Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Single-seat carrier-borne fighter and fighter-bomber

Power Plant:

(F4U-1 Corsair II)

One 1,492 kw (2,000 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8 Double Wasp eighteen-cylinder air-cooled radial engine

Specifications:

Armament:

Six 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Colt Browning MG53-2 machine-guns with 2,350 rounds; plus two 453.6 kg (1,000 lb) bombs or eight 12.7 cm (5 in) rockets

History:

Acknowledged to be the finest shipboard fighter of World War II, the Chance Vought Corsair was superior in many respects to the Mustang below 6,096 m (20,000 ft) and, although it was designed for shipboard operation, the type was probably operated more frequently from land bases during the war. The Corsair was designed in 1938 to meet a US Navy requirement for a shipboard fighter.

The prototype, the XF4U-1, was flown for the first time on 29 May 1940. Designed around the Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp engine, it featured an inverted gull configuration to give it necessary ground clearance for the propeller required for the engine. During testing it became the first American fighter to exceed 643 km/h (400 mph), reaching 650 km/h (404 mph) on 1 October 1940.

Despite the performance of the aircraft, reports from Europe necessitated major modifications to the design in order to improve its capabilities. These included a heavier armament, integral fuel tanks in the centre-section, and the re-positioning of the cockpit 0.914 m (3 ft) aft due to the altered fuel tanks.

An initial contract for 584 aircraft was placed on 30 June 1941. Known as the F4U-1, the type entered service in mid 1942. Subsequently, the Corsair was the subject of considerable development and was fitted with more powerful models of the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine, and heavier armament. Production proceeded through to the F4U-4P tactical reconnaissance model late in the war. In fact, production continued for about 7 ½ years after the conclusion of the war, and the type saw distinguished service in the Korean War, and with the French forces in Vietnam.

A total of 12,571 Corsairs was built at three facilities, the Chance Vought Aircraft Division of the united Aircraft Corporati0n at Stratford, Connecticut, the Goodyear Aircraft Corporation at Akro in Ohio and the Brewster Aeronautical Corporation at Long Island City, New York during the years 1942 to 1953.

In later years a number of surviving Corsairs in the USA have been restored to airworthiness, others have been used for unlimited air-racing at Reno, Nevada, and a number have been on display in museums.

The Corsair never saw service with the RAAF or the RAN, although some British and American squadrons flew the type in Australia during the war years. There were 65 Royal Navy squadrons with the British East Indies and Pacific fleets attached to 34 aircraft carriers and 17 Air Stations. Of these units, 34 were equipped with aircraft of American manufacture under Lend-Lease, these including the Grumman Hellcat, Grumman Avenger, Chance Vought Corsair, Grumman Wildcat, Vultee Vengeance and Beech Expediter. Many were held in reserve at Australian Naval Stations. Two of the RN Squadrons with Corsairs in Australia were 1843 and 1845. These units were prevented from participating in the final push on Japan by the dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No 1843 had 24 Corsairs and these were fitted with a British gyro gun-sight and G-45 camera.

In 1945 Corsairs of No 1843 Squadron, RN, which had been formed in the US on 1 May 1944, arrived in Australia on board an aircraft carrier, ‘HMS Arbiter’, taking up residence at Schofields in Sydney, NSW on 1 May 1945. In the following months it operated from there before being sent to the Admiralty Islands. On 4 July the Squadron moved to Maryborough, QLD, and then moved to RNAS Station, Jervis Bay, NSW shortly afterwards moving to RNAS Nowra, NSW. The unit joined No 3 Carrier Air Group which formed at Nowra on 2 August 1945 and this comprised 1843 and 1845 Squadrons with Chance Vought Corsairs, and 854 Squadron with Grumman Avengers. The Group was disbanded on 20 October 1945 and the aircraft remained at Nowra.

In late September 1945 the Corsair units were told to have all aircraft serviceable but to remove the gyro gun-sights and camera guns. They were then flown on to Royal Navy carriers off the NSW coast and were fired off the carriers’ catapults pilotless or pushed over the side in accordance with the agreement that at the conclusion of the war the Lend-Lease aircraft were to be destroyed or returned to the United States. Some of these aircraft had less than ten-hours flying time as the units had only recently re-equipped.

It is interesting to note on 3 September 1945 No 1843 Squadron joined other Royal Naval aircraft at Essendon, VIC where an air pageant was held for the public featuring Grumman Avengers, Chance Vought Corsairs, Fairey Fireflys and Supermarine Seafires, newspaper reports stating 100,000 people attended.

Units of the British Pacific Fleet were based in Australia at various times, training operations being flown from ‘HMAS Albatross’ at Nowra and ‘HMAS Nirimba’ at Schofields. It seems a few were lost in accidents.

The Pratt and Whitney R-2800-8 engine from a Chance Vought Corsair IV which was flown by Sub Lt (A) J Boak of the RNVR from No 1831 Squadron from ‘HMS Glory’, which crashed near Bodalla, NSW in 1946, has been recovered and placed on display at the Australian Naval Aviation Museum at Nowra. In February 1946 six Corsairs from ‘HMS Glory’ were based at RAAF Williamtown, NSW along with five Fairey Fireflies for Naval air manoeuvres off the coast and one was lost when it crashed 29 km (18 miles) west of Sugarloaf Point. The detachment gave a number of demonstrations of fire-power on targets moored off the coast.

The type saw service extensively with the RNZAF between 1944 and 1951. Thirteen squadrons operated the Chance Vought Corsair, being Nos 14 to 26, all aircraft being obtained via Lend-Lease. These were: 233 Chance Vought Model F4U-1A Corsairs aircraft with serial numbers NZ5201 to NZ5397 and NZ5501 to NZ5536; 90 Model F4U-1D aircraft with serial numbers NZ5398 to NZ5487; and 60 Goodyear FG-1D aircraft with serial numbers NZ5601 to NZ5660.

The RNZAF units saw extensive service against Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal areas. They continued in service after the war, particularly with RNZAF forces based in Japan after the war. The first Corsairs taken on charge were delivered to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and assembled at the Base Depot at Pallikulo airfield, being brought on charge between 24 March 1944 and 5 February 1945, these being those serialled NZ5201 to NZ5487, whereas the remainder were all delivered to New Zealand where they were erected at Hobsonville between May and August 1944 and retained for training. Some of the Corsairs whilst used for training were fitted with rocket launchers at the Ardmore Rocket School.

A few of the Corsairs at the Wigram Central Flying School were in natural metal finish, except for the anti-glare panel and RNZAF markings, whereas those in the islands retained their US three-tone colour scheme. Some of the Goodyear-built FG-1s were erected when delivered to the Admiralty Islands in June 1945 but it was then late in the war and they saw little operational service.

By the time the 287 Corsairs of the RNZAF had basically taken over the work which had been successfully completed by Curtiss P-40 units, there were few Japanese aircraft flying in the New Guinea and Solomon Islands for them to meet in aerial combat. Records have indicated that no New Zealand pilot in the forward areas managed to successfully destroy an enemy aircraft in the air. However, the Corsairs were used for ground strikes against well defended positions occupied by Japanese forces, being directed on occasions to Japanese targets by Australian CAC Boomerangs. In this role the type suffered high attrition due to enemy ground fire, some 129 Corsair F4U-1s being lost in the forward area, 87 of these on operational flights.

The Corsairs continued to be on the RNZAF record after the conclusion of hostilities, ie, as at 1 April 1946 277 were on strength, this reducing to 53 in 1948 and 33 in 1949. Most were held in storage but 24 Goodyear FG-1s were shipped to Japan to be operated by No 14 Squadron as part of the Allied occupation force. Four of these were lost in accidents. After withdrawal from service most were broken up in situ, more than 200 being sold for scrap in 1948, and the survivors of those based in Japan were destroyed by burning. The final survivors were scrapped in 1949. Main base for storage was Rukuhia for RNZAF aircraft and many were broken up there.

A few examples have survived in this region. A Goodyear FG-1D serial NZ5612 is the only one of the 424 aircraft operated by the 12 RNZAF squadrons to survive in New Zealand. Sold for scrap, along with the other survivors, it was donated to the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) in Auckland where it was restored for display but was later exported.

In 1987 a Corsair F4U-5NL was obtained by the RNZAF Museum from the United States in exchange for assistance given in the making of the Disney Corporation movie “Seals”. This aircraft (BuAer 124493), which saw service with the Honduran Air Force as serial 608, was exchanged in 1997 for a Curtiss P-40 in Australia, the latter being restored for the RNZAF Museum at Wigram.

A former RNZAF Corsair FG-1B NZ5648 (c/n 3305 – Bu Aer 92044) was flown in the United Kingdom with the Old Flying Machine Company at Duxford, Cambridgeshire initially as NX55JP for some years and later as G-BXUL until it was shipped to New Zealand in 2004, initially taking up residence at Wanaka but later being sold to an operator on the North Island where in February 2006 it became ZK-COR.

A further airworthy Corsair was obtained in the early 1990s by the Alpine Fighter Collection at Wanaka on the South Island. Registered ZK -FUI, and painted in the scheme worn by the first Corsair taken on charge by the RNZAF in 1944, this Corsair F4U-1 (c/n 17955) was regularly seen at aviation events in New Zealand until exported to a museum in Brazil.

The ex-RNZAF Goodyear FG-1D NZ5612 (Bu Aer 88090), which spent some time with the MOTAT Museum in Auckland in 1983 before being exported to the United States, has been airworthy in the United States. This aircraft arrived at Los Negros Island, Papua New Guinea in July 1945 and operated with No 17 Squadron before being retired at Rukuhia. As a civil aircraft it made its first post-restoration flight at Cherau in South Carolina in 2014.

In 1992 and 1994 the remains of two Corsairs were recovered from the sea near Noosa, QLD where they got caught up in fishing nets, these being part of the Lend-Lease aircraft disposed of at sea after the conclusion of hostilities in 1945-1946.

In 2005 it was announced a Corsair F4U-4B (ex N240CA, N5213V, N97353, Bu Aer 97359) was to be imported to Melbourne, VIC but in fact was sold in the United States before importation.

Two further Corsairs were to be imported during 2006, these being Goodyear FG-1D models serials 67070 and 92106, the latter aircraft having seen service with VMF-214 in the Television series ‘Black Sheep Squadron’. The F4U-5N (c/n 10353) noted above was for some years under restoration at Darwin, NT. This aircraft on 14 February 2013 became VH-III to its owner at Mt Eliza, VIC, being based at Tyabb, VIC.

Restoration of another F4U-1D (serial 82640) commenced in 2010 at Mareeba, QLD; this aircraft being registered on 30 March 2011 to North Queensland Warbirds as VH-NQW but was not expected to fly before 2020.  In the event the Corsair was completed and flew at Mareeba, QLD on 28 February 2022.

The oldest surviving Corsair, which was a combat veteran, has been under restoration to static display standard at the Classic Fighters Museum in SA, this being a Model F4U-1 (Bu Aer 02270). This was the 117th Corsair produced, being allotted the registration VH-AQU4. This aircraft crash landed near Quoin Hill, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) on 22 October 1943 and was recovered in 2013, at that time being noted in VFM-214 ‘Black Sheep Squadron’ markings. However, in 2016 it was announced the Classic Fighters Museum was closing and the Corsair and other aircraft were placed on the market for sale.

A further Corsair F4U-1 (Bu Aer 02449) also under restoration at Parafield, SA by Classic Jets was registered to Robert Jarrett of Salisbury East, SA on 30 September 2014 as VH-ASG4 but was removed from the register in December 2014, never being completed and flown in Australia, becoming N2449 in the United States.