Bent wing warrior

Air Classics, May 2002 by O'Leary, Michael

A PICTORIAL SALUTE TO THE CHANCE VOUGHT/GOODYEAR CORSAIR - PERHAPS THE MOST CHARISMATIC NAVAL FIGHTER EVER BUILT!

Out over the Gulf of Mexico, the late Merle Gustafson breaks with his Chance Vought F4U-4 Corsair into the camera plane while other Corsairs await their turn. Angel of Okinawa is Bureau Number (BuNo) 97286 and registered N5215V. Last seeing service with a Naval Air Reserve unit at Olathe, Kansas, before being sold surplus, the Corsair was one of a number of F4Us acquired by the extremely eccentric Bob Bean. Bean stored some of his bent-wing warriors at Blythe, California, and others near Phoenix, Arizona. Gustafson obtained the dilapidated fighter and trucked it to his base at Tallulah, Louisiana, where he restored the plane - making its first post-restoration flight during August 1973.

The rarest of all Corsair variants still flying is F4U- 1A BuNo 17995. This "bird cage"

variant had many differences over later models and, as N90285, the aircraft is being flown by the late Harry Doan over Florida during March 1983. After the war, the aricraft had been used as a war memorial in Provo, Utah, but when its condition went downhill, the airframe wound up in a jukyard from which it was rescued by Doan in 1965. Doan slowly rebuilt the craft back into flying shape, making the first post-restoration flight during March 1982. Unfortunately, after experiencing engine problems, Harry crash-landed the Corsair in the ocean near New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Quickly recovered from the salt water, Doan once again restored the fighter which flew again on 11 March 1989. After going through several owners, the type was obtained in 1990 by Alpine Fighter Collection in New Zealand. Registered ZK-FUI, the plane was painted a s a Royal New Zealand Air Force example. A couple of years ago, the fighter was sold to a new aviation museum in Brazil.

Steve Hinton brings the F4U-1A Corsair tight with the camera plane after the hter had been sold to Roy Stafford in 1989. This view emphasizes the type's long nose which, when combined with

the bird cage canopy, led to fairly poor visibility.

Photographed during April 1988, the late Rick Brickert pilots FG-ID BuNo 88297 on its way to Houston, Texas, where it was

loaded aboard a cargo ship for transport to Britain where it became part of Stephen Gray's The Fighter Collection at historic Duxford Airfield. After military service, the FG-1D was sold as scrap but rescued by Frank Tallman who got the plane into flying shape and ferried it, as N9154Z, to his base at Orange County Airport in southern California. The aircraft was never restored and remained in its original, albeit fading, Columbus Naval Air Reserve markings until it was sold at the famous Tallmantz auction on 29 May 1968 (don't even ask -- it went for pennies compared to what a Corsair is worth today!). From that point, the plane went through several owners until being acquired by Gray who placed the fighter on the British civil register as G-FGID. The Corsair is being accompanied by The Air Museum Planes of Fame F4U-lD which was being flown by Dennis Sanders.

Somehow, Corsairs just seem to naturally go with big, puffy white clouds. Goodyear-built FG-1D BuNo

92468 belongs to the Commemorative (ex-- Confederate) Air Force at Midland, Texas. After military service, this aircraft went into the vast Naval aircraft graveyard at Goodyear, Arizona. Fortunately, it was sold surplus in 1960 and shortly afterwards was obtained by Lefty Gardner for the fledgling CAF. Registered N9964Z, the aircraft was originally finished in CAF "house" colors of white, red, d blue. Damaged in several accidents over the years, the FG-1D is currently airworthy.

All the power of a Corsair becoming airborne is illustrated in this view of Dick Bertea just lifting off from Alameda Naval Air Station on 14 August 1995 during carrier qualification trials for the 50th anniversary of the conclusion of World War Two. Vintage Warbirds that qualified were taken aboard the USS Carl Vinson which them steamed to Hawaii to launch the aircraft for an aerial trip around the islands. The immaculate F4U-5NL is BuNo 124486 which was sold in the mid- 1950s to the air force of Honduras where it served as FAH 606 and participated in the infamous 1969 "Soccer War" with Salvador. During its Latin military career, the Corsair carried the names El Guajiro and Tarranas at different times. Returned to the United States in 1978 by Howard Pardue and Robert Ferguson as N49068, the aircraft went through several owners until being acquired in 1988 by Richard Bertea who had the plane completely restored and finished in VMF-451 markings.

For civilian use, the big Pratt & Whitney radial was called the Double Wasp, in military use it was the R-2800. The XF4U-1 made its first flight on 29 May 1940 and power came from a P&W XR-2800-2 rated at 1800-hp, making it the world's first naval fighter to exceed 400 mph in level flight. To give an idea of the growth potential of the R-2800, the -34W variant fitted in