Vought F4U Corsair

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vought_F4U_Corsair

The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service
primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon
overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in production by
Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and
Brewster-built aircraft F3A. From the first prototype delivery to the U.S. Navy
in 1940, to final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs were
manufactured, in 16 separate models, in the longest production run of any
piston-engined fighter in U.S. history (1942–53).

The Corsair was designed as a carrier-based aircraft but its difficult carrier
landing performance rendered it unsuitable for Navy use until the carrier
landing issues were overcome by the British Fleet Air Arm. The Corsair thus came
to and retained prominence in its area of greatest deployment: land based use by
the U.S. Marines. The role of the dominant U.S. carrier based fighter in the
second part of the war was thus filled by the Grumman F6F Hellcat, powered by
the same Double Wasp engine first flown on the Corsair's first prototype in
1940. The Corsair served to a lesser degree in the U.S. Navy. As well as the
U.S. and British use the Corsair was also used by the Royal New Zealand Air
Force, the French Navy Aéronavale and other, smaller, air forces until the
1960s. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American fighter
of World War II, and the U.S. Navy counted an 11:1 kill ratio with the F4U
Corsair.

After the carrier landing issues had been tackled, it quickly became the most
capable carrier-based fighter-bomber of World War II. The Corsair served almost
exclusively as a fighter-bomber throughout the Korean War and during the French
colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria.


Role
Carrier-based fighter aircraft

National origin
United States

Manufacturer
Chance Vought

First flight
29 May 1940

Introduction
28 December 1942

Retired
1979 (Honduras)

Primary users
United States Navy
United States Marine Corps
Royal Navy
Royal New Zealand Air Force

Produced
1942–53[1]

Number built
12,571

Developed into
Goodyear F2G Corsair


Engine considerations

The F4U incorporated the largest engine available at the time: the 2,000 hp
(1,500 kW) 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial. To extract as
much power as possible, a relatively large Hamilton Standard Hydromatic
three-blade propeller of 13 feet 4 inches (4.06 m) was used.

Landing gear and wings

To accommodate a folding wing the designers considered retracting the main
landing gear rearward but, for the chord of wing that was chosen, it was
difficult to make the landing gear struts long enough to provide ground
clearance for the large propeller. Their solution was an inverted gull wing,
which considerably shortened the required length of the main gear legs.[24] The
anhedral of the wing's center-section also permitted the wing and fuselage to
meet at the optimum angle for minimizing drag, without using wing root
fairings.[24] The bent wing, however, was heavier and more difficult to
construct, offsetting these benefits.

The U.S. Navy received its first production F4U-1 on 31 July 1942, but getting
it into service proved difficult. The framed "birdcage" style canopy provided
inadequate visibility for deck taxiing. Even more seriously, the machine had a
nasty tendency to "bounce" on touchdown, which could cause it to miss the
arresting hook and slam into the crash barrier, or even go out of control. The
long "hose nose" visibility problem and the enormous torque of the Double Wasp
engine also created operational problems.

Marine Corps combat

From February 1943 onward, the F4U operated from Guadalcanal and ultimately
other bases in the Solomon Islands. A dozen USMC F4U-1s of VMF-124, commanded by
Major William E. Gise, arrived at Henderson Field (code name "Cactus") on 12
February. The first recorded combat engagement was on 14 February 1943, when
Corsairs of VMF-124 under Major Gise assisted P-40s and P-38s in escorting a
formation of Consolidated B-24 Liberators on a raid against a Japanese aerodrome
at Kahili. Japanese fighters contested the raid and the Americans got the worst
of it, with four P-38s, two P-40s, two Corsairs and two Liberators lost. No more
than four Japanese Zeros were destroyed. A Corsair was responsible for one of
the kills, although this was due to a midair collision. The fiasco was referred
to as the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre".[43][44] Despite the debut, the
Marines quickly learned how to make better use of the aircraft and started
demonstrating its superiority over Japanese fighters. By May, the Corsair units
were getting the upper hand, and VMF-124 had produced the first Corsair ace,
Second Lieutenant Kenneth A. Walsh, who would rack up a total of 21 kills during
the war.[45] He remembered:

"I learned quickly that altitude was paramount. Whoever had altitude dictated
the terms of the battle, and there was nothing a Zero pilot could do to change
that — we had him. The F4U could outperform a Zero in every aspect except slow
speed manoeuvrability and slow speed rate of climb. Therefore you avoided
getting slow when combating a Zero. It took time but eventually we developed
tactics and deployed them very effectively... There were times, however, that I
tangled with a Zero at slow speed, one on one. In these instances I considered
myself fortunate to survive a battle. Of my 21 victories, 17 were against Zeros,
and I lost five aircraft in combat. I was shot down three times and I crashed
one that ploughed into the line back at base and wiped out another F4U.

Specifications

F4U-1A[edit]

Data from WWII Aircraft Performance[130] The Aviation History Online Museum[131]

General characteristics
Crew: 1 pilot
Length: 33 ft 4 in (10.1 m)
Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in (12.5 m)
Height: 16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)
Wing area: 314 ft2 (29.17 m2)
Empty weight: 8,982 lb (4,073 kg)
Loaded weight: 11,432 lb (5,185 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8 radial engine, 2,000 hp (1,491 kW)

Performance
Maximum speed: 417 mph (362 kn, 671 km/h)
Range: 1,015 mi (882 nmi (1,633 km))
Service ceiling: 36,900 ft (11,247 m)
Rate of climb: 2,890 ft/min (15.2 m/s)

Armament

Guns:
6 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, 400 rounds per gun
4 × 20 mm AN/M2 cannons, 375 rounds per gun

Rockets: 4 × 5 in (12.7 cm) High Velocity Aircraft Rockets and/or
Bombs: 2,000 pounds (910 kg)

F4U-4

General characteristics
Crew: 1 pilot
Length: 33 ft 8 in (10.2 m)
Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in (12.5 m)
WS Folded: 17 ft 0.5 in (5.2 m)
Height: 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
Empty weight: 9,205 lb (4,174 kg)
Loaded weight: 12,405 lb (5,626 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-18W radial engine, 2,380 hp (1,775 kW)

Performance
Maximum speed: 446 mph (717 km/h) at 26.200 ft (using emergency power)
Stall speed: 89 mph (143 km/h) clean
Range: 1005 mi (1617 km) on internal fuel
Combat radius: 285 nmi (328 mi, 527 km) with one external 150gal tank
Service ceiling: 41,500ft (12,649 m)
Rate of climb: 4,360ft/min (22.1 m/s) at sea-level (using emergency power)

Armament

Guns:
6 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, 400 rounds per gun or
4 × 0.79 in (20 mm) AN/M2 cannon

Rockets: 8 × 5 in (12.7 cm) high velocity aircraft rockets and/or
Bombs: 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg)





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