Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Typical Tillman; beautiful detailed, but exciting and human., August 22, 1998
The Hellcat; my favorite of all 14 operational Naval aircraft I've flown, including others from "Grumman Iron Works". Mr. Tillman put this old flyer back in that F6F-5 cockpit again. I could smell it, hear it and almost touch that most wonderful of warbirds I've ever had the privilege to fly. I found people in there, who loved it as I did then and still do, that I can identify with; and even some I knew or knew of. The author is a master of drawing the reader into the accounts of those beautiful/horrible days of war in the air, where skill, luck and above all leadership and teamwork were the norms. Mr. Tillman is not new to the Hellcat. Other works of his about the Hellcat are equally satisfying, and his collaboration with one of Naval Aviation's primo photographers, Bob Lawson, gives incredible depth to his writings. I sincerely hope that Mr. Tillman will continue to bring this and other legendary Naval aircraft to their place in history they so richly deserve.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Well Done, August 17, 2006
I enjoyed Hellcat by Barrett Tillman but then I'm biased; the Grumman F6F Hellcat has always been one of my favorite planes. The first chapter of the book covers the Hellcat's history, from conception, to manufacturer, introduction to the fleet, and after the war. It's very well done. The remainder of the book covers the Hellcat's combat history in chronological order. The author apparently reviewed every combat report involving Hellcats. I must confirm what other reviewers have noted: that reading every combat engagement involving Hellcats can get tedious at times. Persevering through the material did reveal that Hellcats were frequently outnumbered in dogfights, and that they encountered skilled Japanese pilots, even late in the war. The book also addresses areas that don't get a lot of visibility: Hellcat night fighting and operations in the European theatre. I'd have like to see the book compare the Hellcat to the other great fighters of World War II. But all in all, the book effectively tells the story of the U.S. Navy's primary WWII fighter that performed superbly its assigned task.
The Hellcat was not the most glamorous fighter of World War II. It wasn't the fastest, or the most maneuverable. Visibility wasn't the greatest. If you could choose any World War II fighter to go dogfight with, you would probably pick the Mustang, Spitfire or FW-190 over the Hellcat. That said, the F6F Hellcat was the perfect airplane for the U.S. Navy operating off aircraft carriers in World War II fighting the Japanese. The Hellcat had all the things carrier aviators like: long range, easy to land on the boat, rugged, a powerful, reliable engine, easy to maintain with a high availability rate and the ability to carry lots of ordnance. That its pilots loved it says it all.
Performance-wise, the Hellcat was markedly superior to its primary opponent, the Zero. In aerial combat, speed is life, and the Hellcat was significantly faster than the Zero in both level flight and a dive, and could match it in a climb. The Hellcat had plenty of firepower - six 50 caliber machine guns -- more than enough to take apart the flimsy Japanese fighters and bombers. On the other hand, with armor plating for the pilot and self-sealing fuel tanks, the Hellcat could take punishment from a Zero and keep on flying or at least give its pilot a chance to bail out and live. Unlike the Zero, the Hellcat had a radio that worked - a huge advantage that rarely is mentioned. About the only thing the Zero had over the Hellcat was turn rate in the lower speed range. The Zero was not competitive against the Hellcat, given equal pilot skills.
The above factors explain the great Hellcat air-to-air kill-ratio of 19 to 1: 5,163 downed Japanese aircraft verses 270 Hellcats shot down. In comparison, P-38s shot down 1,700 Japanese aircraft in the Pacific. Armed with Hellcats, U.S. Carrier Task Forces loitered off Japanese strongholds and destroyed all Japanese aircraft there - either in the sky or on the ground. The Japanese simply had no answer for it.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Invaluable source for fans of the F6F!, February 15, 1997
By A Customer
An authoritative look at the F6F (my favorite piece of American iron).
Tillman covers the history of the Hellcat from inception to a list of F6Fs still flying. Richly documented containing specifications on all models and illustrated with combat reports. "Hellcat" is at the same time both readable adventure and invaluable reference tool. "WWII Aviation Booklist"(...)
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