3 X Hellcat Registrations July 2020

[Dan K]

FAA site presently lists eight registered "Grumman F6F-5" with Artemis:

N170H
Serial number 71740

N2094G
Serial number 72094

N540GH
Serial number 71540

N622GH
Serial number 71622

N797GH
Serial number 58797

N8004H
Serial number 80040

N9133H
Serial number 79133

N94038
Serial number 94038

[JohnB]

So are there airframes somewhere or just paperwork/dataplates/corroded bits?

Not that it really matters, just curious.

[Mark Allen M]

Weren't there some F6F-5K drone wrecks from Point Mugu recovered from the Channel Islands? Was ownership officially transferred from the Navy? Might they have suddenly sprouted Uruguayan identities? Or am I being overly suspicious?

[paulmcmillan]

N540GH
Serial number 71540 -> A-454 Crashed and w/o in US before delivery and sent to Uruguay for spares - Ditched Texas (near naval station) following airframe difficulties - Date Feb 28th 1952 - Recovered Lake Dallas March 8th 1952 - Pilot G / M Américo Noble OK

N622GH
Serial number 71622 -> A-451 Crashed and w/o in US before delivery and sent to Uruguay for spares - Crash landed following engine failure after lake off Fort Worth Texas - Date: October 3rd 1951 - Pilot G / M Américo Noble injured (fractured skull) - yes the same pilot!

- I have the following about A-454 crash and recovery

Denton Record-Chronicle from Denton, Texas March 9th 1952 Page 1

AIRPLANE RETRIEVED FROM LAKE DALLAS
By GILBERT GORMAN Record-Chronicle Staff Writer

LAKE DALLAS, March 8--Kibler Hundley took a trunk out on the lake here yesterday
and brought back an airplane. It wasn't a very large airplane --
a low-wing craft with room for only one person and weighing only 16,000 pounds
or so -- and anything with a powerful-enough winch could have done the job.
But Hundley preferred the truck, equipped with a built-in winch.
This he floated out onto the lake on a large pontoon-supported platform and,
on the second try, recovered the modified Grumann Hellcat,
nine days since it first crash (sic 28th Feb 1952)- landed in 30 feet of water
several hundred yards north of the spillway. The Hellcat with
several others was due to 'be ferried to Uruguay after check flights
by officers of the Uruguayan naval mission now in Fort Worth.
The mission had commissioned Hundley to raise the $35,000 ship.
Intently witching tht first salvage attempt Thursday was the pilot,
Ens. Americo Noble of the Uruguayan Navy, who was forced to "ditch" the craft
when it ran out of gasoline He escaped uninjured. He saw a boat beneath him,
he later explained, and landed as close to it as possible at 8O miles an h o u r
and was picked up so quickly that he didn't need his "Mae West" life preserver.
Noble rode out to the salvage scene with this reporter in a motor runabout, "Mattie III,"
piloted by 17-year-old Lenwood Cunningham of Carrollton, one of his rescuers. "You know. '
the pilot said, "I knew when I left my base at Meacham Field (Fort Worth) that I didn't
have a fuil tank of gas. "But I was a happy flyer that day. I didn't notice how low the
tank really was. "Was I frightened? No. This has happened to me once before
at Meacham Field in the same type of plane. I fractured my skull then."
He indicated several scars on his forehead. Mattie III wasn't destined to
act as a mere observation platform Thursday, Hundley, directing salvage operations
from the large pontoon, pressed the boat into messenger duty, and, after
transferring Noble to the pontoon to observe, Mattie roared back and
forth at 38 miles an hour between Hundley and his crew and the beach,
waves slapping at her hull, her stern buried in a frothy wake and bow raised.
"We forgot an anchor," Hundley said. "Take this man and go get one." Or: "Go back to the office
and see if the ship-to-shore radio is working " And so Mallie III sped,
stopping once so a crewman could retrieve a piece of floating driftwood.
And while the boatmen worked over the sunken plane, two sister Hellcats from
Meacham field roared overhead as if supervising the job.

[paulmcmillan]

Note a photo of the recovered Hellcat is on front page
March 13, 1952
Denton Record-Chronicle from Denton, Texas · Page 1 - But I do not have a subscription

[paulmcmillan]

72094, 80040 and 94038 and 79133 are ex French

So poss. 4 French and 4 Uruguay

See below


N8004H
Serial number 80040
W/O 09 Sep 1952 France

Naval Pilot Lt Jean Eugene THOUVENIN killed

Crashed in sea at Mediterranean Sea, in harbor of 'Hyères (Var)
http://memorial-aen.fr/detail.php?&id=1756



N9133H
Serial number 79133 coded 54 S-45
W/O 29 Oct 1951 France

Naval Pilot 3rd Class Crew Officer Jean Surzur Killed


Witnesses saw two dive planes strike the ground at a place called "La mort de Gautier" in the town of Soliès-Toucas (Var).
It is likely that 54 S-45 and 54 S-49 (79805) collided during the fairly tight right turn in the clouds.
Transported to the Sainte-Anne maritime hospital in Toulon, the two pilots died there during the day.

Naval Pilot Lt Jean Roger Louis LAFON Killed in 79805

http://memorial-aen.fr/detail.php?&id=1651

see also

https://en.calameo.com/read/00507968052ec6e961a06

[paulmcmillan]

Yes 4 French: 72094, 80040 and 94038 and 79133


4 Uruguay: 71740, 58797, 71622 and 71540


A-406 F6F-5 Withdrawn from use 22 Apr 1952 1 Jun 1960 ex 71540

[Joe Scheil]

The picture of F6F-5K wrecks is amazing and appears to be taken at Pt. Mugu as it looks like Anacapa Island is in the background. Mark, when was that photo taken? I assume none of those survive....


As for building F6F Hellcats, it would appear there could be a number of identities looking for places to roost....

[Chris Brame]

Note a photo of the recovered Hellcat is on front page
March 13, 1952
Denton Record-Chronicle from Denton, Texas · Page 1 - But I do not have a subscription

I have a subscription - but the photo is almost totally dark

OK, another dim Air Classics memory - mid-70s, in "Warbird Report" there was a photo of an unidentified F6F (in Florida?) that had come from Uruguay; looked mostly complete and had a little sharkmouth on the cowl. Ring any bells before I dig into the stacks?

[Mark Allen M]

N540GH
Serial number 71540 -> A-454 Crashed and w/o in US before delivery and sent to Uruguay for spares - Ditched Texas (near naval station) following airframe difficulties - Date Feb 28th 1952 - Recovered Lake Dallas March 8th 1952 - Pilot G / M Américo Noble OK

[Mark Allen M]

Base Aeronaval Capitán Curbelo-Aramada de Uruguay

[paulmcmillan]

Chris the photo looked dark

Do you think I could have a copy anyway thanks Paul

[K5DH]

Wow... interesting! I never knew about the Lake Dallas ditching, and I've lived in the town of Lake Dallas since 1981!

[Chris Brame]

Chris the photo looked dark

Do you think I could have a copy anyway thanks Paul

Sure:

[Jim MacDonald]

Looks like the photo was of the "muddy Lake Dallas bottom".

Mac

Last edited by Jim MacDonald on Sun Oct 25, 2020 3:47 am, edited 1 time in total.