Steve's Video Of The Day: Chance-Vought "F4U Corsair"!

The Chance-Vought F4U Corsair lives in the annals of wartime history as a legend. It was an amazing airplane. Originally designed with the 14 cylinder Pratt and Whitney R-1830 "Twin Wasp" air-cooled radial engine of 1200 HP, it was produced with the 18 cylinder Pratt and Whitney R-2800 "Double Wasp" air-cooled radial engine of 2100 HP. With that kind of horsepower they needed a big prop, and they chose the biggest prop at the time, a huge Hamilton Standard, hydromatic, 3 bladed prop which measured 13 feet 4 inches. With such a large prop, ground clearance was a problem. The engineers came up with the "inverted gull-wing" design for the wings which made the Corsair instantly recognizable.

The Corsair served the Allies well in WWII, and later in the Korean "Police Action" (War), proving itself to be extremely durable. It was feared by the Japanese, who called the Corsair "Whistling Death", due to the whistling sound the air intakes at the wing root made. The Corsair was exceptionally lethal in the hands of Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-214. VMF-214 was Congressional Medal Of Honor Recipient Colonel Gregory "Pappy" Boyington's "Black Sheep Squadron". Let's have a look at a Corsair flying to this day.

VIDEO - Chance-Vought "F4U Corsair"!

SPECIFICATIONS

Vought F4U-4 Corsair

Dimensions

Wing span: 41 ft (12.5 m)
Length: 33 ft 8 in (10.3 m)
Height: 16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)
Wing Area: 314 sq ft (29.17 sq m)

Weights

Empty: 9,205 lb (4,175.3 kg)
Gross: 12,420 lb (5,633.6 kg)
Maximum Take-Off: 14,670 (6,654.2 kg)

Performance

Maximum Speed: 446 mph (717.75 kph) @ 26,200 ft (7,985.8 m)
Cruise Speed: 200 mph (300 km/h)
Service Ceiling: 41,500 ft (12,649.2 m)
Normal Range: 0,000 miles (0,000 km)
Maximum Range: 1,560 mi (2,510.5 km)

Powerplant

One Pratt-Whitney R-2800-18W Double Wasp eighteen-cylinder radial
engine, developing 2,100 hp (1,567 kW) for take-off, 1,950 hp (1,455 kW)
@ 23,300 ft (7,101.8 m), 2,450 hp (1,828.4 kW) for "War Emergency".

Armament

Six .50 cal (12.7 mm) Colt-Browning M2 machine guns (some variants had four 20mm cannon) and two 1,000 lb (453.6 kg) bombs or eight 5 in (127 mm) rockets.


A "real man's" aircraft, from Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-223 "Bulldogs"! What a "piece of art"!