Warplanes of the UK: Vought Corsair and Goodyear Corsair

Goodyear Corsair and Vought Corsair

(USN Photo)

Royal Navy Vought Corsair I fighters fly in formation, during training for their pilots in the United States, September 1943. The planes were operating out of Naval Air Station Brunswick, Maine. These planes were British versions of the U.S. Navy F4U-1. September 1943

(IWM Photo A 19777)

Chance-Vought Corsair of the Royal Navy taxis in at Roosevelt Field, Long Island, New York, ca 1944.

(RN Photo)

In November 1943, the FAA received under Lend-Lease the first of 95 Vought F4U-1s, which were given the designation of "Corsair I". The first squadrons were assembled and trained in the US, either at Brunswick, Maine, or Quonset, Rhode Island, and then shipped across the Atlantic. The Royal Navy put the Corsair into carrier operations immediately, well ahead of the US Navy. This initial British batch was followed by 510 Vought F4U-1As under the designation of "Corsair II"; 430 Brewster F3A-1Ds under the designation of "Corsair III"; and finally 977 Goodyear FG-1Ds under the designation of "Corsair IV", for a total of 2,012 FAA Corsairs.

All but initial deliveries of FAA Corsairs had 20 centimeters (8 inches) clipped from the wingtips to permit storage in British carrier hangar decks, with the clipped wings also apparently improving the roll rate. Some sources suggest that at least some of the clipped-wing Corsairs supplied to Britain had the US designation of "F4U-1B". Many FAA Corsairs were fitted with rails for launching British 7.62-centimeter (3-inch) unguided "Rocket Projectiles (RPs)". At its peak, the Corsair equipped 19 FAA squadrons.

FAA Corsairs originally fought in a camouflage scheme, with a light-green / dark-green disruptive pattern on top and a white belly, but were later painted overall blue. Those operating in the Pacific theater acquired a specialized British insignia -- a modified blue-white roundel with white "bars" to make it look more like a US than a Japanese insignia to prevent friendly-fire incidents.

FAA Corsairs performed their first combat action on 3 April 1944, with Number 1834 Squadron flying from the HMS VICTORIOUS to help provide cover for a strike on the German super-battleship TIRPITZ in a Norwegian fjord. This was apparently the first combat operation of the Corsair off of an aircraft carrier. Further attacks on the TIRPITZ were performed in July and August 1944, with Corsairs from the HMS FORMIDABLE participating. The Corsairs did not encounter aerial opposition on these raids, and in fact the F4U would never have it out with German Luftwaffe aircraft. A confrontation between a Corsair and the tough German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 would have made for an interesting contest.

After the Norwegian operations, British Corsairs switched operations to the Indian Ocean to fight the Japanese, with the first operational sorties on 19 April 1945. Royal Navy carriers would be participants in the final battle for the Japanese home islands. On 9 August 1945, days before the end of the war, Corsairs from HMS FORMIDABLE were attacking Shiogama harbor on the northeast coast of Japan. A Canadian pilot, Lieutenant Robert H. Gray, was hit by flak but pressed home his attack on a Japanese destroyer, sinking it with a 450-kilogram (1,000-pound) bomb, and then crashing into the sea. He was posthumously awarded the last Victoria Cross of the Second World War.

At least 424 Corsairs were also provided to the Royal New Zealand Air Force, beginning in late 1943, with a little more than half of them F4U-1As and the rest F4U-1Ds / FG-1Ds. By the time the New Zealanders had worked up to operational Corsair squadrons in 1944, there was little for them to shoot at in the air and they scored no kills, but they kept busy in the attack role, with a fair number of them shot down or lost in accidents. Most of the New Zealander Corsairs were scrapped after the war, as were the British Corsairs. (Martinfb)

(IWM Photo A 24787)

Chance-Vought Corsair fighters and Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers ranged on the flight deck of HMS Formidable off the coast of Norway in July 1944.

(RN Photos)

Vought Corsairs.

(National Archives Photo)

Corsair IV KD244 of 1842 Squadron from HMS Formidable.  This photo was taken after Sub Lt Duke landed the airplane on the USS Shangri-La on 7 July 1945, after an op.  The aircraft crashed upon return to the Formidable just hours after this photo was taken.

(National Archives Photo)

Vought Corsair Mk. II coded "147/P" of 1836 Squadron landing on the USS Essex after an op on 9 August 1945.

(RN Photo)

Vought Corsair F Mk. II lined up on the deck of HMS Glory (R62) off the coast of New Guinea, 1 September 1945.

(Alan Wilson Photos)

(Peter Bakema Photo)

Goodyear FG-1D Corsair (BuNo. 88297), (Serial No. KD345), Reg. No. G-FGID, The Fighter Collection, Duxford, Cambridgeshire.  This Corsair served in the US Navy between 1945 and 1959; this included wartime service in Guam and the Philippines.  It was then sold to a smelting company, however instead of scrapping it, the company sold it to the movie stunt pilot Frank Tallman.  It joined the Fighter Collection in 1985 and is currently painted in the December 1945 markings of an aircraft of 1850 Naval Air Squadron, serving on HMS Vengeance of the British Pacific Fleet.

(Alan Wilson Photo)

(Ian Kirk Photo)

Vought Corsair Mk. IV (BuNo. 14862), (Serial No. KD431), Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton, Ilchester, Somerset.

‍