Hobby Boss 1:48 F4U-4B Corsair

[gaz45]

This is my entry for this SIG



Next part whats in the box

[TonyCnyc]

Love them Corsairs. Have this in my stash. Look forward to your build!

[gaz45]

Okay in the box which is nicely packaged there is 10 sprues with over 199 parts and builds up to a size of Length 215mm with a Wingspan of 260mm



The sprues and there is a lot of very nice detail to the parts

















































The canopy glass is very clear with no distortion



The decals look really nice



The instructions look clear and easy to follow

















I'm not sure if this can be displayed with the wings in the up position i'll need to look closely at the instructions

A colour paint scheme sheet with 2 varients with the decals
F4U-4B No. 62969 VMA-332 USS Bairoko 1953
F4U-4B No.97473 VF-%£ USS Essex off Korean coast February 1952

Colour callouts for Mr Hobby, Vallejo, Model Master, Tamiya and Humbrol
I'll be using Mr Hobby





The next part will be the history.

[gaz45]

The History

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair was an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Demand for the aircraft soon overwhelmed Vought's manufacturing capability, resulting in

production by Goodyear and Brewster: Goodyear-built Corsairs were designated FG and Brewster-built aircraft F3A. 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 by Vought in 16 separate models, in the longest production run of any piston-engined fighter in U.S. history (1942–53).

The Corsair was designed as a carrier-based aircraft. However its difficult carrier landing performance rendered the Corsair unsuitable for Navy use until the carrier landing issues were overcome when used by the

British Fleet Air Arm. The Corsair thus came to and retained prominence in its area of greatest deployment: land based use by the U.S. Marines. The role of the dominant U.S. carrier based fighter in the second part of

the war was thus filled by the Grumman F6F Hellcat, powered by the same Double Wasp engine first flown on the Corsair's first prototype in 1940. The Corsair served to a lesser degree in the U.S. Navy. As well as the

U.S. and British use the Corsair was also used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, the French Navy Aéronavale and other, smaller, air forces until the 1960s. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable

American fighter of World War II and the U.S. Navy counted an 11:1 kill ratio with the F4U Corsair.

After the carrier landing issues had been tackled it quickly became the most capable carrier-based fighter-bomber of World War II. The Corsair served almost exclusively as a fighter-bomber throughout the Korean War and

during the French colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria.

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.


The XF4U-1 prototype in 1940/41, showing its more forward cockpit location
In June 1938, the U.S. Navy signed a contract with Vought for a prototype, the XF4U-1, BuNo 1443. The Corsair design team was headed up by Rex Beisel. After mock-up inspection in February 1939, construction of the

XF4U-1 powered by an XR-2800-4 prototype of the Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp twin-row, 18-cylinder radial engine, rated at 1,805 hp (1,346 kW) went ahead quickly, as the very first airframe ever to have a Double Wasp

engine fitted for flight. When the prototype was completed it had the biggest and most powerful engine, largest propeller and probably the largest wing on any naval fighter to date. The first flight of the XF4U-1 was

made on 29 May 1940, with Lyman A. Bullard, Jr. at the controls. The maiden flight proceeded normally until a hurried landing was made when the elevator trim tabs failed because of flutter.

On 1 October, the XF4U-1 became the first single-engine U.S. fighter to fly faster than 400 mph (640 km/h) by setting an average ground speed of 405 miles per hour (652 km/h) during a northeastwards flight 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 but testing revealed that some requirements would

have to be rewritten. In full-power dive tests, speeds of up to 550 miles per hour (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 that 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 consisted of three .50 caliber machine guns mounted in each wing panel. This improvement greatly

increased the ability of the Corsair to effectively shoot down enemy aircraft.

Formal U.S. Navy acceptance trials for the XF4U-1 began in February 1941. The Navy entered into a letter of intent on 3 March 1941, received Vought's production proposal on 2 April and awarded Vought a contract for 584

F4U-1 fighters, which were given the name "Corsair" — inherited from the firm's late-1920s Vought O2U naval biplane scout which first bore the name — on 30 June of the same year. The first production F4U-1 performed

its initial flight a year later, on 24 June 1942. It was a remarkable achievement for Vought; compared to land-based counterparts, carrier aircraft are "overbuilt" and heavier, to withstand the extreme stress of deck

landings.

The F4U incorporated the largest engine available at the time: the 2,000 hp (1,500 kW) 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial. To extract as much power as possible a relatively large Hamilton Standard

Hydromatic three-blade propeller of 13 feet 4 inches (4.06 m) was used.

Landing gear and wings

Landing gear on a F4U-4 Corsair
To accommodate a folding wing the designers considered retracting the main landing gear rearward but, for the chord of wing that was chosen, it was difficult to make the landing gear struts long enough to provide

ground clearance for the large propeller. Their solution was an inverted gull wing, which considerably shortened the required length of the main gear legs.The anhedral of the wing's center-section also permitted the

wing and fuselage to meet at the optimum angle for minimizing drag, without using wing root fairings.

The bent wing, however, was heavier and more difficult to construct thus offsetting these benefits. The Corsair's aerodynamics were an advance over those of contemporary naval fighters. The F4U was the first U.S. Navy

aircraft to feature landing gear that retracted into a fully enclosed wheel well. The landing gear oleo struts rotated through 90° during retraction, with the wheel atop the lower end of the strut; a pair of

rectangular doors enclosed the wheel wells, leaving a streamlined wing. This swiveling, aft-retracting landing gear design was common to the Curtiss P-40 (and its predecessor, the Curtiss P-36), as adopted for the F4U

Corsair's main gear and its erstwhile Pacific War counterpart, the Grumman F6F Hellcat. The oil coolers were mounted in the heavily anhedraled center-section of the wings, alongside the supercharger air intakes, and

used openings in the leading edges of the wings, rather than protruding scoops.

The large fuselage panels were made of aluminum and were attached to the frames with the newly developed technique of spot welding, thus mostly eliminating the use of rivets. While employing this new technology, the

Corsair was also the last American-produced fighter aircraft to feature fabric as the skinning for the top and bottom of each outer wing, aft of the main spar and armament bays, and for the ailerons, elevators and

rudder. The elevators were also constructed from plywood. The Corsair, even with its streamlining and high speed abilities, could fly slowly enough for carrier landings with full flap deployment of 60°.

Technical Issues

In part because of its advances in technology and a top speed greater than existing Navy aircraft, numerous technical problems had to be solved before the Corsair would enter service. Carrier suitability was a major

development issue, prompting changes to the main landing gear, tail wheel and tailhook. Early F4U-1s had difficulty recovering from developed spins, since the inverted gull wing's shape interfered with elevator

authority. It was also found that the Corsair's starboard wing could stall and drop rapidly and without warning during slow carrier landings. In addition, if the throttle were suddenly advanced (for example, during an

aborted landing) the port wing could stall and drop so quickly that the fighter could flip over with the rapid increase in power. These potentially lethal characteristics were later solved through the addition of a

small, 6 in (150 mm)-long stall strip to the leading edge of the outer starboard wing, just inboard of the gun ports. This allowed the starboard wing to stall at the same time as the port.


An early F4U-1 showing the "birdcage" canopy with rearwards production cockpit location. Compare with the XF4U-1.
Other problems were encountered during early carrier trials. The combination of an aft cockpit and the Corsair's long nose made landings hazardous for newly trained pilots. During landing approaches it was found that

oil from the hydraulic cowl flaps could spatter onto the windscreen, badly reducing visibility, and the undercarriage oleo struts had bad rebound characteristics on landing, allowing the aircraft to bounce out of

control down the carrier deck. The first problem was solved by locking the top cowl flap down permanently, then replacing it with a fixed panel. The undercarriage bounce took more time to solve but eventually a "bleed

valve" incorporated in the legs allowed the hydraulic pressure to be released gradually as the aircraft landed. The Corsair was not considered fit for carrier use until the wing stall problems and the deck bounce could

be solved.

Meanwhile the more docile and simpler to build F6F Hellcat had begun entering service in its intended carrier based use. Compared to the Hellcat the Navy regarded the Corsair as fundamentally flawed for their

requirements. While slower than the Corsair, the Hellcat was much preferred by the Navy since the Hellcat was much simpler to land on a carrier. The Hellcat's great success combined with the Corsair's carrier landing

issues meant the Navy released the Corsair to the U.S. Marine Corps. With no requirement for carrier landings, the Marine Corps deployed the Corsair to widespread and devastating effect from land bases.

Corsair deployment aboard U.S. carriers was delayed until late 1944, by which time the carrier landing problems had been tackled by the British.

Design modifications

Production F4U-1s featured several major modifications compared with the XF4U-1. A change of armament to six wing-mounted .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns (three in each outer wing panel) and their ammunition

(400 rounds for the inner pair, 375 rounds for the outer) meant that the location of the wing fuel tanks had to be changed. In order to keep the fuel tank close to the center of gravity, the only available position was

in the forward fuselage, ahead of the cockpit. Accordingly as a 237 gal (897 l) self-sealing fuel tank replaced the fuselage mounted armament, the cockpit had to be moved back by 32 in (810 mm) and the fuselage

lengthened. In addition, 150 lb of armor plate was installed, along with a 1.5 in (38 mm) bullet-proof windscreen which was set internally, behind the curved Plexiglas windscreen. The canopy could be jettisoned in an

emergency, and half-elliptical planform transparent panels, much like those of certain models of the Curtiss P-40, were inset into the sides of the fuselage's turtledeck structure behind the pilot's headrest, providing

the pilot with a limited rear view over his shoulders. A rectangular Plexiglas panel was inset into the lower center section to allow the pilot to see directly beneath the aircraft and assist with deck landings.The

engine used was the more powerful R-2800-8 (B series) Double Wasp which produced 2,000 hp (1,491 kW). On the wings the flaps were changed to a NACA slotted type and the ailerons were increased in span to increase the

roll rate, with a consequent reduction in flap span. IFF transponder equipment was fitted in the rear fuselage. These changes increased the Corsair's weight by several hundred pounds.

Performance

The performance of the Corsair was impressive. The F4U-1 was considerably faster than the Grumman F6F Hellcat and only 13 mph (21 km/h) slower than the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt;[30][31][32] all three were powered by

the R-2800. But while the P-47 achieved its highest speed at 30,020 feet (9,150 m) with the help of an intercooled turbocharger, the F4U-1 reached its maximum speed at 19,900 ft (6,100 m), and used a mechanically

supercharged engine.

Operational history


Carrier landing issues and release to the U.S. Marine Corps
The U.S. Navy received its first production F4U-1 on 31 July 1942, but getting it into service proved difficult. The framed "birdcage" style canopy provided inadequate visibility for deck taxiing. Even more seriously,

the machine had a nasty tendency to "bounce" on touchdown, which could cause it to miss the arresting hook and slam into the crash barrier, or even go out of control. The long "hose nose" visibility problem and the

enormous torque of the Double Wasp engine also created operational problems.

Carrier qualification trials on the escort carrier USS Sangamon, on 25 September 1942, caused the U.S. Navy to release the type to the United States Marine Corps. Early Navy pilots spoke disparagingly of the F4U as the

"hog", "hosenose" or "bent-wing widow maker". After all, the U.S. Navy still had the Grumman F6F Hellcat, which did not have the performance of the F4U but was a far better deck landing aircraft. The Marines needed a

better fighter than the F4F Wildcat. For them, it was not as important that the F4U could be recovered aboard a carrier, as they usually flew from land bases. Growing pains aside, Marine Corps squadrons readily took to

the radical new fighter: The Corsair would always be more of a USMC fighter than a USN fighter. The type was declared "ready for combat" at the end of 1942, though only qualified to operate from land bases until

carrier qualification issues were worked out.

Marine Corps combat

Early F4U-1s of VF-17
From February 1943 onward, the F4U operated from Guadalcanal and ultimately other bases in the Solomon Islands. A dozen USMC F4U-1s of VMF-124, commanded by Major William E. Gise, arrived at Henderson Field (code name

"Cactus") on 12 February. The first recorded combat engagement was on 14 February 1943, when Corsairs of VMF-124 under Major Gise assisted P-40s and P-38s in escorting a formation of Consolidated B-24 Liberators on a

raid against a Japanese aerodrome at Kahili. Japanese fighters contested the raid and the Americans got the worst of it, with four P-38s, two P-40s, two Corsairs and two Liberators lost. No more than four Japanese

Zeros were destroyed. A Corsair was responsible for one of the kills, although this was due to a midair collision. The fiasco was referred to as the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre". Although the Corsair's combat debut

was not impressive, the Marines quickly learned how to make better use of the aircraft and started demonstrating its superiority over Japanese fighters. By May, the Corsair units were getting the upper hand, and VMF-

124 had produced the first Corsair ace, Second Lieutenant Kenneth A. Walsh, who would rack up a total of 21 kills during the war.

I learned quickly that altitude was paramount. Whoever had altitude dictated the terms of the battle, and there was nothing a Zero pilot could do to change that — we had him. The F4U could outperform a Zero in every

aspect except slow speed manoeuvrability and slow speed rate of climb. Therefore you avoided getting slow when combating a Zero. It took time but eventually we developed tactics and deployed them very effectively...

There were times, however, that I tangled with a Zero at slow speed, one on one. In these instances I considered myself fortunate to survive a battle. Of my 21 victories, 17 were against Zeros, and I lost five aircraft

in combat. I was shot down three times and I crashed one that ploughed into the line back at base and wiped out another F4U.

VMF-113 was activated on 1 January 1943 at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro as part of Marine Base Defense Air Group 41. They were soon given their full complement of 24 F4U Corsairs. On 26 March 1944, while escorting

four B-25 bombers on a raid over Ponape, they recorded their first enemy kills, downing eight Japanese aircraft. In April of that year, VMF-113 was tasked with providing air support for the landings at Ujelang. Since

the assault was unopposed, the squadron quickly returned to striking Japanese targets in the Marshall Islands for the remainder of 1944.

Corsairs were flown by the "Black Sheep" Squadron (VMF-214, led by Marine Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington) in an area of the Solomon Islands called "The Slot". Boyington was credited with 22 kills in F4Us (of 28 total,

including six in an AVG P-40, although his score with the AVG has been disputed).Other noted Corsair pilots of the period included VMF-124's Kenneth Walsh, James E. Swett, and Archie Donohue, VMF-215's Robert M. Hanson

and Don Aldrich, and VF-17's Tommy Blackburn, Roger Hedrick, and Ira Kepford. Nightfighter versions equipped Navy and Marine units afloat and ashore.

One particularly unusual kill was scored by Marine Lieutenant R. R. Klingman of VMF-312 (the "Checkerboards"), over Okinawa. Klingman was in pursuit of a Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu ("Nick") twin-engine fighter at extremely

high altitude when his guns jammed due to the gun lubrication thickening from the extreme cold. He flew up and chopped off the Ki-45's tail with the big propeller of the Corsair. Despite missing five inches (127 mm)

off the end of his propeller blades, he managed to land safely after this aerial ramming attack. He was awarded the Navy Cross.

At war's end, Corsairs were ashore on Okinawa, combating the kamikaze, and also were flying from fleet and escort carriers. VMF-312, VMF-323, VMF-224, and a handful of others met with success in the Battle of Okinawa.


A Corsair fires its rockets at a Japanese stronghold on Okinawa
Fighter-bomber
Corsairs also served well as fighter-bombers in the Central Pacific and the Philippines. By spring 1944, Marine pilots were beginning to exploit the type's considerable capabilities in the close-support role during

amphibious landings. Charles Lindbergh flew Corsairs with the Marines as a civilian technical advisor for United Aircraft Corporation in order to determine how best to increase the Corsair's payload and range in the

attack role and to help evaluate future viability of single- versus twin-engine fighter design for Vought. Lindbergh managed to get the F4U into the air with 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg) of bombs, with a 2,000 pounds (910

kg) bomb on the centerline and a 1,000 pounds (450 kg) bomb under each wing. In the course of such experiments, he performed strikes on Japanese positions during the battle for the Marshall Islands.

By the beginning of 1945, the Corsair was a full-blown "mudfighter", performing strikes with high-explosive bombs, napalm tanks, and HVARs. It proved surprisingly versatile, able to operate everything from Bat glide

bombs (without sacrificing a load of 2.75 in/70 mm rockets) to 11.75 in (300 mm) Tiny Tim rockets. The aircraft was a prominent participant in the fighting for the Palaus, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Navy service
Despite the decision to issue the F4U to Marine Corps units, two Navy units, VF-12 (October 1942) and later VF-17 (April 1943) were equipped with the F4U. By April 1943, VF-12 had successfully completed deck landing

qualification. However, VF-12 soon abandoned its aircraft to the Marines. VF-17 kept its Corsairs, but was removed from its carrier, USS Bunker Hill, due to perceived difficulties in supplying parts at sea. In November

1943, while operating as a shore-based unit in the Solomon Islands, VF-17 reinstalled the tail hooks so its F4Us could land and refuel while providing top cover over the task force participating in the carrier raid on

Rabaul. The squadron's pilots landed, refueled, and took off from their former home, Bunker Hill and the USS Essex on 11 November 1943.

Twelve USMC F4U-1s arrived at Henderson Field (Guadalcanal) on 12 February 1943. The U.S. Navy did not get into combat with the type until September 1943. The work done by the Royal Navy's FAA meant those models

qualified the type for U.S. carrier operations first. The U.S. Navy finally accepted the F4U for shipboard operations in April 1944, after the longer oleo strut was fitted, which finally eliminated the tendency to

bounce. The first Corsair unit to be based effectively on a carrier was the pioneer USMC squadron VMF-124, which joined Essex. They were accompanied by VMF-213. The increasing need for fighter protection against

kamikaze attacks resulted in more Corsair units being moved to carriers.

Sortie, kill and loss figures[edit]
U.S. figures compiled at the end of the war indicate that the F4U and FG flew 64,051 operational sorties for the U.S. Marines and U.S. Navy through the conflict (44% of total fighter sorties), with only 9,581 sorties

(15%) flown from carrier decks. F4U and FG pilots claimed 2,140 air combat victories against 189 losses to enemy aircraft, for an overall kill ratio of over 11:1. The aircraft performed well against the best Japanese

opponents with a claimed 12:1 kill ratio against Mitsubishi A6M and 6:1 against the Nakajima Ki-84, Kawanishi N1K-J and Mitsubishi J2M combined during the last year of the war. The Corsair bore the brunt of U.S.

fighter-bomber missions, delivering 15,621 tons (14,171 tonnes) of bombs during the war (70% of total bombs dropped by U.S. fighters during the war).

Corsair losses in World War II were as follows:-

By aerial combat: 189
By enemy ground and ship-board anti-aircraft fire: 349
Operational losses during combat missions: 230
Operational losses during non-combat flights: 692
Destroyed aboard ships or on the ground: 164

Enhancement for carrier suitability

FAA Corsair Is at NAS Quonset Point, 1943.
In the early days of the World War II, Royal Navy fighter requirements had been based on cumbersome two-seat designs, such as the Blackburn Skua (and its turreted derivative the Blackburn Roc) and the Fairey Fulmar,

since they were expected to encounter only long range bombers or flying boats and that navigation over featureless seas required the assistance of a radio operator/navigator. The Royal Navy hurriedly adopted higher

performance single seater aircraft such as the Hawker Sea Hurricane and the less robust Supermarine Seafire but neither of these aircraft had sufficient range to operate at a distance from a carrier task force. The

Corsair was welcomed as a much more robust and versatile alternative.

In November 1943, the Royal Navy received the first batch of 95 Vought F4U-1s, which were given the designation of "Corsair I". The first squadrons were assembled and trained in the U.S. East coast and then shipped

across the Atlantic. The Royal Navy put the Corsair into carrier operations immediately. They found its landing characteristics dangerous, suffering a number of fatal crashes, but considered it as the best option they

had.

In Royal Navy service, because of the limited hangar deck height in several classes of British carrier, many Corsairs had their outer wings "clipped" by 8 in (200 mm) to clear the deckhead. The change in span brought

about the added benefit of improving the sink rate, reducing the F4U's propensity of "floating" in the final stages of landing. Despite the clipped wings and the shorter decks of British carriers, Royal Navy aviators

found landing accidents less of a problem than they had been to U.S. Navy aviators due to the curved approach used. British units solved the landing visibility problem by approaching the carrier in a medium left-hand

turn, which allowed the pilot to keep the carrier's deck in view over the dip in the port wing, allowing safe carrier operations, and would later be adopted by U.S. Navy and Marines fliers for carrier use of the

Corsair.

The Royal Navy developed a number of modifications to the Corsair that made carrier landings more practical. Among these are a bulged canopy (similar to the Malcolm Hood), raising the pilot's seat 7 in (180 mm) and

wiring shut the cowl flaps across the top of the engine compartment, diverting the oil and hydraulic fluid around the sides of the fuselage".

Deployment
The Royal Navy received 95 Corsair Mk Is and 510 Mk IIs, these being equivalent to the F4U-1 and -1A. Brewster-built aircraft were known as Mk IIIs (equivalent to F3A-1D), and Goodyear-built aircraft were known as Mk

IVs (equivalent to FG-1D). The Mk IIs and Mk IVs were the only versions to be used in combat.

The Royal Navy cleared the F4U for carrier operations well before the U.S. Navy and showed that the Corsair Mk II could be operated with reasonable success even from escort carriers. It was not without problems, one

being excessive wear of the arrester wires due to the weight of the Corsair and the understandable tendency of the pilots to stay well above the stalling speed. A total of 2,012 Corsairs were supplied to the United

Kingdom.

Fleet Air Arm (FAA) units were created and equipped in the United States, at Quonset Point or Brunswick and then shipped to war theaters aboard escort carriers. The first FAA Corsair unit was 1830 NAS, created on the

first of June 1943, and soon operating from HMS Illustrious. At the end of the war, 18 FAA squadrons were operating the Corsair. British Corsairs served both in Europe and in the Pacific. The first, and also most

important, European operations were the series of attacks (Operation Tungsten) in April, July and August 1944 on the German battleship Tirpitz, for which Corsairs from HMS Victorious and HMS Formidable provided fighter

cover. It appears the Corsairs did not encounter aerial opposition on these raids.

From April 1944, Corsairs from the British Pacific Fleet took part in a several major air raids in South East Asia beginning with Operation Cockpit, an attack on Japanese targets at Sabang island, in the Dutch East

Indies.

In July and August 1945, Corsair naval squadrons 1834, 1836, 1841 and 1842 took part in a series of strikes on the Japanese mainland, near Tokyo. These squadrons operated from Victorious and Formidable. On 9 August

1945, days before the end of the war, Corsairs from Formidable attacked Shiogama harbor on the northeast coast of Japan. Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve pilot, Lieutenant Robert Hampton Gray, of 1841 Squadron was

hit by flak but pressed home his attack on a Japanese destroyer, sinking it with a 1,000 lb (450 kg) bomb but crashing into the sea. He was posthumously awarded Canada's last Victoria Cross, becoming the second fighter

pilot of the war to earn a Victoria Cross as well as the final Canadian casualty of World War II.


1831 NAS Corsair aboard HMS Glory, off Rabaul, 1945.
FAA Corsairs originally fought in a camouflage scheme with a Dark Slate Grey/Extra Dark Sea Grey disruptive pattern on top and Sky undersides, but were later painted overall dark blue. Those operating in the Pacific

theater acquired a specialized British insignia — a modified blue-white roundel with white "bars" to make it look more like a U.S. than a Japanese Hinomaru insignia to prevent friendly fire incidents.

In all, out of 18 carrier-based squadrons, eight saw combat, flying intensive ground attack/interdiction operations and claiming 47.5 aircraft shot down.

At the end of World War II, under the terms of the Lend-Lease agreement, the aircraft had either to be paid for or to be returned to the U.S. As the UK did not have the means to pay for them, the Royal Navy Corsairs

were pushed overboard into the sea in Moreton Bay off Brisbane, Australia.

Royal New Zealand Air Force
Equipped with obsolescent Curtiss P-40s, Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) squadrons in the South Pacific performed impressively compared to the American units they operated alongside, in particular in the air-to-air

role. The American government accordingly decided to give New Zealand early access to the Corsair, especially as it was not initially being used from carriers. Some 424 Corsairs equipped 13 RNZAF squadrons, including

No. 14 Squadron RNZAF and No. 15 Squadron RNZAF, replacing SBD Dauntless as well as P-40s. Most of the F4U-1s were assembled by Unit 60 with a further batch were assembled and flown at RNZAF Hobsonville. In total there

were 237 F4U-1s and 127 F4U-1Ds used by the RNZAF during the Second World War. 60 FG-1Ds which arrived post war were given serial numbers prefixed NZ5600 to NZ5660.


RNZAF Corsairs with an RAAF Boomerang on Bougainville, 1945.
The first deliveries of lend-lease Corsairs began in March 1944 with the arrival of 30 F4U-1s at the RNZAF Base Depot Workshops (Unit 60) at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides. From April, these workshops became

responsible for assembling all Corsairs for the RNZAF units operating the aircraft in the South West Pacific and a Test and Despatch flight was set up to test the aircraft after assembly. By June 1944, 100 Corsairs had

been assembled and test flown.

The first squadrons to use the Corsair were 20 and 21 Squadrons on Espiritu Santo island, operational in May 1944. The organization of the RNZAF in the Pacific and New Zealand meant that only the pilots and a small

staff belonged to the Squadron (the maximum strength on a squadron was 27 pilots): Squadrons were assigned to several Servicing Units (SUs five-six officers, 57 NCOs, 212 airmen) which carried out aircraft maintenance

and operated from fixed locations: hence F4U-1 NZ5313 was first used by 20 Squadron/1 SU on Guadalcanal in May 1944; 20 Squadron was then relocated to 2 SU on Bougainville in November. In all there were 10 front line

SUs plus another three based in New Zealand. Because each of the SUs painted its aircraft with distinctive markings and the aircraft themselves could be repainted in several different colour schemes, the RNZAF Corsairs

were far less uniform in appearance compared with their American and FAA contemporaries. By late 1944, the F4U had equipped all 10 Pacific-based fighter squadrons of the RNZAF.

By the time the Corsairs arrived, there were virtually no Japanese aircraft left in New Zealand's allocated sectors of the Southern Pacific, and despite the RNZAF Squadrons extending their operations to more northern

islands, they were primarily used for close support of American, Australian and New Zealand soldiers fighting the Japanese. New Zealand pilots were aware of the Corsair's poor forward view and tendency to ground loop,

but found these drawbacks could be solved by pilot training in curved approaches before use from rough forward airbases.[citation needed] At the end of 1945, all Corsair squadrons but one (No. 14) were disbanded. That

last squadron was based in Japan, until the Corsair was retired from service in 1947.

No. 14 Squadron was given new FG-1Ds and, in March 1946 transferred to Iwakuni, Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. Only one airworthy example of the 424 aircraft procured survives: NZ5648/ZK-

COR, owned by the Old Stick and Rudder Company at Masterton, NZ. One other mostly complete aircraft and the remains of two others were known to be held by a private collector at Ardmore, NZ, in 1996. Their current

whereabouts are unknown.

Luftwaffe and Japanese Corsairs
On 18 July 1944, a British Corsair F4U-1A, JT404 of 1841 Naval Air Squadron, was involved in anti-submarine patrol from HMS Formidable en route to Scapa after Operation Mascot (an attack on the German battleship

Tirpitz). It flew in company with a Fairey Barracuda. Due to technical problems, the Corsair made an emergency landing in a field on Hamarøy north of Bodø, Norway. The pilot, Lt Mattholie, was taken prisoner and the

aircraft captured undamaged. Luftwaffe interrogators failed to get the pilot to explain how to fold the wings so as to transport the aircraft to Narvik. The Corsair was ferried by boat for further investigation. Later

the Corsair was taken to Germany and listed as one of the captured enemy aircraft (Beuteflugzeug) based at Erprobungsstelle Rechlin, the central German military aviation test facility and the equivalent of the Royal

Aircraft Establishment, for 1944 under repair. This was probably the only Corsair captured by the Germans.

In 1945, U. S. forced captured a F4U Corsair near the Kasumigaura flight school. The Japanese had repaired it, covering damaged parts on the wing with fabric and using spare parts from crashed F4Us. It seems Japan

captured two force-landed Corsairs fairly late in the war and may have even tested one in flight.

Korean War[edit]
During the Korean War, the Corsair was used mostly in the close-support role. The AU-1 Corsair was developed from the F4U-5 and was a ground-attack version which normally operated at low altitudes: as a consequence the

Pratt & Whitney R-2800-83W engine used a single-stage, manually controlled supercharger, rather than the two-stage automatic supercharger of the -5. The versions of the Corsair used in Korea from 1950 to 1953 were the

AU-1, F4U-4B, -4C, -4P and -5N and 5-NL. There were dogfights between F4Us and Soviet-built Yakovlev Yak-9 fighters early in the war, but when the enemy introduced the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15, the Corsair was

outmatched: however, on 10 September 1952, a MiG-15 made the mistake of getting into a turning contest with a Corsair piloted by Marine pilot Captain Jesse G. Folmar, with Folmar shooting the MiG down with his four 20

millimetre (0.79 in) cannon. In turn, four MiG-15s shot down Folmar just minutes later, though Folmar bailed out and was quickly rescued with little injury.

F4U-5N and -5NL Corsair night fighters were used to attack enemy supply lines, including truck convoys and trains, as well as interdicting night attack aircraft (such as the Polikarpov Po-2 "Bedcheck Charlies", which

were used to harass United Nations forces at night). The F4Us often operated with the help of C-47 'flare ships' which dropped hundreds of 1,000,000 candlepower magnesium flares to illuminate the targets. For many

operations detachments of U.S. Navy F4U-5Ns were posted to shore bases. The leader of one such unit, Lieutenant Guy Bordelon of VC-3 Det D (Detachment D), off USS Princeton (CV-37), become the Navy's only ace in the

war, in addition to being the only American ace in Korea that used a piston engined aircraft. Bordelon, nicknamed "Lucky Pierre", was credited with three Lavochkin La-9s or La-11s and two Yakovlev Yak-18s between 29

June and 16/17 July 1952. Navy and Marine Corsairs were credited with a total of 12 enemy aircraft.

More generally, Corsairs performed attacks with cannons, napalm tanks, various iron bombs and unguided rockets. The 5 inch HVAR was a reliable standby; however sturdy Soviet-built armor proved resistant to the HVAR's

punch. This led to a new 6.5 in (16.5 cm) shaped charge antitank warhead being developed. The result was called the "Anti-Tank Aircraft Rocket (ATAR)." The 11 inch (29.85 cm) "Tiny Tim" was also used in combat, with

two under the belly.

Lieutenant Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., flying an F4U-4 of VF-32 off the USS Leyte, was awarded the Medal of Honor for crash landing his Corsair in an attempt to rescue his squadron mate, Ensign Jesse L. Brown, whose

aircraft had been forced down by antiaircraft fire near Changjin. Brown, who did not survive the incident, was the U.S. Navy's first African American naval aviator.

General characteristics

Crew: 1 pilot
Length: 33 ft 4 in (10.1 m)
Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in (12.5 m)
Height: 16 ft 1 in (4.90 m)
Wing area: 314 ft2 (29.17 m2)
Empty weight: 8,982 lb (4,073 kg)
Loaded weight: 11,432 lb (5,185 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8 radial engine, 2,000 hp (1,491 kW)
Performance

Maximum speed: 417 mph (362 kn, 671 km/h)
Range: 1,015 mi (882 nmi (1,633 km))
Service ceiling: 36,900 ft (11,247 m)
Rate of climb: 2,890 ft/min (15.2 m/s)
Armament

Guns:
4 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns, 400 rounds per gun
2 × 0.50 in AN/M2 Browning machine guns, 375 rounds per gun
Rockets: 4 × 5 in (12.7 cm) High Velocity Aircraft Rockets and/or
Bombs: 2,000 pounds (910 kg)
F4U-4[edit]

AU-1 Corsair Standard Aircraft Characteristics
Data from http://www.wwiiaircraftperformance.org/f4u/jt259.html[not in citation given]
General characteristics

Crew: 1 pilot
Length: 33 ft 8 in (10.2 m)
Wingspan: 41 ft 0 in (12.5 m)
WS Folded: 17 ft 0.5 in (5.2 m)
Height: 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
Empty weight: 9,205 lb (4,174 kg)
Loaded weight: 12,405 lb (5,626 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-18W radial engine, 2,325 hp (1,710 kW)
Performance

Maximum speed: 453 mph (395 kn, 731 km/h)
Range: 897 mi (602 nmi (1,115 km))
Service ceiling: 41,500ft (12,649 m)
Rate of climb: 3,870ft/min (19.7 m/s)
Armament

Guns:
6 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) AN/M2 Browning machine guns, 400 rounds per gun or
4 × 0.79 in (20 mm) M2 cannon
Rockets: 8 × 5 in (12.7 cm) high velocity aircraft rockets and/or
Bombs: 4,000 pounds (1,800 kg)

[gaz45]

The instructions indicate that it can be built wings up or down so dilema is which way to go ????





I'm going away for a week so ill leave it open for a vote 7
Input very welcome

[UKguyInUSA]

A nice aircraft....I built a Tamiya one last month and should have waited until this Sig began and built it this month! Have fun building her mate!

[RoscoRSA]

A couple of months ago I built a 1:48 Tamiya Bird cage corsair, and I decided to go with the folded wing option. It looks pretty bad ass if I have to be honest, don't know if I would do it again though, see for yourself:

[Thumboy]

Awesome looking kit gaz, and nice write up Personally i would go wings down - the best feature of the corsair is the gull wings

[Nige201980]

Cracking looking kit buddy. I'd go for wings down too. Good luck mate.

[Hawkins6685]

Love the corsairs and will be building one when built up a bit more experience. Personally I think the is more interest and more to look at with a wings up build so that would be my vote.
Good luck with it looking forward to seeing the build

[UKguyInUSA]

A fabulous looking kit of a magnificent Pacific based aircraft! I look forward to seeing this come together. I built mine with wings down, but, you could compromise and have the starboard side wing up so that it shows off the stars and bars underneath the wing and leave the portside wing fixed.

Cheers

Martin

[peaceduringwar]

I agree for a compromise to have one wing down and the other up, definitely gives a unique look for sure.

[gaz45]

Thank you so much for your comments
I quite like the idea of one wing up and the other down thank you for throwing another option into the mix so it will be this way or wings down i'll look into this when i'm at that stage and see what i think when i test fit the parts.

[gaz45]

Time to start and on with the cockpit

I appologise if this one is long as it features the cockpit from start to finish



























With this dry i primed it with Mig grey primer







Once that was dry i painted this with Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green









The instrument manel and side consols together with the head rest and flight control stick handle i painted up with Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and dry brushed with Mr Hobby H-334 Barley Gray to bring out the detail







When it came to detailing the cockpit i didn't like the look of the side panel decals they were too shiny so i only used the decal for the instrument panel and picked out a few buttons and switches using Vallejo Model Color Red,Yellow and green and once again dry brushed these with the Barley Gray







I then decided to paint in some seatbelts with Vallejo Light Brown and Vallejo Bright Brass






That is all for now Thanks for looking and for your comments they are much appreciated.

Just one quick question I'm having trouble with reference pictures regarding the colour of the wheel bays any help with this would be really great thanks

[gaz45]

Time to work on the engine there were quite a few parts and it was quite detailled as well









With the parts part assembled I got these primed up with mig ammo grey primer





While the primer was drying on the engine parts I got the 2 fuselage halves cleaned up and primed







For painting up the engine I used Vallejo model air Silver, Model air Blue and Mr Hobby H76 Burnt Iron











Once dry it was assembled and clear coated







While i was waiting for the clear coat on the engine to dry I painted the cockpit sections of the fuselage in Tamiya XF-71 Cockpit Green



Now for the wheel well there was not a callout for this and from pictures it varies from grey to green so i decided to go with a pinky colour which i have seen from Paul and other corsair builds on the forum. For rhis i used a mixture of about 70/30 of Revell 35 Flesh matt and vallejo model air Sand Brown





And to finish off I gave it a wash with Ultimate's Dark Dirt



To finish off the engine i gave it a light Engine grease wash by diluting 502 Abteilung modelling oil color engine grease with Odourless Turpintine and once that had dried i gave it a flat clear coat










That's where i'm at so far the fit and detail is really good which makes for a good build.
All the technic's used so far have been learnt from following builds and from advice from this forum which as advanced my builds over this past 12 months and made it a more enjoyable hobby.
So as always thank you for looking and for your comments.

[heel]

Looking great gaz. Really like the way the engine turned out.

[gaz45]

Thank you for your comments they are much appriciated.
Right on with the build
Now it was time to start with the wing roots and to start with i had to drill some holes so with a 0.5mm drill bit in the pin vice i drilled some pilot holes





and the rest of the parts for the wing root assembly



again there is some very nice detail in the wheel wells for a wash





the intake parts at least thats what i think they are





there is some filling needed



A few bits to be added to the wing root ends i have no idea what these are called and i dont think they will be seen if the wings are not in the folded position







then there is the flaps parts





Next up was the rear wheel landing gear



and some kind of frame work for the rear wheel bay





A couple of cockpit parts to fix to the fuselage



I filled the gaps on the wing roots using vallejo plastic putty



Once that was dried and sanded i masked up around the wheel bays with tamiya tape ready for priming along with the other assembled parts







For this part that is painted white i tried some vallejo white primer which i think turned out really well



the wheel bays were painted up again with the ravell flesh and the vallejo sand brown mix the same as the rear wheel bay



the rear landing was painted using Mr Hobby H326 Blue FS15044 and the tyre in Mr Hobby tire black which i dont think you can see the difference in the photo



the frame work was painted with Tamiya X-2 White



Now it was time to fit the cockpit and rear landing gear and get the 2 halves of the fuselage together









The fit was not too bad there is a little filler needed on the seams which i will put right at a later date. While i was on a roll i decided to put together the reat wings and tail rudder and get these attached as well along with the 2 panel behind the pilot seat







The engine cowling which is in 2 parts were assembled primed and given a coat of the Mr Hobby H326 on the inside



I do appologise for the long post but iv'e had a lot of free time this week i will try to keep the next ones shorter.

Thanks for taking a look and your comments are very welcome.

[Nige201980]

Cracking work so far mate.

[gaz45]

Next update
with the tail section finished i needed to do some filling on the wing roots and the seam lines using vallejo plastic putty









With the filler drying i built the main wings which also required drilling 3 holes on each side





There were also a little filler needed here







Next up the main landing gear





and the fuel tanks





with the wing roots and seam lines cleaned up it was time to attach the wings here the fit was not so good i'm not sure if it was something i did or not in the construction but no matter what i tried with the dry fitting there is a bigger than usual gap on the under side











That is where i'm at hopefully the next update i will have sorted the gaps and be ready for priming.
thanks for looking and as usual any comments are welcome

[gaz45]

Right with the gaps all sorted with vallejo plastic putty and the canopy masked and fixed in place along with the gun sight

















It was time to get this primed along with the main landing gear and bay doors along with the propeller









Thats it for now as it stands next it will be my first attempt at pre shading
Thanks for looking

[Nige201980]

looking great mate looks a really nice kit and build.

[gaz45]

Thanks mate

[gaz45]

next up i got the prop painted up using Tamiya XF-1 flat black and vallejo model color deep yellow





just need to do the centre silver

right my first attempt at pre shading it didnt turn out great im not sure what happened i used a 0.2mm needle with some thined XF-1 maybe it was a little too thing or i had the preasure too high or maybe i just need more practice









Thats it for now im just waiting on some Akan paints
thanks for looking

[gaz45]

Time for the paint here i used akan sea blue FS35042 and i think this is one of if not the best paint i have used so far







Thats all for now thanks for looking

[gaz45]

Right with the main colour laid down dry and klear coated it was time for the decals which went down pretty well







The decal however for the landing hook was not as good so i used some white paint and a cocktail stick to paint this up









While the decals and another klear dried i painted up the wing lights using Tamiys X-27 Clear Red and Mr Hobby H93 Clear Blue



Next up i wanted to give this a wash to highlight the panel lines and rivit detail and as to main colour was on the dark side and hid the pre shading i took a tip from Paul and his Corsair and used Ultimate Concrete was







When this was dry i used wet kitchen papper to wipe away the eccess









Thats where it stands for now i am not sure wether to leave the wash as it is or take it back some more.
Thanks for looking and as always your comments are welcome

[gaz45]

So here it is all finished the antenna wire attached canopy unmasked and the nav light on

















Thanks for taking a look and for your comments
i will post some shots in the reveal section

[Vernon]

Hi from Cape Town, South Africa.
Thank you for the great Corsair post, plenty of information covering this great aircraft. One odd note ... the description says that the stall problem was solved by adding that little metal strip just inboard of the gun positions. In fact, it was fitted just outboard. Nevertheless, very interesting reading.
Thanks again
Vernon

[Avgas]

Lovely build, the dark blue really sets the decals off.