74 Vol. 9 / No. 12/ December/January 2017/18 Global Aviator
A bit of history
The F4U Corsair’s origins
began in 1938 with a
U.S. Navy design contest
for a shipboard fighter
offering high speed and
good service ceiling. An
incentive for Vought’s
design team was to design
their contestant around
the experimental Pratt and
Whitney Double Wasp
radial. To take advantage of
the projected 2000 hp of the
Double Wasp an airscrew
of impressive proportions
was required. Vought solved
that problem rather neatly
with the incorporation of a
distinctive gull wing that
kept the undercarriage
length and ground angle
to reasonable levels.The prototype first flew in May
1940 and at once the fighter’s potential
was obvious. It attained a maximum
speed of 404 mph and was the first
U.S. fighter of any type to exceed
the 400 mph mark. Against its speed
potential the Corsair suffered from poor
lateral stability and unsatisfactory spin
recovery characteristics. Its original
armament of two .5 fuselage-mounted
machine guns was increased to four
.5s mounted in the wings. To make
room for the new arrangement the
leading edge wing fuel tanks were
removed and a single 240 gallon tank
installed in the fuselage ahead of the
pilot. The enormous length of fuselage
already inhibited the pilot’s view and
the new installation involved re-siting
the cockpit a further 3 feet aft.
To overcome the visibility problem
a raised canopy was fitted, enabling thepilot to raise his seat during take-off
and landing, but for a considerable
period restricted vision was still a
limiting factor in the Corsair entering
carrier service. Nevertheless in
June 1941 the Navy was sufficiently
impressed to place definite orders for
584 aircraft; with priority in delivery
given to Marine Corps units. After 3
months of familiarisation at bases on the
U.S. west coast, in February 1943 VMF-
124 was despatched to reinforce the
beleaguered garrison at Guadalcanal.
The Corsair’s opponent was the agile
Mitsubishi Zero, which previously
had exhibited a marked superiority
over existing Allied fighters. Initial
combats were inconclusive but once
the Marine pilots became familiar with
the Corsair’s potential they quickly
established a decisive advantage over
the Japanese in that combat theatre
In order to maintain superiority
over the latest Japanese types, a
continuing development programme
took place until final victory in thePacific was achieved. A tribute to the
inherent soundness of the design was
a production run that continued for
a further seven years. Such qualities
gave the Corsair the distinction
of being the last propeller-driven
fighter built in The United States.
Despite the U.S. Navy’s reluctance
to accept the F4U Corsair for carrier
service, the Fleet Air Arm showed no
such aversion. In June 1943 No.1843
was formed at Quonset, the U.S. Navy
base and became the first of 19 Royal
Navy Corsair units, the last being 1853,
formed in Brunswick in April 1945.
One particular squadron that had
honour accorded to it was 1841, aboard
HMS Formidable. Robert Hampton
Gray was originally a member of the
Royal Canadian Naval Reserve and
in 1940 he sailed for England, where
he was accepted for pilot trainingRobert Gray DSCCorsair VC
By Murray McLeod