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| FA31 Hellcat |
One of the great things about living in the vicinity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is you get a sidelong view of all the spectaculars that play a part in the race. The Goodyear blimp moors nearby, the drivers and celebrities are in town, and there's an assortment of mechanical marvels to ogle. Today, while making a lunchtime run to the grocery store, I saw a flight of WWII era aircraft flying in formation. They were far away enough that I couldn't make a positive identification, but their flattened wing tips suggest they are FA31 Hellcats or F4F Wildcats.
I dug into the web's archive of information and came up with a couple tells between the Hellcat and it's predecessor the Wildcat. The designers made changes to the shape of the tail and wings to improve maneuverability and control. Now, armed with knowledge from the 1943 issue of
Popular Science I'll do my best to make a positive identification.
In the meantime, keep your eyes turned skyward and let me know if you see these speed demons of the past!
1 comment:
By the way, from a friend's Facebook post I got a view of the tail section of the planes and found that they were Wildcats.
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