The successor to the Wildcat, the Hellcat was not as sleek as the other Navy fighter of the time, the Corsair. In fact, it looks like the box the Corsair came in. But it flew well, was easy to mass produce, reliable and, unlike the Corsair, could actually land on a carrier without hurting anybody. It rapidly became the most successful Navy carrier fighter of the war. Engineers once test dropped a Hellcat from 21 feet without breaking the landing gear...another testimony to the toughness of the aircraft produced by the Grumman "Iron Works".

Cool stuff for Hellcat lovers:

Check out the Hellcat T-shirt in the gift shop!