Whistling Death - Vought F4U-4 Corsair
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
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The Vought F4U-4 Corsair is one of the most iconic aircraft in history. It remained in production for 11 years, longer than any other American fighter. It was also the last piston-engined fighter in production for American forces.
After entering combat in 1943, the F4U gave Allied pilots a winning advantage against their enemies. Renowned for its speed, ruggedness, and firepower, the Corsair excelled as both a fighter and an attack aircraft during the latter half of World War 2, with an 11:1 kill ratio.
But its most iconic feature is the peculiar sound it made when at high speed, which earned it the nickname "Whistling Death."
As images and footage of actual events are not always available, Dark Skies sometimes utilizes similar historical images and footage for dramatic effect. I do my best to keep it as visually accurate as possible. All content on Dark Skies is researched, produced, and presented in historical context for educational purposes. We are history enthusiasts and are not always experts in some areas, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us with corrections, additional information, or new ideas. -
As a boy I fell in love with Corsairs while watching Robert Conrad in 'Baa Baa Black Sheep''
Me too. I never missed that show.
Does anyone know if it's on a streaming channel or something like that? I know Amazon Prime doesn't have it.
A great show with awesome dogfight sequences - my uncle was a Korean War-era Air Force mechanic with a passion for anything with wings, and I'd often watch with him telling me all he knew about the Corsair & Pappy Boyington (the real-life Marine Colonel portrayed by Robert Conrad).
Same
Me Too Re: Black Sheep. Somewhere on RUclips, I watched a video with the real Pappy B. at his base somewhere in the pacific. Robert Conrad just recently when home. He will be missed by many.
Wait, a 12 minute video talking about the Corsair with mention of it's specific sound rushing over it's wing air intakes...and no sample of the sound!? Devious.
that's what the comments are for!
watch?v=IBUKiKvl29Q
Sony Music probably owns it.
ruclips.net/video/IBUKiKvl29Q/видео.html
AKAtheA same video
Drat
the Hellcat, Thunderbolt, and Corsairs don't get enough respect
The Allied pilots who flew them would say..The P-51 Mustang and the British Spitfire got the Glory..But the Corsair and Thunderbolt, got you home..
@Heyward Shepherd
If anyone has an hour, please listen to this guy, its amazing..trust me not boring..P-47 pilot Charlie Mohrle Balls of Steel. He brings you back in time
ruclips.net/video/FMGk_Fk_iJk/видео.html
brianjschumer you forgot the Tempest.
@@greyfox78569 Agreed Tempest great airplane and very fast,Interceptor and ground attack plane, probably not given it's due as it modified later into the Sea Fury.
Difference was the P-47 was a plane built around a bomber engine, then throw in a lead lined tub for the pilot, Hard to bring down, and 8x 50 cal..alot of firepower
@@brianjschumer P-47 is one of my favorite planes of all time right behind the P-38. But the Tempest was a underrated beast with a 24 cylinder engine and then it just got better with the Centaurus radial. Not too many props could hang with early jets the Tempest could and then take a pounding from ground fire and return home as well.
As a young man I knew a pilot by the name of Bruce Muir. He flew corsairs during World War II off the Bunker Hill. He had 32 kills with three assists. When the deck of the bunker hill was destroyed he and his flight were diverted to Pappy Boynton field and flew with him for 2 weeks. Later in the war he was jumped by four Japanese planes and was shot down and had to ditch in the sea. As he swam away from his plane he was continuously strafed by the Japanese. He was eventually picked up by a PBY. He suffered burns on the insides of both legs as his plane was going down. These scars were visible when ever he wore shorts. Later on in life he became the owner and proprietor of the Big Bamboo in Kissimmee Florida. Thats were I got to know him. He was a great guy and tough as nails. I learned allot from him. Rest in peace Bruce and thank you.
@Rusty Shackleford Robert Danby Muir
@Rusty Shackleford Hmm, I wonder if his service was fortified for telling. My uncle was late to return to his ship and it sailed without him. He was considered AWOL. It was unintentional as he was just drunk. However, he told a story that his missed ship was sunk with all hands lost as if it was a fortuitous accident. When I looked up his ships on NavSource, none were sunk. I think my uncle lied to make it seem less embarrassing.
Cool story bro. Unfortunately Mr. Muir lied to you. His claim of 32 victories would have made him the second highest scoring ace in WW2. He's not in any list of American aces.
Unfortunately a quick google search of American aces in WW2 debunks this story.
Awesome story. The F4U was my dads (USNAVY 1944-47) favorite Navy fighter.
Thank you and Godbless all our WWII vets
Hands down one of the most beautiful designs flown by the Allies during WW2
Not for me. More like a cropduster imho.
That entire era of flight was spectacular. All had character and personalized by the pilots. Now all are the same, albeit 100x the capabilities.
@@spanishpeaches2930 Yes indeed
My father was in the 1st Marines in WWII. At Pelileu, he had a lot of stories about the Corsair. One, was the 'shortest bombing run' in history. The Marines held the airfield and the Corsairs would take off, drop napalm on the hills just past, and circle around and land without raising/lowering the landing gear.
That's pretty sick.😮👍
The F4U was built at the Vought plant which is still here in Stratford Connecticut (although it hasn't been used for manufacturing in a few decades). The plant was originally the Sikorsky Aircraft plant (when Sikorsky was still producing airplanes), and United Aircraft (later United Technologies) merged Vought with Sikorsky, which is why the Japanese nicknamed the F4U "Sikorsky".
My father was born in 1929, and when he was a teenager during WWII, he and his friends would go to edge of the airport across the street from the Vought plant to watch the test flights of the Corsairs. They would stand outside the chain-link fence at the Main Street end of the runway and wait for the F4U pilots to taxi up to them and turn around to take off. My father and his friends would grab onto the chain link fence, and the pilots would look at them in the rear-view mirrors and wave. Then the pilots would rev up the Corsair's engine, and my father and his friends would hold onto the fence as tight as they could while the prop wash from the F4U would lift them off of their feet until they were stretched out horizontally, while being pelted with dirt and gravel. Then the planes would take off, either for testing or delivery to the military.
The road at the opposite end of the runway is officially named Long Beach Boulevard, but because it was the last road that the Corsairs would fly over before heading off to Asia during WWII, everyone here in Stratford calls it "Burma Road".
It was also built-in Akron Ohio at Goodyear aircraft
Do you mean "Seversky"? Please let me know.
This video is a prime example of "don't tell us, show us." Insert a clip of the famous sound after you tell us about it.
And refrain from showing backwards photos, please.
Nothing like seeing backwards numbers. SMH.
Six days before the end of WWII, on August 9, 1945, Canadian naval pilot Robert Grey flying a F4U Corsair earned the last Victoria Cross (VC) awarded during the War. He lead an attack on a group of Japanese ships off Okinawa and while the attack was successful, the VC was awarded posthumously.
It won me over when I saw one at an airshow. It came flying by in a hard bank, and the sound of that big engine and huge prop cutting the air was the coolest thing I've ever seen.
This is my favorite airplane of all time. This and the F14. Black Sheep Squadron introduced me to this plane as a young man, I wanted to be Robert Conrad when I grew up.
Omitted the fact that the F4U did kill one Mig 15 in Korean War
He missed a lot of more important details. Disappointed.
Michael Pearce, So did a Hawker Sea Fury from HMS Ocean. 🇬🇧
Yep the 1st piston fight to shoot down a jet engine fight that’s when u know u suck
OUTSTANDING!
Imagine getting razzed about being in an antiquated plane and then schwacking a jet with it.
Thank you so much for mentioning our Honduran Corsair famously known here as the FAH 609 and is currently preserved in static display in our museum.
In WWII my dad was a 17year old Marine assigned to Aviation Maintenance at MCAS El Toro. he was handed a brown tool box and sent out to the flight line to bleed the brakes on the F4U’s. He loved airplanes and thought he had the best job in the Marine Corps. Even ow at 93 he still talks about the Corsairs.
If you've ever wondered what the white lines on the fuselage forward of the cockpit were, they were tape to prevent leaking engine oil from the R-2800 engines from fouling the canopy.
That's hilarious! They look so badass, but they're basically the aircraft equivalent of a bib or napkin tucked in its collar. "Oh, drooled some oil there. Excuse me."
That doesn’t surprise me one bit! I once bought a box of Kotex at a convenience store to absorb the leaking oil from my Triumph’s oil pressure sending unit. I loved that old Bonney!
@@uralbob1 Don't you wish you had it now? Maybe you could afford to keep it shape today ? I wish I had my '74 Super Beatle with the sunroof.
@@karlhumes6110 👍 Absolutely!
Are you sure is wasn't from the leaking fuel tank?
Thak you guys so much for this video. The F-4U has always been my favorite WWII fighter, ever since the days of watching "Black Sheep Squadron" as a kid. Not quite as sexy as the P-51 but an absolute beast in the sky. My dad was a Navy vet in the Pacific in WWII and he used to tell me all sorts of Corsair stories. This video brought back a ton of good memories. Thanks again, and keep up the excellent work!
Disagree. Every bit as sexy as the P51 in addition to being an absolute beast of a machine. Also loved Baa Baa Blacksheep when I was a kid.
That was my favorite show as a kid too. And the Corsair was my favorite plane because of it.
My favorite planes too. I've done models, bought T shirts of it, and watched every film I could about it.
@Jack Tangles Not true
I dunno I consider this plane and the P51 to be equally schmexy.
I'm so glad that you mentioned Fernando Soto's Corsair. Back here in Honduras, Col. Soto's story is highly revered. His plane has been safely kept, and you can go and see it. Col. Soto is considered the only "ace" im Latinamerican aviation history. There si a story as well, that tells that after the war between my country and El Salvador, Col. Soto met with one of the downed salvadoran pilots. When this happend, the Salvadoran Airmen saluted Col. Soto with respect. Nodding him for the feat, and finally bringing peace between the once enemys. Again, I do appreciate bringing Col. Soto's story up. It is a great channel. Keep up with the good work.
Saludos desde Honduras🇭🇳🇭🇳
Another P&W R-2800 legend, just like Thunderbolt and Hellcat
Poor f8f bearcat always forgotten despite being better :/
How come the f8f bearcat climbed better than the others despite using the same engine
Sils Wei Although the F8F Bearcat was a better aircraft, it had never seen combat in WW2. At least it had served in Vietnam as a part of the French Air Force.
P-61 Black Widow too
@@ConjointVR probably was lighter
Had a great uncle who flew an F4U Corsair. Great plane. It saw him through his service.
As usual, another great video from Dark X. This particular video skimmed the surface of a question I've had for years, i.e. the performance differences between the F6F, F4U, and P-47 - given that they all had the same P&W R-2800 engine. Since all three of these single-engine WWII fighters are iconic US aircraft from that period, I would like to request a follow-up documentary comparing the three fighters - and what accounted for the various performance differences - given that they all used the same engine. I'm sure it would be an interesting story for those who subscribe to this channel - most of all me!
The main difference was that the F6F Hellcat was way cheaper to build and easier to mantain than both the other two planes. That's very important, even for a country like the USA. The best plane or tank is not necessarily the one which has the better performance, but the one that provides the most at the least cost in the shortest time. The M4 Sherman tank was another great example of that.
I second this request
that engine has to be one of the best of all time to be on that many great planes
@TyroneSayWTF @David Brown There's a channel called "Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles" that does very deep dives into the technical aspects of WWII aircraft. As most technically focused studies, it's very dry and lengthy, but if you want to know what's faster where and who can turn inside of who, that's your channel.
@@rustyATV Yep, I'm already familiar with it (Greg's Airplanes and Automobiles) - and as far as I know, "Greg's" channel hasn't done an F4U/F6F/P-47 comparison either.
My uncle Lt Wm Miller USN was killed in 1943 flying a F4U Corsair against the Japanese. He wanted to follow his father, a WW1 fighter pilot.
RIP Lt Miller
I am sorry for your loss. Your uncle is a hero to this country.
My condolences.
I am guessing it was one of the earlier encounters with the Zeros.
At that point the Japanese still had a cadre of skilled pilots that knew what they were doing. US records indicate they lost 4 in one mission.
Rip
I had the opportunity to hear the sound the F4U made in a dive back in the '80s when I worked at a small airport where one was housed. Its owner took it out for a flight one day and from about 5,000 feet dove at the runway and leveled off about 200 feet for a low pass at about 350 knots. Whistling Death is a polite name, screaming death is more like it. It was amazing and that memory will live with me.
David R Lentz, USA
The "whistling" is the shrill sound in the air ducts at the wing roots. The "death" is a decidedly different noise: the BDDDDDDDDDAAAAAAWWWWW! of six M2 Browning 50-caliber machine guns opening up on an Imperial Japan pilot at 500 yards!
When in grade school, I received a model airplane, it had a small gas motor, controls were with two strings, the model had gull wings, but the box was marked P51. I was in my forties before anyone could convince me the P51 didn't have gull wings. Sometimes, I still think the gull winged P51 was the best looking fighter!
I wish you had found a simulation of the sound the plane makes while diving. That would have been sweet. Thank you for your work.
These were made in Stratford, Connecticut and the factory buildings still stand there. Years later it turned into Avco-Lycoming which developed and built the Army Tank Engine for the Abrams.
Supermarine Spitfire, Gloster Meteor plus I believe, Me 262 in Czechoslovakian guise were all WW2 fighters that continued in production after VJ Day. The British Fleet Air Arm used a clipped wing version of the Corsair that was landed by using a curved approach to port. The record breaking test pilot Captain Eric Brown, RN was instrumental in developing this technique. The Royal New Zealand Air Force flew the aircraft in the Pacific Theatre whilst a Canadian pilot flying with the FAA gained a posthumous Victoria Cross in a Corsair.
Sooo what did the Whistling Death sound like?!?!?
I watched the whole video, i didn't hear any plane like sound or sounds....
ruclips.net/video/71W4x169fzc/видео.html
@@tony66au thank you!
@@tony66au Wow that looks like fun!!!! I actually saw this a few years ago because I noticed that I had clicked on the like button :)
Typical for a Dark Side video. They could be such a great channel, but make the dumbest mistakes.
@Thrasymachus Monk Mr. Monotone
My favorite WWII Fighter plane! I made a few models with my father as a Kid!
Mine is the P 51 mustang
@David Wood I had 4 U.S., 2 British, 1 Japanese, and 2 German Fighter models, built over 2-3 years. I also had a B-24 Liberator bomber as well. Dumb me Bottle rocketed them ALL after I graduated from College! :-(
A sound bite for some of these sound specific videos like "whistling death" I can Google it but it would have been nice very good content keep up the good work
At spartan school of aeronautics in 1977 I got to work on the wasp 2800 engine. Can you say goose bumps when it startes!
I'm glad you made this because the F4u is my favorite fighter of ww2 next to the P51. THX!!
Me too.
Same
I was literally about the say the same thing until i saw your comment.
Who asked
Oh christ the 'P51 won the war' fanclub
They also forgot that Lt Robert Hampton Gray won the Victoria Cross in a Corsair, Flying from HMS Formidable. The last Canadian VC of WW2.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hampton_Gray
F4U-4 corsair was the most beautiful bird of its day…. Still beautiful after these many years.
My favourite prop driven plane. I immediately fell in love with it as a kid after my air cadet officer showed me it’s unique wing shape and why they made them like that.
I really love the lines on this plane….it’s somehow simple and complex at the same time if that makes sense to anyone. Like, you can tell it was super high tech for it’s era but also the lines on the body are just so simple and it’s like everything that wasn’t needed was carefully removed and all you have left is the most essential lines, resulting in simple, sleek, beautiful shaped airplanes. Plus that dark blue paint you sometimes see is really suitable to the plane.
If I ever had Jeff Bezos money I’d totally buy one!!!
The whole reason for the Corsair's gull-wing was to make it fit into the lower decks of the older aircraft carriers. With a straight wing spar, the plane with wings folded wouldn't fit in many of the older carriers. Vaught came up with the solution...a gull-wing with the landing gear at the lowest part of the wing - making the landing-gear struts a good 18" or so shorter, thus lowering the parked aircraft height. To compensate for the lowered height, the original three-blade propeller was replaced with a four-blade propeller with somewhat shorter blades...unintentionally turning a workhorse into a racehorse. (Both 3- and 4-blade prop versions saw extensive service.)
Corsair pilots loved their aircraft. Highly maneuverable, insanely quick when necessary and capable of carrying lots of varied armament, this aircraft struck terror into the Japanese who had to deal with them in the air. To be on the ground, hearing one of these at full throttle..."Whistling Death" is pretty apropos. The other American plane which freaked out the Japs was the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber...in a full-speed dive, with its airbrakes full open, it sounded like a banshee escaping hell. My dad flew both during his years in the Pacific theater; he said the SBD was a fine aircraft - and the F4U was even finer. Even so, he was so glad when he was transferred to the American theater and "only" flying C-47s (military version of the DC-3).
Growing up in the 70s and beyond. Gregory Boyington was my hero. Not exactly the best roll model but at the sametime he was.
Boyington was a flying ace and winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor - not a bad hero.
He was a hero of mine as well.
Boyington famously said "show me a hero, and I'll prove to you he's a bum."
Boyington had his flaws, and his demons. But he was the consumate fighter pilot and leader, especially in combat.
My father was a CPO Articifer in charge of damage control on all of Royal Navy Aircraft carriers in the Far East. Formidable and Indomitable was hit by Kamikaze planes off Okinawa, his team dumped tons of quick setting cement into the dent of the Formidable's flight deck to maintain flight operations. The BEST generation. RIP dad.x
The british thought up how to approach in a circular approach to allow the pilot to see the flight deck of an air craft carrier and land
Yup, only became a carrier based aircraft after the british showed America how to do it
They were flown by Army and Marines until the Navy figured it out.
The British also work out it's tendency to bounce on landing.
I discovered through trial and error on my flight simulator that a Corsair could be landed on an aircraft carrier in that manner.
@ASCALON hence my comment about Army and Marines being the only ones using them until they (Navy) figured it out.... 🤷♂️
Some interesting points: The Fleet Air Arm didn't fix all the issues with the Corsair, it was very much a joint effort between the FAA, Vought and the US Navy and Capt. Eric Brown went to some length to stress that point in his recollections of the Corsair's development. He added it would be impossible to disentangle who was specifically responsible for what improvements. All FAA Corsair pilots were carrier qualified by the US Navy off the Maine and/or Rhode Island coasts. The Navy didn't reject the Corsair for carrier use so much as defer its inevitable acceptance; Why should they accept a not-yet-ready for carrier use aircraft when 1) they were still working to get carriers ready to sail and the Hellcat would be ready to go when they did and it was turning out to be very carrier friendly aircraft and 2) the Marines desperately needed an airplane ... NOW, so they got the Corsair. The FAA didn't have fewer accidents with the Corsair so much as they had no other realistic replacement for it, as did the US Navy in he Hellcat, so bit the bullet until the it could be updated, after which it was finally cleared for combat. The first use of the Corsair on a carrier in combat was by VF-17 Jolly Rogers on November 11, 1943 (Battle of the Solomon Sea) when, operating from a land base in New Georgia it (and other groups) flew CAP for the carriers (Bunker Hill, Essex, Independence, Saratoga and Princeton) whose aircraft were attacking Rabaul and landed on the carriers (Essex and Bunker Hill) for fuel and rearming (VF-17 was credited with 18.5 kills on this day). By contrast the FAA's carrier based Corsairs saw first combat on April 3, 1944 in Operation Tungsten (against Tirpitz).
They also saw action in the Atlantic Theater. These were one of my father's favorite planes while he served on the flight deck crew of a carrier in the North Atlantic. He often remarked on how one couldn't stand up on the flight deck when the pilot throttled up the engine in preparation for launch because the air wash from the 4-blade propeller was so strong. He also loved the looks of that gullwing design.
Amazing engineering detail was the bent wings to keep landing gear short and stronger and still have that massive prop. Made for a legendary design signature.
On the seldom occasion someone is willing to listen to me talk about WW2 planes, the F4U is one plane I point to as a marvel of clever engineering with tons of constraints for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Every single part of that airframe was optimized, and it shows that it continued in use until 1953 during the time of jets. Just a true marvel of ingenuity
There was a version of the F4U called the F2G which is powered by the mighty P&W R4360 Wasp Major
Called the hose nose for obvious reasons!!!
mmm, the Goodyear F2G Super Corsair
My favorite - great job! Wish you would have mentioned Boyington though.
Replacing the original canopy with the Malcolm Hood greatly improved visibility and I think gave it a cleaner look.
So far as WWII aircraft are concerned, my all time favorite fighter has always been the F4U. The P51 was a fantastic fighter but for me it always ran a close second to the Corsair.
It's just something about those old piston driven planes that I love so much maybe it's the engineering and the brains that went into making these beautiful planes or what but you do have to admit that a lot of those old planes look so beautiful you can tell the guys that built them really put their blood sweat tears and love into building these things
Thank you for this video. This is my favourite piston engined aircraft ever. Excellent...
Had the pleasure of watching an actual Corsair flying at a small airshow at my hometown airport a couple years back. First time in my 40 yrs actually seeing one in person. It does indeed whistle and is quite a large aircraft when standing next to it. Especially that propeller! I can not imagine the rudder input needed when you advance the throttle for takeoff..
my favorite fighter! When I was a kid I built a model of one
The factory in Stratford still sits there empty. They made the first sikorsky helicopter there, sikorsky flying boats, OSU-2 kingfishers, corsairs, huey and chinook engines, the first turbine engine, lcac engines, missile nose cones for minutemen, M1 Abrams tank engines, the list goes on. A fascinating history and abandoned for 25 years.
My pop worked there. The Corsair still proudly guards the entrance to the area.
If you're talking about the Corsair at the entrance to Sikorsky Airport, its long gone. The air museum now in a portion of the old Dolor sky plant has saved it from decades of neglect. They did a beautiful restoration of the airframe over several years. You can see it on the Connecticut Air and Space Center website.
Should be Sikorsky not Dolor Sky. I hate autofill.
Back in the day, I was enjoying a nice sunset dinner with my gf at the 94th Aero Squadron restaurant(a nice replica of a WW1 battle damaged French farmhouse next to the Van Nuys airport runway. The waitresses wore sort of Red Cross nurse uniforms that were fantastic)
When 3 or 4 Corsairs, presumably returning from filming Black Sheep Squadron, landed.
I’ll always remember this. I think of it every time I watch a video on the F4u.
The last time I was this early, the Germans still had 3 months of fuel remaining and could conduct strategic maneuvers and encirclements, with air support, instead of choosing which battle to use the avation fuel on and sending panzer divisions in a straight line and hoping for the best.
😂
I assure you, the Soviets are on the verge of collapse.
From what your girlfriend told me, you're "early" every time you tap her on the shoulder
oh snap!
The british thought up how to approach in a circular approach to allow the pilot to see the flight deck of an air craft carrier and land
You didn't mention the Black Sheep Squadron flew Corsair's made many kills my dad was Instructor Pilot to most of the pilots
The Royal Navy fleet air arm used the Corsair n combat, in both the Pacific and Atlantic. The Brits showed the Americans how to land a Corsair on an aircraft carrier. Before then the American corsairs were land based only
Kamina 1703 .... the Wildcats were getting replaced in front line service in the Pacific. The fleet carriers had their Hellcats. The Marines had shore based Corsairs. Both services had they’re hands full. The Corsair in carrier service wasn’t abandoned, just deferred. Many thanks to the fleet air arm for their help.
Good on em! It was a team effort and I'm greatful to the Brits, as I'm sure the US Navy was too. That thing looks horrifying to land on a carrier, especially with the cockpit so far back.
@@Kamina1703 I doubt he intentionally left it out. I haved noticed any bias in Dark's content like that.
It’s true that the Brits first operated Corsairs from carriers - but it was more about a division of resources as the Americans had plenty of airplanes. Every time the Marines took an island, Marine Aviation based Corsairs on it and dominated the airspace. Hellcats went to USN carriers and Corsairs to USMC forward bases. Once you had all those Essex Class carriers arriving in theater, those Marine Corsair squadrons transferred over.
You got there before me! However it's another example of each nation tinkering around with eachother's kit and improving it. Long may that continue.
It looks like a big engine with a air plane bolted on. It's my favorite WW2 fighter plane.
Like the A10, which was built around it’s gun, the Corsair was built around it’s engine, I believe. The Corsair’s kinda like the A10’s uncle. But yeah, that’s basically how they made the Corsair.
Yes Sir, and guns & bombs but they needed minimized landing gear & that's why they bent the wings. Great plane and fantastic folk that flew & maintained them. Happy 4th July, 2020!
I had toys of these when I was a kid. I also discovered that there's one of these in a hangar at Ontario airport, California. One time while visiting there I had a chance to see it in person. What I found amazing is how huge it is for a single-seat fighter-- the front cowling and engine is truly an awesome sight when standing in front of it-- it towers over you. The one at Ontario looked like it was still flight-worthy, looked to be in excellent condition.
My dad flew this beast in the Marine Corps! He always called it the "bent wing bird!" My older brother told me once that...he wasn't sure if he was supposed to be in it..but he flew it anyway...not sure how many times he flew it though! He retired with over 10K flight hours in helicopters and fixed wing in Korea and did 2.5 tours in Vietnam throughout his 24 year career! I always miss you Dad! Semper Fi!
God Bless your Father Brian .
As did my father, I wonder if they knew each other, Maj. Dock H. Pegues … Semper Fi !
@@apegues Maybe, the Corps was pretty small back in those times. I'm sure they both crossed paths in more way then one! Semper Fi!
One of my WW2 faves. Thank you.
Beautiful aircraft
Ever since I was a kid and saw Baa Baa Black Sheep on cable at my grandparents house I have fallen in love with the F4U Corsair. It is by far the most beautiful fighter plane ever created in my personal opinion the F4 Phantom paid homage to it in its design.
i have just recently become obsessed with the plane even switching from loving the p51 to the F4U
Good, everyone is always on the P51 bandwagon. It's very over-rated. There is a reason the corsair was made till 1952 and the P51 was not after 1945.
GMONEY 11 Was it a nasty breakup? Why marry a single warplane when you can be obsessed with as many of them as you want. I love almost all of them and there are very few with which I would turn down a tumble.
I always respected and sought out your content. My one lingering question was “why can’t I be subjected to 24 adds while I watch this?”
There's one of these at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, TX. Used to see it occasionally. Real shock the first time i was driving on LBJ Freeway and heard that Pratt & Whitney Double Wasp, looked up, and saw the unmistakable form of an F4U.
As usual this was well researched and presented. Very informative and entertaining.
Read somewhere that the inverted gull wing was chosen so the wing root met the fuselage at a 90° angle to reduce drag.
That could've been achieved with a straight wing, like the Wildcat used. The primary reason for the gull wing was to employ shorter, stiffer landing gear.
It's kinda funny that when you talked about the companies that produced the F4U that you mentioned that it broke a speed record from Stratford, CT to Hartford, CT, but neglected to mention the fact that Sikorsky Aircraft Company was the one building them in Stratford, CT. Due to this oversight I am sure more than a couple of people went, "Huh?", when you mentioned the Japanese called it the Sikorsky, because that's who fucking built them.
6:17 That is some absolutely unreal fucking footage, holy crap.
I know! Is that real?!?
My dad's friend Retired Lt Colonel Raymond Swalley USMC piloted in this aircraft during World War II.
He was in VMF-451 about the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17). His ship was hot by a Kamikaze plane that killed a lot of people but he was a survivor.
He had missions in Okinawa and other ones as well. There was even a DVD movie about his squadron called The Blue Devils.
I fondly remember as a young child when he used to come over to my parents house and brought gifts for us.
He helped my dad get his first job at a local television station too back in the 1960's.
Dad was a B-17 Flying Fortress Pilot in WW2 with the 463rd Bombardment Group (Heavy).
I last talked to Mr Swalley last year but I think that he is still with us.
No mention of the British Fleet Air Arm use?
That's one hell of an omission.
It's kinda an essential part of the corsair's story.
The Brits tamed it for carrier use. They found out that a curving approach allowed the pilot to keep sight of the carrier during landings.
The Brits knew a good piece of kit when they saw it 👍
The Brits showed how to land it on Carriers very quickly the F4s filled the US Carriers .
Thanks Brits !!!
@@petersouthernboy6327 they just couldn’t make any good carrier planes themselves
@@jb76489 cough, the Swordfish. Most successful carrier plane of the Royal Navy.
this is a perfect format for you guys to cover endless planes, ships, vehicles, etc. i would love to see more, exactly like this. great job guys. thank you
...yeah, thanks for the bullshit 💩 about the propeller slicing! 🙄
Every time I see one of these beasties, the opening theme from The Black Sheep Squadron goes through my mind.
😏
Amen. Love that show.
The F-4u is among some of the most iconic works of art. Like the P-51 and the corvette stingray. You can always find yourself daydreaming about being the cockpit.
VMFA-124 was the first Marine Corps squadron to receive the Corsair, and one of the first based on a carrier. Later in the '70s, as VMA-124, the squadron flew A-4 Skyhawks but retained the "Whistling Death" nickname and the "flying skull" emblem. I served with them from 1976-1980.
Impressive statistics. However, never mind all of that, as I think the Corsair is just a beautiful looking aeroplane.
I enjoyed the video a lot by the way.
Please make a video about the lockheed P38 Lighting
Agreed!
Please don't leave out the 'side window problem'!
Yes, and please check your facts before you make the video, and, also, please use the correct footage, as well.
shot down yamamoto
@Jack Tanglesthe germans feared it dude, regardless of what you think of it, and it's also the plane where the top 2 scoring american ww2 aces flew in
@Jack Tangles Seems you may need to read up more. It had troublesome engines in the cold of Europe. It did perfectly fine in the Pacific.
Watchout Eminem, you got a new competitor
My favorite airplane of all time.
Badass Bird.
Growing up I watched the Black Sheep Squadron all the time. Fell in love with this aircraft.
I am 47 That is my favorite war plane because of my favorite show Black Sheep squadron
That was the P40 and the Wildcat F4F
The Corsair getting some love! My favorite allie fighter.
That makes us two
Landing a tail-dragger on a carrier deck must have been delightful. Jeez
My friend and a mentor Bruce Muir owned the Big Bamboo in Kissimee Florida. He had 32 kills and three assists in a Corsair. Flew in the Marians turkey shoot. When his carrier the Bunker Hill was sunk his men flew to Pappy Bowington’s field and flew missions with him for a few weeks. Bruce was shot down buy three zeros and was able to ditch in the sea. When he wore shorts you could see the burn scars on both legs from his flaming engine. He road it down into the sea. He escaped the plane and was continually strafed by the Japanese untill they ran out of ammo. He was eventually picked up by a PBY. I count myself lucky to have known this tough as nails Scotsman. One of many humble unsung heroes of WW2.
It is so refreshing to view a YT video that is free of clickbait, lies or bias.
I have always admired the Corsair since I watched the Black Sheep TV show. American ingenuity at its finest.
Built an Airfix one of these when I was young always liked the gull wing
My dad was a test pilot for this plane had some amazing storys
The Gull Wing design had nothing to do with aero dynamics at the time of its design. The design came into play because the huge propeller. They had the largest propeller of any fighters at the time.
Again Swami you document one of my favorites. You keep getting better!
2 notes though - the Corsair F4U was the 2nd US fighter to exceed 400mph, that was the P38 about 8 months earlier. It WAS by a good margin single engine fighter to exceed 400mph. The other relates to production. It was in production in small quantities by mid 1942., it wasn't in mass production (200+/month) until mid to late 1943. Either way I don't give a damn, You're doc's are as good as it gets.
Thanks for the hard work and excellent info and entertainment.
1:58 The bent wing had more to do with clean aerodynamics than with the large prop. The P-47 used the same engine and didn't have bent wings. A wing that sticks out from the fuselage at 90 degrees has less drag than a wind mounted traditionally similar to a P-47, P-40, P-51, etc. If you have a chance, check out Greg's Airplanes and his episodes on the Corsair where he explains this in more detail.
The narrator sounds like he is on speed.
I commented on another video about this. Good vids, but slow down. Maybe RUclips limits his video length and he's trying to get as much in as possible. Either way, he doesn't split his words, they all blend in without separation
@@Vaterraman yeah even at 0.75 speed you can't really understand him because even stumbles his words over each other too. Very nice vids, but please slow down
I switched to.75 and it's acceptable@@Agnus_Mason
He's coked up for sure. He can probably make the "whistling noise" sounds with his straw. :)
Try listening faster. There are so many cool videos out there to watch, I’m glad this guy doesn’t waste my time.
Came here to get hyped for its eventual release in DCS.
Please let it be so. They need to release the f4U-4 to compete with the late war BF109K and FW190D,
This is the fighter aircraft of the Black Sheep Squadron of Historical and TV fame.
My senior Marine Instructor was USMC Colonel John W. Ruhsam. He was a member of VMF-323 "Death Rattlers", he flew the F4U Corsair, and fought in the Pacific in 1945. He earned the title "Fighter Ace of the Pacific"... along with a Navy Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross in the air battle over Okinawa shooting down a total of 7 Zero's (Zeke's) and Betty's (bombers) in the vicinity of le Shima, Ryukyu Islands, on 4 May 1945. Its easy to look at men such as Colonel Ruhsam and the men he fought alongside back in WWII.. but its another to have personally known the MAN for over 3 years. Colonel Ruhsam was a Fighter Ace, but he was my Senior Marine Instructor and friend. I do wish sometimes I had caught back up with him after I was discharged. Only saw him once after I graduated.
The men we look back on as having risen to the challenge of a two front war back in the 1940s were truly a special breed of men. I was fortunate and Blessed to have know some of them. We shall not see their like again.
Colonel John W. Ruhsam USMC - Navy Cross & Distinguished Flying Star.
www.mystiwot.nl/myst/upload/persons/3685140330121757p.jpg
Colonel John W. Ruhsam USMC - 7 kills - Fighter Ace of the Pacific with F4U Corsair & Kills
www.leatherneck.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8303&d=1256744944
I saw some TV shows where these aircraft was used and the pride of the U.S. Marine Corps. I served in the Air Force and worked on the B-52 first and then the A-10 Thunderbolt, and finally the C-141's, C-5's, and C-130's and enjoyed my time in service and being able to fly on many of their aircraft.
Love this plane
This is my second favorite fighter of WW2, the P-38 being first
How about the P 51 mustang
Everytime I fight one of these in war thunder I always get smoked and now I know why lmao
Actually, the F4U is terrible in war thunder, because you always fight planes ahead of it's time!
@@nathanielhammaker8374 yeah cause it’s too good, it was also artificially nerfed, I believe it goes 50mph slower than it should.
My Dad was a mechanic on Corsairs in the USN Reserves between WWII and Korea. He gave me a love of these beautiful aircraft.
What ship
What a planes! Puppy was a childhood hero of mine like many others on here. So many more stories of incredibly brave pilots.
Those gull wings was suppose to be cheat for making the landing gear longer...
Instead they accidentally discover something new...
7:03 should be “rammed their planes into ships like guided missiles”
Could we get The Jug in a future video?
2nd that
Yes, I third.
You have my vote!
My vote too, and add in the Razorback version!
make it happen