The Fighting 99th Air Wing

AIR : LAND : SEA : FIGHT!

Corsair

8 years 1 week ago
Vampyre
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 667
More
Topic Author
Corsair #461
My favorite WWII aircraft is the Corsair. This one is an FG-1D which is a Goodyear built F4U-1D... the version that Leatherneck is making.


Whistling Death


F2G-1 Super Corsair "Race 57"- RIP Bob Odegaard

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
runny
New Member
New Member
More
Corsair #3343
My favorite plane is the Corsair too, followed by the typhoon.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
TracerFacer
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 16
Karma: 1
More
Corsair #3348
Only plane that would get me to play wwii stuff.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
Vampyre
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 667
More
Topic Author
Corsair #3351

I flew Il-2 Sturmovik for about 14 years and always chose the Corsair over everything else if it was available on a mission. The WWII prop jobs really make you work to get kills... all dogfight all the time! Woot!

She is a thing of beauty! F4U-4 Corsair of Korean War vintage.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
Cygon_Parrot
New Member
New Member
Posts: 1
More
Corsair #3352
Cool, I remember watching that series "Black Sheep Squadron" about the misfit pilots at the Guadalcanal campaign. I didn't miss an episode, and it is among my favorite aircraft of WWII, as well. Very distinctive, with no compromise to stick raw power up front. That said, when I was in high school I did a rather long and obsessive history report project about the War in the Pacific, and gained a healthy respect for the SBD Dauntless, of all things! That obsolete, vulnerable dive bomber literally turned the tide of the War at the Coral Sea and Midway. Three cheers for the underdog, please!



But even that is not my very favorite aircraft of WWII. That accolade is reserved for another underdog to which there is a certain affinity for me. However I'll leave that story for another time...

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
Vampyre
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 667
More
Topic Author
Corsair #3355

In Il-2 when there were no Corsairs in the pacific missions I would take either a Dauntless or an Avenger and go kill ships... good fun sneaking under the enemy fighters and sinking their carriers and escorts so they had nothing to land on when they were out of fuel and ammo. :evil:

As for the other underdog, was it the Gloster Gladiator of Malta fame? Faith, Hope and Charity. Or the Brewster Buffalo of Singapore and Finland fame... or the F4F Wildcat that got its butt spanked by A6M's all over the pacific until suitable tactics were adopted?

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
Cygon_Parrot
New Member
New Member
Posts: 1
More
Corsair #3356

Those are all noted, Vampyre. Gladiators as well as Buffalos served with Finnish forces (I like the way Finland stayed very quiet about their part in the War, a friend of mine and I used to laugh at that one while we were studying WWII. But of course there were other factors involved in that modesty, including a post war political strategy of SOI annexation named after the country, LOL!). The F4F, of course, must still be one of the world's most successful obsolete aircraft(?). The Buffalos operating from Malaya (great book I read about that campaign, "Bloody Shambles"), could have been in action against Japanese forces the day before Pearl Harbor, except that Operation Matador was called off.

All great guesses, but none of them were it.

It is quite obscure, now, and there are no surviving examples. It is the first operational four engine heavy bomber of the RAF, the Short Stirling. It took the initial brunt of taking the fight deep into Germany along with the Wellington and Whitley twin engine bombers, before being replaced by the superior Lancaster.

Why I have a certain affinity is because my father was flight engineer on it. The night he was shot down is detailed on this 15 Sqn ORB . Look for Sgt. Shearer, on the first entry. That's him, the only survivor of that crew. He was taken POW for the rest of the War.

Thanks go to the French WWII historian Jocelyn Leclerq for having located and personally sent me the ORB documents a few years ago regarding my dad's activity on the Squadron.

I really hate going off topic, so we're back to the Corsair. Another great book I read years ago, "Operation Pacific" sets the background in which the Royal Navy utilized Corsairs in the Fleet Air Arm against Japan on board the cramped, but deck armored British carriers (USN crews were envious of that feature later when the kamikaze attacks started). Britain inevitably put into practice their favorite wing clipping technique so that the aircraft would fit into the low headroom below deck hangars when the wings were folded. LOL!

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
pyromaniac4002
New Member
New Member
Posts: 6
Karma: 2
More
Corsair #3360
Do you know what that 12 x 90 x 4 in the details meant?

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

8 years 1 week ago
Cygon_Parrot
New Member
New Member
Posts: 1
More
Corsair #3361

Yes, it is a description of the bomb load. They were carrying phosphorous incendiary sticks, which is what caught fire in the bomb bay and brought them down. I believe it means 12 packs of 90 sticks, 4 lbs weight each stick.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

6 years 4 months ago
Vampyre
Administrator
Administrator
Posts: 667
More
Topic Author
Corsair #9098
Corsair video from the Reno Air Races. Jay Consalvi might be familiar to some of you if you have ever watched Speed and Angles. I guess he went through a callsign change too.
[BBvideo=560,315]
[/BBvideo]

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.086 seconds