Eduard Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat of CDR David McCampbell in 1/72 Scale

Finished Models

This is CDR David McCampbell’s F6F-5 Hellcat “Minsi III” which he flew while Commander of Air Group 15 aboard the USS Essex (CV-9).  McCampbell is the highest scoring US Navy ace, with 34 victories, all on a single tour.  He was also credited with 20 more aircraft destroyed on the ground, but unlike USAAF pilots his ground victories were not displayed on his aircraft per U.S. Navy policy.  His decorations included the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross.

I could not resist a comparison shot of the Hellcat with the A6M5 Zero. The Hellcat is big! McCampbell participated in the Marianas Turkey Shoot (in the original Minsi), as did 320-85 from the Junyo. McCampbell was credited with 5 Judys and 2 Zekes on 19 June 1944, perhaps they met?

Published by Jeff Groves

Scale Modeling and Military History

Published

6 thoughts on “Eduard Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat of CDR David McCampbell in 1/72 Scale”

  1. Beautiful build as always Jeff! I do like doing opposite number comparisons like that. I blame it on my mom bringing me home a Revell “Fighting Deuces” kit. I was hooked on the idea of building and displaying “opposites” from that day forward. (FWIW, the matchups were terrible, but the box art was great. When you’re 9-11 years old, you didn’t care.) I don’t know if this preceded Airfix’s “Dogfight Doubles” or came after as a reaction.
    McCampbell was born in Bessemer, Ala. just a few miles from where I spent a great deal of my youth.

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    1. Ah, remember those Revell double kits but have long forgotten their series name. Can remember the Zero, P-47, 109, Wildcat, Kawasaki Tony, from the series but not the other several models, only hazy shapes for them. Was a FW-190 part of the series? Guess I could look on the web but am not going to right now. Oh, just in to the memory – there was a Hawker Typhoon/Tempest with bubble canopy, not sure which. Remember their cockpits and pilot figures being fairly simple & the Kawasaki Tony’s pilot and the Typhoon’s pilot being a bit undersize.

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      1. Scott, the first one I got was the one with the Hawker Typhoon paired a Bf-109E (Horrible match up, but like I said, when you’re a kid, you don’t care.) Yes, there was an FW-190, and it came with a Hurricane. The Tony came with a Corsair. At nine or ten years of age, I took no notice of proper scale for the pilots. 🙂

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      2. Thanks on the reminder! At that age it was somewhat about whether the guys were the right proportion but even more about whether they would fit in to Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.

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