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Cannon armed Hellcats

Weapons Systems Tech. Discuss Cannon armed Hellcats in the Technical forums; I know there were a few of them, and my friend's looking for some pictures of them. If anyone has ...

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    Senior Member ONE_HELLCAT's Avatar
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    Cannon armed Hellcats

    I know there were a few of them, and my friend's looking for some pictures of them. If anyone has any pictures, that would be much appreciated.


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    Siggy Master Wurger's Avatar
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    The kind of a Hellcat armament was tested with F6F-3 late version (an other source says F6F-5).These 20mm cannons didn't become a standard equippent but many of F6F-5N and E night fighters were armed with them.Actually these Helcats were equipped with the 20mm cannons and .50 calibre machine guns combination for which the inboard .50 caliber MGs had been replaced by one cannon for each wing.Besides XF6F-1 prototype was a test bed for the XF6F-4 and was armed with four 20mm cannons instead of these six standard .50 calibre MGs and was never accepted for production.


    The pic source -Detail & Scale, Squadron/Signal Publication no.49 for Hellcat and some unknown.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Cannon armed Hellcats-hellcat-f6f-3-cannon.jpg   Cannon armed Hellcats-hellcat-f6f-5-cannon.jpg  

    Cannon armed Hellcats-hellcat-f6f-5n-cannon.jpg   Cannon armed Hellcats-hellcat-f6f-5e-cannon.jpg  

    Last edited by Wurger; 12-14-2008 at 10:13 AM.



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    Senior Member 109ROAMING's Avatar
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    Nice shots mate!

    news to me the hellcat had 20mm's

    RIP Wigram AFB 1916-1995-2009



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    Senior Member Thorlifter's Avatar
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    Question.........why the longer barrel for the cannon? Is it needed to get that big shell spinning?

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    Senior Member renrich's Avatar
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    With a slow burning powder, perhaps like Hodgsdon 4831 a barrel is needed that is long enough to allow complete expansion of the burning powder. The installation may have required that that much of the barrel needed to protrude so the maximun MV was achieved.
    Last edited by renrich; 12-14-2008 at 03:36 PM.

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    Senior Member mudpuppy's Avatar
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    This is news for me too, that any of the Hellcats were ever fitted with 20mm cannons. Does anyone have any accounts of the night fighters, that Wurger mentions above, using the 20 mm cannons and their effectiveness?
    As for the barrel length, I just assumed that was due to the larger breech and loading mechanisms in the wing that required the barrel to protrude from the leading edge. Is it both?

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    My understanding was that very few of the nightfighters were fitted with 20mm, those that were tended to be called specials. Certainly the Hellcat Nightfighters used by the RN stayed with 6 x HMG.

    The Hispano 404 cannon was a much bigger weapon than the 0.50 M2 used by the USN being roughly twice the length.

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    Senior Member ONE_HELLCAT's Avatar
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    Thanks for the pictures. Is the first one a night fighter like the rest?

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    Senior Member Thorlifter's Avatar
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    I wouldn't think so One Hellcat as it still has the lighter colored paint on it.

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    Siggy Master Wurger's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ONE_HELLCAT View Post
    Thanks for the pictures. Is the first one a night fighter like the rest?
    You'r welcome mate.
    No, the Hellcat in the first pic was a F6F-3 equipped with cannons for tests.
    As you can see the bird was painted with three-colour camo scheme.

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    “Archive” Micdrow's Avatar
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    Close up detail from the book hellcat squadron signal book 26.

    Will leave this link here for a day or two and then move to weapons thread as a great resource.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Cannon armed Hellcats-hell.jpg  

    "Valor does not mean Hero."

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    Siggy Master Wurger's Avatar
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    A good idea Paul.

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    “Archive” Micdrow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wurger View Post
    A good idea Paul.
    Thanks Wojtek!!!

    "Valor does not mean Hero."

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    Senior Member Thorlifter's Avatar
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    Good idea Micdrow!

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