How Did Grumman Use Air Domination In The Pacific

Air domination was a key factor in the war in the Pacific. If you had the strongest planes that could shoot down the enemies and support the ground troops, then it made it much easier. Both sides tried to have the best fighter planes that could not only support ground troops, but also escort bombers. It’s hard to decide whether the Japanese or the United States had better planes used in the Pacific Theater. Most likely the United States did because they had the most air domination which won them the Pacific. These are four different fighter planes used the Pacific. The Hellcat and the Corsair were two American fighters. The Zero and Nick were used by the Japanese. It is a tough decision on which was the best out of the four. Each one played
a large role in the war and it was a big game of who can be the best. You decide which you think is the best plane.
Grumman’s latest improvement of the Wildcat series was the Grumman F6F Hellcat.
It fought in the pacific theater against the Japanese.Grumman made lots of changes including more heavily armored cockpit, wings mounted lower down, wider landing gear that retracts into the wings, and a faster engine. Four prototypes were tested by the navy. One of the tested planes, the XF6F-1, was the only one to be developed further. Because of this, the others were not even tested. The designers put in the biggest possible engine for it. The first production model was tested in October 1942. After that, the delivery started four months later and proved to be a formidable enemy for the Japanese. Consequently, three quarters of the navy’s air kills were made by Hellcats. The UK’s air force got 252 F6F-3s while the United States developed them into the F6F-5. During the upgrade, they gave it new ailerons and a stronger tail fin.(“Grumman F6F Hellcat”) Also they added better landing gear that uniquely folded backward. (“The classic Grumman F6F Hellcat”).This versions first flight was on April 4, 1944 and production continued until 1945. The final engine model for the Hellcat was a 2,000 horsepower Pratt and Whitney R-2800-10W double wasp engine. To hold this engine, the body was 42 feet 10 inches wide, 33 feet 7 inches long wingspan, and 13 feet 6 inches tall. At 23,500 feet the top speed of the Hellcat was 380 miles per hour. Because of the strong engine, the Hellcat was armed with six 12.7
millimeter machine guns, three on each wing, and two 1,000 pound bombs. These could be switched out for six 127 millimeters rockets. (“Grumman F6F Hellcat”) The bombs weren’t the only powerful thing, the machine guns could shoot 400 rounds each. Britain received 252 Hellcats on Lend Lease. (“The classic Grumman F6F Hellcat”) They were used by the USN, the US marine corp , and Britain’s Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy.(“The classic Grumman F6F Hellcat”). A total of 12,275 Hellcats were made. Seven of which are still able to roam the skies today “Grumman F6F Hellcat”). The Hellcats were key to the success of the US in the pacific. Because of the great engine and handling, 307 Hellcat pilots became aces. Not only the engines were powerful, so were the weapons. There were 5,156 kills made by Hellcats. That’s a 19:1 kill ratio. Hellcats were very formidable enemies for the Japanese Zero’s. Compare the Hellcat to the next plane. The Mitsubishi Zero. (“The classic Grumman F6F Hellcat”) The Mitsubishi A6M, also known as the Zero, was a Japanese carrier based, single seat fighter.
The Zero was designed by Horikoshi Jiro in Japan for the war effort. The first test flight took place in 1939 and was a great success. Because of this, production of the Zeroes started the next year in 1940. They got these planes the name “Zero” because of the production of them started on the 2600th anniversary of their first emperor, Jimmu’s, rise to power. Despite the name Zero, the Allies nicknamed these Japanese planes “Zeke’s”. The Zero started out with a 1,020 horsepower Nakajima Sakae engine and later on they switched the engine to a different version with 1,130 horsepower. This engine spun a three bladed propeller that got the plane a top speed of 350 miles per hour at a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet. The Zero was armed with two 7.7 millimeter machine guns and a 20 millimeter cannon on each wing. They could carry 132 pound bombs under its wings. The Zeros had internal 156 gallon fuel tanks and outer fuel tanks that could be dropped after being emptied. At first it was able to out maneuver all of the other planes until the Hellcats came along. Because of the Hellcats easily beating them, near the end of the war they were used mainly as kamikaze attacks. By the end, over 10,430 Zeros were made (“Zero, Japanese
Aircraft”). The Vought F4U Corsair was a United States carrier based fighter used in the Korean war along with WW2. They were manufactured until 1951, and there was a total of 12,571 made. It was at first rejected by the navy because they were too hard to land on a moving carrier because of how high quality the plane was. Therefore, the Hellcat was preferred over the Corsair for most of the war. The Corsair had a huge three bladed propeller turned by a Pratt and Whitney XR2800 “Double Wasp” engine. This pulled the plane along with an incredible 2,000 horsepower. Because of the huge propeller, the Corsair had “Gul Wings” (wings that were not straight and had a bend in them) to extend it further off the ground so that the propeller would spin. The large engine was in front of the cockpit which was just in front of the middle of the craft. The body was tubular and the wings were attached almost directly under the cockpit. At the back it had a curved, short tail fin. They were armed with 4x0.50 Browning heavy machine guns and they also had 5x5 rockets. Because of the long nose and raised fuselage body spine, there was somewhat bad visibility. The Corsair was first tested on May 29th, 1940 and went faster than 400 mph. This made it the fastest plane at the time. The designers made some changes to the original model. One change was moving some wing fuel tanks to the body. Another one was moving the cockpit to three feet from the nose. The Corsair first saw combat on Dec. 28th, 1942. It was not used by the navy at first because of the difficulty to land on carriers so it started combat on land in February 1943. It was one of the first planes to be able to easily defeat the Japanese Zeroes. The Japanese nicknamed it “Whistling Death” because of the diving sound that it made. The Corsair had a 11 to 1 kill ratio. They shot down a total of 2,140 enemy planes. They were 33.14 feet long, had a 41.01 foot wingspan, and was 16.08 feet tall (“Vought F4U Corsair…”). The Kawasaki KI-45 Toryu was a Japanese heavy fighter plane. In 1937 the Japanese army ordered the development of a long range, twin engine fighter plane that would be able to fly over the Pacific. The design was inspired by the German Messerschmitt Bf 110. The first prototype version was called the “Dragon Killer” and had was a mid-wing monoplane. It had a very thin fuselage which ended with a tailfin with retractable tail landing gear. Because of the slim body, it provided very little space for the two pilots sitting one behind the other. It was developed into the KI-45 KAIa which started production in 1941. There was a delay in the production because of problems with engine installation. They were very heavily armed with a forward pointing 20mm cannon. In addition to that, there were two 12.7mm machine guns in the nose which were very effective. Also there was a single 7.92mm machine guns mounted on a flexible stand in the rear cockpit. The second crew member would wield that machine gun, protecting the back of the plane. Also the KAIa’s could carry two drop tanks underneath the wings, or two 250kg bombs. This model joined the service in August of 1942 but didn’t actually start in combat till October. Soon after their effective start in the Japanese military, the allies code named the Kawasaki’s “Nick.” Another modified version joined the KAIa in the ranks which was armed specifically for anti shipping and ground attacks. This was the KAIb and was very similar to the KAIa. This version was armed with a 20mm cannon in the nose, along with a 37mm cannon in the body of the plane. It also had a rear 7.92mm machine gun and drop tanks or bombs like the KAIa. These planes were very heavily armed and were very effective against the American B24 bombers. The US started using the B24’s for mainly night raids, so the Japanese responded. The Kawasaki was yet again modified into another version specifically for night fighting. This was the KAIc which earned the Kawasaki fighters their reputation as deadly night fighters. There was a total of about 1, 701 Kawasaki’s made by the end of World War 2. All three models were used until the end of the war in the Pacific. ( “Kawasaki KI-45 Toryu / Nick.”) All four of them are very impressive. The Zero started out as the scourge of the skies. All the Us planes had trouble with it because it was fast and maneuverable. Also they were moderately well armed which made it even more effective. But then the US developed the Hellcat. This was able to take down the Zeros and cause some trouble too. Some people have said that they were one of the main reasons for the US’s success in the pacific. They made aces of many of the pilots that flew them. But then along came the Corsair. It was a more high quality plane which was incredibly fast. They were well armed but were at first rejected because of the difficulty to land on the carries. But then, with a few modification, they became a feared plane by the Japanese. And then there was the non-carrier Nick. They didn’t actually fight the fighters usually, but targeted the bombers. They were heavily armed and earned their name as one of the best night fighters of the time. All of them were dangerous and important. As I said before, air domination was the key to success, and these fighters were key to air domination. I especially liked the Corsair. They were very unique in their gull wing shape and huge engine. Despite the Corsair, I think that the Hellcat was the best plane out of all of them. It had a good balance of speed, weapons and maneuverability. All of them were well designed and well used and put us one step further ahead in plane technology.