Monogram F6F-5 Hellcat 1/48 Scale

Many US Navy pilots had good cause to refer to the Hellcat as the "Aluminum Tank". With its six .50 caliber Browning M2 machine guns, it could spit out a veritable hail of destruction which no Japanese adversary could hope to survive. After the war, Japanese pilots related their fear and dread each time they were engaged by the Hellcat. And, on the other side of the coin, the

Hellcat could absorb unbelievable punishment and still bring the pilot back to his ship. Pilots tell of "mostly holes where the airplane used to be" and "more air was going through it than around it". One Hellcat had been burning for a hundred miles before landing on its carrier. Top Navy ace, David McCampbell told of watching the piston and connection rod "popping in and out" of the mangled Pratt-Whitney "Double Wasp" engine as he struggled to fly the pieces of his Hellcat back to the carrier. The Grumman Company itself was often referred to as the "Grumman Iron Works".

Other information:
http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/histf6f.htm
http://www.vectorsite.net/avf6f.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/f6f-hellcat
http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avf6f.html