Preparing Hellcat for first flight in decades

Published 3:55 pm Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Hellcat is days away from flying for the first time in decades. A test pilot is expected next week. (Let’s hope for good weather.) Before the rare fighter gets back into the air, FHC staffers are taking care of a long list of loose ends. One item on the list is weight and balance information for the plane. To get the data, we need to install the Hellcat’s battery of weighty .50-caliber guns — three per wing. Each hefty Browning M2 weighs about 83 pounds.