![]() ![]() Powered by a 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp, the same powerplant used for both the Corsair and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters, the F6F was an entirely new design, but it still resembled the Wildcat in many ways. In gaining that role, it prevailed over its faster competitor, the Vought F4U Corsair, which initially had problems with visibility and carrier landings. Designed to replace the earlier F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War. In 1956, about a hundred of these destroyers were delivered to the German Army, the Bundeswehr, for the training of its troops, while the Americans permanently removed them from their ranks the following year.The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Used after World War II in an improved version (M39), it took part in the Korean War. Its strengths were the mobility, both on and off-road, as well as the speed of rotation of its turret. The kills-to-losses ratio for Europe was 2.3 to 1 and the overall kill to loss ratio was 2.4 to 1. This gave the M18 crews the ability to fire at an enemy and then quickly retreat before a response could be mustered.Įntering service in 1944, the M18 served primarily in Western Europe, but was also present in the Pacific. Her top speed of 55 to 60 miles per hour in ideal conditions – faster than any other armored fighting vehicle of the war. In the field, the M18 proved an excellent vehicle for the intended role. ![]() The doctrinal priority of high speed at the cost of armor protection thus led to a relatively unbalanced design. The open-topped turret left the crew exposed to snipers, grenades, and shell fragments, however it gave the crew excellent visibility which was of importance in the killing of tanks, the intent of tank destroyers being primarily ambush weapons. The armor protection was very light with open-topped turret, and the inconsistent performance of its 76 mm gun against the frontal armor of later German designs such as the Tiger and Panther. ![]()
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