The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a fighter plane descended from the earlier F4F Wildcat, but was a completely new design sharing only a familial resemblance to the Wildcat. Some tagged it as "Wildcat's big brother" [1]. The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were the primary United States Navy carrier fighters in the second half of World War II. The Hellcat proved to be the most successful aircraft in naval history, destroying 5,163 aircraft in service with the US Navy and US Marine Corps, plus 52 with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. Postwar, the Hellcat aircraft was rapidly phased out of frontline service, finally retiring in 1954 as a night-fighter in composite squadrons.

The F6-F was widely used by the French Air Force and Navy after the WWII. The French Navy bought 124 F6F-5s and 15 F6F-5Ns between 1950 and 1953 .

French Navy Hellcats were first used by the far east carrier group including the CV Arromanches, CVL Lafayette and CVL Bois-Belleau during the Indochina conflict in 1952. This Hellcat of the French Aeronavale (French Navy) flotille 1F belonged to the carrier Arromanches. The 1F's Hellcats were moved to land base in Haipong in Nov 1952 after the Arromanches returned to France .