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F6F Hellcat
First Hellcat Ace, The by Zoernig
November 19, 1943. Lt. (jg) Hamilton McWhorter III becomes the first pilot to claim all five victories in the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Operating off the USS Essex as a member of VF-9, Lt. (jg) McWhorter claims a Mitsubishi G4M medium bomber, code-named "Betty" with one burst from his .50 caliber machine guns. Traveling at approx. 400 mph, McWhorter closed on the low flying bomber for a full deflection shot. Snapping out a short burst, his bullets strike the Betty's fuselage, pass through the cockpit, and destroy the port engine which erupts in a ball of flame. The Betty yaws to the left, skips once, and then impacts the waves, immediately turning into a ball of flaming wreckage. Following recovery aboard Essex, Lt. (jg) McWhorter's armorers check his ammunition supply, and are surprised to discover that only a total of 86 rounds were expended, forever afterward earning him the nickname "One-Slug." The following February, Lt. (jg) McWhorter downed his tenth Japanese plane to become the world's first Hellcat double ace.
Available as print or canvas.
Edition size: 250 signed and numbered by artist only
Print size: 19" w x 13"h
