Fought F4U Corsair at the Fleet Air Arm Museum

Can you believe the Corsair broke a speed on its first ever flight, by exceeding 400 mph in straight and level flight!?

First flying in May 1940, the Corsair entered service a year after the Pearl Harbour attacks and was primarily operated by the US Navy, US Marine Corps, Royal Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Between 1942 and 1953 over 12,500 Corsairs were built

Known as the whistling death owing to the sound it made while attacking targets at lower altitudes, the Vought F4U Corsair is an absolutely incredible aircraft. The Corsair was powered by the Double Wasp engine, which when strapped to its massive 13 foot propeller produced 2,000 hp. In fact the propeller was so big that the aircraft’s nose stood quite high in the air, restricting the pilot’s visibility during take-off and landing. The Corsair was reported to be an incredibly difficult aircraft to land on aircraft carriers and early models were reported to be quite difficult to recover from spins, owing to the reduced elevator authority caused by the gull wing design. The aircraft’s engine was so powerful that large throttle movements while flying at slow speeds, such as on approach to landing, could lead to a violent left wing drop. These problems were minimised through the installation of stall strips on the leading edge of the outer right wing, to try and make both wings stall at the same time, thus helping prevent a wing drop.

By Victory in Japan day, the Corsair had gained a kill ratio of approximately 11: 1. Following the end of the war, the Corsair saw extensive service during the Korean War. It would then see service with the French during the Indochina war, Suez Crisis and the Algerian War. The type would see its last combat in the Football war of 1969, between El Salvador and Honduras.