Airfix 1/24 A19004A Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat Fighter Kit

Great model measuring: L424 x W543mm x H139.

Between the wars the development of tubby Grumman Naval fighter biplanes culminated in the XF4F, but before production was reached, the design was revised to make a monoplane, the F4F Wildcat, regarded as the first successful shipboard fighter. But performance was inferior to Japan's Zero fighter, so the more powerful F6F Hellcat was ordered after the disaster at Pearl Harbour.

The F6F-5 Hellcat variant first flew in April 1944, with various additions and improvements, notably an increase in the weight of armour-plating from 212 lb to 242 lb. Power was a 2,000hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W eighteen cylinder radial engine that with water injection to the cylinders emergency boost could boost power output to 2,200hp. The standard armament was six 0.5 inch machine guns but alternatives were two 20mm cannon, two 1,000 lb bombs, or six 5 inch rocket projectiles.

By the time production was terminated in November 1945, 6,436 F6F-5s had been built - around a sixth of them F6F-5N night fighters. Although most of the F6F-5 Hellcats were supplied to the US Navy, 930 were delivered to Britain's Fleet Air Arm and used against the Japanese in the Far East. The F6F Hellcat was the last new Grumman fighter to see action in WW2 because its successor, the F8F Bearcat, was too late to see service before VJ-Day