F4U Corsair – The Aircraft His Father Flew | Jim Tobul’s Incredible Story + Air-to-Air
Video from the channel History's Greatest Aircraft about Vought F4U Corsair, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 13:28. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
The episode gathers the testimony of warbird pilot Jim Tobul about the Vought F4U-4 Corsair he restored with his father and still flies today. It is accompanied by air-to-air formation footage, with a B-25 as the camera platform and the only airworthy Brewster Corsair.
Historical context
Chance Vought built the aircraft in 1945, too late for World War II, but it served in Korea in 1951 and 1952 from the carriers USS Boxer, Valley Forge and Oriskany. The family tracked down six pilots who flew it in combat, and its Navy serial number, 97143, appears in their flight logbooks. After the war it went to Honduras, fought in the Football War against El Salvador, ended up as a source of spare parts, and returned to the United States in 1977.
Key facts
His father, a former Marine Corps pilot, bought it in 1981. The restoration took ten years: the aircraft flew again in 1991 and began appearing at airshows in 1992. Since his father's death in 2002, Jim Tobul flies an aerobatic routine with it and has competed in the unlimited class of the Reno air races and the national championship in Roswell, New Mexico. He also flies the Brewster Corsair belonging to the museum he works with.