Vought retirees find, restore World War II Corsair fighter

FWST ^ | 1-24-09 | BOB COX

[Dysart]

DALLAS — After four years of painstaking labor, artisans of the Vought Aircraft Retirees Club have restored an icon of U.S. aviation history, a World War II-vintage F4U Corsair fighter plane.

Working with pieces and parts from several wrecked and scrapped aircraft and building many others themselves from drawings, the retirees have spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars re-creating a version of the distinctive, gull-winged plane that Japanese soldiers and sailors dubbed "Whistling Death."

Rebuilding the Corsair, one of two great fighter planes — the other was the Grumman F6F Hellcat — that enabled Navy and Marine pilots to dominate the skies in the Pacific theater, "has been a real work of love for the last four years," said Hank Merbler, president of the Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation.

The recently completed plane, which isn’t flyable and will eventually end up in an area museum, will be rolled out for several hundred invited guests today in a hangar at Vought Aircraft Industries west Dallas complex.

Launched in 1938 to meet Navy requirements for a high-speed fighter airplane, the Corsair is the most famous aircraft designed and produced by the company founded by the aviation pioneer Chance Vought.

"It’s an airplane I’m really proud of. If you read all the history of it, it’s really something," said Dillon Smith, a 34-year employee of Vought who retired in 1994.

"It did what it was designed to do and that was defeat the Japanese Zero," Smith said.

The first new, highly capable fighter aircraft to reach the Pacific theater early in 1943, the Corsair was initially deployed with ground-based Marine squadrons.

Corsairs were flown by the famous "Black Sheep" Squadron, led by Marine Maj. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, whose exploits were the basis for the mid-1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep.

[DesertSapper]

I’ve been in these Vought work hangers many times over the past years but not much since I started working remotely. I need to head back over to see how the plane looks completed.

[headstamp 2]

“Yea, that was fun. After you put the paper on it you would wet it. When it dried and shrunk it was ready for the paint. Cutting those pieces out of balsa wood was not easy. Loved the smell of Testors glue. “

Hot “Fuel Proof” Dope ping!

[Dysart]

Interesting. I’ve never heard that we reverse engineered Zero tech during the War. I’d like to read more about it.

[headstamp 2]

Were these mostly land based vs. carrier based planes?

[Dysart]

Loved the smell of Testors glue.

I nearly made the same comment in reply to the first post who referenced the model building. I can still smell that "aroma." Haha It explains a great deal...

[tanknetter]

Interesting. I’ve never heard that we reverse engineered Zero tech during the War. I’d like to read more about it.

Good information to start with here

There have been a number of discussion on the subject over on the forums at WIX as well

[jazusamo]

I believe most all the Marine F4U’s in WWII were land based but carrier capable but not absolutely sure.

[tet68]

Beautiful bird there, and from my old outfits ancestor,
I was in VMA-223 which was the attack designation given
to VMF units later on. Even has our logo on the nose, a fightin bulldog with boxing gloves and a doughboy helmet.

The Zero gained speed and manuverability at the cost of weight, it had little armor and did not have self sealing
fuel tanks till later if at all.

Oh those props on the Corsair were some 13 feet in diameter.

[slumber1]

Were these mostly land based vs. carrier based planes?

I believe they were originally intended to be carrier based but were almost impossible to land on the carriers so the Marines used them as land based squadrons

[fso301]

Interesting. I’ve never heard that we reverse engineered Zero tech during the War. I’d like to read more about it.

Here's one place to start

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akutan_Zero

[tanknetter]

I believe they were originally intended to be carrier based but were almost impossible to land on the carriers so the Marines used them as land based squadrons

The issue was with the oleos on the main gear being too stiff. When the aircraft trapped, it had a tendency to bounce. And bounce and bounce and bounce.

Not a good thing.

So the Corsairs were relegated to USMC squadrons operating ashore until the gear problem was addressed. As the reengineering was going on the F6F entered service in numbers and proved itself to be more than capable of being the fleet's primary fighter. Corsairs did eventually make it back into the fleet (and also into other nations' carrier air arms ... the Royal Navy flew a version of the Corsair with clipped wings that could fit into it's carriers' lower-ceiling hangar decks), but too late to really supplant the F6F.

[19th LA Inf]

I’ll bet there are a few former Marine aviators on this board who will point out that, when Navy pilots found the F4U “almost impossible to land on carriers”, the Marines went ahead and did it! A few years back I worked with a former Marine pilot from the 1945 era who flew them off a carrier. His favorite story was about encountering a flight of lost USAAF P-38s who asked the Marines for a steer to any handy airbase. They led the AAF guys to their carrier and invited them to drop in for coffee. (They knew that Okinawa was barely out of sight).

[jazusamo]

I can’t remember where I got that pic, had it a long time. I have it on my computer for my home page. I built models for years and love WWII vintage fighters. Years ago I built an RC F4U 36” wingspan, it’s a beauty and my grandson still has it.

About a year ago I had a Comcast tech out for an Internet problem and he asked me if that was me flying it, I told him no because if I get more than ten feet off the ground my stomach starts feeling funny. LOL!

[Redleg Duke]

I also learned this week that the F-4U is the only piston-engined fighter to shoot down a jet fighter. It happened against a Mig-15 during the Korean War.

[shoptalk]

Chance Vought F4U Corsair on display at the Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, VA

This FREE museum shouldn't be missed. I had a great time there with my son's recruiting (poolee) class.

[zeebee]

Trivia question:

Do you know why the wings were shaped that way?

[Enterprise]

As I recall from my past readings, the Navy did indeed want to put the Corsairs on the carriers. However they were unable to figure out how to land them safely so the Corsairs were initially land based. The Brits figured it out right away and had Corsairs landing on their carriers two years before the Navy figured it out. (No linky, sorry)

[Enterprise]

"If I was filthy rich, that is something I would have.

Oh man. I would have a Mustang, a P-38 Lightning, a Corsair, a Thunderbolt and a B-17.

[Last Dakotan]

ping

[Dysart]

Thank you for the excellent resources. I like this part...

During "The War," Grumman was an outstanding example of American productivity, employing 20,000 workers, few of whom had ever worked in the aircraft industry before; many of them were women. Bethpage was a happy place; there were no strikes, work stoppages, nor unions. Grumman took care of its employees with daycare centers for working mothers, social events for all, Christmas turkeys, and the famous "Green Car Service" to help employees with dead batteries and other minor problems. 12,000 planes in 3yrs. Wow.

And also this one re the Hellcat from one E Valencia: " one of the Navy's top aces, quipped. "I love this airplane so much, that if it could cook, I'd marry it."

(Could he get away with that comment now without being vilified?===rhetorical)