page_title: Vought F4U Corsair
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Vought F4U Corsair / Operational history / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Vought F4U Coursair on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum.
context_page_description: The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War.
  Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts were given to Goodyear, whose Corsairs were designated FG, and Brewster, designated F3A.
  The Corsair was designed and operated as a carrier-based aircraft, and entered service in large numbers with the U.S. Navy in late 1944 and early 1945. It quickly became one of the most capable carrier-based fighter-bombers of World War II. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American fighter of World War II and its naval aviators achieved an 11:1 kill ratio. Early problems with carrier landings and logistics led to it being eclipsed as the dominant carrier-based fighter by the Grumman F6F Hellcat, powered by the same Double Wasp engine first flown on the Corsair's first prototype in 1940. Instead, the Corsair's early deployment was to land-based squadrons of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.
context_section_description: The Corsair entered service in 1942. Although designed as a carrier fighter, initial operation from carrier decks proved to be troublesome. Its low-speed handling was tricky due to the left wing stalling before the right wing. This factor, together with poor visibility over the long nose (leading to one of its nicknames, "The Hose Nose"), made landing a Corsair on a carrier a difficult task. For these reasons, most Corsairs initially went to Marine Corps squadrons which operated off land-based runways, with some early Goodyear-built examples (designated FG-1A) being built with fixed wings. The USMC aviators welcomed the Corsair with open arms as its performance was far superior to the contemporary Brewster F2A Buffalo and Grumman F4F-3 and -4 Wildcat.
  Moreover, the Corsair was able to outperform the primary Japanese fighter, the A6M Zero. While the Zero could outturn the F4U at low speed, the Corsair was faster and could outclimb and outdive the A6M.
  This performance advantage, combined with the ability to take severe punishment, meant a pilot could place an enemy aircraft in the killing zone of the F4U's six .50 (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns and keep him there long enough to inflict major damage. The 2,300 rounds carried by the Corsair gave just under 30 seconds of fire from each gun.
  Beginning in 1943, the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) also received Corsairs and flew them successfully from Royal Navy carriers in combat with the British Pacific Fleet and in Norway. These were clipped-wing Corsairs, the wingtips shortened 8 in (20 cm) to clear the lower overhead height of RN carriers. FAA also developed a curving landing approach to overcome the F4U's deficiencies.
  Infantrymen nicknamed the Corsair "The Sweetheart of the Marianas" and "The Angel of Okinawa" for its roles in these campaigns. Among Navy and Marine aviators, the aircraft was nicknamed "Ensign Eliminator" and "Bent-Wing Eliminator" because it required many more hours of flight training to master than other Navy carrier-borne aircraft. It was also called simply "U-bird" or "Bent Wing Bird". Although Allied World War II sources frequently make the claim that the Japanese called the Corsair the "Whistling Death", Japanese sources do not support this, and it was mainly known as the Sikorsky.
  The Corsair has been named the official aircraft of Connecticut due to its multiple connections to Connecticut businesses including airframe manufacturer Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft, engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, and propeller manufacturer Hamilton Standard.
caption: Corsair on display at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
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