F4U Corsair: The Fighter the Navy Almost Rejected
Video from the channel WW2 Aviation Revolution about Vought F4U Corsair, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 25:35. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
The documentary reviews the development of the Vought F4U Corsair, a carrier-based fighter that the US Navy came close to never admitting aboard its carriers. It covers its landing problems, its time at land bases with the Marines, the modifications that made it carrier-capable, and its combat career in the Pacific and Korea.
Historical context
The Navy requested a fighter much faster than those then entering service. Vought designed it around the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engine. The large propeller required the inverted gull wing, which allowed a short, sturdy landing gear. The XF4U-1 prototype flew on 29 May 1940 and that same year exceeded 404 mph, faster than any other American fighter. In June 1941, 584 F4U-1s were ordered. The cockpit, set back about 3 feet, the bouncing landing gear and low-speed stall behavior complicated carrier trials. That's why the aircraft debuted from land bases: in February 1943 VMF-124 became the first Marine squadron equipped with it, and the Navy's VF-17 "Jolly Rogers" operated from the Solomon Islands. The Corsair took part in Operation Cartwheel against Rabaul and in the Bougainville campaign, which began on 1 November 1943.
Key facts
To make it carrier-capable, the pilot's seat was raised, a semi-bubble canopy was fitted, a stall strip was added to the right wing, and the landing gear shock absorbers were stiffened. Experience from Britain's Royal Navy also contributed. In April 1944 the Navy approved it for carrier operations. The F4U-1C swapped the six .50-caliber machine guns for four 20mm cannons, and other versions carried bombs, rockets and external tanks. Goodyear built it as the FG-1 and Brewster as the F3A. According to the National Naval Aviation Museum, it is credited with 2,140 Japanese aircraft shot down and a ratio of 11 to 1 in World War II. At Peleliu in 1944, attacks were made so close to the airfield that the landing gear was sometimes left down. More than 12,500 units were built by December 1952, and the aircraft also fought in Korea.