Smithsonian Air and Space Museum / The F6F Hellcat was designed to compete with and be superior to the Japanese Zero, which had proven to be faster and more maneuverable than Richard Erwin                                           previous U. S. carrier-based aircraft. Powered by a 2,000 hp Pratt and Whitney engine, the Hellcat was a completely new design and became so 8/10/2009                                                 successful that it destroyed 5,271 aircraft while in service during the war. It and the Corsair were the two primary USN fighters during the second                                                                    half of WW II and the Hellcat was dubbed the most successful naval aircraft of the war. The plane first flew on July 30, 1942.