KITS 11/2022

Hellcat NF Mk.II, No. 892 Naval Air Squadron, Drem Airbase, Great Britain, May – August 1945

No. 892 Naval Air Squadron was reformed in April

1945 as a night fighter squadron with 16 NF Mk.II

Hellcats. After a short deployment onboard HMS

Premier, the squadron was subsequently underta-

king night fighter training at Drem Airbase till the

end of the WWII. The Hellcat depicted was built for

the US Navy and bore the BuNo. 79015. It was purchased then by the Royal Navy and coded KD 127.

The British roundels were applied on the original

US camouflage scheme. The wing armament option is

not clear from the reference photo, but it seems the

20-mm cannons were mounted.

F6F-5N, BuNo. 78669, Maj. Bruce Porter, CO of VMF(N)-542, Yontan Airfield, Okinawa, May 1945

Hellcat BuNo. 78669 was the personal mount of

five-kills ace Maj. Bruce Porter, Commanding Officer

of VMF(N)-542. He inherited this F6F-5N from his predecessor. The Hellcat carried a big red heart and the

white name “Millie Lou” on the nose. Porter ordered

56

INFO Eduard

his ground crew to overpaint it immediately after

his arrival and a big bottle of Schenley bourbon and

“Black Death” in white overpainted the previous nose

art. Porter downed three Zeros over the Solomons

in June/July 1943 while serving with VMF-121.

On June 15, 1945 he added two more kills to his

tally, shooting down a Kawasaki Ki-45 “Nick” heavy

fighter and a “Betty” bomber carrying an Ohka

suicide rocket plane.

November 2022