TYPE: Carrier-based night-fighter,

ACCOMMODATION: Pilot only

POWER PLANT: One Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10W Double Wasp radial engine, rated at 2,000 hp

PERFORMANCE: 360 mph at 23,400 ft

COMMENT: Grumman F6F-3N Hellcat night-fighters entered operation during February 1944, with VF(N)-76 aboard the USS CV-8 Hornet. The Hellcat was adapted to carry the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AN/APS-6 radar with the scanning aerial in a radome pod on the starboard wing. During 1944 deliveries began of a new Hellcat version, the F6F-5 Hellcat, with a number of detail refinements and improvements. Logically, a night-fighter version was F6F-5N was developed, retaining the AN/APS-6 radar in a starboard wing pod. Of the 1,434 F6F-5N Hellcat completed during the war many remained in service for a number of years after the war’s end (Ref.: 1).