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United States' Vought F4U Corsair fighter^1,2,3

Vought F4U Corsair	Vought F4U Corsair	Vought F4U Corsair	Vought FG-1D Corsair cockpit
Vought F4U Corsair	Vought F4U Corsair Landing	Vought F4U Corsair Landing	Vought F4U Corsair

Design

The Vought F4U Corsair was designed by Rex Beisel in 1938.^1,2 The Corsair was to meet a United States Navy specification for a carrier based fighter.³ Vought designed a plane that had the most powerful engine at the time.³

The F4U was the first United States Navy plane to go 400 mph / 644 kph.³

Cockpit

The cockpit was set behind the wing which caused problems with the poor view over the nose.^1,3

Fuselage

The nose of the Corsair had the self sealing fuel tank.^1,3

The F4U's fuselage was all metal with spot welding which gave a smooth skin.¹

Engine

The F4U's engine drove a 13' / 4.04 m Hamilton Standard propellar.¹ This propeller was one of the largest for a fighter at the time.^1,3 This caused the design to have the inverted gull wings so that the propeller to clear the ground with the landing gear.^1,2,3

Prototype

The XF4U-1 was first flown on May 29, 1940.^1,2,3

Production

The first F4U-1 production fighter flew on June 25, 1942.³

• XF4U: 1³
• F4U-1: 4,120²
• F4U-1, F4U-1A, F4U-1C, F4U-1D: 4,699³
  • Manufacturer: Vought³
• FG-1: 3,808²
  • Manufacturer: Goodyear²
  • Export: Britain's Fleet Air Arm - 2,012², New Zealand - 370²
• FG-1, FG-1D: 4,007³
  • Manufacturer: Goodyear³
• F3A-1: 735²
  • Manufacturer: Brewster²
• F3A-1, F3A-1D: 738³
  • Manufacturer: Brewster³
• F4U-4: 2,357³
  • Manufacturer: Vought³
• F4U-4B: 297³
  • Manufacturer: Vought³
• F4U-4N: 1³
  • Manufacturer: Vought³
• F4U-4P: 4³
  • Manufacturer: Vought³
• Total: 12,571^1,3
  • Manufacturer: Brewster^1,2, Goodyear^1,2, and Vought^1,2,3
• F2G: 8³
  • Manufacturer: Goodyear³

Variants

• XF4U-1: Prototype.¹
• XF4U-2: Night fighter prototype.²
• F4U-1, FG-1, F3A-1:
• F4U-4:
• F4U-3: Turbo charged Pratt & Whitney R-2800.³ Could hold 2,000 HP up to 40,000' / 12,190 m.³
• F2G: Prototype.³ Had Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major, 28 cylinder radial engine (3,000 HP).³
• F4U-5: Fighter bomber.³ Post World War II.³
• F4U-6 / AU-1: Specialized attack aircraft.³ Post World War II.³
• F4U-7: Last production model.¹ Delivered to France in 1953.^1,3

Usage

Best Kill:Loss Ratio

The Corsair attained a 11:1 kill:loss ratio in the Pacific during World War II.^2,3 2,140 enemy aircraft were shot down by Corsairs.³

First Units

In October 1942 the VF-12 was the first to be outfitted with the F4U-1.²

The US Marine Corps VMF-124 was the first to use the Corsair in combat on February 13, 1943.² This combat occurred over Bougainville.³

Night Fighters

The XF4U-2 was used by the VFN-75 and VFN-101 as a night fighter late in the war.²

United States

The United States' carriers first used the Corsair regularly in 1944.¹

Korean War Success

A Corsair night fighter pilot was the only one to become an ace during the Korean War that didn't fly a F-86 Sabre.¹

A Corsair pilot shot down a MiG-15 jet.¹

Sources:

1. Aircraft of WWII, General Editor: Jim Winchester, 2004
2. Fighting Aircraft of World War II, Editor: Karen Leverington, 1995
3. Aircraft of WWII, Stewart Wilson, 1998

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