Chance Vout F4U Corsair
History the creation of the carrier-based fighter "Corsair" dates back to 1938. Then the US Navy decided to replace its outdated fighters with new generation machines. Then several aviation firms. Among them was "Chance Vote". The chief designer of the company, engineer Rex Basel, unlike his competitors, relied on the most powerful engine for that time, the XR-2800. And although this promising engine was still "raw" and required fine-tuning, the Beisel project (V-166В) made a good impression on the customers, and in July 1938 a contract was signed with the Chance Vout company to build an experimental aircraft, designated XF4U- 1.
After a year and a half, the project of the new fighter was embodied in the metal. It was an all-metal monoplane with consoles, partially covered with canvas. Characteristic shape attached wing, executed on the type of "reverse gull". It was articulated at right angles to the fuselage of circular cross section. This reduced the aerodynamic interference between it and the fuselage; it did not require the installation of a complex-shaped foil, which was typical of other machines. Thanks to the W-shape of the wing, the landing gear was relatively small and compactly retracted into it.
The XR-2800-4 engine was immediately installed on the plane; its power at take-off was hp 1800, and at a combat altitude of 7 km, the 1460 hp Armament ХF4U-1 - two synchronized fuselage machine guns caliber 7,62 mm and two wing caliber 12,7 mm. It was assumed that the aircraft should take on board and 20 special 2,35-kilogram bombs to destroy enemy bombers in the air.
29 May 1940 Test Pilot Lyman Bullard for the first time raised the plane into the air. Flight tests of the car exceeded all expectations. Within a few days, XF4U-1 reached the speed of 651,7 km / h and became the fastest American military aircraft of that period.
In October, 1940, the aircraft passed for testing in the Navy. 3 March 1941 was signed a contract for its mass production. True, the military demanded to strengthen the armament of up to six large-caliber heavy-wing machine guns with general 2350 ammunition ammunition. This is done. Several have changed the location of the pilot's cabin. The aircraft received an improved engine R-2800-8, the power of which was brought to the HP 2000. In this form, the machine, designated F4U-1, went into the series. 25 June 1942, the first (serial number 02153) took off, and a week later, they began to equip the aircraft carrier Sangamon with new aircraft.
But the Americans still missed time. 7 December 1941 The Japanese, defeating the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, began active hostilities in the Pacific. US fighter "Wildcat" had quite difficult in battles with the new Japanese "Zero".
The delay in deliveries of the Corsairs, which the fleet had been waiting for for so long, allowed the Grumman company to launch the F6F Hellcat, which became the main deck fighter of the American fleet... The Hellcats shot down more than five thousand Japanese aircraft (75% of all air victories of the fleet's aviation), but this did not change the attitude of the military towards the Corsair. And although the Corsairs were needed in the theater of operations like air, the command of the US Navy still did not dare to throw pilots into battle who had not yet mastered the new vehicle properly. Only at the beginning of 1943, the first F4U-1 squadron arrived in the area of about. Guadalcanal.
The command of the Navy expected to use the new "Corsairs" in the first place as a carrier-based interceptor fighter. But unsuccessful attempts to use the F4U-1 from aircraft carriers forced the US military to use fighter jets for the first time in the land forces of the marines. The first part of the "Corsairs" was the squadron VMF-124, organized by 7 in September 1942, on the basis of Kamp-Kern in California. The unit was trained on a new machine and 28 December 1942, she was recognized as combat-ready. The squadron was armed with an 22 fighter F4U-1.
February 12 The 1943 of the year VMF-124 was transferred to the island of Guadalcanal of the Solomon Islands archipelago. On the same day, the new fighters carried out their first combat sortie to escort PB4Y bombers who raided the ships of the Japanese fleet in Buangville. But on this day they did not have a chance to enter combat contact with Japanese aircraft. When performing a similar mission 14 February, aircraft from VMF-124 along with P-40 and P-38 were intercepted by fifty Japanese A6M Zero fighters. The debut for F4U-1 "Corsairs" was unsuccessful, the squadron lost two aircraft in this battle. The total American losses were: four P-38, two F-4U, one P-40 and one PB4Y "Liberator" with three Japanese fighters shot down.
During the next two months, the pilots of F4U-1 developed a special tactic that became standard in battles with the Japanese. Using the existing advantage of "Corsairs" in speed characteristics, the American pilots made the attack of the Japanese first. Noticing enemy planes, the American pilots quickly gained altitude, and dived at the enemy, destroying Japanese cars with machine-gun fire. After the attack, they carried out a way out of combat with a climb, occupying a new frontier for the next attack. Noticeably yielding to the Japanese “Zero” in maneuverability, F4U tried not to get involved in a close maneuver fight. In critical situations, the Corsair tried to break away from the pursuing enemy with a quick climb or dive. Information about the great potential of the new F4U-1 spread as the VMF-124 squadron increased the score of its victories, and more and more aviation units of the marines began to switch to "Corsairs".
Many pilots became aces, fighting on F4U. Much more difficult was the preparation for the use of a fighter on aircraft carriers. The first test take-offs and landings that took place on the Sangamon aircraft carrier in September-October 1942 of the year revealed many flaws in the Corsair design. So, sometimes the fighter suddenly, for no apparent reason, lost speed, fell on the right wing and entered the tailspin. The strong torque of the propeller at the start and landing caused the instability of the aircraft. The car literally chatted right and left. The usual technique of landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier was virtually impossible. The motor limited the pilot's view, and the drops of oil splashing from the engine onto the frontal glazing of the lantern made the visibility even worse. When landing, the pilot was forced to approach the aircraft carrier not in a straight line, but on a bend in order to be able to see the deck. Immediately at the moment of landing, the plane lowered its nose and hit the deck with the main wheels extremely hard. The fighter often jumped on the hard shock absorbers of the landing gear, "goat", which often led to damage to the aircraft.
In this situation, the leadership of the Navy could not use the "Corsairs" as deck fighters. Up until the advent of the F4U-1D modification, every takeoff and landing on an aircraft carrier was associated with a high risk. For confident piloting of the Corsair, the pilot needed to go through many hours of flight training. The number of F4U fighters lost for non-combat reasons far exceeded the combat losses (349 vehicles were shot down by anti-aircraft artillery, 232 for other combat reasons, 690 during non-combat sorties, and 164 were defeated during takeoffs and landings on aircraft carriers).
Since January, 1943, the company Sikorsky has joined the work on the improvement of the aircraft, united for a time with Chance Vout. Since February, Goodyear has begun production of F4U-1, and since April Brewster has begun production. The aircraft of these companies were designated FG-1 and F3А-1, respectively. At the same time, Chance Vout launched a large program to create a F4U-2 night-deck interceptor equipped with a radar and an F4U-3 high-altitude fighter with an R-2800-16С engine and a turbocharger that supported 2000 l power. with. to altitude 12 km.
Taking into account the operating experience of the Corsairs, they developed a version of the F4U-1А with a new lantern of the pilot's cabin, which replaced the machines of the Vout, Brewster and Goodyear vehicles of the U-1 modification.
Gradually, the Corsairs began to be used more and more in combat operations. Their good flight performance gave them superiority over enemy fighters. And even the famous “Hellcats”, possessing better maneuverability, were inferior to them in speed. Indeed, at sea level, the speed of the F4U-1А was 548 km / h, and at the height of 7 km - 636 km / h. For F4U-3 (also 1943 of the year of release), these figures were 521 and 605 km / h, respectively.
The ratio of victories in air battles with the Japanese was clearly on the side of the Corsairs. According to statistics, after each 30 sorties, the pilots of the Corsairs shot down the plane against the target. Among the pilots who fought on the "Corsairs" were their aces. For example, Major Boington scored 28 air victories. 26 downed aircraft was in the account of Captain Foss.
Fought on the "Corsairs" and the allies. More than two thousand Lend-Lease vehicles were transferred to the UK (95 - F4U-1, 510 - F4U-1А, 430 - FЗ-А and 977 FG-1). There they received the designation "Corsair" I, II, III and IV, respectively. 424 aircraft was in service with the New Zealand Air Force.
During serial production, the Corsair continued to be improved. At the end of August, the 1943 was launched from the conveyors by the F4U-1С fighter, the armament of which consisted of four 20-mm cannons with 120 rounds of ammunition. In November, the F4U-1D fighter-bomber, capable of carrying bombs weighing up to 908 kg or missiles of caliber up to 127 mm (8 pcs.), Began to arrive in the US Navy. On these planes, the new R-2800-8W engines were installed with water-jet forcing. This allowed a short-term increase in engine power to the HP 2250. The rate of climb increased from 14,5 m / s to 15,8 m / s (almost like the F6F-3). Maximum speed at the height of 6500 m - up to 670-680 km / h.
From April 1944, the companies Brewster and Goodyear switched to the production of these machines (А3А-1D and FG1-D aircraft). In total, American factories launched 8,5 thousands of F4U-1 of all types, of which 4102 aircraft accounted for Chance Vout. 3808 machines released the company Goodyear and 735 - Brewster. In 1944, instead of the F4U-1, fighters of the U-4 modification began to leave the factory workshops. In fact, it was all the same "Corsair", but equipped with a more powerful 2450-powerful engine R-2800-18W and a new four-bladed propeller.
Thanks to an improved power plant, the combat capabilities of the machine have increased dramatically. Maximum speed increased to 683, km / h. The rate of climb reached 19,6 m / s and became even greater than the last version of Hellcat P6P-5, also released in 1944 g. For example, if Hellcat gained one height of 954 m, then Corsair 1190 m. At the same time, the F4U-4 flew 50-60 km / h faster. Now, over the sea "Corsar" was not equal. The US Navy ordered six thousand aircraft at once. However, until the end of the war managed to build only about two thousand. However, F4U-4 managed to make war. A special role of these high-speed fighters with long-range (which largely contributed to the presence of two additional outboard fuel tanks), played in battles with Japanese kamikazes, destroying them on the distant approaches to their ships. The Corsairs also operated successfully on ground targets - especially F4U-4В, armed with 20-mm cannons, bombs and missiles.
During the battles for the Japanese islands, the Corsairs received the nickname "Okinawa Angels" from the American marines.
After the end of the war, the serial production of the F4U-4 gradually began to turn off and in 1947 completely ceased (2356 machines built). In this case, part of the aircraft was released in the form of night interceptors, equipped with airborne radar installed in the fairing on the right wing. They had the designation F4U-4Е and F4U-4М.
But the story "Corsairs" is not over. Firm Goodyear independently continued work on the creation of the "Super Corsair". F2G-1 and F2G-2 aircraft with R-4360 "Wasp Major" engines with 3650 l power appeared. with. In combat mode, they had a speed of 724 km / h, rate of climb - 22,35 m / s (built 418 F2G-1 and 10 F2G-2).
Chance Vout from 1946 to 1951 Also released 568 machines modifications F4U-5, of which 315 - series 5N and 5NL with airborne radar. The maximum flight speed of the F4U-5 reached 724 km / h, although some pilots claimed they were flying much larger.
In 1950, the F4U-4 and U-5 fighters were sent to Korea. There 82% of all strikes inflicted by deck planes on the enemy, accounted for their share. True, in Korea, they, as a rule, had to act on ground targets, since they could no longer fight the jet MiG-15.
In view of the fighting in Korea, in 1952, the production of an improved attack aircraft was launched, receiving in the fleet aviation a new designation AU-1 (F4U-6). The plane was armed with four 20-mm cannons, it could carry 10 missiles or six 227-kg bombs (built 110 aircraft).
In the same 1952, the aircraft was produced and modifications F4U-7, which absorbed all the best achievements of piston aircraft. These planes served the Americans up to the 1957 year, while the French were in service with the 1964. In some countries of the "third" world (Argentina, El Salvador, and others.) "Corsairs" lasted even longer. So, Salvadorans used them during the fast-moving “football” war of the 1971.
In general, the Corsair took the same place among the fighter planes of the Second World War as the Mustang fighter among ground fighters.
Sources:
Ivanov S. F4U Corsair // War in the air. No.109. C. 2-3, 6,8-10, 43-45.
Kudishen I. Norovisty "Corsair" // Aviation and Cosmonautics. 1997. No.1. C. 30-33, 36.
Bakursky V. Angels of Okinawa // Wings of the Motherland. 1992. No.6. C.25-27.
Chechin A., Okolelov N. F4U Сorsair: ten years in the series // Model Designer. 2013. No.6. C. 21-26.
Haruk A. Fighters of the Second World War. M .: Yauza-Press, 2012. C. 273-278.
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