Harry 'Brink' Bass's F6F-5 Hellcat

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Member for

10 years 2 months

Posts: 140

Hi there, we've been researching the death of U.S. Navy Pacific ace Harry Brinkley Bass in the south of France in 1944. The cause of his crash will probably now remain a mystery unless we can find a reliable witness account or other information. However, we did find the crash site and some very few remains of the aircraft. Does anyone out there have a parts catalogue for the F6F-5 who would be kind enough to look up a part number for us ? We'd appreciate it very much.

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Member for

19 years 5 months

Posts: 9,821

You might have more luck on the American "Warbird Information Exchange".

There are some real Grumman experts there as well as some owners/pilots/restorers.

Member for

10 years 2 months

Posts: 140

You might have more luck on the American "Warbird Information Exchange".

There are some real Grumman experts there as well as some owners/pilots/restorers.

Thanks for that, I'll give it a try :-)

Member for

20 years 4 months

Posts: 1,713

I saw the picture you posted on WIX, somehow it reminds me of an engine baffle plate. I don't know enough about R-2800s to know for sure though.

Member for

10 years 2 months

Posts: 140

I saw the picture you posted on WIX, somehow it reminds me of an engine baffle plate. I don't know enough about R-2800s to know for sure though.

Thanks Archer, I've just been told that the number doesn't match with Grumman numbers so that might explain it. Let's have a look at Pratt & Whitney ...

Member for

10 years 2 months

Posts: 140

I saw the picture you posted on WIX, somehow it reminds me of an engine baffle plate. I don't know enough about R-2800s to know for sure though.

Archer, you're the man ! Bingo ! Here it is. Not an inspection cover at all in the end, just quick access to the plugs.

Just to let you know why that's important, we now have several engine parts, cockpit instruments and pilot's effects all within a very small radius, indicating a near vertical dive into the ground with no forward vector. It helps in verifying witness reports from the time and trying to understand what happened.

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Member for

10 years 2 months

Posts: 140

Hi again, well, we're doing pretty well with the identification of the relics but we're not having a lot of luck with the specialist lists for this one so I'll throw it out to you.

We're reliably told that this is a static grounding point, used to earth the aircraft when parked or during refuelling. The problem is that there may have been several, or at least two, and nobody can tell us exactly where they were on the aircraft. Any ideas ? Pictures would be great, especially any that have the lettering 'GROUND' on them :-)

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