The Chance Vought F4U Corsair was an
American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II
and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's
manufacturing capability, resulting in production by Goodyear and
Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and
Brewster-built aircraft F3A. From the first prototype delivery to the
U.S. Navy in 1940, to final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571
F4U Corsairs were manufactured by Vought, in 16 separate models, in
the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter in U.S.
history (1942–53).
The Corsair was designed as a
carrier-based aircraft. However its difficult carrier landing
performance rendered the Corsair unsuitable for Navy use until the
carrier landing issues were overcome when used by the British Fleet
Air Arm. The Corsair thus came to and retained prominence in its area
of greatest deployment: land based use by the U.S. Marines. The role
of the dominant U.S. carrier based fighter in the second part of the
war was thus filled by the Grumman F6F Hellcat, powered by the same
Double Wasp engine first flown on the Corsair's first prototype in
1940. The Corsair served to a lesser degree in the U.S. Navy. As well
as the U.S. and British use the Corsair was also used by the Royal
New Zealand Air Force, the French Navy Aéronavale and other,
smaller, air forces until the 1960s. Some Japanese pilots regarded it
as the most formidable American fighter of World War II, and the U.S.
Navy counted an 11:1 kill ratio with the F4U Corsair.
The exploits of Marine Corps squadron
VMF-214 under the of Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, which
flew the Corsair in the Pacific during the war, were depicted in the
popular 1976 made-for-television movie Baa Baa Black Sheep (also
released as Flying Misfits) and the follow-up television series Baa
Baa Black Sheep, also called Black Sheep Squadron, which aired from
1976 to 1978. The television series featured six genuine flying
Corsairs, but the storylines were fictional.
Taken from Wikipedia
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