_Avengers_ helped to pave the way for the establishment of bases in the Pacific. _Corsairs_, used as the Navy’s first night-fighters, broke up Japanese night bombings of the newly won island bases and allowed our hard-worked men to rest at night. [Illustration: GRUMMAN TBF _AVENGER_ NAVY TORPEDO PLANE] THE U. S. NAVY’S DEADLIEST FIGHTER PLANE In the months following Pearl Harbor the tough little Grumman F4F _Wildcat_ was ever in the thick of the fight in the Pacific. Based on the few carriers available for use against the Japs, the _Wildcats_ outfought overwhelming numbers of enemy warplanes. Over the Marshall Islands in February, 1942, _Wildcat_ fighters bagged ten Jap fighters and three bombers without any American losses. At Wake Island, a lone _Wildcat_, manned by a Marine, bombed a Jap cruiser to the bottom. Lieutenant Commander Edward (“Butch”) O’Hare was flying a _Wildcat_ when he brought down six Jap bombers singlehanded in a few minutes. Such incidents were typical of _Wildcat_ action in the first year of the war. When President Roosevelt presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to “Butch” O’Hare, he asked him what kind of fighter was needed to beat the Japs. O’Hare replied, “Something that will go upstairs faster.” Commander John Thatch, master Navy combat technician, had told Grumman officials the same thing, and had added a request for more speed in general. Not many months later, the roar of a 2,000-horsepower echoed over Long Island, New York, and a new Grumman fighter began to “go upstairs faster.” The new fighter that answered the Navy pilots’ demand for more speed and more power was the Grumman F6F _Hellcat_. Much larger than its baby brother the _Wildcat_, the _Hellcat_ was powered with an eighteen-cylinder Pratt & Whitney radial engine. The big radial developed over 2,000 horsepower and put the _Hellcat_ in the 400-mile-an-hour class. It proved to be one of the most maneuverable fighters in the world and could climb like a skyrocket. The cockpit housed atop the big fuselage at its highest point gave pilots excellent visibility to train the _Hellcat’s_ six .50-caliber guns on the enemy. [Illustration: 1943-1945 WINGSPAN 42 FEET LENGTH 33 FEET THE GRUMMAN F6F _HELLCAT_ IS THE FASTEST, MOST POWERFUL FIGHTER NOW BASED ON U.S. NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIERS. POWER ONE 18-CYLINDER 2,000-HP. RADIAL ENGINE THE MASSIVE, PRATT & WHITNEY RADIAL ENGINE DEVELOPS MORE THAN THREE TIMES THE HORSEPOWER OF THE FIRST GRUMMAN FIGHTER, THE FF-1 OF 1935. SPEED ONE HOUR 400 MILES RANGE 1,000+ MILES CEILING 30,000+ FEET PAYLOAD ONE PILOT, SIX .50-CAL. GUNS AND EIGHT ROCKETS.