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.
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!
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.