Modelling the F4U Corsair

The combat career of the F4U Corsair stretched longer than almost any other World War II fighter aircraft. The first of more than 12,000 Corsairs were produced in 1940, and the last of these bent-wing birds were still doing battle above Central America nearly 30 years later. The Vought Aircraft company had a strong association with the US Navy during the inter-war decades, but their focus in the 1930s was observation aircraft, trainers and seaplanes. In response to a US Navy specification issued in February 1938, Vought submitted two designs. With the second of these carrier-based fighter proposals, Vought adopted the simple strategy of building the smallest possible airframe around the most powerful available engine. At the same time, Pratt & Whitney was developing the supercharged R-2800 radial engine. Radial engines had recently lost favour to the sleeker inline configuration, but the US Navy preferred the ruggedness and simplicity of the radial arrangement.


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