The XF4U-1 prototype in 1940/41, showing its more forward cockpit location These small bombs would, according to thinking in the 1930s, be dropped on enemy aircraft formations. Provision had to be made for antiaircraft bombs to be carried in the wing. The fighter had to carry four guns, or three with increased ammunition. A range of 1,000 miles (1,600 km) was specified. For the single-engined fighter, the Navy requested the maximum obtainable speed, and a minimum stalling speed not higher than 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). Navy Bureau of Aeronautics published two requests for proposal for twin-engined and single-engined fighters. Its 1942–1953 production run was the longest of any U.S. Navy in 1940, to final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs were manufactured in 16 separate models. and British, the Corsair was also used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, French Naval Aviation, and other air forces until the 1960s.įrom the first prototype delivery to the U.S. The Corsair served almost exclusively as a fighter-bomber throughout the Korean War and during the French colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria. Instead, the Corsair's early deployment was to land-based squadrons of the U.S. Early problems with carrier landings and logistics led to it being eclipsed as the dominant carrier-based fighter by the Grumman F6F Hellcat, powered by the same Double Wasp engine first flown on the Corsair's initial prototype in 1940. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American fighter of World War II and its naval aviators achieved an 11:1 kill ratio.

It quickly became one of the most capable carrier-based fighter-bombers of World War II. The Corsair was designed and operated as a carrier-based aircraft, and entered service in large numbers with the U.S. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand additional production contracts were given to Goodyear, whose Corsairs were designated FG, and Brewster, designated F3A. The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War.

Corsairs Legacy free