Military Aviation Art
November
19, 1943. Lt. (jg) Hamilton McWhorter III becomes the first pilot to claim
all five victories in the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Operating off the USS Essex
as a member of VF-9, Lt. (jg) McWhorter claims a Mitsubishi G4M medium
bomber, code-named "Betty" with one burst from his .50 caliber
machine guns. Traveling at approx. 400 mph, McWhorter closed on the low
flying bomber for a full deflection shot. Snapping out a short burst, his
bullets strike the Betty's fuselage, pass through the cockpit, and destroy
the port engine which erupts in a ball of flame. The Betty yaws to the
left, skips once, and then impacts the waves, immediately turning into a
ball of flaming wreckage. Following recovery aboard Essex, Lt. (jg)
McWhorter's armorers check his ammunition supply, and are surprised to
discover that only a total of 86 rounds were expended, forever afterward
earning him the nickname "One-Slug." The following February, Lt.
(jg) McWhorter downed his tenth Japanese plane to become the world's first
Hellcat double ace.
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