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My Dad flew Grumman's Cats from 1942 through the war, and a couple of
things he told me: after the AAF lost a couple of P-47's to low level spins,
Hellcats were forbidden to particpate in any more mock combat with them! He still gets a kick out of that.
Most importantly, Dad says the Hellcat was easy to fly and the controls were
beautifully balanced so that even an average pilot had confidence. He would
take a Hellcat over the F4U any day.
AS u said those grumman cats were tough little birds indeed. But I wonder why the Japanese did not upgrade the Zero. Even after Combat lessons they should have realised it needed self-sealing tanks.