DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
IL2 Air Combat!
HTML https://il2freemodding.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: IL2 Aircraft Articles
*****************************************************
#Post#: 11332--------------------------------------------------
Plane of the Week: Vought F4U Corsair
By: vonofterdingen Date: May 18, 2020, 3:18 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[img width=1024
height=711]
HTML https://i.postimg.cc/ryhhYbSs/Screen-Hunter-269.png[/img]
The Vought F4U Corsair has a fascinating history in that it
failed in its intended role as a carrier-based fighter yet went
on to excel as a land-based Marine Corps fighter-bomber. The US
Marine Corps has an unenviable history of receiving second-rate
materials from the US Navy. In this case, however, the Marines
received the Corsair due to difficulties that Navy pilots had
landing them on carriers. Since Marine pilots were primarily
land-based, the Corsairs they received were a welcome upgrade to
their Grumman Wildcat fighters. The Corsair went on to become
one of the premier fighters of WW2 and served not only US air
fleets but also in British, Common Wealth, and French air
forces.
From Wikipedia:
The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that
saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War.
Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the
Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production
contracts were given to Goodyear, whose Corsairs were designated
FG, and Brewster, designated F3A.
The Corsair was designed and operated as a carrier-based
aircraft, and entered service in large numbers with the U.S.
Navy in late 1944 and early 1945. It quickly became one of the
most capable carrier-based fighter-bombers of World War II. Some
Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American
fighter of World War II and its naval aviators achieved an 11:1
kill ratio. Early problems with carrier landings and logistics
led to it being eclipsed as the dominant carrier-based fighter
by the Grumman F6F Hellcat, powered by the same Double Wasp
engine first flown on the Corsair's first prototype in 1940.
Instead, the Corsair's early deployment was to land-based
squadrons of the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy.
The Corsair served almost exclusively as a fighter-bomber
throughout the Korean War and during the French colonial wars in
Indochina and Algeria. In addition to its use by the U.S. and
British, the Corsair was also used by the Royal New Zealand Air
Force, French Naval Aviation, and other air forces until the
1960s.
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. Its 1942–53 production
run was the longest of any U.S. piston-engined fighter.
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 struts. 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. The bent wing, however, was
heavier and more difficult to construct, offsetting these
benefits.
The Corsair's aerodynamics were an advance over those of
contemporary naval fighters. The F4U was the first U.S. Navy
aircraft to feature landing gear that retracted into a fully
enclosed wheel well. The landing gear oleo struts—each with its
own strut door enclosing it when retracted—rotated through 90°
during retraction, with the wheel atop the lower end of the
strut when retracted. A pair of rectangular doors enclosed each
wheel well, leaving a streamlined wing. This swiveling,
aft-retracting landing gear design was common to the Curtiss
P-40 (and its predecessor, the P-36), as adopted for the F4U
Corsair's main gear and its erstwhile Pacific War counterpart,
the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The oil coolers were mounted in the
heavily anhedraled center-section of the wings, alongside the
supercharger air intakes, and used openings in the leading edges
of the wings, rather than protruding scoops. The large fuselage
panels were made of aluminum and were attached to the frames
with the newly developed technique of spot welding, thus mostly
eliminating the use of rivets. While employing this new
technology, the Corsair was also the last American-produced
fighter aircraft to feature fabric as the skinning for the top
and bottom of each outer wing, aft of the main spar and armament
bays, and for the ailerons, elevators, and rudder. The elevators
were also constructed from plywood. The Corsair, even with its
streamlining and high speed abilities, could fly slowly enough
for carrier landings with full flap deployment of 60°.
[img width=1024
height=556]
HTML https://i.postimg.cc/qq71vXdp/Screen-Hunter-270.png[/img]
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, albeit due to a midair
collision. The fiasco was referred to as the "Saint Valentine's
Day Massacre". 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.
VMF-113 was activated on 1 January 1943 at Marine Corps Air
Station El Toro as part of Marine Base Defense Air Group 41.
They were soon given their full complement of 24 F4U Corsairs.
On 26 March 1944, while escorting four B-25 bombers on a raid
over Ponape, they recorded their first enemy kills, downing
eight Japanese aircraft. In April of that year, VMF-113 was
tasked with providing air support for the landings at Ujelang.
Since the assault was unopposed, the squadron quickly returned
to striking Japanese targets in the Marshall Islands for the
remainder of 1944.
Corsairs were flown by the "Black Sheep" Squadron (VMF-214,
led by Marine Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington) in an area of the
Solomon Islands called "The Slot". Boyington was credited with
22 kills in F4Us (of 28 total, including six in an AVG P-40,
although his score with the AVG has been disputed). Other noted
Corsair pilots of the period included VMF-124's Kenneth Walsh,
James E. Swett, Archie Donahue and Bill "Casey" Case; VMF-215's
Robert M. Hanson and Donald Aldrich; and VF-17's Tommy
Blackburn, Roger Hedrick, and Ira Kepford. Nightfighter versions
equipped Navy and Marine units afloat and ashore.
One particularly unusual kill was scored by Marine Lieutenant
R. R. Klingman of VMF-312 (the "Checkerboards") over Okinawa.
Klingman was in pursuit of a Japanese twin-engine aircraft at
high altitude when his guns jammed due to the gun lubrication
thickening from the extreme cold. He flew up and chopped off the
enemy's tail with the big propeller of the Corsair. Despite
missing five inches (127 mm) off the end of his propeller
blades, he managed to land safely after this aerial ramming
attack. He was awarded the Navy Cross.
At war's end, Corsairs were ashore on Okinawa, combating the
kamikaze, and also were flying from fleet and escort carriers.
VMF-312, VMF-323, VMF-224, and a handful of others met with
success in the Battle of Okinawa.
U.S. figures compiled at the end of the war indicate that the
F4U and FG flew 64,051 operational sorties for the U.S. Marines
and U.S. Navy through the conflict (44% of total fighter
sorties), with only 9,581 sorties (15%) flown from carrier
decks. F4U and FG pilots claimed 2,140 air combat victories
against 189 losses to enemy aircraft, for an overall kill ratio
of over 11:1. While this gave the Corsair the lowest loss rate
of any fighter of the Pacific War, this was due in part to
operational circumstances; it primarily faced air-to-air combat
in the Solomon Islands and Rabaul campaigns (as well as at Leyte
and for kamikaze interception), but as operations shifted north
and its mission shifted to ground attack the aircraft saw less
exposure to enemy aircraft, while other fighter types were
exposed to more air combat. Against the best Japanese opponents,
the aircraft claimed a 12:1 kill ratio against Mitsubishi A6M
and 6:1 against the Nakajima Ki-84, Kawanishi N1K-J, and
Mitsubishi J2M combined during the last year of the war. The
Corsair bore the brunt of U.S. fighter-bomber missions,
delivering 15,621 short tons (14,171 metric tons) of bombs
during the war (70% of total bombs dropped by U.S. fighters
during the war).
[img width=1024
height=617]
HTML https://i.postimg.cc/gjBNXXY8/Screen-Hunter-271.png[/img]
In game…
This is a great plane to fly in the Pacific Theater. It is
damn fast and maneuvers well. The 6 50 caliber Browning machine
guns provide plenty of fire power too, especially against some
of the more fire-prone Japanese adversaries. Not only is it a
good fighter, but it also provides a nice platform for bombing
and rocket attacks on ground targets. My only complaint against
this plane is that my visibility seems to be hindered if I look
straight up, as when I am in a loop. They say it is difficult to
land on a carrier, but hey, I can’t land anything on a carrier
so that just doesn’t bother me so much! If you want to fly a US
Marines campaign you will probably get into one of these at some
point or another. And there are plenty of campaigns available,
at least some of which portray the American hero Pappy Boyington
and his famous Black Sheep squadron.
#Post#: 11339--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Vought F4U Corsair
By: larsresult Date: May 19, 2020, 5:53 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Good write up Von. After Johnny Johnson's Spitfire IX this was
my next 1/32nd kit, the Airfix F4U-1D. That was way back in 60.
I always looked for it in all the flight sims over the years.
Preferred it to the F6F although that has its moments in Il2. As
you say it could deal with any enemies.
#Post#: 11342--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Vought F4U Corsair
By: vonofterdingen Date: May 19, 2020, 10:10 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Thanks Lars. I remember this as one of my favorite plastic
models also. There was something special about the gullwing
design.
Question: In the first picture (top of the page) the Corsair in
the foreground has a pattern painted just in front of the
canopy. I have seen that often in Corsairs. What is its purpose?
#Post#: 11344--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Vought F4U Corsair
By: DHumphrey Date: May 19, 2020, 11:50 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=vonofterdingen link=topic=1641.msg11342#msg11342
date=1589901044]
Question: In the first picture (top of the page) the Corsair in
the foreground has a pattern painted just in front of the
canopy. I have seen that often in Corsairs. What is its purpose?
[/quote][left][font=arial]Among the many problems that turned up
in operational [/font][font=arial]F4U
[/font][font=arial]Corsairs was a leaky fuel tank, which was
located between the pilot and the engine for the most favorable
center of gravity. [/font]C[font=arial]orsair
[/font][font=arial]pilots said that a virtually universal
practice to keep the windshield clean was to seal the fuselage
panels with strips of [/font][font=arial]white
[/font][font=arial]tape. :) [/font][font=arial]Another excellent
POW article Von, thanks !!![/font][/left]
#Post#: 11345--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Vought F4U Corsair
By: JG51_Ruski Date: May 19, 2020, 12:15 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
another great write up Von..When I modeled as a young pup it was
always Pacific planes of course the Corsair being my
favorite,,And when I feel like practicing carrier landing this
is the go to girl
#Post#: 11351--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Vought F4U Corsair
By: cafs Date: May 19, 2020, 6:59 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Great POW, Von! Love the Corsair. In the end, and after learning
the "landing pattern tip" from the FAA, the USN keep them
flying from their carriers longer them the "carrier landing
friendly" Hellcat.
#Post#: 11384--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Vought F4U Corsair
By: Beowolff Date: May 23, 2020, 12:36 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Fantastic plane, fantastic article! Great job, Von my friend!
;D ;) ;)
*****************************************************