Originally posted by Rafe35
The Grumman F6F 'Hellcat" or "Aces Maker" are pretty much excellent job for killing alot Japanese fighter/bomber in World War II and America's all-time champion with 307 pilots credited with five or more kills in type, also by comparison, North American's P-51 "Mustang" produced some 275+ USAAF Aces.
But the bad news that there were relatively heavy losses among F6F pilots. Throughout the war, combat-related pilot losses totalled some 450 aviators, including 20 Hellcat Aces.
I think that Grumman F6F/Vought F4U are best for US Marines Corps/Navy and Lockheed P-38/North American P-51 also best for only USAAF.
Rafe
It seems you are adding in losses to triple A to your Hellcat totals. Only 270 F6Fs were lost to enemy aircraft during WWII. In exchange Hellcats are credited with shooting down 5,203 Japanese aircraft. That's more than three times the the total shot down by P-38s (1,702), and 1,496 more than the total shot down by all USAAF fighters
combined (3,703).
To the Hellcat's 5,203 kills, you can add 2,140 by F4Us and 1,006 by Wildcats. This totals to 8,349 air to air kills (thousands more destroyed on the ground to boot), or 4,642 more than the all USAAF fighters.
Another interesting Navy statistic: When escorted by F6Fs, only 42 Navy Torpedo bombers and Dive bombers are known to have been lost to Japanese fighters. One can can speculate that B-29 crews would have wished that they were that well protected by their P-51 escorts.
P-38s dominated their corner of the Pacific war (SWPA), but had far less impact on the war's outcome than did the F6F.
By the way, McCampbell obtained his 34 kills during a single deployment on the Essex, but Bong needed two tours to reach 40. Bong got his first kill on December 27th, 1942. He shots down his 34th on November 10th, 1944. His 40th came on December 16th, 1944, almost two years after his first. McCampbell's VF-15 first saw combat in late June of 1944, and he finished his single tour in late November of 1944, just 5 months.
Furthermore, McCampbell holds the absolute Allied record for the most kills in a single sortie, 7 Zeros and 2 Ki-43s. He also was credited with two probables of Zeros seen spinning down on fire, but not actually seen to hit the water. It is very likely that McCampbell actually shot down 11 fighters that day. His wingman killed another 6. This is also the most kills scored by a pair of Allied pilots during a single sortie. 15 kills, 2 probables and 2 damaged.
But wait, there's another record McCampbell holds. He shot down 34 in air to air combat, and is credited with 21 more destroyed on the ground. This total is far in excess of any combined score in the ETO. Add to that 9 probables and 5 damaged. McCampbell and his Hellcat were the single most destructive combination in all of the various western air forces.
My regards,
Widewing
