Vought F4U-4 Corsair Fighter Pilot's Flight Manual
The Corsair was designed by Rex Beisel and Igor Sikorsky. Its most striking feature is the inverted gull wing. The design concept for the Corsair incorporated the largest available fighter engine — the 2,000 hp, 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial, turning an enormous 13'4" (4.06 m) Hamilton Standard Hydromatic three (later four) blade propeller; use of a smaller propellor would have wasted much of the power of the engine. The dimensions required the bent wing in order to keep the landing gear reasonably short and sturdy enough for carrier landings, while still providing ground clearance for the propeller.