F4U Corsair. Iconic Aircraft Of World War 2 | Upscaled Video

The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. 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 Corsair was designed and operated as a carrier-based aircraft, and entered service in large numbers with the U.S. Navy in late 1944 and early 1945. It quickly became one of the most capable carrier-based fighter-bombers of World War II. 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. 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. Instead, the Corsair's early deployment was to land-based squadrons of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.
The Corsair served almost exclusively as a fighter-bomber throughout the Korean War and during the French colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria. In addition to its use by the U.S. and British, the Corsair was also used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, French Naval Aviation, and other air forces until the 1960s.
From the first prototype delivery to the U.S. Navy in 1940, to final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs were manufactured in 16 separate models. Its 1942-1953 production run was the longest of any U.S. piston-engined fighter.
In February 1938 the U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics published two requests for proposal for twin-engined and single-engined fighters. For the single-engined fighter the Navy requested the maximum obtainable speed, and a stalling speed not higher than 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). A range of 1,000 miles (1,600 km) was specified. The fighter had to carry four guns, or three with increased ammunition. Provision had to be made for anti-aircraft bombs to be carried in the wing. These small bombs would, according to thinking in the 1930s, be dropped on enemy aircraft formations.
On 1 October 1940, the XF4U-1 became the first single-engine U.S. fighter to fly faster than 400 mph (640 km/h) by flying at an average ground speed of 405 mph (652 km/h) from Stratford to Hartford. The USAAC's twin engine Lockheed P-38 Lightning had flown over 400 mph in January-February 1939. The XF4U-1 also had an excellent rate of climb although testing revealed some requirements would have to be rewritten. In full-power dive tests, speeds of up to 550 mph (890 km/h) were achieved, but not without damage to the control surfaces and access panels and, in one case, an engine failure. The spin recovery standards also had to be relaxed as recovery from the required two-turn spin proved impossible without resorting to an anti-spin chute. The problems clearly meant delays in getting the design into production.
Reports coming back from the war in Europe indicated an armament of two .30 in (7.62 mm) synchronized engine cowling-mount machine guns, and two .50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns (one in each outer wing panel) was insufficient. The U.S. Navy's November 1940 production proposals specified heavier armament. The increased armament comprised three .50 caliber machine guns mounted in each wing panel. This improvement greatly increased the ability of the Corsair to shoot down enemy aircraft.
General characteristics
Crew: One
Length: 33 ft 8 in (10.26 m)
Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in (12.50 m)
Height: 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
Wing area: 314 sq ft (29.17 m2)
Empty weight: 9,205 lb (4,238 kg)
Gross weight: 14,670 lb (6,654 kg)
Max takeoff weight: 14,533 lb (6,592 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-18W radial engine, 2,380 hp (1,770 kW)
Propellers: 4-bladed
Performance
Maximum speed: 446 mph (717 km/h, 385 kn)
Cruise speed: 215 mph (346 km/h, 187 kn)
Stall speed: 89 mph (143 km/h, 77 kn)
Range: 1,005 mi (1,617 km, 873 nmi)
Combat range: 328 mi (528 km, 285 nmi)
Service ceiling: 41,500 ft (12,600 m)
Rate of climb: 4,360 ft/min (22.1 m/s)
Armament
Guns:
6 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, 400 rounds per gun or
4 × 0.79 in (20 mm) AN/M3 cannon, 231 rounds per gun
Rockets: 8 × 5 in (12.7 cm) high velocity aircraft rockets and/or
Bombs: 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg)
#f4u #corsair #F4UCorsair

[@Dronescapes]

Click the link to watch more aircraft, heroes and their stories, missions: kzbin.info/aero/PLBI4gRjPKfnNx3Mp4xzYTtVARDWEr6nrT

[@flytraeger]

My dad and his brother were both Marine F4U pilots in VMF224 and fought from late 1943 up to the end of the war. My dad had stories about Lindbergh flying with them and how he showed them to take off with a larger bomb load and how to stretch range. The stories from my dad and uncle were incredible. I think my dad finished up 5th highest time corsair pilot in all of WW2, He absolutely loved this plane and said that kept him alive for those 2 years - the "queen of the skies." Wish I could fly one....

[@Dronescapes]

👍👍♥️♥️🇺🇸

[@petermalloy5360]

Truly brave and courageous

[@kennethdodge3779]

Oh wow.Your Dad is my Hero too. The Awesome Corsair is,and always will be my favorite Airplane of all time

[@kennethdodge3779]

I wish i could fly too

[@Johnnycdrums]

Your Dad is a hero. Sally forth and carry on smartly,.

[@JeryMorgan-yi4ki]

My uncle was a Marine Fighter Pilot. Served 2 tours in the Solomon's, then was assigned to carrier service. The Essex was one. He shot down 3 Zero's in 90 seconds in air-to-air combat. Was KIA 28MAR45 in the battle for Okinawa. Was in VMF 213 in the Solomon's. Capt. John L. (Luther) Morgan Jr.

[@stevehei8035]

My favorite WWII aircraft, being a kid in the 70’s Ba ba Black Sheep Squadron was my favorite TV show and later in 1979 met Greg Boyington at Beale AFB at an Air Show. Great man and great aircraft!

[@patrickcallahan9599]

My dad was a navy pilot late 50s early 60s.We used to watch ba ba black sheep every chance we got back when we had 2 channels and the education Channel.Great plane didn't know they made that many 🛠🙋‍♂️

[@jimmyjamz5055]

My grandfather worked on that squadrons corsairs. Pappy took my grandfather up in a plane to show him the islands of Guadalcanal. Wish Icouldve talked to him in person but maybe one day I will. RIP James Sweeney USMC_VMF-212

[@miketwomey4923]

I was lucky enough to have met him at the Hamilton Field air show in the late 80s. The place where they filmed it was just over a few hills from Magic Mountain, on YOU TUBE there's a film of what it looks like today...

[@c1ph3rpunk]

One of those show birds is owned by a gentlemen in Downers Grove, illinois, it’s won a couple EAA awards. Gorgeous and famous.

[@jakefarra7537]

I'm truly envious of meeting Pappy! I built models in '60s, and loved Corsairs bcos of positive data & exploits, before learning of 'black sheep' !

[@salamanca1954]

The Navy brushed the F4U off because it was difficult to land on a carrier deck. The British, those ingenious bastards, figured it out. As we can see in the video, when approaching the flight deck for a landing, the Corsair did not come in straight, but approached in a banking curve that allowed the pilot to see the flight deck until the very last instant, and thus align his plane properly for a landing. Once our British cousins showed us the way, we adopted the method and success followed.

[@Idahoguy10157]

The Navy had the Hellcat and the Corsair. They made a practical choice preferring the flying Hellcat off carriers. The RN fleet air arm could buy Corsairs.

[@BrandonJ20]

Seems it’s always us showing Americans how to do things 😉

[@Idahoguy10157]

@@BrandonJ20 …. Think of it as learning from the best

[@kurdtcocaine0]

@@Idahoguy10157 For once the Hellcats were relatively cheaper and faster to produce, they offered roughly the same performance. The Royal Navy didn't buy Corsairs, they were lend-leased and subsequently thrown off of carriers becouse the UK couldn't afford to pay for them after the war was over.

[@Idahoguy10157]

@@kurdtcocaine0 …. I was keeping the post simple. Fast forward and the US Navy is buying new Corsairs for the Korean War. Wonder if they missed all those Corsairs at the bottom of the ocean?

[@russell4718]

I had a friend who is gone now who was a P-40 pilot who transitioned to P39's during the Aletian campaign he later got a chance to fly the Corsair and told me that point blank he would have given body parts for one of them during his time in Alaska he stayed up her after he mustard out and lived the rest of his life up here

[@davidcruz8667]

That airplane was a work of art. Once the British figured out how to make it work for carrier operations, it was damn near unbeatable. It's like being charged by a Mack truck designed by Lamborghini and equipped by the most knowledgeable safari armorers of London in 19th century England. Even when it was restricted to land-based operations, this bird gave Jap Zeros a real wake up call. Don't mess with the Corsair unless you're feeling really lucky or you just don't give a shit about your personal well-being. I wish I owned one of these gorgeous beasts. Fast, powerful, big, nimble, tough, simple, and armed like a Viking berserker, this is a bird on a par with the P-51 Mustang and way better than the Hellcat. EDIT: I was just thinking about this, and it suddenly struck me that the F4U Corsair was the perfect design at the time for close air support for Marine infantry and armor and artillery units on the ground, as well as Army units and amphibious assaults, with armament that included 50 Cal guns, bombs, rockets, and napalm, flown by Marine aviatiors. I see it as the precursor to the Douglass A-1 Skyraider and the A-10 Warthog (I know, its official name is the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II, so just chill, we grunts will always call it a Warthog). I am proud of my country and its ability to project power in the interest of world-wide peace and liberty for all humanity. The Corsair is a prime example of what good men can do when faced with tyranny and oppression. I will be forever grateful to The Greatest Generation for making me the man I am today and showing us what it means to live in a free world. Semper Fi.

[@John-di2ki]

Dear David. It was the .416 Rigby of Fighter aircraft. Able to take any plains game as far away as you could shoot, absolutely flatten charging lions and still break both shoulders on the biggest bull Buffalo in the thick and thorny. It would do all that and still have one more round on tap than a double gun. I know you can shoot, break and reload that .470 nitro damn fast but you lose anything over 100 to 125 yards. You will have to forgive me, I grew up reading about Robert Rourke and W.D.M. Bell and anything written by Ross Siegfried and Peter HathWay Capstick. Just think, if the Army Air Corp could have taken its head out of its ass, we could have had Corsairs taking on ME109s and FW190s in 1943 in Europe. I'm kind of surprised that the Brits didn't try it. Don't get me wrong, I love the Spitfire,Hurricane and Typhoon but can you imagine the look on some Germans face when 40 or 50 Corsairs dove down on their bombers and accompanying fighter escort? Oh well, I talk too much, sorry. God bless and keep your powder dry. From Iowa...................John

[@ramseybedford5345]

I met Maj. Gregory "Pappy* Boyington at an airshow, I think at Payne Field, not sure what year , we went to a lot of airshows. He was awesome, very good memories. Love the Corsair, my favorite, of that era. The only one close is the P-38

[@Dronescapes]

What an experience!

[@henrycorvinus4045]

F4U Corsair is one of my most loved classic fighter planes.

[@donf3877]

Out of ALL the F4U videos I have watched and downloaded, and there are many... this is the ONLY one mentioning Charles Lindbergh, and his help working out some of the "bugs" of this fantastic aircraft. I knew about his work overseas in the war on the P-38, and his setting of leaning the mixture and increasing manifold pressure doubling its effective range. But, his work on the F4U is something new to me. The fact he flew combat missions right alone with the military pilots during the war, even though he was NOT supposed to fly at all in theater, shows his dedication and drive to help the pilots in anyway he could once the war was underway. He actually got a "kill" in a P-38... which ended his "observer" status overseas and resulted in his immediate return stateside. The government thought, just like certain Hollywood types, his death in combat would shock and disturb the American public.

[@alexanderbrown4250]

I think Lindbergh was in FDRs sights due to his conservative politics and prewar proNazi associations. Lindbergh sought a commission in the USAAF and was denied. It started with a spat over airmail. Lindbergh promoted private contractors transporting mail by air and FDR thought it should occur via US Postal Service.

[@donf3877]

@@alexanderbrown4250 Lindbergh was NOT proNazi. He was anti-WAR. He was part of the America First movement. Yes, the American Nazi movement TRIED to tag along... but it was NOT an actual part of the America First movement in any way shape or form. Lindbergh didn't want to see this country dragged into another European war. Over 80 per-cent of Americans felt the same way. But, once the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor his, and the entire countries, views changed. Once the war started... Lindbergh did everything he could to help our pilots and our country. The reason he was over in the Pacific at the P-38 squadrons was... he was working on a twin-engine fighter for the Navy. He wanted the pilot's view of what they liked, and what they wanted, and what they didn't want, in a twin-engine fighter. And, him actually flying the P-38 helped with his designs. The fighter Lindbergh was working on, the successor to the F6f Hellcat AND the F4U Corsair.... would become the F7f Tigercat. And, if you ever saw one... man are they HOT. It was like a P-38... on steroids. There are only one or two left around... but they are really something. Nothing would have stood a chance against one!!! Sadly, production of it had just started when the war ended.

[@tklube308]

In the TV show, there was an episode in which Lindburg was there.

[@BobbyTunes88]

my dad flew the Corsair in ww2, and later in Korea(Navy). badass plane,period

[@dukecraig2402]

Did he get out of the Navy after WW2 then get called back when Korea happened? I know that happened to a lot of pilots because they were so short on them when Korea broke out and I guess a lot of those guys weren't too happy about it.

[@nightsongs1970]

At the end of the Top Gun Maverick movie, he should have flown off in a Corsair (a navy plane) not a P-51 Mustang. That's the only gripe I have with the movie.

[@Dronescapes]

🙂

[@jaystockwell2133]

The P51-D won the war and I'll take that belief to my grave.

[@andreperrault5393]

True, but that P-51 in Topgun Maverick is Tom Cruise’s, owned and flown by him, so that’s why he flew that in the movie.

[@livefree2041]

My grandpa was a f4u mechanic in the Marines in ww2

[@randybentley2633]

My all-time favorite of the Warbirds. Also, no mention of the Corsair pilot who brought down the Japanese Bomber over Okinawa by cutting off it's empannage with his plane's prop after his 6 pack of Browning's jammed?! That he was able to land back aboard his carrier is a testament to this plane's robustness.

[@LS-zj7kv]

The quality and expertise of the documentary was absolutely fantastic and comprehensibly done. While my three Uncles were fighting hand to hand against the Japanese on the islands, the Navy was helping defend them from ships and air. They all three made it with no major damage and always spoke highly of their naval friends who finally picked them up and brought them home.

[@stephengardiner9867]

Not as easy to master as a Hellcat but The Japanese considered it their most formidable opponent. The Wildcat looked like a "scrapper", ready to take on any comers. The Corsair looked like it meant business and the gull wings gave it a bit of a "predator" look, like it was hunting it's next meal. It always has been tops on my list (a long one) of aircraft that I enjoy seeing and modeling. Still a force to be reckoned with in Korea and still lookin' good.

[@dukecraig2402]

I wonder why they'd say that when the Hellcat had a kill to loss ratio of 19 to 1 and the F4U had an 11 to 1 ratio. Probably because the majority of Japanese pilots who went up against the Hellcat didn't live to talk about it wherein a lot more who went against the F4U did, aka survivor bias.

[@johnrudy9404]

A thing of beauty. Inverted gull, a mark of distinction.

[@jeffmcdonald4225]

I have always believed it is the most beautiful airplane to ever fly.

[@calvinsnellings3985]

When I was a kid I knew Greg Boynton I sent his car dealership almost every day after school listen to the stories, He's really nice guy for mean son of a b**** I miss him he became a dear friend

[@wjewell63]

Yeah man.., black sheep was a favorite show of mine when I was a kid...thanks for sharing that man....👍

[@grantsmythe8625]

Very interesting documentary, made even better with the interviews from those who were there when this aircraft was made and coming of age. All very good.

[@Dronescapes]

Thanks

[@svenhillring3275]

I got to talk to a Korean War Corsair pilot and I asked him about his first carrier landing. He said, "I had everything down, my flaps, my landing gear, my tailhook, my rectum... everything".

[@kystars]

This was a very much underrated fighter from world war 2. This fighter was the best fighter in the war as far as I'm concerned. I saw one in person flying. so cool

[@forcedanonymity1791]

Beautiful aircrafft. So distinctive. Those wings are a work of art. The P-38 and Mustang get most of the glory and rightly so, but if I could own one, it’d be a tough call between a Corsair and a Mustang. The Mustang was American built, but actually an English designed airframe and later was equipped with the English RR Merlin motor (the finest prop fighter motor of all time). I’m so jealous of Jay Leon’s two Merlin/powered Deusenburg’s and his stand alone, running show Merlin. But the Corsire was all American.

[@alliedclimatecontrolheatin1550]

the Mustang air frame was designed and built by the North American aircraft company instead of them building the p-40 as the Brits originally wanted them to. Its original engine was an Allison, which lacked the supercharger needed for high altitude performance.

[@dukecraig2402]

​@@alliedclimatecontrolheatin1550 Exactly, the only supercharger system designed for the Allison engine incorporated a turbo for performance above low altitude, without the turbo it only had half of it's supercharger. The reason why that was the only system and that there wasn't a 2 stage 2 speed mechanical supercharger developed for it is because the Army had always flipped the bill for all the development of the Allison, since they wanted the supercharger/turbo configuration on all their aircraft they never paid Allison to develop a 2 stage 2 speed high altitude mechanically driven supercharger for the engine, since the Navy only wanted air cooled engines for their aircraft they certainly weren't going to pay Allison to do it, and in all reality the P39 and P40 both were originally supposed to have the system that had the turbo just like the P38, but in 1938/39 everyone in Europe was screaming for aircraft, since both of them were in the process of being developed it was decided to drop the turbo from both of them to speed up development so they could get production lines set up for them and start supplying them to everyone that was screaming for aircraft which by that point also included the Army Air Corps. Benjamin Kelsey, the Army officer who was essentially Congress's voice in the Army and was in charge of development and procurement for all Army aircraft kind of had a fast one pulled on him and Congress by Hap Arnold and Larry Bell, Bell didn't have a single aircraft in production in 1939 and faced bankruptcy, Hap Arnold was in desperate need of fighter's even if they weren't an ideal performer, better one that isn't than none at all, so he sent Lt Kelsey to England on "official Air Corps business" for 6 months to get him out of the way and him and Bell cut a deal to drop the turbo from the P39 and get a production line set up and start pumping them out. Years after the war in the 70's when an aviation writer was researching a book he was writing he interviewed Kelsey who'd long been retired, when ask if Kelsey had any regrets Kelsey said his one big regret of his career was not being able to see the P39 through it's full development, and he made an interesting point, had it been fully developed with the turbo the P51 might never have been designed in the first place. I've had people try to argue that point with me, P51 fanboys obviously, and claim it never could have because of range and the wing not being a good high altitude design but it's like I've told all of them, show me the WW2 fighter that didn't have it's fuel capacity increased and had the same wing on it's last variant that was on the prototype, those things were improved on pretty much all of them throughout the war including the P51, it had both it's fuel capacity increased and it's wing redesigned, along with it's famous scoop on the bottom, in the case of it's wing it had to be redesigned because they were snapping off the early models, so it was redesigned and retro fit kits were sent out to operational unit's that were flying the earlier models, the same was done with the increase in fuel capacity for them, the tank behind the pilot in the fuselage was added on at production and retro fit kits for that were sent out to the field. The P51 had no choice but to be developed with an Allison that only had half a supercharger system because that was the only engine available, it flew several months before Packard got Merlin's rolling out of their facility, I'm sure it was a given with everyone that the Packard Merlin's were going to go in them but they weren't going to sit around and wait on Packard to start producing Merlin's before they could even fly the P51, I don't believe that one day a bunch of guys in the field came up with the idea to put one in, the common story that goes along with the P51, it doesn't make any sense if you look at thing's like the timeline of when Packard finally got thing's rolling and the NAA timeline of having the P51 done so quickly and flying before Packard was rolling out engine's, and the fact that the P51 was originally for the British it's a no brainer that the 2 stage 2 speed supercharger Merlin was going to wind up in it, somebody somewhere down the road just took credit where they shouldn't have and another WW2 myth was born. Just like the myth of the British supposedly teaching the US Navy how to land the Corsair on carrier's, if you look at timeline's that fairytale falls apart real quick, the fact is the US Navy already had 2 or 3 Corsair squadrons carrier qualified with the F4U in 1942 which was before the British were even getting their F4U's, but since it was such a handful to land along with parts supply issues and the easier to land F6F was coming on line the Navy just removed them from carrier service and replaced it with the F6F, at that point the US Navy was being flooded with brand new pilots right out of flight school because of the rate it was growing at, why in the world would you risk their lives flying a plane that was such a handful to land on a carrier when you had one that was much easier? Then later in the war when the Navy was flush with experienced pilots, and the landing gear bounce problem had been solved with a redesign along with the parts supply issue being straightened out they brought the F4U back to carrier service because they needed it with it's faster climb rate to intercept incoming Kamikaze's which at that point had become a much bigger issue than the year's before, that's the real story behind the US Navy's use of the F4U during the war, not the "Gee whiz that's a nice plane, shame we can't figure out how to land it on a carrier, we sure hope someone comes along one day and shows us how" nonsense story, like the P51/Merlin story somewhere down the road someone took credit for something they shouldn't have, I'll give you 3 guesses who that was and the first 2 don't count.

[@johnathanh2660]

​@@dukecraig2402 "Benjamin Kelsey, the Army officer who was essentially Congress's voice in the Army and was in charge of development and procurement for all Army aircraft kind of had a fast one pulled on him and Congress by Hap Arnold and Larry Bell, Bell didn't have a single aircraft in production in 1939 and faced bankruptcy, Hap Arnold was in desperate need of fighter's even if they weren't an ideal performer, better one that isn't than none at all, so he sent Lt Kelsey to England on "official Air Corps business" for 6 months to get him out of the way and him and Bell cut a deal to drop the turbo from the P39 and get a production line set up and start pumping them out." This doesn't scan. At the time procurement contracts/educational orders were being handed out to 'get industry working'. One such contract was with Singer to make 2000 M1911 pistols. They did such a good job they didn't make another pistol instead they were contracted to make components of more exacting specification - Norden bomb sights. It's highly unlikely that an aircraft manufacturer would be without work. As for your comments re: P51/Merlin, this is a similar story with the AVRO Manchester and the Merlin. The Merlin's availability was a critical constraint and the AVRO Manchester was redesigned with larger wings and four engines, Merlin's, to become the Lancaster. The P51 isn't the only aircraft that had to be designed WITHOUT a Merlin as part of the (initial) production run. As for the Royal Navy's development of carrier landings and the Corsair. It takes a huge volume of landings to iron out the difficulties in landing a new model of aircraft of a carrier and the UK carriers are typically smaller than the US ones. Expense aside this is because of the area of operation, largely NOT the Pacific and the time taken for construction. Once the Washington naval treaty was broken (glaringly) Britain needed ships quickly and large carriers simply took too long. The RN/FAA (Fleet Air Arm) did the development work on this, with the many landings under a variety of conditions and I do recommend reading 'Winkle' Brown's memoir on his flying career.

[@fuzziemorris886]

Corsair! One of the absolute best fighters!

[@manricobianchini5276]

I would choose the F4U Corsair over any other!

[@markmele2131]

I am ADDICTED to these docs...i am going through WWII one fighter at a time.

[@DeaconBlu]

Epic…EPIC video of and for my beloved F4U Corsair! Thank You! I’ve loved this bird since I was a boy. I’m a recent subscriber and have found soooo many things on this channel. I’m quite thankful to have found this. By all means, please..keep it up and keep up the content! Great stuff! ❤😎👍❤

[@user-ni2zo5zo3c]

David R Lentz, USA At 8:40, Don Jordon (elsewhere spelt “Jordan”), a Pratt & Whitney engineer, states that Chance Vought’s aircraft developers, whilst testing their new XF4U-1 Corsair Single-Seat Experimental Fighter Prototype, sent it “over a speed course [where] it made a speed of 405 mph. This was the fastest that any military aircraft had flown up to this time.” He gives no date or time. At 13:30, the narrator reports that on Tuesday, 1 October, 1940, “the original X plane [the above-mentioned XF4U-1 Corsair] became the first U.S. fighter to fly at over 400 mph in level flight.” Both men are incorrect. On Saturday, 11 February, 1939, the Lockheed XP-38 Lightning USAAF Twin-Engine Single-Seat Experimental Fighter-Interceptor Prototype made its notable cross-country test flight, during which the test pilot Ben Kelsey flew the aircraft from March Field, CA to Mitchell Field, NY, setting a new aviation record by completing the journey in just 7 hours and 48 minutes and [at one stage of the route] exceeding 400 mph IAS [indicated air speed] in level flight at 420 mph (sources: aviation-history.com; militaryfactory.com; nationalmuseum.af.mil). This was over a year and eight months prior to the XF4U-1 Corsair’s attempt. The Corsair legitimately can claim itself the first single-engine military aircraft to achieve this milestone. The entire reason Lockheed chose a twin-engine design is that combat aircraft power plants lacked the capacity to meet the War Department’s specifications requirements for a new fighter design. This changed with Pratt & Whitney’s new R-2800 18-cylinder twin row air-cooled radial engine, which drove the Corsair (as had two other contemporaneous warbirds then also undergoing early development: the Republic P-47 series USAAF Fighter and the Grumman F6F Hellcat series U.S. Navy Carrier-Based Fighter).

[@ramimariewilson4672]

My favorite American piston engined fighter.

[@MrEvanfriend]

As a Marine (albeit in the infantry and serving decades after the Corsair retired), the Corsair is definitely my favorite plane. That being said, the whole "whistling death" thing is bullshit. There is zero evidence of the Japanese ever calling it that. They generally called it the Sikorsky. Based on my experience and everything I've ever read, nobody gives enemy weapons cool nicknames like that. American pilots in Europe called the Me-262s "blowjobs". American sailors in the Pacific called the Ohka suicide rocket plane a "baka bomb" (baka being an insult in Japanese). You don't give the enemy's gear cool nicknames, if you give it a nickname at all, it's gonna be derogatory.

[@kennethhuff7158]

Love this Aircraft beautiful design.

[@gdinme3180]

That plane can bank, smooth turning of being sharp.

[@gdinme3180]

I'm sorry, I meant that plane can cut on a dime. Doesn't loses much acceleration at all on them tight turns of maneuvering. The Walter Payton of WW2 fighter planes.

[@user-ik7zy5rh7u]

THIS Bird is incredible AND easy to fly

[@poppashots994]

This plane was a work of art.

[@mikelanglow-bi2sv]

Fantastic documentary ! ❤

[@beeenn649]

Great vid, thanks!!

[@Dronescapes]

Glad you liked it!

[@Ruger44Redhawk]

Finally, after waiting since I was a kid, I finally got to see a F4U Corsair not only fly but take pictures up close. I can now die a happy man! Took my kids to the Warhawk Air Museum Air Show in Nampa, ID last weekend where we saw three P-40 Warhawk's, three different P-51 Mustangs (including the Boise Bee), a P-38 Lightning, a B-25 Mitchell, some T-6's and torpedo bombers and of course the F4U Corsair. So glad I took my kids there to hear the 1940's music and watch these warbirds fly right over us.

[@davidmandziuk8493]

Great, refreshing background video. Well done.

[@Dronescapes]

Many thanks!

[@hbarends5483]

Beautiful plane!!! Always loved the Corsair!!!

[@c1ph3rpunk]

US Navy: ewww, weirdo, strange wing, can’t see perfectly, nah. Marines: whatever, give us as many as you can, we’ll make it work. English Navy: morons, works fine US Navy: we told you it was awesome, really, see, works for us.

[@mikefallwell1301]

Eric Winkle Brown was the leading test-pilot developing British carriers

[@robertedwards3147]

My father never stopped talking about flying them best ever to him he was in the NZRAF

[@davidtaylor351]

I think you mean RNZAF. As in Royal New Zealand Airforce. They operated Corsairs in the South West Pacific Campaigns.

[@bradmiller9507]

Cool ole Mr.Dan! Kick Rudder,& Spray'm like a WaterHose!

[@englishmaninfrance661]

When I was a kid the first Airfix model I bought was the Corsair . I would lie in bed watching it twirl from the ceiling

[@phann860]

A good presentation.

[@glenn5903]

Awesome airplane! Love the Corsair ❤

[@TheCountofToulouse]

I was watching another documentary, not necessarily featuring the Corsair but just about WW2 aviation in general. In that presentation, a Japanese pilot stated that they FEARED the 'bent wing' aircraft, they would AVOID them if possible.

[@HellenKillerProject]

My father flew these ... He helped in testing the little triangle that equalized the lift. Albert Hill Jones Jr

[@Idahoguy10157]

In Marine service 1943-57. Can’t top that as a prop fighter!

[@CorePathway]

The A-1/AD would give it a fight.

[@Idahoguy10157]

@@CorePathway …. How long were they in USAF & USN service?

[@CorePathway]

@@Idahoguy10157 1946 - 1973 in US service. Overlapping your entire service period.

[@Idahoguy10157]

@@CorePathway …. Thank you! I stand corrected

[@CorePathway]

@@Idahoguy10157 I’m a huge fan of the ‘Spad’. The Corsair was the Marine’s hero in Korea, I can under your fondness

[@rexdaniels186]

The wingman' name was never mentioned. He was my father, Capt Willie Lee Daniels

[@northeden8661]

I've always loved that plane. Who couldn't ??? I mean c'mon. Powerful, versatile, armed to the teeth, sexy as hell. Just awesome.

[@amelierenoncule]

As a child in my motherland, mes amis, I read the memoirs of a chap who was a combat pilote of one of these in WWII. He claimed that the Flight Manual stated that the glide-characteristics were SO poor, that if the engine stopped, you should bail-out (if high enough) ... OR 'Whistle A Happy Tune and Kiss Your Ass Goodbye '! ... because a 'dead-stick’ landing was very iffy.

[@wjewell63]

My favorite plane ever..!

[@Dronescapes]

Good choice of aircraft

[@kailashsingh9737]

Very beautiful sweet object video

[@kornofulgur]

The Corsair also had a lot of action during the Indochina war.

[@danielburgess7785]

USMC legend ground support aircraft.

[@Dronescapes]

👍👍

[@mikefallwell1301]

Until Ed heinemanns big ugly ad1 Skyraider came along the corsair had it all

[@davidmcpherson7451]

I watched one crash at Phoenix air show long ago. Pilot got out but got banged up some on exit. Caught fire in unlimited race. Sad to watch.

[@anthonymartin7514]

Great documentary about a beautiful plane. But the whispering death stuff was a bit strange. It was actually the Bristol Beaufighter that was called whispering death by the Japanese.

[@mikefallwell1301]

It had 4 20 mm cannons installed in the floor as a field modification. They never knew what hit them.

[@maxschell8823]

Corsair F4U, "Whistling Death" also the name of the book, "Whistling Death" by Boone Guyton, Corsair PRIMARY test pilot for Chance Vought.

[@user-ik7zy5rh7u]

Not probably but truly The very best prop fighters ever built

[@creepycraiyons3519]

Vought succeeded this plane with the invention of Superheroes.

[@rickshearer6359]

It had a sicological effect too....when anyone heard one...THE PHRASE WISELLING DEATH!!!

[@paulojosecarvalho4765]

Eu gosto imenso de ficar a saber "coisas" sobre a II WW, e ultimamente tenho deparado imensas vezes com Charles ... Lindbergh...então cada vez tenho mais a sensação de que houve locais em que alguém se fez passar por ele... antes da II WW Lindbergh era coronel na reserva do exército( porque ainda não existia a FORÇA AÉREA dos E.U.A., o exército tinha aviões e a marinha tinha aviões...) mesmo depois de se formar a FORÇA AÉREA dos E.U.A., cada u. Dos ramos militares continuou a ter a sua aviação...😮😮😊

[@thisisreallife5086]

Thanks for the great video. Question - it looks like two small atom bombs at 28:45. The mushroom clouds seem larger and whiter than conventional bombs. Does anyone know what caused these? Maybe two ammunition depots were hit? If they were fuel tanks the smoke would be black, it seems. Or maybe some sort of early MOAB?

[@fredkruse9444]

Joe Foss was also governor of S Dakota, president of NRA and first commissioner of the American Football League. 31:57

[@michaeltolsdorf865]

The North American P-51 Mustang (last model)??? Would have been a hell of a comparison in actual flight trials.

[@user-ik7zy5rh7u]

AND was The first fighters to do over 400 miles an hour AND eventually reached a top speed in level flight of 501 miles an hour

[@dukecraig2402]

Both of those statements aren't true, despite what the guy in this video claims the P38 was the first fighter in the world to exceed 400 MPH in level flight, it did it in 1938 when the F4U was just a design concept, the first flight of the F4U wasn't until 1942, four years after the P38 became the first fighter or any military aircraft for that matter to exceed 400 MPH. And no variant of the F4U, even the F2G that had the 4 row R4360 Pratt&Whitney engine that only 2 were built, ever exceeded 500 MPH, the fastest variant of the F4U was the F4U-4 that didn't even fly until after WW2 was rated at 472 MPH. The fastest single piston engine military aircraft in the world remains the XP-47J, during it's development in WW2 it set the record at 504 MPH, however it was not a variant that saw combat since the project was canceled by the USAAF in favor of another variant development that was canceled due to the war ending, the XP-47J held the record for the fastest single engine propeller driven aircraft in the world until it was broken in 1989 by a specially modified Bearcat called Rare Bear racing plane, it went 528 MPH, but it's a specially modified racing plane so the XP-47J remains the fastest military piston engine propeller driven aircraft and will be forever since no military in the world will ever develop piston engine propeller aircraft again. For all around speed, altitude and range the P47N can fly higher, faster and further than any variant of the F4U even the one's made after the war and the P47N was produced during the war. Despite both using the Pratt&Whitney R2800 engine the P47 could always fly higher and faster than the F4U because of it's use of a turbo in it's supercharging system along with a single stage supercharger, the variant's of the R2800 engine used in the F4U always had 2 stage superchargers to obtain high altitude performance, the 2nd stage in that arrangement drags another 350 HP off the engine driving it while the P47 uses a turbo for it's second stage for high altitude performance, turbo's being waste energy systems don't create the parasitic power losses of a mechanically driven supercharger stage, as an example the late war R2800 engine with water injection makes 2,800 HP in the P47 but the same basic late war water injection R2800 engine in the F4U makes 2,450 HP, that's because the second stage on it's supercharger drags down another 350 HP off the engine driving it, the turbo system also gives the engine in the P47 a higher critical altitude rating meaning that it can produce it's maximum power at a higher altitude that than the version in the F4U. The F4U comes close to the P47 in speed and service ceiling to the P47 but the P47 does edge it out. What's correct to say about the F4U and the 400 MPH barrier that makes what the guy in this video and you incorrect is the fact that it was the first SINGLE ENGINE fighter in the world to break 400 MPH in level flight, the P38 was twin engine but it was the first military aircraft to break 400 MPH in level flight not the F4U, and even though the F4U can claim that and not the P47 it's because it flew just months before the P47 first did, so it didn't hold the record long before the P47 came along and took it away.

[@douggalliart3023]

It was the best dam fighter next to the P-51 mustang

[@maxdevlin4349]

My great uncle Bob flew Coursairs with the Cactus Airfoce.

[@Dronescapes]

Wow, any memory to share?

[@maxdevlin4349]

@@Dronescapes I actually had a copy of his war diary, but it was destroyed in a flood. I know other family have copies as well, and my mom probably has recollections. Unfortunately the one original picture of him that I had got destroyed as well. I know his nickname was "Babyshoe" because of his child's baby shoe he had sewn to his flying cap for luck, and maybe had a penchant for a bit of stunt flying 😏 Them Texas Boys, what can you say... His brother Royce served in the 8th as a navigator, his plane got shot down over France, but he bailed successfully and was successfully returned to Britain (as thankfully many aircrew were).

[@christiane.g.4142]

They forgot to mention that the F4U was the fighter of the Black Sheep Squadron fame

[@stevep4131]

"The last and possibly the greatest propeller driven fighter aircraft..." The Corsair was amazing. It doesn't need hyperbole. And the last? I'm sure there were some designed and built after the Corsair. Tempest, Bearcat, Seafury?

[@leosaura1993]

Of all the war birds of WW2 the F4U Corsair is my favorit a beautiful airplane it was in service all the way to the Korean war.

[@tonyjohnson8588]

You should make a TV show of the red tails and how they performed in the war

[@user-ik7zy5rh7u]

Infact The Corsair is The finest and most powerful fighters today

[@dukecraig2402]

No, the same R2800 engine was more powerful and had a higher altitude it could produce it's maximum power at than the version in the F4U because of the P47's combination supercharger/turbo system, it also gave the P47 a higher service ceiling.

[@mdemian1968]

Is that Keith David narrating? If so, then fk yeah!

[@chrisloomis1489]

Beautiful aircraft , deadly and graceful.

[@paulojosecarvalho4765]

No teatro de operações do Pacífico, Charles A. LINDBERGH tornou possível que os P-38 duplicações!!!! O seu raio de acção... passou de 900 milhas para 1800....o que na minha opinião é incrível...!!! Sem alterações físicas no motor...!!! apenas alterando a forma de pilotar...??? Na realidade eu não percebi o que aconteceu,.. sei que o facto de poupar combustível foi para ele muito importante nos seus voos, e que foi por isso que ele conseguiu perceber esta situação... Sei que também há mercúrio..?? envolvido na questão não sei é como nem porquê😮😮😮 COMO RESULTADO FOI FORMIDÁVEL PORQUE DUPLICAR O TEMPO QUE SE PODIA USAR UM AVIÃO PERMITIU FAZER COISAS QUE ANTES ERAM IMPOSSÍVEIS...!!!! Um pouco como o RAID Doolitle, nem consigo imaginar o espanto dos Japoneses quando viram TÓQUIO ser bombardeada...!!!😮😮😮😮😮😮COMO...!!! Este "simples" ataque fez os Japoneses repensar em em tudo o que estava a fazer... fê-los alterar alguns planos e deslocar meios de uma forma que não teria acontecido se este ataque não tivesse ocorrido...!!! Em última análise, algo que foi feito para mostrar aos Japoneses o erro que tinham cometido ao atacar os E.U.A....!!! acabou por ser muito útil a médio e longo prazo...!!!! TODA A IDEIA, CONCEPÇÃO E REALIZAÇÃO FOI UMA LOUCURA!!! A MARGEM PARA O DESASTRE ERA TÃO PEQUENA QUE SÓ ACEITARAM VOLUNTÁRIOS... FORAM 16 AVIÕES E CENTENAS DE VOLUNTÁRIOS...😮😮😮 Primeiro Doolitle teve de ver se era possível descolar da pista de um Porta-aviões...construíram no deserto uma pista com as dimensões da de um porta-aviões, em seguida descolar dela, o que não aconteceu á primeira vez.. finalmente conseguiu... e para selecionar entre os voluntários fê-los levantar voo daquela pista e só assim conseguiu reduzir e em muito a quantidade ENTRETANTO É IMPRESCINDÍVEL FAZER PERCEBER QUE LEVANTAR VOO DAQUELA PISTA, IMÓVEL NO DESERTO SERIA TOTALMENTE DIFERENTE DE LEVANTAR VOO DA "MESMA" PISTA SÓ QUE NO MEIO DO MAR, À NOITE, COM VENTOS CRUZADOS E COM O AVIÃO "SUPER PESADO"....😮😮😮 A PRIMEIRA COISA A FAZER ERA DIMINUIR O PESO....RETIRADO AVIÃO TUDIO QUE NÃO ESTIVESSE "AGARRADO"...Depois de pensarmos bocado decidiu retirar todas as armas e tudo o que estivesse relacionado com elas... incluindo o homem que as usava!!!! Os aviões que eles usaram têm uma tripulação de.... ...... naquele Raid só iam precisar do piloto, co-piloto, e o NAVEGADOR...!!!!😮😮 e até mesmo o navegador não era necessário em todos os aviões.... bastava haver 4 para os 16 aviões...DIGO EU... Sei é que retiraram todas...!!!😮😮😮 as armas bem como o pessoal não essencial...o navio escolhido foi o U.S.S. HORNET...que foi atingido de tal forma que foi ao fundo cerca de 16 meses depois...😢 a Ideia de retirar todas as armas veio do facto que: se não os surpreendentemente não haveria quantidade de armas que os pudessem salvar.... Em teoria os Japoneses não tinham RADAR... mas...iriam voar o mais baixo possível e só iriam levantar para atingir a altitude de bombardeio ideal no último momento, tinham definido os alvos ideais os secundários, terciários etc em seguida o mais rápido possível iriam para a parte da China não ocupada por Japoneses...todos conseguiram chegar a "terra" mas a maioria pouco mais que isso...!!! Penso que só 3 conseguiram chegar ao destino... os outros foram caindo conforme o combustível ia acabando...LOUCOS, COMPLETAMENTE LOUCOS...!!!!😊😊😊

[@loneranger5349]

The super corsair production should have happened. The mustang and thunderbolt both had upgrades changes bubble canopies and engines the hellcat and corsair should have they were already better.

[@EarlsBackYard]

They did in the Korean War look it up they made the F4u5 and all the way up to 7 with 2200hp to 3000hp respect and a top speed of 600mph

[@garymorris5974]

One bad Ass bird

[@beeenn649]

Not only a great fighter, but the "sexiest" fighter in my opinion.

[@Dronescapes]

👍❤

[@CorePathway]

As much as I love me some Corsair and Mustang, that Spitfire is the dime-piece of WWII fighters.

[@inkycat191]

M3 Stuart:Light tank Me: looks like a Anti Air to me D2: French medium infantry tank Me: looks like a heavy tank to me F4U: i am a Fighter that can be a Strike aircraft Me:yes

[@goldenschlong4846]

Why didn’t the MIG 15 give any ground support?

[@benquinneyiii7941]

Could he fit in a cockpit?

[@ronsmith7739]

I have several questions on the F4U Corsair and the Grumman F6F, the F4U had a 11 to 1 kill ratio while the F6F had a 19 to 1 kill ratio, why such a difference ??? The F4U4 had a max speed was I believe 440 MPH while the F6F only a max speed of 387 MPH ??? I understand the F6F had a "fat" design in the fuselage while the F4U was very sleek and smaller on the R2800 engine in the design. Why did the cockpit on the F6F was forward on the R2800 engine, while the F4U was set back 30 inches on the cockpit ??? I do know this was because of the 300 gallon gas tank, but why ??? Just a thought.

[@dukecraig2402]

As far as kill ratios there are so many variables involved in how one aircraft was used vs another that just looking at kill ratio raw numbers is a very poor way of judging a fighter's worth, for example the Wildcat had a kill ratio of 5 to 1, but what you have to realize about it is the facts that it went into combat against the Japanese when they had all their experienced pilots who'd already seen combat and the Wildcat was being flown by a bunch of US pilots who were in combat for the first time, it's the US Navy fighter that actually killed off the bulk of experienced and talented Japanese fighter pilots so that when the F4U and F6F came along later on they were flying against mostly poorly trained Japanese pilots who had as little as 10 hours time in the planes they were fighting in, plus the F4U and F6F pilots had been trained by the early Wildcat pilots who'd got experience against the Japanese then rotated home to teach the new generation of pilots showing up in the F4U and F6F, that's why they have those ridiculously high kill ratios, the same thing happened in Europe with the P47, it blasted the bulk of the experienced Luftwaffe pilots out of the sky who'd flown in the Spanish Civil War the Battle of Britain and in the east, then after killing them off the P51 shows up flying against poorly trained Luftwaffe replacement pilots and it was being flown by pilots trained by the experienced P47 pilots who'd rotated home to train them on how to fight the Luftwaffe, so it's like comparing apples to oranges, saying that the F6F is almost 4 times better than the Wildcat based on the F6F's 19 to 1 record compared to the Wildcat's 5 to one record is hardly fair all things considered, the F6F was a better fighter than the Wildcat but certainly not 4 times better, the math is skewed for the reasons I explained. The F4U and the F6F did show up about the same time but the F6F certainly wasn't almost twice as good as the F4U simply because the 19 to1 ratio compared to 11 to 1, so there has to be variables that come into play, just as a guess I'd say that since the F4U spent a considerable amount of time doing ground attack that probably put them in a prime position to be jumped from above by Japanese fighter's, the last place you want to be at the beginning of a dog fight is underneath your opponent with being pinned against the ground the absolute worst case scenario, so that might have something to do with it, also operating mostly off land bases might be some kind of disadvantage like coming under attack and having to take off in the first place compared to fighter's operating off of a carrier that are more likely to meet their opponent while both are already at altitude, those are just guesses, it'd take a considerable amount of research to fully understand why the F6F had a kill ratio almost twice the F4U but it certainly wasn't because it was twice as better, the F4U has better performance numbers all around so there's gotta be an explanation for that one. As far as rating aircraft that is a really tricky thing and Wikipedia can be a very poor source for that information, one thing you have to watch is that for one aircraft they're showing the performance numbers for an early war variant running it's engine on the early war low octane fuel and another aircraft showing it's numbers for a late war variant running it's engine on later war higher octane fuel along with other later improvements, the devil is in the details. I can't remember exactly what your numbers were for the two but your F4U speed seemed a little high like a late war or even post war variant vs am early variant F6F speed, the best comparison I saw looking at the speeds of the most common later war variants of the two which would be a fair comparison was the F4U was around 426 MPH while the F6F was around 396, that's less than a 30 MPH difference, which can probably be attributed to drag along with the variant of the R2800 engine in the F6F being about 150 to 200 HP less than the F4U, that could be because the variant in the F4U has a better supercharger, there is a difference in the engine's, the variant of the F4U i saw uses an R2800-18W engine while the same era variant F6F uses an R2800-10W engine, I'd have to do a lot of digging to find out why they had power differences but there's something different about them and as a guess I'd have to say it's the superchargers, the one in the F4U probably can make max boost for the engine at a higher altitude, which means it's flying through thinner air which makes less drag while the engine makes as much power as the F6F's that 7 or 8 thousand feet below it flying through thicker air, once again the devil is in the details when comparing the different ratings of aircraft. Hope some of this helps you get your head wrapped around some things, comparing aircraft is not a simple thing to do with all the different variables involved with them, and like I said Wikipedia is a poor place to get information to compare one to the other.

[@docbill1876]

I'm curious, how much does the airframe weigh with the aluminum panels and skins with nothing else??? can anyone know????

[@maxschell8823]

That depends on the Corsair model. For example the empty weight of the F4U-1A was 8962 lbs. The F4U-4 was 9336 lbs empty. The weight of the R-2800 approx. 2290 lbs. {8,962 - 2,290 = 6,672 lbs} For more detailed information go to the book "R-2800 Pratt and Whitney's Dependable Masterpiece" by White. Gross weight add another 3,000 lbs approx..

[@wintworthhenryy]

The F4U was phenomenal fighter and one of my favorites. But it wasn't the best.

[@bradmiller9507]

Throw Rocks,& Break the GlassHouse!

[@scotcoon1186]

My only question is, did they fly off the USS Esses?

[@Chief-Solarize]

I love the ole guy but unfortunately there's no way around physics. If a machine gun gives 200lb of recoiling force and there's 6 guns firing together, all that recoil translates into more resistance which translates into less airspeed. It might only be 25 or 30 mph but 10% of your airspeed is a big deal imo.

[@ShockingGecko8]

ummm it wasn't the last prop driven fighter aircraft but other than that good video

[@HappyHermitt]

Gnarly

[@djbenje4019]

What does he mean at 6:33 when he says "Two test versions had disappeared without a trace." HAHA. Is he saying that literally? That would be really weird, but also funny.

[@ordinarysavage]

If anyone ever said the Corsair was a bitch. . . Well: then she was THE Bitch to LOVE

[@jeremiahnorman]

the first jet plane was shot down by a red tail plane

[@beeenn649]

FG shot down a Mig 15, HA!

[@moehoward01]

_"..in Americas next war."_ How casually that was said.

[@rogervaldez-vi5hq]

Even the name got them nervious

[@desktopgrenadiers4321]

I thought the Beau was 'Whistling Death'....?

[@user-ik7zy5rh7u]

By The Way that speed is classified

[@peterford9369]

Them was the days that men was men. And just do it, originated. 👍

[@user-ik7zy5rh7u]

I'm The pilot that took her to that speed

[@MrDino1953]

Why did the designers put the cockpit so far back? The pilot’s forward/downward field of view was blocked by the ultra-long nose and the wings, the rear view blocked by the high fuselage. Must have been awful to land and frustrating in a dog fight.

[@svenhillring3275]

With the rearranging of the armament the fuel tank had to be moved to the fuselage and putting it in front of the cockpit kept the center of gravity. There are usually trade offs in aircraft design.

[@mikefallwell1301]

The firewall is back to the main Wing spar.

[@svenhillring3275]

The US Navy took a cue from the Royal Navy and adopted their manner of deck landing Corsairs: fly parallel to the carrier in the opposite direction, turn for a good view of the deck and drop down for a landing.