Assembled model 1/48 F6F-3 Weekend Edition Eduard 84160 aircraft 1/48 scale US WWII F6F-3 Fighter Starter Kit. plastic parts: Eduard
labeling options: 2
distinguishing marks: Eduard
PE parts: none
mask for painting: no
Marking options:
A) VF-27, USS Princeton, October 1944
The most striking marks applied to the Hellcat were applied to VF-27 aircraft on USS Princeton (CVL-23). A shark's mouth and bloodshot eyes stuck in the memory of more than one Japanese pilot. One of the pilots, Robert Burnell, applied shark mouth and eyes to all Hellcats serving with VF-27, and with them they wreaked havoc wherever they operated in the Pacific. During this period, they had about two hundred downed enemy planes. The end of combat for VF-27 came on 24 October 1944 when Princeton was hit by a Japanese bomb. A heavy fire broke out and the Princeton was finally sunk by torpedoes fired from friendly ships. Only a few planes that were in the air at the time landed on the USS Essex. One of them was this Hellcat, B) flown by Lt. Arthur Singer, VF-15, USS Essex, B October 24-25, 1944.
USS Essex (CV-9) participated in Task Force 58 in the Battle of Leyte Gulf on 24-25 October 1944 in the Philippines. VF-15 Hellcats were launched from Essex as part of a second wave of US aircraft that attacked and helped sink the Japanese battleship Musashi on 24 October. Arthur Singer, Jr. achieved ace status on September 12, 1944, by shooting down a J2M Jack fighter over Cebu. On October 25, 1944, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for outstanding achievements in air combat. Singer's final tally was ten wins.
