F4U Corsair

Hi,

My brother in law's Dad drove one of those for the Marines in the South Pacific. I think they've always had a special place in many of our hearts!

Rick C
 
Yes Probably the best fighter of WWII In some ways it outperformed the 51 and was better than the F6F Hellcat.
Here is a little know fact for you. The Corsair was also the last American-produced fighter aircraft to feature fabric as the skinning for the top and bottom of each outer wing, aft of the main spar and armament bays, and for the ailerons, elevators and rudder. The elevators were also constructed from plywood. Most all the ones that have been restored have gone to aluminum wings
 
Great pics, one of the best!

A very old friend of mine flew a B-25 for the Marines (they didn't call it a B-25, I think its "Navy" moniker was PBJ) in the South Pacific in WWII, and then a Corsair night fighter at the start of the Korean War. He got one "victory," a Russian-made biplane "Bed-Check Charlie" that was made of fabric and wood and never showed up on his radar at all. He was rotated back to the US before the Marines started using the F3D jet night fighter ("Skyknight" or as the Marines called it, "The Whale").
 
The Marines wound up with most of the Corsairs because they were too hard to land on a Carrier.

Back in the late 60's to early 70's a Commander friend of mine owned his own personnel Corsair. He flew it to each new duty station where the base C.O. always gave him permission to keep it on the field. The sailors would volunteer their own off duty time to maintain it.
 
WendyZXZ said:
Those are some beautiful picture and aircraft! It did stay in production long after other fighters from the 1940s stopped which tells something about the plane.
Click to expand...
The last of them were built in 1952--attack AU-1s for the USMC in Korea, and F4U-7s for the French Navy.
 
The Marines wound up with most of the Corsairs because they were too hard to land on a Carrier.
Click to expand...

The approach that is still used to this day by the Navy is do to the approach developed by the Britts for the Corsair. Once this procedure
was accepted into the landing pattern the F4U became a great shipboard aircraft.
We can also thank the Britts for the Angle Deck, Steam Catapult, and the Meat Ball /Fresnel Lens. Whiteout those three items we would have NEVER been able to land Modern Jets on the Boat.
 
When were the Corsair's first deployed in WW2, seems like when we hit Guadacanal in 1942, we had the F4F Wildcat and the F4U came along a little later. Didn't Greg "Pappy" Boyinton fly them when he hit the 'Canal'. Neat plane and great photos. I get a "Ghosts" calendar every year for X-mas and it has F4U's quite often as one of the month's displays.
HH
 
Thanks for posting Chief! I am reading Retreat Hell from the karma and the Corsair is mentioned. I had no idea what they looked like and now I do. Those guys dug into the frozen ground were sure glad to see them!
 
The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright
 
Bob Wright said:
The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright
Click to expand...
Put the F8F Bearcat, the AD Skyraider, and the Brit Hawker Sea Fury on that list, too. :wink:
 
Snake45 said:
Bob Wright said:
The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright
Click to expand...
Put the F8F Bearcat, the AD Skyraider, and the Brit Hawker Sea Fury on that list, too. :wink:
Click to expand...

and the Hawker Typhoon/Tempest :wink: .............................
 
Chief_10Beers said:
Snake45 said:
Bob Wright said:
The F4U (and the FG-1) and the P-47 Thunderbolt were both beautiful in spite of their looks. Not sleek like the Mustang nor Spitfire, but sort of a brutal, bull dogish look with that big radial engine in front.

Bob Wright
Click to expand...
Put the F8F Bearcat, the AD Skyraider, and the Brit Hawker Sea Fury on that list, too. :wink:
Click to expand...

and the Hawker Typhoon/Tempest :wink: .............................
Click to expand...
The Typhoon and most Tempests didn't have radials, though the Tempest MKII--which kind of eventually evolved into the Sea Fury--did. :wink:
 
But if you're sticking with WW2 planes, the F4U, P-47, and even the F6F had those bulldog looks; the F4F Wildcat was too short and stubby, guess that's why they called it "the jug". The Bearcat came along in 1946, the Sea Fury in 1947, and the Skyraider not till 1951, so they had to wait till Korea to show their good looks. The Skyraider wasn't a fighter, more an assault plane and could carry a ton of ordnance, and was used clear up to Viet Nam. Love those old WW2 planes.
HH
 
My favorite since I was a kid watching "Baa Baa Black Sheep"...the Spitfire & FW-190 are tied for second place ;) (yeah I might be a bit of a WW2 student :D )...
 
Hashknife Hartley said:
The Bearcat came along in 1946, ...and the Skyraider not till 1951, so they had to wait till Korea to show their good looks. The Skyraider wasn't a fighter, more an assault plane and could carry a ton of ordnance, and was used clear up to Viet Nam.
HH
Click to expand...
The first Bearcats were on the way to the war zone when the Japs quit. If the war had lasted another month, they'd have seen action.

The first Skyraider flew before the end of WWII, too. And the Skyraider, while not a fighter, scored at least four aerial victories--one in Korea, two in Nam, and at least one in the Cold War that I know of.
 
You're right on both counts Snake, thanks for making me look further in my books. The first Bearcats reached squadrons in late 1945, with more in 1946, and improved models after that. The AD1 Skyraider was developed to replace the Navy's dive bombers, and first became operational in 1946, with several versions until the AD5 came along in 1951 and the AD6 in 1952. I also answered my own question in an earlier part of this thread, the F4U became operational at Guadacanal on Feb 12, 1943 with VMF 124.
HH
 
The Corsair is interesting because of its unique polyhedral wings. They were designed this way to give clearance for a huge propeller without the need for impractically long landing gear struts.
 
Never pass up a visit to the AirZoo in Kalamazoo. They have a full collection of flying 'cats - even a Tigercat and a Tomcat!
Corsair too. The Corsair design legends are plenty, but one WWII-era curator there told us the cylindrical fuselage demanded a wing root at a near-right angle to reduce drag at dive speeds, plus the folding wing carrier requirements...

He also related the original F4F Wildcat had crank-up/down main gear, pilots had one hand cranking the gear, one hand on the stick - and effects evident when you see war footage showing Wildcats on carrier approach, watch those wobbling wingtips!

The AirZoo also has a 3-axis simulator you can drive! Just be sure to empty your pockets and remove eyeglasses!
 
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