The Navy F4U Corsair, at first was not considered much, but proved itseld very quickly, this article will give deatails of the much appreciated Navy F4U Corsair.
Even though the US Navy F4U Corsair was not one of the most famous wartime fighters, is truly an exceptional aircraft. When the prototype was built it had the biggest and most powerful engine, largest propeller and probably the largest wings on any fighter in history. In 1940 t was rebuilt after being almost destroyed in a wheels-down forced landing on the wet grass of a golf course, and in a matter of days became the first fighter in history and the first American aircraft of any kind to exceed 400 mph. At this time most of the new crop of US fighters were being designed around new liquid-cooled engines, the impressive performance of the Corsair resulted in cancellation of most of these engines, and Pratt & Whitney concentrated on the air-cooled radial engine.
The US Navy 4U Corsair was first flown on May 29, 1940, the V-166 prototype, called XF4U by the Navy, was one of the first products of the merged United Aircraft Vought and Sikorsky divisions at Stratford, Connecticut. The prototype was of Navy requirements of the day in having internal cells in the wing for small bombs, it had fixed gun armament that consisted of two 7-7mm Browning above the engine and two of 12-7mm calibre in the wings. The wings were of unusual inverted-gull form partly to achieve the ideal ninety degree junction with the fuselage and partly to match the 4-06m propeller with the length of the landing gear that could retract backwards, the wheels rotating eighty-seven degrees on the legs to lie neatly inside the wing. Carburetor-air and oil coolers were placed in the inner leading edge, leaving the tightest and neatest radial cowling that had been achieved.
During 1941 the Corsair was redesigned from information obtained during combat in Europe. This delayed the output of production aircraft, but despite a very large increase in weight, resulting from extra fuel, armament, and Armour the all around performance was still enhanced. The most obvious of the changes made was an 0-8m rearward shift of the cockpit, in order to increase the fuel capacity, and this slightly worsened the pilot's forward view at low speeds or on the ground.
In late 1941 production started, and the importance of the powerful new fighter was fueled by the fact that two additional companies were brought in to make it, eventually Goodyear delivered 3,941 and inefficient Brewster company delivered 735. The first unit to form was the Marine squadron VMF-124 in September 1942, but the first to use the Corsair from carriers were squadrons of the British Fleet Air Arm whose aircraft had clipped wings in order to fin inside the cramped hangars with the wings folded. After a shaky start on February 14, 1943 the Corsair enjoyed a career of total ascendancy over the Japanese in the Pacific. Units that were noted for using the Corsair were VMF-214, The Black Sheep and the first carrier-based Navy squadron VF-17, Skull and Crossbones. There was nine of the Royal New Zealand Air Force that also used the Corsair in this theatre, with 370 aircraft; the British FAA totaled 2,012 Corsairs.
Altogether the number of F4U-1 variants built was 9,444 including the -1C and -1D which had changed armament or changed engine models. The F4U-2 had night fighter radar, and the 32 in service were being modified. The next major version was the F4U-4 it had a more powerful engine. This series, the standard production model at the end of the war, included the -4P photoreconnaissance models with fuselage cameras. Production continued and in 1946 the updated =32W engine became available for the F4U-5 series. Together with the low-altitude AU-1 attack version and a batch of F4U-7's for the French used in Indo-China these completed production in December 1952, the longest run of any American piston-engine fighters. In the Korean War more than eighteen hundred Corsairs saw action in all kinds of ground attacks and air combat missions, thus giving way to the new jets, which offered short field-length and long flight endurance.
