Riverside Airshow 2008
F4U Corsair

The Vought F4U is perhaps one of the most recognizable WWII Pacific fighters because of the gull wing design. The gull wing design came from the necessity of having a 13 foot diameter propeller on the front of the airplane to take advantage of the large engine's horsepower. Having gull wings led to shorter landing gear struts. It was figured that longer landing gear legs would make the landings on carriers more bouncy. Longer legs would mean more weight as they would have to be strong to be able to handle carrier landings. Despite this, early Corsairs were land based because of the length of the nose coupled with the cockpit placement led to very poor forward and downward visibility. The British were the ones to come up with the approach to the carriers that led to their usage from carriers by both Britain and the United States.

The Corsair was made famous by the "Black Sheep Squadron" led by Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington. It should be noted that the propaganda machines of the United States started the story of Major Boyington being called "Pappy". He was actually called "Gramps" by his men because of his advanced age. He was 30 while most of his men were in their 20s.

Goodyear manufactured this Corsair, an FG-1D Corsair (N11Y). It has been around the Southern California Air Show circuit for a number of years and is always a joy to see.