The Brutal Reality of Flying the F6F Hellcat

It's March 1945 over the Pacific Ocean, a squadron of Hellcats roars toward a Japanese coastal airfield armed with rockets. Your task is clear: destroy any aircraft possible and suppress Japanese air power before the invasion of Okanawa begins. Meanwhile, however, 500 M away, a single Japanese. The bombers are headed to execute an attack on the same Fleet these Hellcats came from. The attack on the airfield will be intense and the attack on the US Fleet will be one of the deadliest losses of the war for the US Navy. This is a big day for a pilot's first mission, but today Don Mcferson, one of the Navy F6F Hellcat pilots who flew on this raid to begin his combat tour, tells the story himself, let's delve into the records, hear the story and relive the mission, the bombing of Honolulu as the Japanese in their coup of treason attacked the city this is the residential area Wy Kei Fame of beauty in the Pacific paradise Vandal Havoc Rock by the Japanese bombers at the top of the screen you can see them there people are taken aback by the hit without warning That night we heard on the radio that Pearl Harbor had been attacked.

You know we knew the United States was going to be in a war. I admitted what I thought, I was definitely not going to wait for the drafts. You know, I wanted to decide. mine what the service I served in gives and I had no doubt it was going to be the Navy and with that he was off track to join US Navy pilot training and leave behind his family and Even postponing his Meanwhile, he planned to get married so he could fight for his country, although things were beginning to heat up in the Pacific, in the South Pacific the Allied forces are pressing forward in the battle for the crucial airstrips of the controlled islands. by the Japanese and both sides know that control of the air will likely decide the fate of this war.

American forces are leading the charge here. They took the Mariana Islands in their latest winning streak. To continue this task, it will be necessary for all Americans to work hard and give their best so that the guys on the beaches and in their cabins can take us to Victory. Dawn was hungry to join the fight and her first step would be to pass flight school, but right now even training could be a dangerous endeavor. I'll tell you, I need to tell you one thing that was kind of exciting what happened there. One day I was with an instructor and he was teaching me how to do spins and how to recover from spins.

He made several of them and then he told me, now he says, now make one, he says. pull the nose up until it stalls and let it drop, turn two and a half turns and then pull the stick forward and kick the opposite side and take it out of the turn, so I did it, I lifted it up and it stalled and it's fine, and then I don't know for sure what I did in 2 and a half turns, but anyway, when I thought the time was right, I moved the stick forward and flew in the opposite direction of R and took that thing out of that turn and when it came out. of the turn while it sounded like a shotgun going off, there was a big bang and it started vibrating like crazy and of course I was on a custom Raven, so the wing was up, you crossed over it, you know, and for that to the.

I was shaking like crazy and we were losing altitude and the instructor then said let me have the controls and he said you better buckle up because we might have to go this box is what he called it and so I was So I was using Full Throttle, but on that occasion he got to where we weren't losing altitude too quickly and then he said, well, I think we're about 4 miles from the runway and I think we have enough altitude. to get to the runway and he says, okay, I say, Welly, okay, that's how it turned out, we just got to the end of the runway and when we landed in the taxi we got in and stopped while the plexiglass windshield went up in front to you. and I leaned over the top of the wing and it was quick like sheet metal screws and I loosened all those sheet metal screws and the windshield vibrating was what made it look like the wing was going to come loose so they put in bigger screws and it was fine and They continued

flying

in the following weeks, things would go better after passing Advanced Flight Training and learning to fly like a naval aviator.

Dawn finally moved on to a real fighter, the new brain f6f Hellcat I. I was very happy to be able to pilot the Hellcat because I had heard a lot about it and it sure didn't disappoint. Those old 2,000 horsepower, you know, they had a lot of power. It was very maneuverable. He could turn strongly into a dog. fight against it, it was simply a very durable aircraft. I've seen some of them come back with a little bit of the wing off and they still fly, it was just a very easy airplane to fly, you know when, when you've been in Flight Training and had a flight instructor to teach you all this stuff, you know that It's different when you're good, you get to the cabin, there's only one seat, you know, so how do you learn to fly it well?

Actually, what they did, they gave us time. the cockpit to memorize all the controls and the gauges and so on and then you had to go through a blindfolded check, they would blindfold you and you were supposed to be able to point at whatever instrument they called and not misunderstand. To me, there are tons of levers and switches, etc., and you didn't have to identify them, but you had to identify the ones that you actually had to use when you were in flight and once you were able to do that, then you just got INF. fluent now that he was ready for combat right in Q Don mcferson received an overseas order, this meant it was time to say goodbye to both his family and his newly married wife at that time in early 1945, when Dawn was heading By Pearl, the US Navy in the Pacific had gained ground and was approaching mainland Japan.

The battle is reaching its climax for control of the Pacific. Today, brave Americans are fighting tooth and nail for every stretch of sand on the valuable island of Iojima. Here the Japanese are strongly entrenched. Although the Americans know that the airstrips on this island are crucial to their air campaign and must take advantage of them to attack mainland Japan, this will not be free, as American forces are at their last stronghold on Mount Saachi and are trying to stop allied bombing. taking a beating and the rising sun won't go down without a fight as Dawn got closer and closer to the front lines each day, the

reality

of war hitting him much sooner than expected, everything seemed normal until we reached the canal entrance . to Pearl Harbor and then it would really hit you like someone punched you in the face, you know, wow, you know, I've read about this, but you know it doesn't do it justice, you know, just total destruction, you know, you know. on both sides until the end and of course still in the port itself, you know, there was an indication that you know Bel, the ships, etc., etc., it really made us understand, you know what that war was going to be like.

For example, when Dawn arrived and settled at Pearl Harbor, he continued to fly and train with his fellow replacement pilots and expected to be sent with them in just a few weeks to swap with a unit that needed help, yet war is chaotic. place and things rarely go as expected, this 83rd Air Group had been formed on the East Coast as a total unit and then they were transported to Maui to finish their train and they had lost a pilot and a carrier Landings, so they needed a replacement in some ways. The name came up and they transported me there and when I got there I found out that Air Grof 83 was all packed ready to go to combat the next day so I didn't get to meet any of the guys I didn't get to meet. fly with them or anything.

Don McFerson was now heading to war with a new unit Fighter Squadron 83. This unit with its F6F Hellcats had been assigned to relieve the Fighter Squadron of the USS Essex, an aircraft carrier that had quickly begun to build a name for itself. To her, she was currently the pride of task group 58, what was known as the fast carrier task group and what a force this was that took us then to the port of uh uthy which is in the Caroline Islands and that's where the fast aircraft carrier task group was anchored. And while we were in for a surprise, I mean, we just didn't realize how big our fleet was, at that time there were ships anchored as far as the eye could see, and after Pearl Harbor, we couldn't realize that we could recover. what a quick ulii not long ago these protected waters were filled with the Imperial Japanese Navy now it was America's secret weapon in the Pacific War an anchorage large enough to house the most powerful armada of warships in history these Ships and aircraft carriers would play a crucial role in the battle for the Pacific in the coming weeks and now right in the center was Don Mcferson and Fighter Squadron 83, well, they put us on board, we settled in halfway and that night, why, after the child, why they told us, we said, uh, we.

We're showing a movie in the hangar tonight, you know, if you're interested, so we thought it'd be a good way to relax. You know, we went down and watched this movie. I don't remember what the movie was anymore, but anyway. about halfway through the movie m Why the general room rang and the people on the ship you know they jumped up and started running, you know, for their gun mounts and their stations, you know, and we were knocking over some chairs and stuff , we were standing there looking at each other. On the other hand, we didn't know what we were supposed to do, but they finally announced on the public address system that the flight officers were supposed to go to the hole in the table and the hole in the officer's table, and at that moment for that the raid was part of that.

It was almost over, the two of us immediately discovered what the Japanese Kamakazi Su side core was all about. Two twin-engine bombers had entered and one of them ran towards the el6 but overshot and broke the antennas. some of them fell off the top of our ship and crashed on the island and the other hit hard the aircraft carrier that was anchored next to us, but apparently it must not cause much damage because I know they left with us, the next day , we headed into combat at this hour, on the radio, the American sailors heard the news that the battle for Iima had been officially won.

Iojima, just 450 miles from Japan, the full power of the US Pacific fleets of land, sea and air forces. Helplessly rehearsed in combat through dozens of rapid amphibious invasions they staged a semi-final blow, the Japanese dead numbered in the hundreds of thousands and once again a flag of Liberty was dramatically raised, little did they know that this was important news for the fast aircraft carrier task. strength, this now meant that his entire group must be ordered to set sail and support the next battlefield, the planned invasion of Okanawa, this would be the next step in securing a foothold to attack the Japanese mainland, but for the moment , Dawn, the new guy was actually not part of a flight but just an extra pilot so the next day the whole fleet started fighting and I was a separate extra pilot at the time so I was

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with Combat Air Patrol over the fleet for a time.

On some Air Group days they have pilots divided into divisions of four and of course you have a call sign, a call name, this division called Wonder Five took off one morning in the dark, it had rained overnight so the The deck was wet and the number two guy in the division let his helmet drift away and fell into the ocean. Sometimes they don't survive and sometimes they get sucked under the ship, you know, but he got out of there and a couple of days later he did the same thing and survived. They decided he was just not fit for combat so they punished him and then I took his place and for the next 6 months I flew over the division leader of uh Wonder five now official pilot on Wonder five Don mcferson would be flying on the wing of Carlos, an expert pilot and a respected leader.

Dawn's job was to follow her leader and keep his story straight and then if the opportunity presented itself, she would also get involved in the action, it was a big responsibility and she would make the most of the opportunity to fight. He was soon assigned to his first mission with the new Wander 5. This would be a raid to attack a key Japanese airfield in preparation. For the upcoming invasion on the northern flank, Admiral Mark a Mitch's tireless Task Force 58 intensified its air assault against Kushu and the enemy home. The first flight I did was a 300 mile flight to Caiu and we had rockets and of course, Of course our vtic guns and so on, we took off in the dark to get them out of bed and we made it when we got to the airfield n at Caushi, Why could we see people running towards the airplane cannons?

You know, and the pilot ran towards his planes, you know, just taking off,There was no B to get them out of bed, because there was no plane. Planes in the air we had to worry about, so we started selecting targets of opportunity in On the ground as Dawn begins its first attack on Japanese targets, there is an important note in this first mission of Fighter Squadron 83 that puts it into perspective how intense the battle was becoming for the fast carrier task group and we can see it here in their logbook as Dawn and the rest of the USS Essex

hellcat

s raced towards caushi, the USS Franklin, another Essex class fast carrier was launching a similar attack, his attack however, instead of caiu, was on the Japanese mainland in hu during this attack. and the other Kyushu attack by VF3, a single Japanese dive bomber slipped past radar undetected and began an attack on the USS Franklin 3 minutes before 7 on 19 March, less than 100 miles from Honu.

Franklin's planes took off into a very cloudy sky. We were going 24 knots, one sixth of the crew was having breakfast when we received a message from the Hancock. They saw a twin-engine medium bomber. Our planes began searching for him but he glided out of a cloud and placed two 500-pound bombs on our flight deck. . 45 of our planes were Al but there were 31 on the flight deck and 22 on the hangar deck completely Gass and arm AR the first strong explosion of steam engulfed the stern in flames we turned into the wind to keep the fire going and smoke a Stern , the Jaff bomber had stopped after its bomb run and was heading home when the leader of Air Group 5 caught it and shot it down.

The Franklin's plight was probably best described by one of our returning airmen. I was with the first squad right before we passed the objective. My oil line came loose so I asked him to guard a plane back home. I tried to stay in the clouds because I couldn't outrun an SEO when I broke through the cloudy sky. I saw flame shoot hundreds of feet above the Franklin and a 2,000-ton plume of smoke. It looked horribly bad, but I still had some progress. permission for an emergency landing in hand the fire raged as bombs, rockets and small caliber munitions continued to explode with increasing violence.

This would become one of the deadliest attacks of the war for the US Navy and over 900 sailors were lost. It happened so fast. and was so deadly that many initially assumed it was a kamakazi, but later records and damage reports showed it was probably a Japanese bomber which in this news video was correctly named Judy, although incorrectly shown as Betty, it was a devastating loss for the US Navy and the fast carrier task group, but meanwhile the battle raged on and 500 miles away the attack on Kyushu was just beginning, we always made our attacks and dove deep because you reach a speed up to 400 knots and then when you left when they would normally fire behind you they wouldn't give you enough deflection so I chose a big Twi bomber called Betty.

They had given us nicknames for all the Japanese planes, so we didn't have to memorize those Japanese names and then this Betty bomber uh sitting there on the runway, so I fired my rockets at it and started strafing it with my machine guns and when I saw it explode I had to retire very quickly. Because I was able to get them down quite a bit and when I took them out the engine went out Well, normally they shoot behind you, but after the engine went out, why, of course, then I could see the trackers crossing in front of me, they were guiding me too well losing speed. but it's not really serious, you know, with the engines stalling like that because the whole propeller with the speed keeps turning, so it starts the engine, all you need to do is give it gas, so I figured they had a pump of auxiliary gasoline with a I drove it into the cabin and started pumping gas and when that old 2,000 horsepower took like it had that surge, you know, and it took me back to those anti-aircraft fish shots, you know, like that That I went home with a hole or two. on my plane that day, but I was heading toward the ocean and pretty quickly I was out of Harm's way, well, when he settled in, as he started to get fumes in the cabin, so I rolled the hatchback, you know, to get rid of that and I had enough speed that the suction took the helmet and headphones off my head and it flew off into space, so I didn't have any radio communication, etc., but when we got out of the ocean and I were in radio silence , so then the Japanese couldn't pick up our broadcast, you know?

So I made some signs to my division leader that he had been hit and he kind of pulled down and flew under her under me, and he looked and gave me a thumbs up. I didn't see anything too serious, so when we got back to the carrier, why wasn't the hcut flying well? You know, it just didn't feel right, but I didn't have to struggle too much using adjusting some shrimp tabs and stuff, I got it flying so I could almost fly it hands-free, you know, for little periods of time and I got back to the carrier in good shape. shape and I made a good landing with it and you have a plane captain who has your planes started more generally and ready to fly and then usually when you land he shows up and you get on the wing and he helps you unbuckle and you He asks some questions and stuff, and my guy called and said, I see. you picked up some lead today and I said oh yeah but where and he said well you have a hole about a foot behind your back so the problem was that projectile that went through it cut a cable to the vertical stabilizer on the tail , so I didn't have any control over that part of the tail, but it wasn't too serious, so I went back and I'm lucky that the luckiest guy in the world is the only hole I found in six months of flying so Don McFerson He had officially flown his first attack mission as a member of the 83rd Fighter Squadron.

He wasn't far from being hit directly in the cockpit, but he had made it and even destroyed a Japanese Betty on the ground over the next few days. I will be asked to do much more as the invasion of Okanawa began and the Japanese Kamakazi Corporation had only just begun to fight all of this; however, he will appear in the second part of Don McPherson's story in the tj3 story. Please consider supporting me on patreon if you enjoyed this story. and subscribe so you don't miss future videos thanks for watching and see you next time