Hasegawa 09134 1/48 F6F-3 Hellcat USS ESSEX

The F6F Hellcat was a fighter plane developed by Grumman, a renowned manufacturer of carrier-based fighters, as a successor to the F4F Wildcat, and was the main aircraft of the US Navy in the latter half of World War II, alongside the F4U Corsair.

On June 30, 1941, an order was issued to build the XF6F-1 prototype, and the XF6F-3 made its first flight in June 1942. However, this aircraft was underpowered and its performance was not satisfactory, so the engine was immediately replaced with a more powerful P&WR-2800 Double Wasp.

Deliveries of mass-produced aircraft began in November 1942, and the first F6F unit, VF-9, was formed in January 1943 and began training on the aircraft carrier Essex as the first to defeat the Zero fighter.