THE FIRST HELLCAT ACE

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Biography of Hamilton 'Mac' McWhorter III, who trained as a fighter pilot in the robust but technologically outmoded F4F Wildcat and first saw combat with VF-9 in November 1942 against Vichy French forces in North Africa. VF-9 soon converted to the F6F Hellcat and in November 1943, he shot down his fifth Japanese plane to become an ace. He flew through to the end of the war off the shores of Okinawa. He eventually retired as a commander in 1969.