In early 1938, the United States Navy was in need of an all-new carrier-based fighter aircraft and made a request for design proposals. The Navy required an aircraft with a high top speed but a low stall-speed to allow for carrier landings; it would also need a long range for lengthy patrols over large areas of open ocean. In June of 1938, a contract was signed with the aircraft manufacturer Vought, a company that had a long affiliation with the US Navy between the wars with spotter aircraft and seaplanes. Rex Beisel led Vought's design team, assembled to create the company's two responses to the Navy's request; it was their second proposal, the XF4U-1, that would eventually become the legendary Corsair. Beisel was the only son of a coal miner from Cumberland, Washington, USA. He joined the engineering department at Vought in 1931 in the role of Assistant Chief Engineer and after writing a significant technical paper on the cooling of radial engines, he was promoted to General Manager.
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