Goodyear Aviation - The Untold Story of the F2G Super Corsair 

Saw the red 57 take off from our hanger at work today. Beautiful aircraft.

Grew up in North Dakota, where Bob restored both his F2G's. There is only one thing better than a Corsair in this world, and that's a Super Corsair.

I worked on the R-4360 engines on the C-124 Globemasters in the early 60's . Can't imagine that monster engine in a single engine aircraft. Just WOW !

"Fly low. Turn left." Words to live by. RIP Granville brothers.

I was born and raised near the Goodyear Air Dock. My father worked there as a machinist in 1951. I finally got to walk inside during an Open to the Public event back in the 90’s. We were told as kids that a Corsair used to hang from the top of the structure to commemorate it being built there. I was disappointed that it was no longer there. Thank you to Goodyear for bringing this story to light. I had no idea this model existed.

To me, the "Race 57" F2G is the most beautiful plane Reno ever seen.

Learned something today. Love the Corsair. Saw the last of them while in the Marines.

Its totally cool that Goodyear put this video production together!

Glad to see at least one of these variants still exists!

💞❣💖💝 My All Time Favorite aircraft is the Corsair in ALL of its configurations!

As someone who lived close to the blimp hangar in Akron and who has relatives that built and flew the corsairs, this is awesome! Job well done!

What a gorgeous machine. Gearheads love machines not because they are perfect, but because they aren't... but this one is close.

Speaking of the Corsair's tremendous engine torque (I think, technically, its called "p-value")....my father was with the Lexington's air-group from January of 44 till her return home sometime after the war ended. He was an air officer, so although he was a fully-qualified naval aviator, he wasn't assigned to a particular squadron; consequently, he had to fly whatever he could get his hands on at the time to keep his hours up and remain qualified. If you look at his flight log during the period, he might fly an F4U on CAP one day, then fly an SB2C or an SBD on a scouting mission the next day. Of all the aircraft he flew during his 22 year career as an aviator, Dad loved the Corsair the most. However, the Corsair was the kind of bird that you were never done flying until the propeller stopped turning. It was an especially unforgiving aircraft for novices, which is why the Corsair was called the "Ensign Eliminator". Anyway, back to the gist of the story: Dad's stateroommate was assigned to the Lex's fighter squadron (I think it was VF-17), which flew Corsairs. While on approach to the carrier one day, at "close-in", Dad's roommate was coming in a little too slow. The LSO gave the pilot the power call and the former fire-walled the throttle. Unfortunately, the engine torque got away from him, the aircraft rolled inverted and plunged into the Pacific swell about 100 feet aft of the deck. Both pilot and aircraft were lost. From that moment onwards, Dad said that he always came in hot and high, the LSO's rating be damned (then, just as now, pilots were graded on their landings). The original Corsairs also had another undesirable design flaw: one wing had a habit of stalling out before the other. If a pilot wasn't careful when landing, one wing (I can't recall which) tended to stall out a little before the other, which would lead to the aircraft cartwheeling down the deck or runway. The solution, according to Dad, was the installation of a block of wood, the size of a triangle about 6 or 8 inches on a side, beneath the good wing. The end result was to spoil the flow of air over the "good" wing that resulted in it's stalling out at about the same time the other wing stalled out.

Use to have photo of my dad on the deck of a carrier. With hand on the wing in front of the fuselage. At least I can still see it in my memories. 1939-69.

What a beautiful aeroplane ✈️😍😍😍😍

The last flying F2G Corsair is now based at Thaden Airport AR. I remember they pushed it into a hanger and played this video over and over again

David R Lentz, USA Thank you for this! I find the F4U Corsair series of great interest. This F2G is an astounding marvel! Ohh, how I wish several thousand of them could have become operational in theatre by 1943.

The Corsair was always my favorite WWII bird, but the "Super Corsair" was my favorite of the type! While I am glad she wasn't needed, I am sorry only ten were built.

Fascinating! I've not heard of the F2G variant before now. Thank you so much for sharing this!

Utterly beautiful that they restored racer 57. And of course errors. There is an FG1 with the commemorative Air Force in Peachtree city, GA. Love hearing “whistling death”

I've seen both these F2Gs they are (and were) BEAUTIFUL restorations..and were amazing in flight ...tailwinds, Bob

My Grandfather on my Mom's side was an Engineer at Good Year in Akron and worked on the folding wing assembly of the Corsair...he told us stories about the planes when I was very young. It wasn't until I was much older and working on my A.E. Grad degree that I learned what a crucial roll GY Aerospace played in the WWII aviation industry...indeed a well kept secret. Oh and he took us to see the blimps a couple times in the 60's before he retired and while they were still kept at the hangars in Akron (a Ph.D. Aerospace/Computer Engineer who works for a large American defense contractor's Missile Systems company.

Super Corsair 57 was owned by Cook Cleland and kept at at his airport in Willoughby, Ohio. LCDR, Cleland returned to active duty in 1951 and several of the Super Corsairs were at the airport until its closure in 1952.

Please get rid of the music that drowns out the far more beautiful sound of the R4360!

Got to see the race 57 fly over my house twice today beautiful plane

I became really interested in this after I saw that Goodyear made the F4U. Thank you for providing me with the answers I have been looking for.

I’m sure that the Navy & Marines could have put 418 F2Gs to good use in Korea!!!

I practically grew up in the Museum of Flight where one of the only two surviving F2Gs remain. It's since been moved to thier restoration center and I haven't seen it in years

I think of Mark Hanna when he said "you feel powerful when you get into a Corsair" and seeing this beast I believe him. Just seeing the end proved it.

What a crime to play crappy music at the end so you can't hear the engine's sound.

I wondered when this story would come out. I read all about these planes in a book by Rodger Huntington called Thompson Trophy racers. It told all about Cook Cleland using these planes for air racing in 1946- 1950.

I saw 74 take its last flight. RIP Bob.

I used to sit underneath the Corsair in front of Sikorsky airport in Stratford as a teenager. Thanks for uploading this piece of history

A shear brute of an aircraft a fantastic idea to make the corsair more awesome

This was awesome.

I actually Learned something from the Interweb. I bet that one Bad Ass plane to Fly!!

Simply BEAUTIFUL!!!

The F2G was to the Corsair as the "N" model was to the P-47.

What's with the horrid competitive music. Silence is golden.

Absolutely one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made, and in one of the most amazing paint schemes ever

Bob Odegaard was a good guy. I knew both him & Gerry Beck. RIP

I worked at Goodyear Aerospace in the 80’s and there was a Corsair hanging from the ceiling at the entrance to plant B. Brand new plane minus engine.

Very nice. The first 4360 Corsair was a birdcage canopy. I think it was the F4M or F4UM.

Thank God therevare still men around preserving these planes...

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

I was surprised to hear Goodyear shot itself in the foot. 😁

What an awesome plane

In that last piece, look at the size of that prop!

That propeller tho. Holy shit

I do air racing in the video game named "War Thunder" When this plane was shown I was like a kid in a candy shop

i have pictures of Walter Soplata's (Cook Cleland's Thompson Trophy winner) F2G in Walter's back yard. i would guess they were from 78-79. In one visit, Walter opened up the 50 Cal. bays, and some of the cowling for me. Pretty close by was an FG1-D in pretty good shape.

What beautiful airplane 3000 HP I wonder what the torque out was at full throttle

Toledo's Willys Jeep during WW2 built the gull-wing center section and the oleos other smaller parts as well.

I was taken by surprise when I heard Goodyear made a fighter

I wish someone had the forethought to save the XP-74. To see that fly today would be a treat to the eyes and ears. Didn't one of the restored F2G's crash? I think it was the Red and now the Blue is in a museum?

The FG1D was built in the town of Goodyear Arizona, my father worked there and I worked in the same building in 1979.

The meth that the Corsair was a low altitude fighter was totally incorrect. The Corsair had a large wing and high horsepower engine “which is one of the main reasons for it’s continued success in the Korean War” and a two stage super charger which made it an excellent high altitude fighter aircraft during WWll. Simply put, the P-51 was and has been a fan favorite simply because it looks good. During WWll the Corsair and Mustang were pitted against one another and even swopped pilot’s to maintain fairness. They were basically even matched in all altitudes and in performance. Facts show that while the P-51 was a pretty aircraft, the F4U Corsair was the better machine as it continued fighting during the entire duration of the Korean War and scored two Mig-15 jet fighter kills. An incredible feet!

Damn that was an awesome hotrod!

Corsair ... The NASCAR racer in the sky. "Fly low! Turn left!

An amazing looking plane, if enemy ground troops saw that thing bearing down on them, they would poop their pants. It's scary and powerful looking.

I’ve been in the blimp hanger many times. It’s huge.

Cosair is the most beautiful fighter ever

Man, that is one beautiful plane.

Great video!

Beautiful Bird 🦅

Corsairs rule. Definitely the best airplane of WWII and Korea.

What ah flying machine - Beast ! 👍

That shot at 1:56… wow.

Great video! Thanks for preserve the history 😎👍🥇🛩️

Just a regular Corsair is amazing, but the F2G is even more amazing then that!

Jesus H Christ that's one sexy engine and aircraft, my goosebumps have goosebumps.

Excellent Video! Post a video on Goodyear’s lighter than air operations especially Goodyear aircraft World War II era lighter than air production like the K- SHIP for instance Appreciate it it

Whistling death... Awesome aircraft

6:26 ok, that leaves me wondering why we don't see any Hawker Tempest or Typhoons in these races, because they had the absolute best low altitude performance of any single engine aircraft of the second world war

Imagine 4 x 20mm plus a few .5 s in the wings plus rockets , would have been a brilliant , nothing would have matched it without jet power ! But what a gorgeous aircraft !

Whoever made that new engine cowling has my thanks, because the original engine cowling ruins the look of the corsair airframe.

Thank you

I read that the winner of that race sprained his back during the race from the monsterous g forces he encountered flying the F2G.

FG2 was the original designation of the F2G

Remove the music so we can hear the plane better, please

I'm Surprise Chance- Vought Didn't Make a Bubble Canopy Corsair.

That is one spirited horse to have under you!

FG1 was a series of license built F4U Corsairs beginning with the F4U-1A and either ending with the F4U-1D at a time when the Corsair went from F4U-1 to F4U-5

Beautiful Machine!😎👍

Beautiful aircraft, thanks.

The prop was so huge, to handle the horse power from that massive engine that it was raised so high. And during Carrier Qualifications it did not pass due to many pilots not being able to see when landing. The British received the Corsair and they figured out how to land it on a carrier.

Beautiful plane.

Nice presentation.

Anybody notice the prop is turning the wrong direction in the black and white animated opening graphic....

As if the Japanese didn’t have enough problems, this was next in line to give them even more grief.

HEAVY METAL

A really amazing design aircraft sometimes you just get lucky

The F4U regular would hit almost 450 but not quite.

Feb. 6, 2021---Thanks for the video. Knew about the engine and bubble canopy, but not about the modification to the tail. There are modelers out there that are into Luftwaffe '46 aircraft.....imagine doing the same, but call it NSN '46 or a P-47H with it's 2 engine, calling it AAF '46?

Awesome.

I took a video of an original F2G flying last summer at the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach on my channel.

LOVE this!

Awesome doesn't even start !

*3,000* hp!!

Great aircraft but, no mention of Mr. Littles "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" necktie?! Haha! Thanks @gyaviationtires.