See here for 20 or so photos of the F6F drones used in the Pacific. I've seen most, but not all, of these pics, and never so many posted in one place. A right-click+SAVE bonanza. Very colorful planes.
http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?305
Cheers,
Lee G.
Great find.
Question, what's the difference between the white tailed birds and the colored tail birds. Is one the drone and the other the controller? Pink 11 has a pilot flying, but so does white 7 and exhaust stains suggesting more than one flight since painting.
Outside of removing the guns, anything else needed? Since some have pilots I wouldn't need drone controls added?
Hi Ryan: It's all a mystery to me. William Reece would be the go-to guy for questions about the drones. I've not seen the white-tailed ones before, just the ones with the different colored tails. They sure are pretty!
EDIT: Here is something at Tommy Thomason's "Tailhook Topcs" site about the drones:
http://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2009/11/f6f-drones.html
Cheers,
Lee G.
Thanks Lee, I was planning to stop at Tommy's site.
Also found this
http://retromechanix.com/article/fighters/flight-tests-of-the-prototype-grumman-f6f-5k-target-drone-1946-7/
Found this on ARC.
http://s362974870.onlinehome.us/forums/air/index.php?showtopic=83467&st=0&p=700180&hl=f6f-5k&fromsearch=1&#entry700180
The bright colored Hellcats were essentially F6F-3's and F6F-5's that, aside from having radio control equipment installed, were standard aircraft (i.e. a "real" pilot could still fly the Hellcats if needs be). Each aircraft was given the letter "K" at the end of their designation, so that they became F6F-3K and F6F-5K respectively. The radio control equipment could allow a pilot to fly the aircraft from a ship, on land, or even from another aircraft trailing behind. The F6F-3k's were used on "Operation Crossroads", the Atomic tests on Bikini Island. When the Hellcats were flown by remote control, they were called "Nolo" Hellcats, each Hellcat marked with a different colored tail to signify their radio frequency (as can be seen in the pciture above), and usually (though not all the time) had white stripes painted on their tails to signify a "Humanless Drone". They could also be fitted with wing tip fuel tanks for longer endurance. Some were also used as target tugs (hence the ability to allow a human pilot to fly them).