In August 1945, just before the end of the war in the Pacific, a Canadian, Lt. Robert Gray, won the VC for sinking a Japanese destroyer while flying a Corsair. It was posthumous.
From valourcanada.ca : But Lt. Gray achieved one further distinction that made him unique among all Allied personnel: he has been the only member of the Allied forces to have received a memorial dedicated to him on Japanese home soil: at Sakiyama Park by Onagawa Bay, a stone monument was erected in 1989 overlooking his place of death. The monument was repaired and rededicated in 2006. After the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, the memorial was moved across the bay to the Onagawa Hospital.
@B1GFRONTO My maternal uncle was captured at Honk Kong in December, 1941 and was a POW of the Imperial Japanese Army until 1945. My wife's maternal grandfather was captured in the Philippines, survived both the death march and over 3 years as a POW of the Imperial Japanese Army. Both those men "forgave" their captors. In any case - all these men are either dead now or the youngest are 100 years old. Blaming Japan for what happened well over 70 years ago is a bit ridiculous.
Fun fact: The corsair tended to produce a whistling sound when diving, this was caused by a slit in the wing elevating mechanism. The space between the wing root and wingtip allowed for air to pass through at enough speed and pressure to cause said whistling. Soldiers hearing this sound might have compared it's psychological factor to that of the Jericho trumpets from the german Stuka dive bomber.
It was the oil coolers that caused the noise. The pilot would put the cooler door so they could hear the noise and they knew how the Japanese reacted to this. I worked at Vought aircraft for 21 years and took care of its Corsair
One moment with the Corsair I won’t forget is in World at War. In the last few moments of the Black Cats mission, just as you were running out of ammo in an onslaught of Zeros, navy Corsairs arrive and save you just in time.
Those were marine corsairs; the navy used hellcats in WW2. Also that part of the game is focused on the US Marines, so it’d make more sense. Don’t forget the crashed Corsair in the swamp!
In the Football War between El Salvador and Honduras, Captain Edgardo Acosta of Honduras scored 3 kills when he shot down the El Salvadorian P-51 Mustangs.
My Great Grandpa flew these in WWII. His division was gonna help with the invasion on the island of Kyushu if we would’ve had the full invasion of Japan and assist in air support. He told me his division was expecting 50% casualties. He’s still around and I’ve recorded all the stories he’s told me. He’s 97 and sadly is beginning to forget a lot… so I’m thankful I got everything on audio. Not many left anymore…
I love hearing these stories, I'm old enough to have met these men but never asked them about it. My neighbour was at Dunkirk and then was a Japanese prisoner of war, he still had nightmares and we were told not to ask him about it so I never asked any of them. My Grandad was a spy in Italy in WW2, I never even knew until his funeral.
A friend of mine who is still with us served on a cruiser during the The Battle Of The Coral Sea. His ship was part of the screening force which blocked a possible route for the Japanese fleet if they were trying to evade the Americans and reach Port Moresby.
That's a very nice tribute to honoring and remembering your Great Grandpa. It's too bad more families aren't doing that as a tribute their elder veteran family members.
Thanks for the fine video! My father flew the Corsair in the Korean War from the USS Valley Forge. His cruise book album has some great photos of flying off the carrier in bad weather. He got his wings of gold in the summer of 1945, and his squadran was not sent to Japan. He stayed in the Navy Reserve to maintain flight status, and volunteered to go to Korea. He retired with 28 years service, and his headstone shows his active duty during WWII, Korea,Vietnam, and his Navy Air Medal. RIP Dad.
What’s amazing is that the Corsair’s last air-to-air kills were in 1969 during the 100 Hour War between Honduras and El Salvador, where one Corsair shot down 3 aircraft during the conflict.
Fun Facts: The State of Connecticut adopted the F4U corsair as its official state aircraft, due to the industry involved with its manufacture. Later Corsairs would by equipped with AN/M2 and AN/M3 20mm Automatic Cannons, which were American derivatives of the French Hispano autocannon. The first black naval aviator and naval fighter pilot, Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown (a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi), flew the F4U Corsair in 20 combat missions in the Korean War. Unfun facts: Ground and ship-borne armorers HATED the AN/M2 Browning machines guns due to the weapons having to be checked for headspace and timing after one or two sorties. Often, due to pilot negligence, the aircraft would come back with their barrels completely shot out or warped due to over heating, meaning that six machine guns had to be rebarreled. The AN/M2 and later the AN/M3 20mm automatic cannons were despised by pilots and armorers alike. Frequent misfires without a stoppage clearing system meant the guns were inoperable until they could be cleared on the ground (or on ship). The recoil of a firing weapon paired with non-firing weapons would cause the aircraft to yaw, and throw off the pilot's aim. Armorers hated them from the same aforementioned problems if the guns didn't jam. Ensign Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. His remains have since never been recovered.
I'm 70 years old I know nothing about flying airplanes, But to me the GULL WING F4U Corsair is the most beautiful plane I have ever seen, I would imagine the long front end 2000 horsepower Engine might be hard to see over🛩🛩🛩👍👍👍
I was with the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point NC during the 1970's when "Baa Baa Black Sheep," later "Black Sheep Squadron" was on television and let me tell you, the WHOLE base was watching that show Tuesdays nights! Of course, we knew it was "Hollywood" fiction but we loved it just the same. There's a interesting story about the aerial sequences used in the show. The late Frank Tallman was Hollywood's "Go to" guy for aircraft needed for productions back then so he was contacted by the producers of "Black Sheep" to provide the Corsairs and Zeroes. No problem for Tallman, he had a Rolodex (Remember those?) with a list of flyable historic aircraft and who owned them. So, he contacted the owners of flyable Corsairs and Zero replicas and told them "Come on down and do some flying, we'll pay for ALL the expenses!" In a two-week period they filmed all the flight sequences used in the show. Tallman, who was an experienced flyer of just about everything with wings was asked which airplane in his opinion was the better fighter, the Corsair or the P-51 Mustang. He said up to about 12,000 feet they were pretty much equal, but above that altitude he said the Corsair was better. He DID admit to a slight amount of prejudice being a former Naval Aviator!
I was with H&MS-14 in 1976. There was an F-4U-5N in the hanger. It was being restored to non flying status for display in a museum. The 5n had a radar pod under the wing. It was flight line run up, but never airborne. A beautiful a/c .
During the Korean War they turned the Corsair in to the AU-1 a flying dump truck of a fighter bomber. Late Mark Corsairs of WW2 added the 4 bladed props , replacing the three bladed ones , also the upped the ordnance from 6x .50 caliber Browning machine guns too 4x 20 mm auto cannons as did late mark F6 Hellcats
My dad flew the Corsair for the Navy in WWII, getting his wings in June of ‘45.. had there been an invasion of mainland Japan obviously he’d have been in it. He said flying it was a lot like driving a car, only things happened a heck of a lot faster!! ;-D
The corsair actually flew before the US entered WW-2 and was the first single engine fighter able to exceed 400 mph in level flight. The P-38 could too but had two engines.
"The Pacific" also has some great shots of Corsairs on the "shortest bombing run in history". It was only 1,100 yards from the Peleliu airfield to the Umurbrogol pocket in support of the Marines. Pilots didn't even bother putting their landing gear up.
Gregory "Pappy" or "Gramps" Boyington was a full Colonel when he retired from the USMC in 1947 at age 34. He was presented the Navy Cross on October 4, 1945 and the Medal of Honor on October 5, 1945. He was a wrestler at the University of Washington where he received a BS in aeronautical engineering, and he went to work Boeing upon graduation.
Cour D'Alene airport in Idaho was renamed Pappy Boyington Field in 2007. I missed the big day by a week or two I think. I picked up my new plane. He grew up in the area.
The new movie 'Devotion' comes out this year featuring Chino's Planes of Fame F4U Corsair and their F8F Bearcat along with a host of other aircraft from collections around the nation. The movie is set in the Korean War. Incidentally, Chino's Corsair is a WWII veteran and was stationed in Guadalcanal. Amazingly, during one of their monthly talks at the museum recently, the Corsair was reunited with its 100 year old WWII veteran pilot, who flew it on several sorties.
My father was a naval aviation machinist who followed the corsair throughout it's deployment. He joined the navy in the fall of 1941 before the war began. He was initially deployed NAS Squanto near Boston, the closest base to the Vaught factory in Ct. He later moved to NAS Key West, as the plane was used extensively in the Caribbean and Gulf to practice carrier operations. Finally he moved west to Hawaii, specifically NAS Kaneohe Bay (now MCAS) on the north shore of Ohahu. He loved the plane into later life and we always watched Black Sheep Squadron together.
It was the British who pioneered the modifications that made the Corsair more suitable for carrier operations. Clipping the wings-a necessity because some British carriers had low ceilings- :), but it did help landing, raising the pilot's seat and changing the canopy to give a better view.I think there might have been changes to the undercarriage too but I'm not sure about that.
They fitted oleo struts to control the rebound and compression of the landing gear rather than the oil dampened coil system fitted to USN and marine aircraft . They also fitted aero features out board of the guns to help control stall characteristics at lower speed . Having clipped wings had an adverse effect of low speed handling but did improve the rate of roll to match that of aircraft such as the FW-190 D series . The British also taught the Americans how to land it on aircraft carriers . Mainly by side slipping the F4u until 100-75ft out while making a long slow turn into the beam of the carrier .
They also cut about six inched off of the propeller blades to ensure that they wouldn't strike the deck on landing - a simple solution to one of the problems that kept the US Navy from deploying them on carriers.
@@bobmetcalfe9640 yup it was a main reason to clip them (much like the seafire) but it also increased roll rate. The storage deck on RN carriers was also lower than on US carriers so clipping them gave an extra bit of safety margin .
My favorite Aircraft from the WW2 Era. Got to meet Pappy Boyinton while in the Marine Reserves at NAS Dallas one year with VMFA-114 the Cowboy Squardon. The Whistling Death.
The USS Bunker Hill deployed in 1943 with Corsair equipped VF-17. They were an experienced squadron and no trouble landing the aircraft on the carrier Then primary reason for replacing the F4U with the Hellcat was actually logistics. It was easier to have an uniform airwing across carriers. The 448mph and 4,000lb payload was for the late war F4U-4. The most common version of the aircraft was the F4U-1D which topped out at 431mph. There was a post war version. The F4U-5 that had a max speed of 470 mph. Both the -4 and -5 had a 4 bladed propeller.
A couple years ago, a Corsair and Mustang flew over my apartment on final approach to a near-by airport. I had never seen a Corsair in the wild before. I went to the airport and they were allowing people back into the hangar to see the planes.
I saw Corsairs parked at the Blythe (Mojave Desert, CA) Airport, a WWII ex-Army Airfield, in the early 1950's. Why they were there is unknown. I met Pappy Boyington many years ago at at airshow. He autographed my copy of his book.
You know some of the stuff in that book is actually true and some was written while he was drinking. Any chance of those parts being factual are purely coincidental.
@@johngaither3830 I met him at an airshow not long before he passed. I asked him how much in his book was accurate. He laughed and said, "Oh, just the fun parts."
"But it was the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm who came up with the concept that brought Corsairs to sea duty for good. The pilots developed a long, curving landing approach to keep the carrier’s deck in sight until the last moments before touchdown" - Smithsonian Magazine
To be clear the USN considered the Corsair as a complete failure during carrier trials. As a result it was relegated to land based Marine units and the British. In fine British tradition and desperation they made it work. They developed the sweeping turn on downwind to be able to keep the Carrier in sight. On short final when forced to look down the nose a set of white protracted lines painted on the side of the nose just ahead of the cockpit would serve as glide slope indicator as the pilot was virtually blind directly ahead of the nose. A beefier main strut oleo was also implemented to reduce bounce and mechanical failure. The most obvious British modification was the clipping of the wings to fit British carriers better meanwhile changing the aircraft's performance slightly the same way as a clipped Spitfire. I know you are a probably a big fan of these aircraft but you really should get your facts straight as this video is a little misleading otherwise. Just like today the political aspects of any defense project have a lot to do with the success of it. That was the second time the Americans handed over a fighter to the British after calling it a failure and having the British turn it into such an overwhelming success that the American's put it back into their own arsenal after implementation of the British improvements. Several times throughout WW2 American pride stopped them from taking British advice regarding hard learned lessons causing them to learn the same lessons the hard way.
Just FYI: You referenced John Wayne in the Flying Leathernecks stepping out of a Corsair along with Pappy's claim to fame leading the Blacksheep Sqn. Ironically John Wayne played Pappy Boyington in the Flying Tigers flying P-40s for the AVG. His biography is hilarious. Washed out as US Naval flight officer then becomes basically a mercenary for the Chinese but because of his success as a pilot there, he is able to talk himself into a Marine officer's commission and even swindles another unit out of their brand new Corsairs to form his new Sqn.
90s kid here, having grown up watching John Wayne movies thanks to my dad, I really glad you featured _Flying Leathernecks_ in this video since it was one of my favorites as a kid and it made me a fan of the F6F Hellcat(along with the old PC game Wings of Fury) and the corsair. Hopefully when you do a video on the Hellcat you'll feature _Flying Leathernecks_ again since the fighter was so prominently featured in that film(and maybe Wing of Fury? *Wink* )
The F4U Corsair is a fascinating aircraft. In the late 1940s, I lived a couple of miles from the end of the runway at Chance Vought. Corsairs flew constantly out of the field offering me a great opportunity to watch it perform. Definitely an impressive aircraft.
one interesting part about the Corsair was it was so heavy its landing gear had to be heavier duty than most other air craft, pilots would use them as air breaks in dives and maneuvers, where if most planes tried this their gear would be damaged or outright strip off the plane. the earlier versions had problems with landing gear as well as a few other problems, it almost didnt make production. one of the problems was its MASSIVE rotational torque, many pilots used to other planes would throttle up to fast and the plane would roll onto its wing right on the runway.
The Fleet Air Arm taught the Yanks how to land that beast on an aircraft carrier using a curved approach. It is my favourite American aeroplane, especially the clipped wing version that the Royal Navy used. It's utterly brutal but for all the right reasons. The channel Armoured Carriers has a video of recollections of those Fleet Air Arm pilots that flew it.
A lot of content creators make the mistake of saying the Corsair, (and Ju-87), have gull wings. Even Wikipedia is confused about which is what. If anyone wants to see what gull wings look like, do a search for PZL P.11, or Loire 46. Good on you Johnny for knowing the difference.
@Lord Kiltridge...Wikipedia is a lot more than "confused"...LOL...when I want unbiased information, other than the most basic, I go elsewhere. Older primary sources are particularly useful. As an "Original Transcon RR" fan, I find Woke sources to be offensive...or just downright absurd. Thanks!😀
Hi Johnny! Thanks so much for the video!!! The Corsair is my favorite WW2 plane and probably my 2nd overall favorite behind the Tomcat. Wish I had some info to add but I think you covered it well. Back in the 70’s, one of the aviation “toys” for kids was a Cox gas powered control line aerobatic airplane. The control line was attached to the end of one wing. On the other end was a small controller that when you pitched up or down, the plane would climb or dive. And yes, you had to spin in a circle as the plane on a 12 to 15’ line circled around about 7 or 8 times. The reason I’m tell you this was because my second and bigger model was a Corsair. What a BLAST my dad and I had with that plane!!! Thanks for the memory!!!
Baa Baa Black Sheep [aka Black Sheep Squadron] was one of my favourite tv shows as a kid. The Corsair was used by the Marine pilots of a fictionalized VMF-214. I don't know how many they had for filming, but it always looked convincing.
Thanks for your wonderful video! My Mom, "Star-Spangled Stella", her older sister, Mary, and younger sister, Jean, were among the first women hired at "Chance Vought Aircraft" in Stratford, Connecticut just after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. They worked 10 hours per day, 6 days per week, for the "whopping" pay of 65 CENT$ PER HOUR ($1.35 by the end of the war...). The day and night shifts each assembled 7 "Corsairs" per day, approximately 8,000+ by 1945. The remaining 4,000+ were manufactured by "Goodyear" and "Brewster". In 2005, Connecticut declared the "Corsair" as the "Official State Airplane", and I helped organize a "Corsairs Over Connecticut" airshow, at "Igor Sikorsky Memorial Airport" across from the old plant on Memorial Day weekend. Amazingly, we had 9 of the approximately 25 still airworthy "F4Us" in attendance. Although Mom was too ill to attend the incredible event, several of the fighters flew directly over our house, so at least she heard them coming and ran outside to see them. Sadly, Mom, Dad, Aunts Mary and Jean are all gone now, but your video brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. May God bless you always... 🙏❤
Ask a kid(maybe (11-15) I had the chance to meet Pappy Boyington and get his autograph. It was when the Smithsonian Air & Space museum put an F4U-1 on display. I grew up watching BaBa Black Sheep. I currently fly RC models, and of course out all the warbirds I have, the Corsair is my favorite.
Aside from the SBD Dauntless and the F6F Hellcat, the F4U Corsair is one of my Most Favorite WW2 Marine/Navy Aviation Aircraft, something about those Wings makes me Like the Damn Aircraft, aside from being one of the Best Aircraft at the Later Stages of WW2, simply a Magnificent Work of American Aviation Engineering! This Aircraft is what also Fired me up even more to be a Military Aviation Enthusiast, I also Thought it was the First WW2 Military Aircraft that Got me into Planes... I was but a Child back then... further Personal Research shows that Title goes to the SBD Dauntless and Hellcat. Anyways... Excellent Video as Always Johnny! Keep the Good Shit Coming! Can't wait for you to Tackle the F6F Hellcat and SBD Dauntless Aircrafts!
Armoured Carriers channel has some good video's about Corsair with accounts from Royal Navy pilots. They discuss adopting a turning landing approach to get over the long nose issue. Well worth a look
The USN rejected the F4U for carrier operations due to its landing gear issues. The Brits cured the problem and cut 10" off the wings so they would fit in Jeep carriers. Vought said they wouldn't fly that way but were proved wrong. The USN figured if the Brits could make them work then so could they. A plane they needed and could have had in 1942 instead of 1944.
One could do an entire treatise on the various manufacturers of the Corsair and the various aspects of each company and how they made them. An issue of one of the Warbird magazines had a section about recently discovered assembly jigs in an old building, seem to remember it was east coast and perhaps whomever owns Vought now.
I was privilege to stand next to one of these HOT RODS in a hangar in Darwin Northern Territory. It was under matainance/ restoration. The shear size gets you , then you jump on a tiny twin engine Cessna. The corsair made the trip just wow.
Great edit. I like how you incorporated the video game “War Thunder “ to get the younger generation interested in aviation. Suggest for anyone that lives Southern California to visit Chino Airport they have (2) separate air museums there and well worth the visit 👍😊
Hear, hear! I've been to Yanks and Planes of Fame, and both are incredible. March ARB has a great museum as well, and Palm Springs is just over the mountains.
Hopefully we will be seeing more Corsairs on the big screen soonm, if they finish making the movie Devotion , based on the book Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos, about Jesse Brown who was shot down during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War and the attempted rescue
The Corsair was once called the "Ensign Eliminator," but I haven't heard that expression for sixty years. A Corsair in cherry condition graced the air museum in Kalamazoo, MI. At the time of my visit, it leaked oil. My guess is it came from Britain.
The bent wing was to get the best aerodynamic transition to the fuselage. The F6F, F8F, F7F and P47 also carried the R2800 ans a mid to hight wing without scratching the deck too often
Surely it was the greatest (at least the longest serving) naval propeller fighter, if you think that only 189 F4Us where lost for enemy actions in WWII, it was so powerful thanks to the massive R2800 engine, the same of another great aircraft, the P47. P.s. naturally it had some problems, its nickname "Ensign Killer" means that only real, expert pilots could handle it, at least in early versions.
An often overlooked factor for the gull wings, apart from the massive propeller, is the fact that the wings are designed to connect perpendicularily to the fuselage. Most WW2 fighters are dihedral lower deckers, i.e. their wings are connected to the bottom of the plane's fuselage and point up towards the wingtips. This could have been done similarily with the Corsair, but instead the wings sweep up to meet the fuselage further up. The reason for that was that aerodynamic analysis showed that it would be most beneficial to have wings connect perpendicular to the very tubular fuselage. Why didn't all plane designers do it like that? Either they didn't know about this optimisation, didn't care about it or it would have rendered the plane too complex and costly for too little benefit in most cases. Why did Vought do it? They wanted to create an powerful, optimised beast.
I watched a movie as a kid involving USMC F4U-1 Birdcage corsairs, I've never been able to find what it was though. I distinctly remember the black and white movie having the early birdcage Corsairs and not any later semi-bubble cockpits.
Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) is getting the most accurate F4U ever made for a flight simulator. Every button, switch, and dial can be clicked, flipped, and turned. Made with assistance of mechanics, pilots, footage, and manuals. The aircraft was laser scanned to created an exact replica of the Aircraft in game.
@@Leinadmix9 Jup. In the trailer they showed a gunsight that's only mounted on restorations. Once you look at historical photographs you see that it is wrong.
There is another TH-cam video about a pilot in the British navy. After VE day the British carriers joined the Americans in the Pacific. According to him, the British had the Seafire (carrier version of the Spitfire), but not enough of them. The Americans Lend/leased them the Corsairs and the Americans kept the Hellcats. After the British figured how to land the Corsairs on carriers, the Americans kept the Corsairs and gave the Brits the Hellcats. That just about says it.
The Fleet Air Arm made good use of the Hellcat and Corsair... and needed to, There was nothing wrong with the Seafire...but it was designed for a different operating environment and lacked the RANGE required in the pacific...
From what I have read the US navy did not adopt the corsair initially because it was very difficult to land on a Carrier flight deck,however the royal navy managed to perfect a way to do it,which I think entailed approaching the carrier from the side and turning last minute onto the deck.
For once the MARINES were given front line equipment,only since the Navy had not yet learned to land safely on straight deck carriers. They were put to good use.
My favorite USN fighter. Fell in love with it when watching a documentary about USS Laffey and how some Marine Corsairs helped save her from more kamikaze strikes. An interesting story I will always remember about the Corsair is when one pilot used his aircraft’s massive propellers to slice off the tail of a Japanese heavy fighter after the Corsair’s guns jammed. The Corsair landed safely afterward.
Fun fact: Despite being associated on late war actions from the Fast Carrier Task Forces against Japan, the Corsair's first flight was actually in 1940, and Corsairs participated in Guadalcanal ( :
I think Bill Leyden from The Pacific put it most succinctly as a flight of Corsairs flies overhead to attack Japanese positions “thats the way to kill japs, buzz in, buzz out.” This also alludes to one of the Corsairs nicknames, whistling death, due to the high pitched whine the engine could produce at full power.
Lockheed and Vought hired Charles Lindbergh as a consultant on ordinance payload and fuel sufficient. I believe the Christmas tree rocket launcher for the P-38J, while the Corsair F4U-1D it is was the bomb ranks.
As a child in my motherland, mes amis, I read the memoirs of a chap who was a combat pilote of one of these in WWII. He Claimed the flight manual said that the glide-characteristics were SO poor, that if the engine stopped, you should bail-out (if high enough) ... OR 'Whistle A Happy Tune and Kiss Your Ass Goodbye '! ... because a 'dead-stick’ landing was very iffy.
Early versions of F4U used a Coffman cartridge to start. Virtually a giant shotgun shell. Quickly it moved on to electric start, but you could still use a cartridge if needed.
Quite interestingly, a group of Corsairs had been featured in the opening credits of For All Mankind, an alternate history series. I watched the whole Season 1 of 2.
The F4U Corsair used the same engine as the P47 Thunderbolt. The P47 had the same issue with the prop being so large. Republic got around this by designing the landing gear to shorten up when retracted and to lengthen when extended. Quite innovative and expensive
Charles Lindberg flew with the Marines and flew a Corsair with the biggest payload. I don't know if he was flying into Japanese strongholds but he flew P-38s and F4U Corsair in the Pacific during WW2.
Your videos are brilliant, and your channel as a whole is seriously underrated and deserves more subscribers. You should should do a “FAL in the movies” vid
Great video........ Whistling death! Kinda thinking that you should have included it's signature feature but I learnt more than I knew yesterday. Top banana!!!! 😁👍👌
My late Father flew an F4U Corsair when he was an Ensign aboard the CV-20 USS Bennington. He scored a direct hit on the IJN Hyuga at Kure naval base, earning the Navy Cross and the Air Medal. He was only 21 years old. Imagine that!
Whistling Death, and I have Baa Baa Black Sheep and Maj. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington to thank for me joining the Marine Corps Aviation as a 6531 Aviation Ordnance Tech. Semper Fi Pappy, R.I.P. and Godspeed.
I got to meet the remaining members from bah bah black sheep at an airshow in Indianapolis as a kid. Got their book and signatures. They had all the remaining operational Corsair planes there do fly overs. It was AWESOME!!!!
5:30 that line delivery cracks me up. I've seen a few episodes. Not great but had some highly entertaining moments and some alright drama. Pretty normal for early 80s standards.
Easily one of, if not, my one favorite aircraft, love your content. Since this video has been posted, there's another great film featuring the F4U at the forefront called Devotion which came out around November 2022 and is worth checking out
A lot of Americans forget the British contributions such as in regards the Corsair. When the USN gave up on using them (not only because of visibility issues, but also the plane tended to bank to one side on take-offs/landings) the plane found a home at sea with Britains Fleet Air Arm. They gave the plane the bubble-canopy. They also had a device to raise the seat. And, they came up with the plan of having the Corsair land by a long arc rather then a direct approach, thus the pilot could keep the deck in view a lot longer. Also because the RN had smaller carriers they clipped the wings of the Corsair to fit them in.
It took the British to identify and correcting the Corsairs problem in landing on the carrier just for the US Navy, just for them to had their "devil dog" flyboy onboard their carrier. Meanwhile the Devil dog - Don't mind us, we just flexing our Corsairs somewhere in a beautiful pacific island.
@@nickdanger3802 but still US navy does want to have most of their Marine corps fighter pilot cause without those "Devil Dog" pilot they can't conduct join strike ops together after all Marine was part fight components of the Navy since founding of the nation at 1775, the Continental Marine. This two Branch were hard to separate, they were like Brother. If the Seaman can row the boat, the Marine can row while fire his rifle and protect his seaman brother. The bond is hard to break.
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In August 1945, just before the end of the war in the Pacific, a Canadian, Lt. Robert Gray, won the VC for sinking a Japanese destroyer while flying a Corsair. It was posthumous.
cool to learn
From valourcanada.ca :
But Lt. Gray achieved one further distinction that made him unique among all Allied personnel: he has been the only member of the Allied forces to have received a memorial dedicated to him on Japanese home soil: at Sakiyama Park by Onagawa Bay, a stone monument was erected in 1989 overlooking his place of death. The monument was repaired and rededicated in 2006. After the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 2011, the memorial was moved across the bay to the Onagawa Hospital.
@B1GFRONTO My maternal uncle was captured at Honk Kong in December, 1941 and was a POW of the Imperial Japanese Army until 1945. My wife's maternal grandfather was captured in the Philippines, survived both the death march and over 3 years as a POW of the Imperial Japanese Army.
Both those men "forgave" their captors. In any case - all these men are either dead now or the youngest are 100 years old.
Blaming Japan for what happened well over 70 years ago is a bit ridiculous.
Sounds like a hard man who was fallen on the field of honor. We still think of him today. Even me
Lt Robert Gray, is my third cousin from my grandmothers side.
Fun fact:
The corsair tended to produce a whistling sound when diving, this was caused by a slit in the wing elevating mechanism. The space between the wing root and wingtip allowed for air to pass through at enough speed and pressure to cause said whistling.
Soldiers hearing this sound might have compared it's psychological factor to that of the Jericho trumpets from the german Stuka dive bomber.
Respectfully nicnamed: whistling death
It was the oil coolers that caused the noise. The pilot would put the cooler door so they could hear the noise and they knew how the Japanese reacted to this. I worked at Vought aircraft for 21 years and took care of its Corsair
The Japanese called it whistling death. For good reason.
The whistling Death
One moment with the Corsair I won’t forget is in World at War. In the last few moments of the Black Cats mission, just as you were running out of ammo in an onslaught of Zeros, navy Corsairs arrive and save you just in time.
Gotta agree, that moment is probably the reason thats my favorite mission.
Those were marine corsairs; the navy used hellcats in WW2. Also that part of the game is focused on the US Marines, so it’d make more sense. Don’t forget the crashed Corsair in the swamp!
The vought f4u corsair was actually the last piston aircraft to fight an piston aircraft.
In the Football War between El Salvador and Honduras, Captain Edgardo Acosta of Honduras scored 3 kills when he shot down the El Salvadorian P-51 Mustangs.
If you want to be picky, I believe the P-51 can claim this distinction as well 😀
Yr cousins with market garden right? No joke if that's true that's a Kool fact. I'll investigate.
My Great Grandpa flew these in WWII. His division was gonna help with the invasion on the island of Kyushu if we would’ve had the full invasion of Japan and assist in air support. He told me his division was expecting 50% casualties. He’s still around and I’ve recorded all the stories he’s told me. He’s 97 and sadly is beginning to forget a lot… so I’m thankful I got everything on audio. Not many left anymore…
I love hearing these stories, I'm old enough to have met these men but never asked them about it.
My neighbour was at Dunkirk and then was a Japanese prisoner of war, he still had nightmares and we were told not to ask him about it so I never asked any of them.
My Grandad was a spy in Italy in WW2, I never even knew until his funeral.
Thinking of the invasion of Japan makes me sick. 🤢
Thank You, from all of us. Laszlo
A friend of mine who is still with us served on a cruiser during the The Battle Of The Coral Sea. His ship was part of the screening force which blocked a possible route for the Japanese fleet if they were trying to evade the Americans and reach Port Moresby.
That's a very nice tribute to honoring and remembering your Great Grandpa. It's too bad more families aren't doing that as a tribute their elder veteran family members.
Thanks for the fine video! My father flew the Corsair in the Korean War from the USS Valley Forge. His cruise book album has some great photos of flying off the carrier in bad weather. He got his wings of gold in the summer of 1945, and his squadran was not sent to Japan. He stayed in the Navy Reserve to maintain flight status, and volunteered to go to Korea. He retired with 28 years service, and his headstone shows his active duty during WWII, Korea,Vietnam, and his Navy Air Medal. RIP Dad.
What’s amazing is that the Corsair’s last air-to-air kills were in 1969 during the 100 Hour War between Honduras and El Salvador, where one Corsair shot down 3 aircraft during the conflict.
What's funny is they fought that war over a football(soccer) game between the countries.
I know a guy that bought one from them in the 70's
Yes. The final air to air gun kill between WW2 fights was a Corsair shooting down a Mustang.
Meant fighters…..
There were also Corsairs on both sides of that battle!
Fun Facts:
The State of Connecticut adopted the F4U corsair as its official state aircraft, due to the industry involved with its manufacture.
Later Corsairs would by equipped with AN/M2 and AN/M3 20mm Automatic Cannons, which were American derivatives of the French Hispano autocannon.
The first black naval aviator and naval fighter pilot, Ensign Jesse Leroy Brown (a native of Hattiesburg, Mississippi), flew the F4U Corsair in 20 combat missions in the Korean War.
Unfun facts:
Ground and ship-borne armorers HATED the AN/M2 Browning machines guns due to the weapons having to be checked for headspace and timing after one or two sorties. Often, due to pilot negligence, the aircraft would come back with their barrels completely shot out or warped due to over heating, meaning that six machine guns had to be rebarreled.
The AN/M2 and later the AN/M3 20mm automatic cannons were despised by pilots and armorers alike. Frequent misfires without a stoppage clearing system meant the guns were inoperable until they could be cleared on the ground (or on ship). The recoil of a firing weapon paired with non-firing weapons would cause the aircraft to yaw, and throw off the pilot's aim. Armorers hated them from the same aforementioned problems if the guns didn't jam.
Ensign Brown was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in North Korea. His remains have since never been recovered.
If you ever do the M16-series, I highly recommend breaking it up into separate videos.
That's probably exactly what I'll do. Big topic connected to a lot of wars.
Ensign Brown was definitely a hero!
I thought the cannon problem already solved in later M3 variant
I saw a video about the M2 headspace, and my god... What a complicated piece of machinery, even the newer ones are problematic.
I'm 70 years old I know nothing about flying airplanes, But to me the GULL WING F4U Corsair is the most beautiful plane I have ever seen, I would imagine the long front end 2000 horsepower Engine might be hard to see over🛩🛩🛩👍👍👍
I was with the 2d Marine Aircraft Wing at Cherry Point NC during the 1970's when "Baa Baa Black Sheep," later "Black Sheep Squadron" was on television and let me tell you, the WHOLE base was watching that show Tuesdays nights! Of course, we knew it was "Hollywood" fiction but we loved it just the same.
There's a interesting story about the aerial sequences used in the show. The late Frank Tallman was Hollywood's "Go to" guy for aircraft needed for productions back then so he was contacted by the producers of "Black Sheep" to provide the Corsairs and Zeroes. No problem for Tallman, he had a Rolodex (Remember those?) with a list of flyable historic aircraft and who owned them.
So, he contacted the owners of flyable Corsairs and Zero replicas and told them "Come on down and do some flying, we'll pay for ALL the expenses!" In a two-week period they filmed all the flight sequences used in the show.
Tallman, who was an experienced flyer of just about everything with wings was asked which airplane in his opinion was the better fighter, the Corsair or the P-51 Mustang. He said up to about 12,000 feet they were pretty much equal, but above that altitude he said the Corsair was better.
He DID admit to a slight amount of prejudice being a former Naval Aviator!
I was with H&MS-14 in 1976. There was an F-4U-5N in the hanger. It was being restored to non flying status for display in a museum. The 5n had a radar pod under the wing. It was flight line run up, but never airborne. A beautiful a/c .
During the Korean War they turned the Corsair in to the AU-1 a flying dump truck of a fighter bomber.
Late Mark Corsairs of WW2 added the 4 bladed props , replacing the three bladed ones , also the upped the ordnance from 6x .50 caliber Browning machine guns too 4x 20 mm auto cannons as did late mark F6 Hellcats
My dad flew the Corsair for the Navy in WWII, getting his wings in June of ‘45.. had there been an invasion of mainland Japan obviously he’d have been in it.
He said flying it was a lot like driving a car, only things happened a heck of a lot faster!! ;-D
My Dad flew the Corsair for the Marine Corp in WW II.
The corsair actually flew before the US entered WW-2 and was the first single engine fighter able to exceed 400 mph in level flight. The P-38 could too but had two engines.
"The Pacific" also has some great shots of Corsairs on the "shortest bombing run in history". It was only 1,100 yards from the Peleliu airfield to the Umurbrogol pocket in support of the Marines. Pilots didn't even bother putting their landing gear up.
Gregory "Pappy" or "Gramps" Boyington was a full Colonel when he retired from the USMC in 1947 at age 34.
He was presented the Navy Cross on October 4, 1945 and the Medal of Honor on October 5, 1945.
He was a wrestler at the University of Washington where he received a BS in aeronautical engineering, and he went to work Boeing upon graduation.
Cour D'Alene airport in Idaho was renamed Pappy Boyington Field in 2007. I missed the big day by a week or two I think. I picked up my new plane. He grew up in the area.
My father was in the South Pacific with VFM 314 during WWII. He loved flying the Corsairs.
The new movie 'Devotion' comes out this year featuring Chino's Planes of Fame F4U Corsair and their F8F Bearcat along with a host of other aircraft from collections around the nation. The movie is set in the Korean War. Incidentally, Chino's Corsair is a WWII veteran and was stationed in Guadalcanal. Amazingly, during one of their monthly talks at the museum recently, the Corsair was reunited with its 100 year old WWII veteran pilot, who flew it on several sorties.
My father was a naval aviation machinist who followed the corsair throughout it's deployment. He joined the navy in the fall of 1941 before the war began. He was initially deployed NAS Squanto near Boston, the closest base to the Vaught factory in Ct. He later moved to NAS Key West, as the plane was used extensively in the Caribbean and Gulf to practice carrier operations. Finally he moved west to Hawaii, specifically NAS Kaneohe Bay (now MCAS) on the north shore of Ohahu. He loved the plane into later life and we always watched Black Sheep Squadron together.
Love it. Would have been the perfect person to watch the show with.
Frank Fisch was a WWII ACE and flew with the Black Sheep Squadron. He was my flight instructor in EL Monte, California 💜 miss ya Buddy!!
Had pe last period got home and saw your video was uploaded, this day just got a hell of a lot better.
Happy to be of service
It was the British who pioneered the modifications that made the Corsair more suitable for carrier operations. Clipping the wings-a necessity because some British carriers had low ceilings- :), but it did help landing, raising the pilot's seat and changing the canopy to give a better view.I think there might have been changes to the undercarriage too but I'm not sure about that.
They fitted oleo struts to control the rebound and compression of the landing gear rather than the oil dampened coil system fitted to USN and marine aircraft . They also fitted aero features out board of the guns to help control stall characteristics at lower speed . Having clipped wings had an adverse effect of low speed handling but did improve the rate of roll to match that of aircraft such as the FW-190 D series .
The British also taught the Americans how to land it on aircraft carriers . Mainly by side slipping the F4u until 100-75ft out while making a long slow turn into the beam of the carrier .
They also cut about six inched off of the propeller blades to ensure that they wouldn't strike the deck on landing - a simple solution to one of the problems that kept the US Navy from deploying them on carriers.
@@edmundscycles1 AFAIK The clipped wings helped to control its tendency to "float" when trying to land. What I read anyway.
@@bobmetcalfe9640 yup it was a main reason to clip them (much like the seafire) but it also increased roll rate. The storage deck on RN carriers was also lower than on US carriers so clipping them gave an extra bit of safety margin .
@@andrewteekell4324 I can't find any reference to clipping the props . Shortening the prop would also negatively effect flight performance.
My favorite Aircraft from the WW2 Era. Got to meet Pappy Boyinton while in the Marine Reserves at NAS Dallas one year with VMFA-114 the Cowboy Squardon. The Whistling Death.
The USS Bunker Hill deployed in 1943 with Corsair equipped VF-17. They were an experienced squadron and no trouble landing the aircraft on the carrier Then primary reason for replacing the F4U with the Hellcat was actually logistics. It was easier to have an uniform airwing across carriers.
The 448mph and 4,000lb payload was for the late war F4U-4. The most common version of the aircraft was the F4U-1D which topped out at 431mph. There was a post war version. The F4U-5 that had a max speed of 470 mph. Both the -4 and -5 had a 4 bladed propeller.
Excellent clarification and additional information 🙏
On Sep. 10, 1952 Capt. Jesse Folmar flying a F4U Corsair from VMA-312 was able to destroy one of two MiG-15s.
A couple years ago, a Corsair and Mustang flew over my apartment on final approach to a near-by airport. I had never seen a Corsair in the wild before. I went to the airport and they were allowing people back into the hangar to see the planes.
I saw Corsairs parked at the Blythe (Mojave Desert, CA) Airport, a WWII ex-Army Airfield, in the early 1950's. Why they were there is unknown. I met Pappy Boyington many years ago at at airshow. He autographed my copy of his book.
You know some of the stuff in that book is actually true and some was written while he was drinking. Any chance of those parts being factual are purely coincidental.
@@johngaither3830 Yes, he exgaggerated a lot and the tv show took advantage of that. He was drunk at the airshow I mentioned.
@@johngaither3830 I met him at an airshow not long before he passed. I asked him how much in his book was accurate. He laughed and said, "Oh, just the fun parts."
The Corsair is one beautiful warbird. Easily my favourite US Navy plane.
Me either its my dream aircraft to fly when I grew up as a pilot as well as the P-51 Mustang
"But it was the British Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm who came up with the concept that brought Corsairs to sea duty for good. The pilots developed a long, curving landing approach to keep the carrier’s deck in sight until the last moments before touchdown" - Smithsonian Magazine
Absolutely thank you for adding this!
@@JohnnyJohnsonEsq Just another F4U fan ^_^
Thanks for mentioning this - I had read about this somewhere, but didn't have the source to reference.
To be clear the USN considered the Corsair as a complete failure during carrier trials. As a result it was relegated to land based Marine units and the British. In fine British tradition and desperation they made it work. They developed the sweeping turn on downwind to be able to keep the Carrier in sight. On short final when forced to look down the nose a set of white protracted lines painted on the side of the nose just ahead of the cockpit would serve as glide slope indicator as the pilot was virtually blind directly ahead of the nose. A beefier main strut oleo was also implemented to reduce bounce and mechanical failure. The most obvious British modification was the clipping of the wings to fit British carriers better meanwhile changing the aircraft's performance slightly the same way as a clipped Spitfire. I know you are a probably a big fan of these aircraft but you really should get your facts straight as this video is a little misleading otherwise. Just like today the political aspects of any defense project have a lot to do with the success of it. That was the second time the Americans handed over a fighter to the British after calling it a failure and having the British turn it into such an overwhelming success that the American's put it back into their own arsenal after implementation of the British improvements. Several times throughout WW2 American pride stopped them from taking British advice regarding hard learned lessons causing them to learn the same lessons the hard way.
Just FYI: You referenced John Wayne in the Flying Leathernecks stepping out of a Corsair along with Pappy's claim to fame leading the Blacksheep Sqn. Ironically John Wayne played Pappy Boyington in the Flying Tigers flying P-40s for the AVG. His biography is hilarious. Washed out as US Naval flight officer then becomes basically a mercenary for the Chinese but because of his success as a pilot there, he is able to talk himself into a Marine officer's commission and even swindles another unit out of their brand new Corsairs to form his new Sqn.
Later in WW2 the F4U had a 4-blade prop. My cousin was a chief mechanic on the Corsair in VMF-222.
My late Uncle flew with the VMF- 222 back in late '44-'45. Lt. Alan "Bud" Semb.
90s kid here, having grown up watching John Wayne movies thanks to my dad, I really glad you featured _Flying Leathernecks_ in this video since it was one of my favorites as a kid and it made me a fan of the F6F Hellcat(along with the old PC game Wings of Fury) and the corsair. Hopefully when you do a video on the Hellcat you'll feature _Flying Leathernecks_ again since the fighter was so prominently featured in that film(and maybe Wing of Fury? *Wink* )
The F4U Corsair is a fascinating aircraft. In the late 1940s, I lived a couple of miles from the end of the runway at Chance Vought. Corsairs flew constantly out of the field offering me a great opportunity to watch it perform. Definitely an impressive aircraft.
one interesting part about the Corsair was it was so heavy its landing gear had to be heavier duty than most other air craft, pilots would use them as air breaks in dives and maneuvers, where if most planes tried this their gear would be damaged or outright strip off the plane.
the earlier versions had problems with landing gear as well as a few other problems, it almost didnt make production. one of the problems was its MASSIVE rotational torque, many pilots used to other planes would throttle up to fast and the plane would roll onto its wing right on the runway.
The Fleet Air Arm taught the Yanks how to land that beast on an aircraft carrier using a curved approach. It is my favourite American aeroplane, especially the clipped wing version that the Royal Navy used. It's utterly brutal but for all the right reasons. The channel Armoured Carriers has a video of recollections of those Fleet Air Arm pilots that flew it.
A lot of content creators make the mistake of saying the Corsair, (and Ju-87), have gull wings. Even Wikipedia is confused about which is what. If anyone wants to see what gull wings look like, do a search for PZL P.11, or Loire 46. Good on you Johnny for knowing the difference.
Or the Deloran...lol
@Lord Kiltridge...Wikipedia is a lot more than "confused"...LOL...when I want unbiased information, other than the most basic, I go elsewhere. Older primary sources are particularly useful. As an "Original Transcon RR" fan, I find Woke sources to be offensive...or just downright absurd. Thanks!😀
It is properly an inverted gull wing.
Just one thing that they had in common. They both screaming while doing a diving attack.
Hi Johnny! Thanks so much for the video!!! The Corsair is my favorite WW2 plane and probably my 2nd overall favorite behind the Tomcat. Wish I had some info to add but I think you covered it well.
Back in the 70’s, one of the aviation “toys” for kids was a Cox gas powered control line aerobatic airplane. The control line was attached to the end of one wing. On the other end was a small controller that when you pitched up or down, the plane would climb or dive. And yes, you had to spin in a circle as the plane on a 12 to 15’ line circled around about 7 or 8 times. The reason I’m tell you this was because my second and bigger model was a Corsair. What a BLAST my dad and I had with that plane!!! Thanks for the memory!!!
Thanks for leaving some kind words glad you enjoyed it :)
Baa Baa Black Sheep [aka Black Sheep Squadron] was one of my favourite tv shows as a kid. The Corsair was used by the Marine pilots of a fictionalized VMF-214. I don't know how many they had for filming, but it always looked convincing.
Thanks for your wonderful video! My Mom, "Star-Spangled Stella", her older sister, Mary, and younger sister, Jean, were among the first women hired at "Chance Vought Aircraft" in Stratford, Connecticut just after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. They worked 10 hours per day, 6 days per week, for the "whopping" pay of 65 CENT$ PER HOUR ($1.35 by the end of the war...). The day and night shifts each assembled 7 "Corsairs" per day, approximately 8,000+ by 1945. The remaining 4,000+ were manufactured by "Goodyear" and "Brewster". In 2005, Connecticut declared the "Corsair" as the "Official State Airplane", and I helped organize a "Corsairs Over Connecticut" airshow, at "Igor Sikorsky Memorial Airport" across from the old plant on Memorial Day weekend. Amazingly, we had 9 of the approximately 25 still airworthy "F4Us" in attendance. Although Mom was too ill to attend the incredible event, several of the fighters flew directly over our house, so at least she heard them coming and ran outside to see them. Sadly, Mom, Dad, Aunts Mary and Jean are all gone now, but your video brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye. May God bless you always... 🙏❤
Can't wait to watch "Devotion" in November...going to be another great movie with plenty of Corsair action...even better it's the true story.
Ask a kid(maybe (11-15) I had the chance to meet Pappy Boyington and get his autograph. It was when the Smithsonian Air & Space museum put an F4U-1 on display. I grew up watching BaBa Black Sheep. I currently fly RC models, and of course out all the warbirds I have, the Corsair is my favorite.
Aside from the SBD Dauntless and the F6F Hellcat, the F4U Corsair is one of my Most Favorite WW2 Marine/Navy Aviation Aircraft, something about those Wings makes me Like the Damn Aircraft, aside from being one of the Best Aircraft at the Later Stages of WW2, simply a Magnificent Work of American Aviation Engineering!
This Aircraft is what also Fired me up even more to be a Military Aviation Enthusiast, I also Thought it was the First WW2 Military Aircraft that Got me into Planes... I was but a Child back then... further Personal Research shows that Title goes to the SBD Dauntless and Hellcat.
Anyways...
Excellent Video as Always Johnny! Keep the Good Shit Coming!
Can't wait for you to Tackle the F6F Hellcat and SBD Dauntless Aircrafts!
Armoured Carriers channel has some good video's about Corsair with accounts from Royal Navy pilots. They discuss adopting a turning landing approach to get over the long nose issue. Well worth a look
Its my favourite of ww2. Looks like if a giant threw it it would glide forever. F4u and 190 are just so gorgeous to me.
Yeah, the gull wing design is so cool to me
The USN rejected the F4U for carrier operations due to its landing gear issues. The Brits cured the problem and cut 10" off the wings so they would fit in Jeep carriers. Vought said they wouldn't fly that way but were proved wrong. The USN figured if the Brits could make them work then so could they. A plane they needed and could have had in 1942 instead of 1944.
The landing gear was too stiff for carrier landings so the RN replaced the valve in the strut fixing the problem
Very cool! The Corsair is my #1 favorite fighter of WWII
One could do an entire treatise on the various manufacturers of the Corsair and the various aspects of each company and how they made them.
An issue of one of the Warbird magazines had a section about recently discovered assembly jigs in an old building, seem to remember it was east coast and perhaps whomever owns Vought now.
I was privilege to stand next to one of these HOT RODS in a hangar in Darwin Northern Territory. It was under matainance/ restoration. The shear size gets you , then you jump on a tiny twin engine Cessna. The corsair made the trip just wow.
Always love the Corsair, even if I am more of a Hellcat person!
Great edit. I like how you incorporated the video game “War Thunder “ to get the younger generation interested in aviation. Suggest for anyone that lives Southern California to visit Chino Airport they have (2) separate air museums there and well worth the visit 👍😊
Hear, hear! I've been to Yanks and Planes of Fame, and both are incredible. March ARB has a great museum as well, and Palm Springs is just over the mountains.
Was in the war since 1942. First flew as a prototype 1940 . And flew 400 miles an hour.
Hopefully we will be seeing more Corsairs on the big screen soonm, if they finish making the movie Devotion , based on the book Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos, about Jesse Brown who was shot down during the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War and the attempted rescue
Another great example of editing and narration, thanks Johnny....an impressive machine...E
It was called the Whistling Death by the enemy because of the distinctive sound it makes while diving.
The Corsair was once called the "Ensign Eliminator," but I haven't heard that expression for sixty years. A Corsair in cherry condition graced the air museum in Kalamazoo, MI. At the time of my visit, it leaked oil. My guess is it came from Britain.
The bent wing was to get the best aerodynamic transition to the fuselage. The F6F, F8F, F7F and P47 also carried the R2800 ans a mid to hight wing without scratching the deck too often
Although quite an ugly aircraft the P 47 Which had 8
50 caliber guns was very impressive also some say even more so than the P 51
Surely it was the greatest (at least the longest serving) naval propeller fighter, if you think that only 189 F4Us where lost for enemy actions in WWII, it was so powerful thanks to the massive R2800 engine, the same of another great aircraft, the P47.
P.s. naturally it had some problems, its nickname "Ensign Killer" means that only real, expert pilots could handle it, at least in early versions.
Ensign Eliminator
The Japanese called it the "Whistling Death". I knew a F4u Corsair pilot. He also knew Pappy Boyington.
Ah just what I needed after a day of school
An often overlooked factor for the gull wings, apart from the massive propeller, is the fact that the wings are designed to connect perpendicularily to the fuselage.
Most WW2 fighters are dihedral lower deckers, i.e. their wings are connected to the bottom of the plane's fuselage and point up towards the wingtips. This could have been done similarily with the Corsair, but instead the wings sweep up to meet the fuselage further up. The reason for that was that aerodynamic analysis showed that it would be most beneficial to have wings connect perpendicular to the very tubular fuselage.
Why didn't all plane designers do it like that? Either they didn't know about this optimisation, didn't care about it or it would have rendered the plane too complex and costly for too little benefit in most cases.
Why did Vought do it? They wanted to create an powerful, optimised beast.
I watched a movie as a kid involving USMC F4U-1 Birdcage corsairs, I've never been able to find what it was though. I distinctly remember the black and white movie having the early birdcage Corsairs and not any later semi-bubble cockpits.
Digital Combat Simulator (DCS) is getting the most accurate F4U ever made for a flight simulator.
Every button, switch, and dial can be clicked, flipped, and turned.
Made with assistance of mechanics, pilots, footage, and manuals.
The aircraft was laser scanned to created an exact replica of the Aircraft in game.
The gun sight is wrong btw
@@Leinadmix9 Jup. In the trailer they showed a gunsight that's only mounted on restorations. Once you look at historical photographs you see that it is wrong.
@ALA46 Leinadmix9 It's not out yet, I'm sure it'll be fixed.
3 Corsairs were also used in filming the upcoming Korean War movie "Devotion"
Great work JJ! Such lovely planes. I can highly recommend the ‘ Armoured Carriers ‘ piece on the Corsair as a follow up if anyone’s interested.
There is another TH-cam video about a pilot in the British navy. After VE day the British carriers joined the Americans in the Pacific. According to him, the British had the Seafire (carrier version of the Spitfire), but not enough of them. The Americans Lend/leased them the Corsairs and the Americans kept the Hellcats. After the British figured how to land the Corsairs on carriers, the Americans kept the Corsairs and gave the Brits the Hellcats. That just about says it.
The Fleet Air Arm made good use of the Hellcat and Corsair... and needed to, There was nothing wrong with the Seafire...but it was designed for a different operating environment and lacked the RANGE required in the pacific...
From what I have read the US navy did not adopt the corsair initially because it was very difficult to land on a Carrier flight deck,however the royal navy managed to perfect a way to do it,which I think entailed approaching the carrier from the side and turning last minute onto the deck.
For once the MARINES were given front line equipment,only since the Navy had not yet learned to land safely on straight deck carriers. They were put to good use.
My favorite USN fighter. Fell in love with it when watching a documentary about USS Laffey and how some Marine Corsairs helped save her from more kamikaze strikes.
An interesting story I will always remember about the Corsair is when one pilot used his aircraft’s massive propellers to slice off the tail of a Japanese heavy fighter after the Corsair’s guns jammed. The Corsair landed safely afterward.
Fun fact: Despite being associated on late war actions from the Fast Carrier Task Forces against Japan, the Corsair's first flight was actually in 1940, and Corsairs participated in Guadalcanal ( :
Not in the Guadalcanal Campaign itself. They came in just after it, when the Marines began operating them further up the Solomons chain.
EAA in Oshkosh that has a Corsair that’s been repainted to honor two Korean War pilots - Thomas J. Hudner Jr. and Jesse Brown.
I think Bill Leyden from The Pacific put it most succinctly as a flight of Corsairs flies overhead to attack Japanese positions “thats the way to kill japs, buzz in, buzz out.” This also alludes to one of the Corsairs nicknames, whistling death, due to the high pitched whine the engine could produce at full power.
The whistle came from the airflow over the gunports and the oil cooler inlets!!!!
Lockheed and Vought hired Charles Lindbergh as a consultant on ordinance payload and fuel sufficient. I believe the Christmas tree rocket launcher for the P-38J, while the Corsair F4U-1D it is was the bomb ranks.
As a child in my motherland, mes amis, I read the memoirs of a chap who was a combat pilote of one of these in WWII. He Claimed the flight manual said that the glide-characteristics were SO poor, that if the engine stopped, you should bail-out (if high enough) ... OR 'Whistle A Happy Tune and Kiss Your Ass Goodbye '! ... because a 'dead-stick’ landing was very iffy.
Early versions of F4U used a Coffman cartridge to start. Virtually a giant shotgun shell. Quickly it moved on to electric start, but you could still use a cartridge if needed.
Quite interestingly, a group of Corsairs had been featured in the opening credits of For All Mankind, an alternate history series. I watched the whole Season 1 of 2.
I also love the fact that the paint scheme of the jaeger Gipsy Danger in pacific rim was based off of the corsair
The F4U Corsair used the same engine as the P47 Thunderbolt. The P47 had the same issue with the prop being so large. Republic got around this by designing the landing gear to shorten up when retracted and to lengthen when extended. Quite innovative and expensive
I'll have to check out Flat Tops. I thought I've seen all the the WWII aviation movies, but that one slipped under the radar.
Its a decent watch
Charles Lindberg flew with the Marines and flew a Corsair with the biggest payload. I don't know if he was flying into Japanese strongholds but he flew P-38s and F4U Corsair in the Pacific during WW2.
If I recall he was helping pilots get the most out of cruising with their planes for ultimate distances and getting the most from fuel.
What an immensely powerful aircraft.
when I was a kid til this day the Corsair was literally my most favorite WW2 plane
Your videos are brilliant, and your channel as a whole is seriously underrated and deserves more subscribers. You should should do a “FAL in the movies” vid
Hey thank so much. I promise the FAL is on the list :)
Great video........ Whistling death! Kinda thinking that you should have included it's signature feature but I learnt more than I knew yesterday. Top banana!!!! 😁👍👌
Next aircraft you should do should be the American SBD dauntless
Absolutely on the ilst
Yes sirrrrrr I was about to say that
Thank you for responding to my comment
Great video! Thanks for posting! The Corsair has always beer a favorite with me. I have a 1/6 scale RC model of one and love it! 🇺🇸🙋♂️👍🖖🏻
4:56 A very bad day to be on that ship
My late Father flew an F4U Corsair when he was an Ensign aboard the CV-20 USS Bennington. He scored a direct hit on the IJN Hyuga at Kure naval base, earning the Navy Cross and the Air Medal. He was only 21 years old. Imagine that!
Whistling Death, and I have Baa Baa Black Sheep and Maj. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington to thank for me joining the Marine Corps Aviation as a 6531 Aviation Ordnance Tech. Semper Fi Pappy, R.I.P. and Godspeed.
I got to meet the remaining members from bah bah black sheep at an airshow in Indianapolis as a kid. Got their book and signatures. They had all the remaining operational Corsair planes there do fly overs. It was AWESOME!!!!
Tae Guk Gi is the best Korean war film created. Love the shoutout
Excellent movie
Just in time for lunch here in Southeast Asia.
5:30 that line delivery cracks me up. I've seen a few episodes. Not great but had some highly entertaining moments and some alright drama. Pretty normal for early 80s standards.
Ah, good old Chance Vaught Corp. Known for such things as the Corsair and Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
One of my favorite aircraft. I would love to fly one someday. But the closest I will probably get is to get an ultralight modeled after one.
I have always wanted to see you cover the F4u
It's a beautiful aircraft
Johnny your simple sweet content is the best i can watch it on my lunch break and mybe learn something new!
Thanks James I really appreciate the positive words 🙏
Easily one of, if not, my one favorite aircraft, love your content.
Since this video has been posted, there's another great film featuring the F4U at the forefront called Devotion which came out around November 2022 and is worth checking out
THE best two Navy fighter aircraft ever, are the F-14 Tomcat and the F4U Corsair.
There are some Hellcat pilots who would likely have something to say about that. 😉
And at 2:11 you see your average successful War Thunder carrier landing.
Ah yes the perfect warthunder landing.landing gear not required
A lot of Americans forget the British contributions such as in regards the Corsair.
When the USN gave up on using them (not only because of visibility issues, but also the plane tended to bank to one side on take-offs/landings) the plane found a home at sea with Britains Fleet Air Arm.
They gave the plane the bubble-canopy. They also had a device to raise the seat. And, they came up with the plan of having the Corsair land by a long arc rather then a direct approach, thus the pilot could keep the deck in view a lot longer.
Also because the RN had smaller carriers they clipped the wings of the Corsair to fit them in.
It took the British to identify and correcting the Corsairs problem in landing on the carrier just for the US Navy, just for them to had their "devil dog" flyboy onboard their carrier.
Meanwhile the Devil dog - Don't mind us, we just flexing our Corsairs somewhere in a beautiful pacific island.
The USN had the Hellcat for carrier ops. The FAA used Corsairs on carriers because they did not have anything better, and they were free.
@@nickdanger3802 but still US navy does want to have most of their Marine corps fighter pilot cause without those "Devil Dog" pilot they can't conduct join strike ops together after all Marine was part fight components of the Navy since founding of the nation at 1775, the Continental Marine. This two Branch were hard to separate, they were like Brother. If the Seaman can row the boat, the Marine can row while fire his rifle and protect his seaman brother. The bond is hard to break.
2:15 Ah yes, the War Thunder proper landing.. belly landing with machine guns as brakes.