"Hellcats or Wildcats?" Topic

I am collecting some pacific war planes. I have already acquired some Zeros but cant decide which fighters to oppose them. Hellcats or Wildcats?

FM

Depends on the period. The Wildcats held the line from late '41 till early '43. They were still in service with Escort carriers in the later war. Wildcats during the Guadalcanal campaign for sure.

yes, both
See Shagnasty above.

if one side had say 6 zeros how many of each of the cats would make an even game? Im leaning towards the Hellcats foe now but plan to pick up wildcats later on!

Really depends on the rule set. With average skill pilots on each side I would go with a plus 50% rule for the lesser plane.

So 9 Wildcats vs 6 zeros or 4 Hellcats. Very wild guess there though.

Thanks gives me an idea to start with

Personally, I like the Wildcats.

A Zero could out-turn pretty much everything and out-climb a Wildcat, but paid a heavy price in lack of protection. It had no armor and no self-sealing fuel tanks. Wildcats were sturdy and well protected, so they could hold their own if well handled.

I have even heard of a lone Douglas Dauntless dive bomber that survived a dogfight with four Zeros. The Dauntless pilot shot down two of the Zeros, and his plane survived a collision that took out a 3rd Zero. The last Zero bugged out. The American pilot was transferred to a fighter squadron and became a double ace + some, mostly flying Wildcats. I couldn't begin to spell his last name, which I only know from a TV documentary, but his nickname was "Swede."

Pick up CY6 Guadalcanal scenario book. In CY6 crate not as important as pilot skill. At Guadalcanal Japanese had a heck of a commute so can degrade their efficiency. Wildcats use their wingman wisely.

The Swede's scenario is on the Yahoo files site for CY6.

The pilot was "Swede" Vejtasa. link Someone else will have to provide the pronunciation.
Learn the "Thatch Weave". Particularly if you are flying Wildcats. link

One thing that some games don't take into account concerning the Zero: ammunition supply. The early war Zeroes were armed with 2 20mm cannons and 2 7.7mm machine guns. The 20mms were deadly, but they only carried 40 rounds per gun. The 7.7mms were pea shooters which had difficulty hurting the heavily armored American planes. At Midway, the reason the high altitude Zeroes had to dive down to help out against the American torpedo bombers (thus letting the American dive bombers attack unmolested) was that the low-level squadrons had used up all their 20mm ammunition against the earlier waves of torpedo planes. The 7.7s were useless even against the much maligned Devastator torpedo planes. The American blew right through the Zeroes--shooting down 2 of them-- before the high altitude Zeros with full loads of 20mm arrived to wipe them out.

If you're a purist, the model of Zeroes also matters. The A6M2s were in use throughout the war and Wildcats were still in use when the A6M3s came to the front, so either model of Zero could fight either Wildcats or Hellcats. If your Zeroes are A6M5s, then they should be fighting Hellcats.

Another thing to think about: Hellcats in overall dark sea blue are among the easiest WWII planes to paint. I found the early Zeroes in overall gray-green to be hella easy too.

I couldn't decide either, so I just bought 'em all.

(And then I added Corsairs, Dauntlesses, Devastators, Avengers, Kates, Vals, Betties, Rufes, a few P-400s…)

In the rules I've played, I've found the Wildcat vs. A6M2 and the Hellcat vs. A6M5 to both be fun matchups. Pilot skill and how well the rules reward zoom-and-boom tactics become the critical factors determining how well the dogfights work on the table.

- Ix