embarrassed F6F Hellcats [Drones] retake

[Swiss Mustangs]

further to the thread we had some moons ago - here's some new food for thoughts and (IMHO) candy for the eyes

look at the variety of tail colors......























enjoy !
Martin

[TAdan]

Fantastic pics Martin! Thanks.

Its a shame that most of them got blown to bits.

[HELLDIVERS]

Were these from Operation crossroads?

[John Kerr]

Thank you very much Martyn. Any chance that someone may have the matching serial numbers. In particular for # 14 Jake.

[Obergrafeter]

Numbers 13 and 14 are specially shamefull!

[TAdan]

Numbers 13 and 14 are specially shamefull!

They are just the special "Mary Kay" edition Hellcats.

[Django]

I bet they feel pretty.

[Steve T]

Martin et al--

Oh man! Pink on a Hellcat...Too bad these shots weren't making the rounds when K'zoo's birds were still flying. I'm sure Sue P would have loved a pink and red F6F to go with her pink and blue P-40. (And before anyone takes a jab at me for making fun of Ms P...she and the pink Warhawk were among my favourite regulars at Hamilton airshows of yore, I've always liked that pink Hawk and really miss seeing it at shows.)

Only half kidding: I double-dog-dare somebody to debut a Hellcat on the circuit in a primer coat as "Janie" #14...can you picture the consternation!

S.

[ZRX61]

Just about every male in my family was RN, we think the pink ones are the Marine version..

[jdvoss]

Great photos of the F6F's! Where were these photos taken?? The geography looks very east coast.

[spookythecat]

Great. Now i'm seriously considering doing a model of a pink-tailed Hellcat.

[slinky]

HELLCAT, I think you may be on to something. I passed them on to several people in the aviation group I'm in and this was what I got back....

A note from a friend of mine here who is a student of Operation
Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1947.
These are K model Hellcats used for atmospheric testing after an
atomic detonation during Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll in 1947.
The tail color denotes the aircraft's operational radio frequency.

While the background does not look too much like the South Pacific, they may have been tested stateside and shipped. I don't know....anyone?

[richkolasa]

Speaking of Hellcat drones, here's one from my Uncle Mike's Navy days in the '50s. It's apparently one of the Hellcats that was desposed of by Spectre before James Bond (007) came along.

[jamesintucson]

Interesting little piece of information I just came across. The number 14 aircraft is the one on display at Hazy.

http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code/emu ... 9610107000

James

[Obergrafeter]

Me thinks the Hellcat should be repainted with a pink tail to represent its' most famous role!