Grumman F6F Hellcat taxiing. The Hellcat first saw action against the Japanese on 1 September 1943 and through the end of the war 62,386 sorties were flown from aircraft carriers which resulted in 5,163 destroyed enemy aircrat(56% of all Naval/Marine air victories of the war) at a cost of 270 Hellcats (an overall kill-to-loss ratio of 19:1).