.
The Vought F4U Corsair was to meet a United States Navy specification for a carrier based fighter. It was designed by Rex Beisel in 1938. Vought designed a plane that would contain the most powerful engine at the time.
The F4U was the first United States Navy plane to go 400 mph / 644 kph. See also : Boyington
.
1 comment:
The first photo shows a Korean War vintage night fighter (large radome on the right wing). The second photo shows an early (late 1942) "birdcage" (the canopy looks like a bird cage) F4U-1. The last picture is an F4U-4 (four bladed prop). Each photo shows a nice example of the water vapor from the sea air. It is "vaping" due to the acceleration and subsequent low pressure/temperature of the air. This vapor also illustrates the spiraling slipstream of the air moving aft along the fuselage of the aircraft.
The "bent wing bird" had its wings angled so that the landing gear could be short enough for carrier use. It needed the fuselage to be higher than would be normal due to the enormous propeller. The angle at which the wings joined the fuselage had the effect to lower parasite (interference) drag. This contributed to the aforementioned high speed.
The Japanese called the Corsair, "whispering death".
Post a Comment