[tanknetter]

sources anyone?

Sources already posted above. I think you misinterpreted the point tho. The Zero wasn't reverse-engineered with its technology incorporated into the Hellcat. It was reverse-engineered to tell the designers at Grumman the A6M's engineering tradeoffs (incredibly nimble, but lacking armor and self-sealing fuel tanks, for instance) so that they could improve their design(s) to counter it effectively.

[Dysart]

It was reverse-engineered to tell the designers at Grumman the A6M's engineering tradeoffs ...It was reverse-engineered to tell the designers at Grumman the A6M's engineering tradeoffs

That was my interpretation as well; not that it was a knock-off of the Zero.

BTW, anyone else finding pages loading slow here?