From this web site:

http://www.vectorsite.net/avf4u.html


By the beginning of 1945, the Corsair was a full-blown "mudfighter",
performing strikes with high-explosive bombs, napalm tanks, and HVARs.
It was a prominent participant in the fighting for the Palaus, Iwo
Jima, and Okinawa, with the ground-pounders calling it the
"Sweetheart" for its welcome services when things were getting nasty.

In the last months of the conflict, the F4U also carried the oversized
29.8 centimeter (11.75 inch) "Tiny Tim" unguided rocket on the
wingroot pylons for cracking Japanese strongpoints. Experiments were
performed in 1944 with an old F4U-1 with "jet assisted take-off
(JATO)" gear, featuring a small solid-fuel rocket attached on the
fuselage just behind each wingroot, to allow the Corsair to get off
the ground more easily with heavy loads, but it appears that JATO was
rarely, if ever, used in service with the Corsair.


Regards,


On Tue, 24 May 2005 21:39:04 -0400, "Kyle Boatright"
wrote:

Was JATO used operationally by Corsairs operating off of carriers in WWII?

I just saw a film clip, purportedly from the invasion of Iwo Jima, of a
Corsair taking off from a carrier deck with JATO assistance. I have never
seen or heard of Corsairs using JATO before, and am wondering if JATO was
*really* used on operational Corsairs, or if the History Channel simply
spliced a neat looking clip into their Iwo Jima footage?

Thanks in advance.

KB