What was the use of Wildcat, Corsair and Hellcat in western Hemisphere?

[Vincenzo]

The Wildcat, the Corsair and the Hellcat were used (fightning) surely in the western emisphere, some have detail on this?

 

[Colin1]

Difficult to go into detail at the mo
but I'm pretty sure F4Fs supported Op Torch

 

[timshatz]

Somebody was running a thread on Spitfires used by the US Navy. In that thread was an article about Hellcats used during Operation Dragoon, the invasion of southern France. Hellcats were there for naval gunfire spotting and did some air to ground work.

Also shot down 4 Luftwaffe aircraft. All bombers or liason craft.

 

[davebender]

I believe the F4F remained the primary fighter aircraft for CVEs throughout the war. In that role they must have tangled with a few German and Italian maritime patrol aircraft. They could also carry light depth charges and/or 250 lb bombs for use against surfaced submarines.

 

[DBII]

I ran across the info on the Hellcats while researching the Spitfires used by the USN. I have some notes on the GB section #5, VCS-7. Is this thread about North and South America operations or western Europe and Africa? The Wildcats were used in Operation Tourch and for anti-submarine patrols and convoy escort around England. The Wildcats were used during Operation Overlord. I read there were plans to use the USMC in Europe but the Army did not want them in the area. The Corps stole the limelight from the Army during WWI. I will see if I can find the article and post a link.

DBII

 

[DBII]

You can read about the Hellcats on this post. Scroll down to the section on VOF-1. CVE 72 had 28 F6F-5 that were used during Operation Anvil-Dragoon. CVE 72 and CVE 69 was assigned to a task Force with a RN carrier. They were used for CAS missions and artillery spotting. LTJG Olszewshi and Ens Wood shot down 4 of the 6 aircraft downed by VOF-1. They shot down two He 111s and two Ju 52s. They also caught two Ju 88 and a locomotive on the ground.

http://www.history.navy.mil/download/ww2-30.pdf

DBII

 

[renrich]

If you can get a copy of Dean, "Americas's Hundred Thousand' there is a chronology of the service record of every US fighter in WW2. Not a lot of detail but helpful.

 

[davebender]

I don't think that was the reason.

The WWII U.S. Army and U.S. Navy leadership hated each other, to a degree that is difficult to understand between military professionals working for the same nation. During the Battle off Samar (25 Oct 1944) this almost lead to disaster when U.S. 7th Fleet (part of Gen. MacArthur's Army command) failed too coordinate with the USN 3rd Fleet commanded by Admiral Halsey.

 

[diddyriddick]

The Wildcats were used on CVE's in what became called "hunter-killer" groups tasked w/ antisubmarine warfare. Some notable CVEs used in this role are Bogue(CVE-9), Card(CVE-11), and Block Island(CVE-21) which was the only american CV of any type sunk in the Atlantic.

Additionally, Fleet Air Arm had Corsairs, IIRC.

 

[Nikademus]

Difficult to go into detail at the mo
but I'm pretty sure F4Fs supported Op Torch

Yes, they did....they traded some air combats with the Vichy French. Traded approximately 5 for 13 x H-75 Hawks and 3 x D.520 fighter planes. They also bagged 4 x Martin 167F's and 1 x Po-540 bombers. (Shores)

 

[JoeB]

Ranger's F4F's also intercepted and downed a pair of German recon planes, Ju-88D and He-115, confirmed in German records, during Operation Leader, a strike against shipping in Norway by Ranger in October 1943. Wasp's F4F's operated in the Mediterranean during her missions to ferry Spitfires to Malta in 1942, though didn't engage Axis forces.

The FAA of course also used all three types in the European and/or Mediterranean theater.

Also F4F's were land based at Kodiak island Alaska at the time of Japanese carrier operations in the Aleutians 'in the western hemishphere', though the Japanese didn't get quite that far east.

The He-115B, of 1./KüGr 406

Joe

 

[davebender]

I vaguely recall the Ranger lost an entire F4F squadron crash landing on a newly captured French airfield. Can't remember the source or details though. Might have been "An Army at Dawn" by Rick Atkinson.

 

[Njaco]

I also believe Martlets were used for sub hunting in the North Atlantic and around Norway.

 

[Wavelength]

Corsairs, Hellcats, and Wildcats were all used during the FAA carrier raids against the battleship Tirpitz in northern Norway in the spring and summer of 1944. The Wildcats were deployed with Seafires to deal with possible intervention by Luftwaffe fighters from an airfield at Banik Norway during these carrier raids. The Luftwaffe fighters never intervened against the carrier attacks on Tirpitz although German radar had always detected and tracked these raids while still well out to sea. A Seafire is recorded as being shot down over Banik once though. The Corsairs and Hellcats were used for flak suppression against Tirpitz itself and for close escort of the Barracuda dive bombers. Some Hellcats dropped 500lb semi armor piercing bombs during most of the raids, but only scored one hit against B-turret, which did no damage. In one raid, 5 Corsairs were equipped with 1,000 lb armor piercing bombs but never scored hits. At least 1 Hellcat and 5 Corsairs were shot down by radar directed flak from the Tirpitz during the raids

 

[Vincenzo]

thank to all.

 

[timmo]

HMS Victorious had Martlets when escorting us to Russia in '41.

(Flew one in '45!)

= Tim

 

[Colin1]

HMS Victorious had Martlets when escorting us to Russia in '41.

(Flew one in '45!)

You flew F4Fs? 8)

Fantastic, any pics or anecdotes/log entries? What was it like to fly?

 

[Buccaneer]

On Christmas Day 1940, a Martlet/Wilcat claimed the first kill by a Grumman aircraft in WW2. A Ju88 tried to do a photo recce of Scapa Flow (British equivalent of Pearl Harbour) in the Orkney Isles.
804 squadron, Fleet Air Arm, were just sitting down to Christmas dinner when they were scrambled. The Ju88 was shot down over the nearby village of Sandwick. After landing the jubilant aircrew grabbed turkey legs and set off to find their prize, which had belly landed nearby. I do not know if the German crew were invited back for dinner.
If anyone can tell me how to add a photo of this aircraft from 'My Pictures', on my home computer, I will post the photo

 

[Njaco]

When you hit the "Post Reply" button, scroll down on the new screen to "Manage Attachments" and go from there. In the window that comes up you can either link to the pic or upload through the "browse" function.

 

[Vincenzo]

soemone has dat of first combat in wester emispher for Corsair and Hellcat?
if i understand right first combat for both with FAA was april '44 over Norway