How Did Grumman Use Air Domination In The Pacific

Air domination was a key factor in the war in the Pacific. If you had the strongest planes that could shoot down the enemies and support the ground troops, then it made it much easier. Both sides tried to have the best fighter planes that could not only support ground troops, but also escort bombers. It’s hard to decide whether the Japanese or the United States had better planes used in the Pacific Theater. Most likely the United States did because they had the most air domination which won them the Pacific. These are four different fighter planes used the Pacific. The Hellcat and the Corsair were two American fighters. The Zero and Nick were used by the Japanese. It is a tough decision on which was the best out of the four. Each one played …show more content…
It fought in the pacific theater against the Japanese.Grumman made lots of changes including more heavily armored cockpit, wings mounted lower down, wider landing gear that retracts into the wings, and a faster engine. Four prototypes were tested by the navy. One of the tested planes, the XF6F-1, was the only one to be developed further. Because of this, the others were not even tested. The designers put in the biggest possible engine for it. The first production model was tested in October 1942. After that, the delivery started four months later and proved to be a formidable enemy for the Japanese. Consequently, three quarters of the navy’s air kills were made by Hellcats. The UK’s air force got 252 F6F-3s while the United States developed them into the F6F-5. During the upgrade, they gave it new ailerons and a stronger tail fin.(“Grumman F6F Hellcat”) Also they added better landing gear that uniquely folded backward. (“The classic Grumman F6F Hellcat”).This versions first flight was on April 4, 1944 and production continued until 1945. The final engine model for the Hellcat was a 2,000 horsepower Pratt and Whitney R-2800-10W double wasp engine. To hold this engine, the body was 42 feet 10 inches wide, 33 feet 7 inches long wingspan, and 13 feet 6 inches tall. At 23,500 feet the top speed of the Hellcat was 380 miles per hour. Because of the strong engine, the Hellcat was armed with six 12.7 …show more content…
The Zero was designed by Horikoshi Jiro in Japan for the war effort. The first test flight took place in 1939 and was a great success. Because of this, production of the Zeroes started the next year in 1940. They got these planes the name “Zero” because of the production of them started on the 2600th anniversary of their first emperor, Jimmu’s, rise to power. Despite the name Zero, the Allies nicknamed these Japanese planes “Zeke’s”. The Zero started out with a 1,020 horsepower Nakajima Sakae engine and later on they switched the engine to a different version with 1,130 horsepower. This engine spun a three bladed propeller that got the plane a top speed of 350 miles per hour at a maximum altitude of 20,000 feet. The Zero was armed with two 7.7 millimeter machine guns and a 20 millimeter cannon on each wing. They could carry 132 pound bombs under its wings. The Zeros had internal 156 gallon fuel tanks and outer fuel tanks that could be dropped after being emptied. At first it was able to out maneuver all of the other planes until the Hellcats came along. Because of the Hellcats easily beating them, near the end of the war they were used mainly as kamikaze attacks. By the end, over 10,430 Zeros were made (“Zero, Japanese