

I'm curious..why are Hellcats so unpopular among warbird owners/operators? As was mentioned in this thread, there are only one or two that are currently being actively flown, yet there are a dozen or more Corsairs. Is it a parts availability/cost thing? Or does the Corsair simply have a higher "cool" factor?

Great pix, by the way. And I love the planned scheme as well.

SN

[Mark Allen M]

That's not a 'planned scheme' BTW it's only my wished planned scheme or wished suggestion, I'm quite sure the powers that be over at FHC HQ have a nice scheme all ready to go. Sorry for misleading anyone. ha! ... but you never know, I'm lobbying heavily to P Allen.

[Steve Nelson]

Wow...I didn't realize there were that few Hellcat airframes extant. I used to see the Air Zoo's F6F (and other warbirds) flying around here all the time..man, I miss those days. I got to see her make what was likely her final flight on 10/31/00. That was when skyrocketing insurance rates forced the Museum to ground all the warbirds.

SN

[Fight2FlyPhoto]

Thanks! I'm glad you like the photos. once shes out of the paint hangar and back on display I'll be sure to post them here. Hopefully I'll also be able to get video of the maiden as well.

Since this plane does not have a combat history, folks are generally agreeing that it will be painted to represent a local pilot. Seems to be the way they gravitate, ie. Upupa Epops (which happens to be the original airframe), Robert Neale's P-40, Tallahassee Lassie, and their Hurricane is painted after a RCAF bird based out of Victoria.

[The Inspector]

Thanks! I'm glad you like the photos. once shes out of the paint hangar and back on display I'll be sure to post them here. Hopefully I'll also be able to get video of the maiden as well.

Since this plane does not have a combat history, folks are generally agreeing that it will be painted to represent a local pilot. Seems to be the way they gravitate, ie. Upupa Epops (which happens to be the original airframe), Robert Neale's P-40, Tallahassee Lassie, and their Hurricane is painted after a RCAF bird based out of Victoria.

Well, Scott Crossfield, a regionally local guy flew F6F's out of NAS Sand Point post war while attending the U of W for Engineering, he later went on to some notariety being the first guy to Mach 2 in the D-558-2 SKYROCKET (which had the side benefit of running the jaw torque on a certain CY up to about 2 foot tons) as well as helping to design and develop and being first to fly a long black dart 'accidentally' through Mach 3 on a production test flight. (HATE it when that happens)

[Pat Carry]

I'm curious..why are Hellcats so unpopular among warbird owners/operators? As was mentioned in this thread, there are only one or two that are currently being actively flown, yet there are a dozen or more Corsairs. Is it a parts availability/cost thing? Or does the Corsair simply have a higher "cool" factor?

Great pix, by the way. And I love the planned scheme as well.

SN

It may be more likely that the low numbers of Hellcats is a function of few airframes, not neccessarily popularity. The Navy kept production of Corsairs going after the war to use as a close support aircraft, whereas the Hellcat production was shut down, the airframes declared obsolete. So most were scrapped or used as target drones. The supply was rapidly used up when many were blown up. The end result is that there are fewer airworthy airframes to go around (26 airframes according to Warbird Registry, 4 airworthy but only 3 flown recently). There are actually more Wildcat airframes surviving (49 according to Warbird Registry) than Hellcats, even tho its an older design. The rarity of Hellcats makes the ones we have now all the more special and worth a closer look.

The good news is the Collings Foundation will be flying their newly acquired Hellcat in a few years. Doesn't the Yanks Air Museum have 2 Hellcats now? I wonder if either of those will ever fly?

[RMAllnutt]

Paint's too shiny................
Yes she will look great in that scheme, I've always liked the Hellcat its a great looking fighter!

I think you will find that the excessive shine is due mainly to tweaking with photoshop to get the HDR look. Previous photos of the Hellcat didn't look quite so glossy. Regardless, it's a wonderful next step in this aircraft's return to the skies.

Cheers,
Richard

[JohnTerrell]

Besides the Flying Heritage Collection's Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and the Collings Foundation Hellcat restoration to airworthy, there is also Jack Croul's (Allied Fighters) Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and The Fighter Collection's Hellcat might be flying again this year, as one of the last few aircraft in the collection still waiting to take flight again following the entire collection being 'grounded' a few years back. Yanks has an F6F-5 that is already complete (said to be airworthy, but you know how that goes when an aircraft hasn't actually flown), and currently has an F6F-3 being restored to airworthy (which, every now and then, has been stated it will be flown when completed - I guess we shall see). In addition, there has been mention of a couple of Hellcat projects possibly at Westpac.

[DenverWarbirdFan]

Based on what I saw at Westpac last weekend, any Hellcat flying out of there is a long ways off. Mostly piles of parts and what looked like wings and an engine or two in storage

[Fight2FlyPhoto]

Paint's too shiny................
Yes she will look great in that scheme, I've always liked the Hellcat its a great looking fighter!

I think you will find that the excessive shine is due mainly to tweaking with photoshop to get the HDR look. Previous photos of the Hellcat didn't look quite so glossy. Regardless, it's a wonderful next step in this aircraft's return to the skies.

Cheers,
Richard

Actually, she is that shiny. It's like looking into a mirror! I chose to do the HDR processing because its such a dark aircraft and it was heck trying to get everything properly exposed. So I bracketed so I could keep details in the highlights, and shadows. Now, though, she has some lovely streaks along the fuselage, showing use.

Here are two individual images from my bracketing:

IMG_6444 by fight2flyphoto, on Flickr


IMG_6213 by fight2flyphoto, on Flickr

The green is the unfinished siding on the new hangar. These engine runs will be so much more fun once the construction is done! No more annoying tractor noises, or construction workers just walking right in front of the airplane as the pilot yells "CLEAR!"

[Pat Carry]

Besides the Flying Heritage Collection's Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and the Collings Foundation Hellcat restoration to airworthy, there is also Jack Croul's (Allied Fighters) Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and The Fighter Collection's Hellcat might be flying again this year, as one of the last few aircraft in the collection still waiting to take flight again following the entire collection being 'grounded' a few years back. Yanks has an F6F-5 that is already complete (said to be airworthy, but you know how that goes when an aircraft hasn't actually flown), and currently has an F6F-3 being restored to airworthy (which, every now and then, has been stated it will be flown when completed - I guess we shall see). In addition, there has been mention of a couple of Hellcat projects possibly at Westpac.

Thanks for the summary, John. All good projects to look forward to.

[Warbird Kid]

These engine runs will be so much more fun once the construction is done! No more annoying tractor noises, or construction workers just walking right in front of the airplane as the pilot yells "CLEAR!"

Any shots on the progress of the hangar ?

[tom d. friedman]

Besides the Flying Heritage Collection's Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and the Collings Foundation Hellcat restoration to airworthy, there is also Jack Croul's (Allied Fighters) Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and The Fighter Collection's Hellcat might be flying again this year, as one of the last few aircraft in the collection still waiting to take flight again following the entire collection being 'grounded' a few years back. Yanks has an F6F-5 that is already complete (said to be airworthy, but you know how that goes when an aircraft hasn't actually flown), and currently has an F6F-3 being restored to airworthy (which, every now and then, has been stated it will be flown when completed - I guess we shall see). In addition, there has been mention of a couple of Hellcat projects possibly at Westpac.

what p- 51 mustang nose art / avatar of yours does the the donald duck disney character represent as to a ww 2 fighter group?? somewhere down the line that 51 can be traced to dean ortner of the "ortner air service" of wakeman ohio 60's era. it would be very helpful to his family, as they have re- purchased their airport after near 35 years of ownership by another person.

[JohnTerrell]

Tom, it's just a salute to Donald Emerson, who flew with the 4th FG. One of several pilots I could say are my heroes - a gifted fighter pilot, and from what I have read, an even greater person. I do a lot of Photoshop/Illustrator type work, and decided to recreate the nose art from this photo (which is quite different than the Donald Duck on the restored Mustang in these colors): http://www.littlefriends.co.uk/gallery. ... rchString=

And speaking of Hellcats, hopefully it will only be a matter of time before Kermit Weeks' F6F-3 is provided a restoration to airworthy.

[The Inspector]

Besides the Flying Heritage Collection's Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and the Collings Foundation Hellcat restoration to airworthy, there is also Jack Croul's (Allied Fighters) Hellcat restoration to airworthy, and The Fighter Collection's Hellcat might be flying again this year, as one of the last few aircraft in the collection still waiting to take flight again following the entire collection being 'grounded' a few years back. Yanks has an F6F-5 that is already complete (said to be airworthy, but you know how that goes when an aircraft hasn't actually flown), and currently has an F6F-3 being restored to airworthy (which, every now and then, has been stated it will be flown when completed - I guess we shall see). In addition, there has been mention of a couple of Hellcat projects possibly at Westpac.

what p- 51 mustang nose art / avatar of yours does the the donald duck disney character represent as to a ww 2 fighter group?? somewhere down the line that 51 can be traced to dean ortner of the "ortner air service" of wakeman ohio 60's era. it would be very helpful to his family, as they have re- purchased their airport after near 35 years of ownership by another person.

Don't you think you're being just a bit harsh towards John Terrell? Others using Turquoise VW's or Red Dodge vans as avatars don't seem to set you off so why should Johns?
UPUPA EPOPS (a breed of tropical bird)was the mount of Capt. Harrison B. 'Bud' Tordoff of the 352nd F.S., 353rd F.G. and was it's original pilot. FHC found Bud by tracing the airframes history and finding out that he was still alive. He provided tons of documentation for the restoration and got to reunite with his old friend after the restortation was completed. Saddly, Bud departed the pattern a few years ago-so I'm not terribly interested in who owned a classic car after I've met the original owner.