Existing comment:
Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat
The Hellcat was originally conceived as an advanced version of the U.S. Navy's F4F Wildcat because development problems had delayed the Wildcat's intended replacement, the Vought F-4U Corsair.
This F6F-3 Hellcat was delivered to the Navy in 1944 and was assigned Fighter Squadron 15 (VF-15) on the USS Hornet, the first of many assignments. During its three-year operational career, it was damaged in a wheels-up landing, repaired and used for training, and converted to a target drone. Its most notable mission was Operation Crossroads, the atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946. It was launched, unmanned, soon after the first bomb test to obtain data on radioactivity. It was also used to evaluate the first underwater nuclear explosion. Records indicate that its exposure to radioactivity was minimal, and residual radiation is negligible. |