Battle Stations II
Vought
F4U Corsair
F4U-1F
Engine 2,450hp Pratt & Whitney R-2800-18W radial
Dimensions Span 40ft 11.75in (12.48m), length 33ft
8.25in (10.27m), height 16ft 1in (4.8m), wing
area 314 sq ft (29.17 sq m)
Weight Empty 8,873 lb (4,025kg)
Performance Speed (depending on model)
425-446mph (684-718kph), service ceiling 37,000ft
(11,289m), range (on internal fuel) typically
1,000 miles (1,809km) Armament 4 x 20mm cannon
or 6 x 0.5in machine guns, 2,000 lb (900kg) of bombs or 8 rockets
With its distinctive bent-wing look and long menacing nose, the Corsair was one of the greatest combat aircraft in history. Its designers, Rex Beisel and Igor Sikorsky, planned to use the most powerful engine and biggest propeller ever fitted to a fighter. The Corsair's distinctive inverted gull-wing design stemmed from the need to keep the propeller clear of the ground or carrier deck while the aircraft's relatively short landing gear was retracted backwards inside the wings. The down-sloping centre-sections accommodated ducts to the oil radiators and engine supercharger.
The prototype - the XF4U - first flew on 29 May 1940. The XF4U-1 prototype was the first US warplane to fly faster than 400mph (644kph) and outperformed all its US contemporaries. Production began in June 1942, and the Corsair made its combat debut in the Solomons in February 1943.
The Corsair was originally fitted with two fuselage and two wing guns. Then it was replanned to accommodate six 0.5in Browning MG 53-2s in the folding outer wings, each with about 400 rounds. This prompted a major redesign. Fuel was moved from the wing's leading edges to the fuselage, the cockpit was shunted further back and the internal bomb racks were eliminated. This adversely affected the pilot's view ahead and called into question the Corsair's carrier- landing performance. However, the British Fleet Air Arm considered it acceptable.
All the early deliveries of the Corsair went to the US Marine Corps, most famously to the formation commanded by 'Pappy' Boyington - the VMF-124, dubbed 'Boyington's Black Sheep'. Action with land-based Marine squadrons began in the Solomons in February 1943, and the Corsair rapidly established an overall superiority over the previously dominant Japanese. The major Corsair variant, the F-ID, and most subsequent types, carried a 175-gallon (660-litre) drop tank and two 1,000 lb (450kg) bombs or eight rockets.
In early 1944, the US Navy began to operate the Corsair as a carrier-based night- fighter; from January 1945, it also flew it by day. The immensely powerful and rugged Corsair accounted for 2,140 enemy aircraft in World War II, with a kill ratio of 11:1. It was also a formidable dive-bomber, having been first used in this role by the US Marines in March 1944.
In the post-war years, the Corsair had metal- rather than fabric-skinned wings. Most of these Corsairs were armed with cannon, and in the Korean War, the AU-1 attack bomber version carried a 4,000 lb (1,814kg) bomb load that restricted it to a top speed of around 240mph.
The last of the 12,571 Corsairs rolled off the production line in December 1952, after a longer production run (in terms of time) than any other US fighter prior to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom.
