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Grumman's new carrier fighter lifts off; the XF6F-1 is built to beat the Zero

The Hellcat prototype takes its first flight today, designed around combat reports from Pacific pilots who found the F4F Wildcat outmatched.

By mid-1942, American naval aviators in the Pacific were flying a plane that couldn't match the Mitsubishi Zero — and they knew it. The F4F Wildcat was brave enough work, but combat reports from pilots like Butch O'Hare made the problem plain. On June 26, 1942, Grumman's answer lifted off for the first time: the XF6F-1 prototype, designed from the start to be heavier, faster, tougher, and built around the lessons of a war already two years old. The Navy had found its fighter…

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More from June 26
1945

50 nations sign the United Nations Charter in San Francisco

China signs first, as the nation that bore Axis aggression longest; delegates from all 50 Allied powers file through the Herbst Theatre to add their names.
1948

Clay orders supply flights into Tempelhof; the question now is whether the air can feed two million

Stalin sealed every land route into West Berlin days ago, betting the Allies would negotiate their way out rather than try to sustain a city from the sky.
2015

Supreme Court rules 5-4: every state must license and recognize same-sex marriage

Kennedy's majority finds the Fourteenth Amendment settles the question; the ruling consolidates six cases from four states and reaches all 50 states and U.S. territories.
17401776 Club
Spanish regulars, free black militia, and Seminole warriors hit the 170-man British garrison two hours before it stirred, wrecking Oglethorpe's drive on St. Augustine.
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Read the full June 26 edition →Everything that happened on June 26 →
More from The World Wars
1944

A lone Superfortress crosses Tokyo at 32,000 feet, and Japan's fighters cannot reach it

Captain Ralph Steakley's crew photographs the plants west of the city under a cloudless sky while the interceptors climb to within 3,000 feet and fall short.
1924

Wyoming elects Nellie Tayloe Ross governor; the widow who said no never campaigned

A month after her husband's death, voters give her 55 percent of the ballots against Republican E. J. Sullivan.
1921

Harding buries an unnamed soldier at Arlington as the country falls silent for two minutes

Seven allied nations present their highest decorations to a man no one can name, and the President adds the Medal of Honor.
1934

Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act; a federal watchdog now stands over Wall Street

Kennedy, a multimillionaire who thrived in unregulated markets, is named the SEC's first chairman to police the very customs he knows best.
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