The Grumman F6F Hellcat was engineered specifically to defeat the feared Mitsubishi Zero and went on to claim 5,163 aerial victories in World War II.
TaildraggerThe Grumman F6F Hellcat achieved a 19-to-1 kill ratio in WWII and produced the top-scoring U.S. Navy ace in history, David McCampbell, who downed nine aircraft in a single sortie.
TaildraggerThe Curtiss SB2C Helldiver survived over 800 engineering changes and a reputation its own crews despised to deliver more combat ordnance than any other Allied carrier dive bomber in the Pacific.
TaildraggerHow Butch O'Hare downed five bombers in six minutes to save the USS Lexington - and why Chicago's airport bears his name.
TaildraggerOn June 4, 1942, a fuel-starved squadron of SBD Dauntless dive bombers sank three Japanese fleet carriers in roughly five minutes, permanently shifting the balance of power in the Pacific War.
TaildraggerOn June 19, 1944, U.S. Hellcats destroyed roughly 350 Japanese aircraft over the Philippine Sea, ending Japanese naval air power for good.
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