Perfect Vought F4U Corsair with radial engine

[dominicm]

A cracker for Christmas Eve. This is Geoff's super scale F4U Corsair. The sound is just gorgeous...and the slow fly bys perfect for the camera. Happy Christmas folks !

phpBB [video]

[Steelhammer]

What an amazing bit of kit and superb piloting as well. As you say; what an incredible sound from the power plant.

[jarndice]

When you consider that the Corsair in its various marques numbered over 1,000 in 18 Fleet Air Arm Squadrons through WW2 and the Korean Conflict indeed it entered service with the Royal Navy before the United States Navy adopted it and yet it is almost unknown today,
Not perfect but incredibly tough and with a very powerful engine it served the Navies with which it served most effectively.
Thanks for the reminder with this great flying reproduction.

[Ecam]

Years ago I lived a few miles from an airport (Palomar in Carlsbad Ca.) that 3 of the F4Us were based at during the Ba Ba Black sheep filming. Was surprised how big they were compared to all the private aircraft around. From time to time we'd hear them fly over on their way to filming.

Great video!

[c.rainford73]

Amazing model thank you for sharing this!

[Herr Dr. Professor]

It''s great to see that Corsair in flight! Jarndice notes that "and yet [the Corsair] is almost unknown today." That is interesting. Is the Corsair relatively unknown in the UK? ...other parts of Europe? Here in the US, the Corsair is still a favorite, and even younger folks are becoming aware of it.

[jarndice]

It''s great to see that Corsair in flight! Jarndice notes that "and yet [the Corsair] is almost unknown today." That is interesting. Is the Corsair relatively unknown in the UK? ...other parts of Europe? Here in the US, the Corsair is still a favorite, and even younger folks are becoming aware of it.

Hi Prof, Most Brits with any knowledge of naval aviation if asked about British WW2 Fleet air arm aircraft would tell you about the Sea Hurricane and the Fairy Swordfish (aka Stringbag),They probably would not mention the Corsair,
Interestingly the Swordfish was replaced by I think it was the Albacore which when it was declared obsolete was re-replaced by the Swordfish which by then had been equipped with airborne radar and rockets not bad for a biplane that survived its first attack upon the Bismarck because the state of the art aa guns on the Bismarck were not programmed to follow such a slow moving target.
The aa autotracking was overridden after that and the following attacks were rather more expensive.

[Tiger6]

Jarndice notes that "and yet [the Corsair] is almost unknown today." That is interesting. Is the Corsair relatively unknown in the UK? ...other parts of Europe?

*Sigh*

The kind of people in the UK that would not have heard of the Corsair, would be the uneductated type that would struggle to name any other ww2 aircraft beyond 'Spitfire, Hurricane, Lancaster and 'Messerschmitt' (and probably couldn't tell you the differences between them either)...
(If those peoople are your measure, then the P51 Mustang should also be considered 'unknown' as well )

People with even a passing interest in Warbirds however would instantly recognise a Corsair if it flew over their house.

At one point in the early 90's we had 4 airworthy examples on the UK display circuit - Lindsey Walton's ex French Navy F4U-7 and TFC's OFMC's F4U-4 both being ex 'Baa Baa Blacksheep' cast members. I think there is only TFC's FG-1D left in the UK now, but it is regularly joined at the major annual warbird show by at least one F4U-5 from one of the French collections, and the Redbull owned example based over in Austria, as well as attending many other events on its own. The Corsair is far from being considered a rare beast at UK shows.

To add - TFC's FG-1D currently flies in RN colours, as the aircraft that Lt Gray won his posthumous VC in during an attack on Japanese warships in 1945 - hard to even suggest that its contribution to the RN has been forgotten...

[tomhugill]

It''s great to see that Corsair in flight! Jarndice notes that "and yet [the Corsair] is almost unknown today." That is interesting. Is the Corsair relatively unknown in the UK? ...other parts of Europe? Here in the US, the Corsair is still a favorite, and even younger folks are becoming aware of it.

Hi Prof, Most Brits with any knowledge of naval aviation if asked about British WW2 Fleet air arm aircraft would tell you about the Sea Hurricane and the Fairy Swordfish (aka Stringbag),They probably would not mention the Corsair,
Interestingly the Swordfish was replaced by I think it was the Albacore which when it was declared obsolete was re-replaced by the Swordfish which by then had been equipped with airborne radar and rockets not bad for a biplane that survived its first attack upon the Bismarck because the state of the art aa guns on the Bismarck were not programmed to follow such a slow moving target.
The aa autotracking was overridden after that and the following attacks were rather more expensive.

Who's talking about the FFA. Most Brits (and most others) associate then with the us navy. They're hardly unknown.

[Herr Dr. Professor]

Thank you! The responses have been interesting to me. I know that in the early 21st century there was an 1/18 static Corsair in US and UK markings. Although I have two of the 1/18 US Corsairs I never got a UK one because I they became quite pricey, at least here in the US.