Editing Grumman F6F Hellcat (section)

===British use===
[[File:Hellcats 1840 NAS in flight 1944.jpg|thumb|A section of Fleet Air Arm Hellcat F Mk.Is of [[1840 Naval Air Squadron|1840 Squadron]] in June 1944]]

The British Fleet Air Arm (FAA) received 1,263 F6Fs under the [[Lend-Lease Act]]; initially, it was known as the Grumman [[Gannet]] Mark I. The name Hellcat replaced it in early 1943 for the sake of simplicity, the Royal Navy at that time adopting the use of the existing American naval names for all the U.S.-made aircraft supplied to it, with the F6F-3 being designated Hellcat F Mk. I, the F6F-5, the Hellcat F Mk. II and the F6F-5N, the Hellcat NF Mk. II.{{refn|Meaning Fighter Mark I, Fighter Mark II and Night Fighter Mark II respectively|group=Note}} They saw action off Norway, in the Mediterranean, and in the Far East. Several were fitted with photographic reconnaissance equipment similar to the F6F-5P, receiving the designation Hellcat FR Mk. II.<ref>Green 1975, p. 93.</ref> The [[Pacific War]] being primarily a naval war, the FAA Hellcats primarily faced land-based aircraft in the European and Mediterranean theaters,<ref>Thruelsen 1976, p. 181.</ref><ref>Tillman 1996, p. 96.</ref> so experienced far fewer opportunities for air-to-air combat than their USN/Marines counterparts; nevertheless, they claimed a total of 52 enemy aircraft kills during 18 aerial combats from May 1944 to July 1945. [[1844 Naval Air Squadron]], on board {{HMS|Indomitable|92|6}} of the [[British Pacific Fleet]] was the highest-scoring unit, with 32.5 kills.<ref>Tillman 1996, p. 78.</ref>

FAA Hellcats, as with other Lend-Lease aircraft, were rapidly replaced by British aircraft after the end of the war, with only two of the 12 squadrons equipped with the Hellcat at [[VJ-Day]] still retaining Hellcats by the end of 1945.<ref name="thetford naval p217">Thetford 1994, p. 217.</ref> These two squadrons were disbanded in 1946.<ref name="thetford naval p217"/> When the war ended, [[889 Naval Air Squadron|889 Squadron FAA]], equipped with 6 Hellcat Is and II (PR) photo-reconnaissance variants, was preparing to depart from Scotland for the Far East (the squadron had been based at [[RAF Woodvale]] since its re-formation after [[VE Day]], and practising carrier operations on [[HMS Trouncer (D85)|HMS Trouncer]] before moving to [[HMS Ravager]]), to replace 888 Squadron FAA, and intended to photograph Japanese beaches in anticipation of the planned invasion that was forestalled by the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]]. With the cessation of hostilities, the squadron (which included pilot [[William Stevenson (Canadian writer)|William Stevenson]]) was disbanded and the Hellcats dumped off the Scottish coast. (That was the fate of much lend-lease equipment that survived the war, including aircraft; under the terms of lend-lease agreements, any aircraft that were not returned to the United States or paid for, had to be destroyed.)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Squadrons/889.html |title=INDEX OF NAVAL AIR SQUADRONS: 889 Squadron |date=2001-02-23 |publisher=Fleet Air Arm Archive |access-date=2024-01-07 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924013928/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Squadrons/889.html |archive-date=2015-09-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Foister |first=Louise |date=1995-11-10 |title=How the war interrupted a legal career |at=Pages 5 and 9 |department=Mid-Ocean News |work=The Royal Gazette |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda |quote=While I was still there we went out to sea with a group of some American aviators off the coast of Scotland and tipped the aircraft overboard. It was the most extraordinary thing. At the end of the war I was kept on as one of the witnesses or observers who went out with the American representatives to check the aircraft off the list to show that this wasn't something the Americans could charge the British Government for.}}</ref>