F4U Corsair

The F4U Corsair was a piston-engine fighter aircraft in service with the US Marine Corps. It performed its maiden flight on May 29, 1940, entering service two years later in December 1942. It was developed by the American firm Chance Vought. Along with the F6F Hellcat, it was the most effective fighter in the WW2 Pacific Theater of Operation. It was also massively produced by Brewster and Goodyear firms, with an estimated total number of 12,000 aircraft.

The F4U Corsair first saw combat action in early February 1943, during the last stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal as it took off from the Henderson airbase. In June 1944, it took part in the naval battle of the Philippine Sea, near the Marianas Islands. In the ground attack role, it also provided fire support to landing Allied forces on Guam, Saipan, and Tinian. In September and November 1944, it played an important role in annihilating the entrenched pockets of Japanese resistance in Peleliu, Palau islands, attacking them with incendiary bombs. In the Korean War, it would be relegated to carry out only ground attack missions, because it had been replaced by fast jet fighters.

Technical Charasteristics

The Chance Vought F4U was a single-seat, single-engine, carrier-based monoplane. It had a very distinctive feature; its wings. Among all the WW2 Allied aircraft, it was the only one fitted with inverted gull wings, which were broad and mounted low on the fuselage. This characteristic and its sturdy all-metal fuselage made of it a very maneuverable and secure aircraft to fly. (The other WW2 fitted with inverted gull wings was the German Junkers Ju-87 Stuka).

The Corsair's fuselage was an all-metal monocoque construction. Its folding wings were also all-metal. The fin and stabilizers were all-aluminum, while its ailerons were made of hardened plywood. The fin rudder and elevators were also aluminum structures covered by fabric. Its powerful Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine occupied half the length of fuselage. The aircraft was fitted with retractable landing wheels. It was made in several versions, such as the F4U-1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -6, and F4U-7.

Specifications

Type: Fighter

Crew: 1

Length: 10.17 m (33 ft, 4.5 in)

Wingspan: 10.5 m (41 ft) 

Wing Area: 29.17 sq. m (314 sq. ft)

Height: 4.9 m (16 ft, 1 in)

Power Plant: one 2000 HP, Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8 radial piston engine. In the F4U-5 variant: one 2660 HP, Pratt & Whitney R-2800-32W.

Maximum Speed: 671 km/h (417 mph) at 6065 ft.

Range: 1633 km (1015 miles).

Armament: six forward firing 12.7-mm Browning machine guns mounted in wings. Load capacity of 1,800 kg of bombs. 127mm rockets in the Korean War.

Below, three F4U Corsairs in flight in 1944.

Below, an F4U-5 Corsair in service with the Argentinean Navy in the 1950s.

The Corsair on tarmac of airbase, with folded wings ready for storage.

An F4U parked on a USMarine Corps militar base in the late 1940s.