The Vought F4-U Corsair is my favorite piston engine fighter plane. I was 15 when Baa Baa Black sheep aired. Even though it was mostly fictional "which I didn't know at the time" I really enjoyed the series.
In the 1980's worked for nine years at Goodyear Aerospace where the Corsairs were built . Near the end of the war they built a souped up version of the Corsair and had the employee come out to see it fly. Would have been very cool to see.
I painted that plane. BuNo 80759. About the only non-factory-original material on the plane is the fabric covering. This is an XF4U-4. There were several, but this example was the first built from the ground up as a -4 and not converted from a -1. A curatorial decision at the time of restoration (late 70s) was made to not replicate the yellow-painted lower surfaces which were originally applied as the factory used the plane in spin testing.
Really nice presentation! Really nice explanation of the wing design. I just pick up a radio controlled Corsair so this video gave a lot of nice info on it, thanks!
The F4U Corsair was best known by many for its use by the legendary Marine Fighter Squadron VMF-214. This unit, the Black Sheep, was commanded by Maj. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. Ironically, the last surviving Black Sheep, Edward "Harpo" Harper, went on to serve as CO of VMF-214 during the 1950's. R.I.P. , gentlemen, and Semper Fi.
It took us years to get the Pima County Air and Space museum to put the wings down on their F4U. You can not enjoy the beauty of the aircraft with the wings folded for storage.
Thanks for an excellent presentation on my all-time favorite aircraft. It would be interesting to hear/read more about the British system that made them easier to land on carriers. Wish we had one!
Yes sir! I agree! Next to the Spitfire the Corsair is my other favorite aircraft of all time! If I'm not mistaken, I believe the British system of landing them on the carriers was to make a banking turn on the approach to the deck where the pilot could just look off to his side and line up with the deck, rather than just making a straight, head on approach since the long nose would obstruct the forward view of the deck.
Eight inches were chopped off each wing in the FAA aircraft becuse of the lower hangars on the RN carriers but it helped to increase the sink rate. I believe there was a change to the cowl flaps to divert oil spray and a bubble hood fitted which raised the pilots seat a few inches.
Their technique was to make a long lazy turn to the left while keeping the flight deck in view in the bend of the left wing as long as possible, then making a quick turn and dropping onto the deck at the last minute, rather than trying to make a straight in rear landing like the US pilots did with their other carrier based planes...you can see this technique if you watch videos of corsairs landing on carriers later in the war...
Hi Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum! I’m Zach! I love your video of the Vought F4U Corsair which is one of the most iconic planes of World War II. I’m interested in planes and I appreciate your work! I would like to add that the plane has a top speed of 470 miles per hour and the Gull-Wings of the F4U Corsair can be seen from two miles out in the sky! Another thing about the plane is that it entered service with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps on December 28, 1942 and made combat debut in February 1943 (U.S. Marine Corps) and August 1943 (U.S. Navy). in March 1944 the Vought F4U Corsair entered carrier service in large numbers to help end World War II in 1945. In pop culture, the Vought F4U Corsair appeared in the Disney-Pixar movies Planes and Planes: Fire and Rescue as a character named Skipper Riley played by actor Stacy Keach!
NO, the British Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm did NOT develop the "improved landing technique" first. Incidentally the standard U.S. Navy carrier approach was not unique to the Corsair but used for other aircraft e.g. F4F Wildcat, F6F Hellcat etc. Revealed in the book "Widowmaker" by Tim Hiller-Graves that the U.S. Navy was in fact using the "curved approach" {improved landing technique} for Corsair carrier landings as early as February 1943. "The first Corsair arrived in February (1943) and an intensive program began with the CO (Lt. Cdr. John "Tommy" Blackburn) playing a leading part. He realized early on when undergoing deck trials with the USS Charger in Chesapeake Bay, that the Corsair had to be handled differently to other aircraft when landing on a carrier. Blackburn reasoned that a standard , straight on approach was unsuited to this aircraft, because of its poor forward visibility when landing. Above all else, a pilot needed to see the deck and the batsman's (LSO) instructions and that could only be achieved with the Corsair using the curved approach from the port side ." Following this there is a letter from Blackburn which goes on to describing Corsair landing issues. Also read the document : Corsair F4U Navy Carrier Landing Issues" The link: facebook.com/groups/570146806355342/files
If you say the reason for the inverted gull wing was to make the gear strong enough to take carrier landings while still providing clearance for the prop, how do you explain the wings on the F6F and F8F, which used the same engine and similar sized props?
Those were Grumman built aircraft which used the patented "sto-wing" design. Vought did not buy any type of " rights" to use the sto- wing. The man who designed the sto- wing came up with the angles needed by playing with a paperclip and an erasure in his office. Edit. I just noticed I didn't address your question accurately after rereading it. The hellcat was a much lighter plane than the corsair requiring a Less beefy strut and it did actually use a smaller propeller. 4 blade propellers became more widespread by the debut of the Bearcat. It's diameter was only 12' 4" the corsair was actually a bigger heavier and faster plane than the hellcat. This is why the navy kept it into Korea and scrapped the other planes.
This is my first museum review. I would love to get your thoughts on how I could improve. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uqAi6UQfrDM.html
