Orange (Insignia Red) Hellcats were used as drones and their jobs among other things was for collecting air samples during atomic test believe it or not these were the lucky ones or for the misfortunate they were used during the early testing of the AIM-9 Sidewinder test. Modifications would be similar to data probes on the wings and enlarged trim tabs on the rudder.
Someday I intend to build 1 of these as I find them very fascinating.
Oh and thx for the awesome link.