Grumman F6F-5K Hellcat drone
At the end of World War II, the Navy had the most airplanes, based. in helical fighters. So he didn’t know what to do with me. The F6F Hellcats were apparently deemed less useful to the Air Force than the F4U Corsairs, so they were assigned to training uses and flying target aircraft. These stocks were then named (F6F-K Drones)
The F6F aircraft were originally developed at the Naval Aviation Development Facility in Johnsville, Pennsylvania. At least one of them was painted yellow-orange overall, and another may have been an odd shade of blue. The expansive sky was a feature of these aircraft.
There appear to be at least three important uses for F6F aircraft. The first was a fleet of aircraft that dropped radioactivity samples after dropping atomic bombs during Operations Crossroads in 1946. These were painted bright red with different color shades, apparently to indicate radio frequency. The national insignia did not have the red line on the coat of arms.
The second use was targets. In 1947, VU-7(a) was based at NAS Santa Ana to continue evaluating pilotless airplanes. The squadron was assigned Culver TD2C / Grumman F6F Hellcats as target aircraft, for spot-down artillery with Beech SNB Expeditors as course controllers for the F6F-5K. OLF Palisades was used to launch and recover the drones. (Pilots on board are flown to and from Santa Ana). The squadron was transferred to MCAS El Toro in 1948. Subsequently, poetry target operations were established at China Lake and Point Mugu for missile testing purposes and other locations. (As targets for training). Some aircraft were modified with “tip tanks” and large (Thick wings) wingtips containing skins to simulate a jet exhaust, and therefore to be of suitable interest for the developing Sidewinder missile.. In December 1952, an XAAM-2 missile Sparrow was used to intercept and destroy an F6F flying from Point Mugu, said to be the first successful air-guided balloon * In September 1953, the Sidewinder made its first successful follow-up, again destroying an F6F, this time operated from China Lake. Generally, these aircraft were painted either bright red or fluorescent red overall.
One thing you can do with an outdated fighter is use it for testing. An F6F-5K with a XAAM-N-2 Sparrow I missile under the left wing during early weapon testing. The centerline pod contains photographic equipment to document the launch of the missile. Note that the rear wheel has extended and locked the tail wheel of the Hellcat drone.
F6F was reportedly used to launch the first missile, from an aircraft because there were two fatal accidents as a result of missile launches. This photo, courtesy of Phillip Fridell, shows an F6F drone (note the extended tail wheel) The program was a pilot at the time. Until then only rockets were able to carry the fighters.
The third use was as a crude surface-to-surface guided missile. There were six missions launched by Boxer between 28 August and 2 September 1952 during the Korean War against bridges, tunnels and power plants. Guided Missile Unit 90 had been formed at the Carrier Development Facility in Johnsville, Pennsylvania. AD-2Qs were used as controls. The F6Fs carried a television camera in a fuselage under the right wing for targeting. An antenna for transmitting the television image to the AD-2Q’s controller was mounted on the upper surface of the starboard wing above the trunnion. Surname F6Fs were generally glossy navy blue with standard national insignia and branch of service markings. They were distinguished by V1 to V6 markings on the cover. Note that these aircraft did not have the extended tailwheel (they did not come back) or the tail fins on the bomb (they were not going to drop). Of the six missions, there was one hit.
NAF. The lake( China Redbirds) Was the firing and testing range. Here we see the wreckage from , F6F-5K Hellcat BuNo 94473, January 1962. F6F-5K Hellcat BuNo 79896 tail on the left and what could be the rest of the F6F-5K Hellcat 79896 and F9F-6K Cougar BuNo 127466 in the background of the image. With the end of the war in Korea. The F6F-5K Hellcats were permanently decommissioned.