Vought retirees find, restore World War II Corsair fighter

FWST ^ | 1-24-09 | BOB COX

[blackie]

Love those WW2 fighter planes!

[BigCinBigD]

It is an Avenger. Sorry for the confusion. I just ment it had been restored to flying condition.

[BigCinBigD]

Here's a B 25 from the same air show.

[Dysart]

Did they offer flight tours in that one?

I had chance to book a ride in a B-17 a few yrs back in Addison, TX(home of cavanaugh flight museum)...loud,loud plane...when we were taxing down the runway, smoke began pouring from one of the engines just before takeoff. We aborted and all tours were cancelled for that day. I’m still here...

[Oatka]

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.

I was a kid during WWII and after the war I remember a Corsair pilot telling my dad that when a Zero got on his tail, he just hunched down behind the torso-shaped thick steel backing and let the plane take the hits as he knew it would. He said he could feel the plane lurch and shudder - took a licking but kept on ticking. When the Zero overflew him, he hosed it with his 50 cals and watched it go up in a ball of flame.

[BigCinBigD]

No just tours. There was supposed to be a B-24 at the show but it was not there. My mom built them for Consoladeted aircraft in WWII. They also had a sneaky Stealth...

[pa_dweller]

Here are some sounds to go with the pictures.

http://www.100megspopup.com/photo4phood/webaircraft/heartheroar.html

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

That looks more like an Avenger

Yup, that's a Turkey alright.

Agree. That is a TBF-Avenger.

How embarassing - I barely glanced at the photo scanning thru, and didn't take note of the distinctive (and, to Grumman retirees such as me, famous) wing fold mechanism design of Leroy Grumman. And the two-place canopy marks it as a bomber - thus, an Avenger, the only WWII Grumman bomber design I can call to mind (apart from a dive bomber design which was not selected for production by the Navy).

I am however aware of no way to tell from a photo whether a particular Avenger is a TBF ("TB" standing for torpedo bomber, and "F" standing for "manufactured by Grumman") as opposed to a TBM (same Grumman design, but manufactured by General Motors Corp). A large number Avengers - and Wildcats as well - were in fact manufactured by GM. Only Grumman, however, produced F6Fs.

[tanknetter]

I am however aware of no way to tell from a photo whether a particular Avenger is a TBF ("TB" standing for torpedo bomber, and "F" standing for "manufactured by Grumman") as opposed to a TBM (same Grumman design, but manufactured by General Motors Corp). A large number Avengers - and Wildcats as well - were in fact manufactured by GM. Only Grumman, however, produced F6Fs.

Later TBMs (TBM-3s) had an additional air scoop on the bottom of the cowl for the oil cooler, the result of putting the R-2600-20 into the airframe. Also additional cowl flaps. So if you see a scoop on the bottom of the cowl, you'll know it's an Eastern bird. TBM-1s, however, are indistinguishable from their Grumman cousins (unless you breakout a list of the Bu nums).

The FM series of Wildcat had some recognizable differences, mainly with the taller tail on the -2 series. Subtle cowl differences aw well, iirc.

[GreyFriar]

The “bent wing” was to provide the extra ground clearance needed by the 13’ propellor, because the landing gear could not be made longer (either because of strength or to fit into the chord of the wing, I don’t know which).

[Yo-Yo]

That was just the proof-of-concept prototype. The proposed service aircraft was the Vought XF5U-1. It was cancelled and destroyed before first flight.

(What looks like intakes for twin turbine engines are in fact cooling intakes for the dual P&W R2000 radial engines.)

[tanknetter]

Website for more pics of the restoration (plus other restorations by the same group) can be found here.

Interesting that they refer to the Corsair as an F4U-X. This would seem to confirm that the basis for the restoration is a mix of F4U-1 and F4U-4 parts.

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

You guys seem to know your WWII aircraft, so maybe one of you can help with something that has me puzzled.

My father served in WWII as part of Air Group Fifteen (AG-15) on the USS Essex. AG-15 (the “Fabled Fifteen”), commanded by David McCampbell the US Navy’s all-time leading ace, participated in many major Pacific battles including the “Marianas Turkey Shoot”.

My father wasn't a pilot, but still flew over 50 times. His Flight Book shows he flew in a SB2C, SB2C-1C, SB2C-3, SB2C-4, SB2C-4E, SB2C-5, SBW-4E and a TBM-3E.

My puzzle is with a great picture I have of my father with his squadron in front of a plane. Based on its air intake and wings, the plane appears to be an SB2C-Helldiver. I've wanted to get a model of this plane, but every model I find on-line shows four propellers. The plane in the picture only has three propellers.

Do I have the wrong plane?

[BigCinBigD]

It may be the Grumman F6F Hellcat.

[tanknetter]

Do I have the wrong plane?

Nope. Through the SB2C-1, production Helldivers had three bladed props married with R-2600-8 engines.

The SB2C-3 had the more powerful R-2600-20 engine (same as with the TBM-3) with the four-bladed prop. All production Helldivers from the -3 on had four-bladed props.

I have VB-15 flying from Essex under the command of Lt. Cdr J.H. Mini with -1Cs during the Marianas Campaign, then with -3s at Leyte three/four months later. "Helldiver Units of WWII" (Osprey/Tillman) has a small pic of VB-15 -1C Helldivers (with three-bladed props) spotted on the aft deck of Essex on 5/27/44.

[tanknetter]

Should add ... Matchbox made a 1/72 -1C version of the Helldiver, while Academy makes a -4 in the same scale. I don't believe that there is a 1/48 kit out there for the -1C though.

A company named Accurate Miniatures makes/made a -4 Helldiver in 1/48 scale, which is a repop of an earlier Monogram (Promodeller) kit. It can be converted into a -1C, and a buildup of the conversion can be found here. A cosmetic conversion involving backdating to the 3-bladed prop/spinner and non-perforated dive brakes of the -1C to create a model that "looks good enough" shouldn't be that hard in either scale.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“Do you know why the wings were shaped that way?”

The F4U incorporated the largest engine available at the time, the 2,000 hp (1,490 kW) 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial. To extract as much power as possible, a relatively large, 13 ft, 4 inch (4.06 m) Hamilton Standard Hydromatic three-blade propeller was used. To accommodate a folding wing, the designers considered retracting the main landing gear rearward, but for the chord of wing selected, it was difficult to fit undercarriage struts long enough to provide sufficient clearance for the large propeller. Their solution was an inverted gull wing, a similar layout to the one used by Germany’s Stuka dive bomber, considerably shortening the length of the main gear legs. The anhedral of the wing’s center-section also permitted the wing and fuselage to meet at the optimum angle for minimizing drag, without the need for wing root fairings.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“The US didn’t think you could fly Corsairs off of the carriers...”

The Corsair was intended to be a carrier-based aircraft. Initial Corsairs had a “bounce” in their landing gear, causing them to bounce over the deck pendant in carrier landings. That is when the Corsairs went to the Marines for land-based operation. The Brits overcame this problem and used them off carriers. Later we also used them off carriers.

[Dysart]

Nice perspective here of the Stuka dive bomber

You can see the resemblance but the angle slopes upward closer to the fuselage on this one.

[Dr._Joseph_Warren]

Your tip was a major help. I had been doing searches using only 'SB2C'. When I searched on 'SB2C-1' I found pics of the three-blade prop Helldiver.

>>I have VB-15 flying from Essex under the command of Lt. Cdr J.H. Mini with -1Cs during the Marianas Campaign, then with -3s at Leyte three/four months later.

Are you saying you served on the Essex?