[rescue] Corsairs

[Mike Nicewonger]

On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, you wrote:
> Nice planes. Supposedly enough torque in that engine to damn near flip the
> plane over on a "throttle to the firewall" type takeoff. Didn9t Pappy say as
> much in his book, that carrier deployment was delayed because they kept
> losing planes to takeoff accidents? I read that book a _long_ time ago. .  .

Yepper take off issuses kept the Corsair from earlier fleet deployment from
Navy flat tops. This is why the Marine Corps had them first as ground based
fighters.

The problem was that having a 13' propeller the plane sat at a high angle while
on the ground and made them difficult to see out of while on the ground and
during take off/landing. Even today civilians flying F4U's have these problems,
recently 2 Corsairs were lost in a take-off accident at an airshow, NTSB ruled
the crash pilot erroR citing the poor visibility inherent in the F4U during
taxi.

 > 
> My dad _swears_ he saw 3-4 of these in Tunisia during WWII. Doesn't jibe
> with what I know - deployed in the Pacific theatre only.

It is likely he did. Before the US Navy certified the F4U for US carrier duty
the US gave Great Britan many on the lend-lease program and were flown from
british flat tops. Britain used then in the Mediteranian theater extensivley
after 1943.

Sad part is I have seen photos of the Brit's rolling them over the side in the
med after the war since we did not want the birds back after the was.

I am in the middle of building a radio controlled Corasir :) It has always been
a favorite of mine. I am also an amateur WWII historian with a leaning toward
aircraft.

> >
> > No.. the F4U... the Gull Wing naval fighter.  Thats what flew off the
> > forestall class.

Negative. The Forestall is a class of fleet carrier first deployed in the
1950's The forrestall in particulare was commisioned in 1955. The Forrestall
was the first 'super carrier' in the US fleet. The Corsair was never deplyed
from this ship.

Mike N
(Corsair Lover)