The winner of the third stage will receive the "2v2 Duellist" title and 300! Scores will be considered in the overall standings in the tournament series "Aviation Legends".

The F6F-3 and William Schwendler

Call it a Witch or a Hellcat, praise it or curse it, but this aircraft will always be the little terror of air combat at rank II. The Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat encompassed all that was best in American aircraft construction at the beginning of the war.

When Grumman Chief Engineer William Schwendler was working on a carrier based fighter as an opponent for the A6M2 he created the exact opposite of the Japanese plane. The aircraft had speed instead of maneuverability, durability instead of lightness and it was large instead of being compact! The F6F turned out as not only the largest single motor carrier based fighter built in the USA but also one of the largest single motor fighter planes in the world. This happened because Schwendler was trying to correct all the deficiencies of its predecessor the F4F in the new plane and make the aircraft more powerful. By putting an R-2600 engine with 1600 hp on the experimental model of the plane (later installing an R-2800 with 2000 hp) instead of the 1200 hp engine that the F4F-4 used, the weight of the prototype was increased. This consequently required a greater lift surface and a re-design of the whole fuselage of the future fighter.

As a result, the aircraft that left the engineering firm after the additional work which was primarily related to the engine was one that was quickly accepted by American military pilots. The F6F-3 Hellcat that entered serial production in 1942 turned out as a very successful plane which replaced its predecessor the F4F-4 Wildcat. The fighter had excellent speed, survivability and magnificent control.

When the Americans were flying this aircraft, they tried to avoid deliberate turning dogfights with the Japanese. Using instead, the speed and power of the engine, they preferred to use boom and zoom tactics on the opponent, never losing speed in long turns.

That is more or less the same tactic as the more experienced War Thunder players use when they are flying the F6F-3. Especially when they are fighting the Japanese[1] . The great armament of the plane, with its 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns is effective against any air and many ground targets, so the aircraft has no problems with firepower if convergence is set correctly.

Are you ready to show off your dogfighting skills in the F6F-3? Take part in air duels using these fearsome flying machines!