THE GREAT HELLCAT/CORSAIR PRODUCTION RACE

BOTH CHANCE VOUGHT AND GRUMMAN were given many Navy E (for “Excellence”) citations for production during WW II. And, indeed, they both did produce a large quantity of excellent Navy fighters.

Ten Hellcats were delivered in 1942, just six months after the first flight of the XF6F-3. Grumman delivered 2,547 Hellcats in 1943—enough to fill the needs of all the fast-attack carrier task forces. Grumman set the record for the greatest number of aircraft delivered by one company when it