WWII air war history question

[Missionary]

My dad was on carriers. He was a LSO (Landing Ship Officer) Assistant. Dads job was to stand behind the LSO and write down everything the LO said while flagging in a landing aircraft. Dad said they both hatted the Corsairs called the "Whistling Death" by the japs.
The Corsair was a huge fighter. Double row Wasp engine with 2000 horses to power that huge bird. Problem was the Corsair had a high wing load so would stall at normal carrier landing speeds. Had to come in fast to keep lift and control. Last several seconds of the landing the pilot could not see the deck anymore due to the long nose and the pilot seat being back behind the wing.. So the pilot had to watch the LSO on the left rear of the deck trusting him 100%. But if the LSO gave a wave off the pilots were taught to veer left which meant at and hopefully over the LSO and assistant. Dad said there was a safety net to jump into but the Corsairs had to land so fast there just was not much time to react.

 

[Ian]

I remember reading the story of the German who gave up after exhausting his ammunition into a P47. I also remember a story of a P47 in the pacific piloted by one seriously pissed off Leatherneck. After downing plane after plane and finally running out of ammunition, he took out at least one more that was on the run by chewing off its tail control surfaces with his propeller. I forget exactly how much shorter his prop blades were when he returned but three feet each sticks in my mind.

 

[Missionary]

There are all sorts of good Thunderbolt stories of how tank tough that bird was. Most enemy pilots learned real fast or died quick trying to slug it out with one. Shoot off the tail from the side or rounds through the canopy were the softest targets.
The Corsair was similar. Heavy duty.
About 1947 Chance-Vought added another double Wasp engine to the Corsair making it 36 cylinders and got the airspeed to 475 mph. But the real goal was more rockets and bombs for air support as the jets then could barely get into the air with guns and a few rockets. So the Corsair sailored on to nearly the end of the Korea War. (edit... with the Navy)

 

[Bret4207]

I probably told the story before, but when I was at MCAS Cherry Point in the late 70's/early 80's there was one Corsair still attached to the unit and it was still operational. My understanding at the time was that it had done duty in Vietnam, as did all our F4's, A4's, A6's, OV10's, Hueys, Cobras, CH46's and 53's along with bunch of other airplanes. The war had ended only 4 years before and only the AV-Harriers series had missed the action. I do know it had a radar bulb on one wing. They flew it about once every 6 or 8 months and I was told an actual fist fight occurred between pilots vying for a chance to take it for a 5 minute spin. I don't think folks realize how big an airplane that was. We had little F-5's in from some allied nation for a gig and the Corsair was a much larger machine as I recall.

 

[Missionary]

Radar was for the night fighter / anti-sub version. With the 2 drop tanks a Corsair could be coaxed into near 10 hours of boredom.

 

[Missionary]

There is a Corsair at the Danville ILL airport in one of the far south hangers along with a P-47, T-6 and Mustang. Mr. Schroeder is the owner as of near 3 years ago.

 

[Rick H]

This case was a Corsair over Okinawa:

This Marine Pilot Literally Chopped Up His Enemy With His Propellor | The National Interest


This one was a Wildcat over Guadalcanal:

On October 25, First Lieutenant Conger shot down three A6M Zeros during a dogfight. Conger then pursued a fourth Zero, piloted by flying ace Petty Officer Second Class Shiro Ishikawa. Expending the last of his ammunition and determined to knock the plane out of the sky, Conger attempted to use his propellor to chop the tail rudder off Ishikawa's plane. Conger, misjudging the distance between his and Ishikawa's plane, rammed into it and ripped the entire tail off. Both planes then began falling out of the sky, and both pilots bailed out and parachuted into the sea.[2][5]

Marines didn't fly P-47's, that was Army Air Corps.

 

[smokeywolf]

There are all sorts of good Thunderbolt stories of how tank tough that bird was. Most enemy pilots learned real fast or died quick trying to slug it out with one. Shoot off the tail from the side or rounds through the canopy were the softest targets.
The Corsair was similar. Heavy duty.
About 1947 Chance-Vought added another double Wasp engine to the Corsair making it 36 cylinders and got the airspeed to 475 mph. But the real goal was more rockets and bombs for air support as the jets then could barely get into the air with guns and a few rockets. So the Corsair sailored on to nearly the end of the Korea War. (edit... with the Navy)

To the best of my knowledge there were only three prototype 36 cylinder radials produced; all by Lycoming, designated XR-7755. They weren't ready until 1946 and were a proposed power plant for the B-36.

I think the quad-bank radial of which you speak was the 28 cylinder P&W Wasp Major (nicknamed the "Corncob"). It was four banks of 7 cylinders. Goodyear who was one of Chance-Vought's subcontractors was the one that extended the airframe on the Corsair and shoe-horned the Corncob into it. I don't believe the F2G ever saw combat.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

" ....I think the quad-bank radial of which you speak was the 28 cylinder P&W Wasp Major (nicknamed the "Corncob"). It was four banks of 7 cylinders."

There's a cut away Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major on display at the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum near Dulles Airport. It is an amazing example of American engineering skill and just an incredible engine to look at.

When the world gets back to normal I can highly recommend visiting that museum. I've been there several times and it is an excellent Air & Space Museum.

 

[Ian]

The corncob was what flew the "Spruce Goose" .

 

[Missionary]

Well I have to go by what my dad helped land on carriers. For many years I thought he (dad) was not telling things straight until I heard on a F4U program that 4 bank Corsairs were fielded. I assumed they where the standard Double Wasp 2x and did not look into what exactly.

 

[RBHarter]

I thought the F2G got the big Pratt ....... Maybe that was just the Super Corsair racer ....... And the F8F ...... It's just been too long I guess .

 

[smokeywolf]

Missionary, it's entirely possible that my info is inaccurate.
The "Double Wasp" was 2 banks of 9 cylinders. The "Wasp Major" was 4 banks of 7 cylinders. I do know that they had a devil of a time cooling the rear banks of cylinders.

RB, The F2G was also known as the "Super Corsair".

All three of these are entertaining and informative reading.

Goodyear F2G Corsair - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair | The Museum of Flight

Big, robust, and fast, the Goodyear F2G was often referred to as the "Super Corsair" for good reason. Designed and produced by Goodyear rather than...

www.museumofflight.org

It’s Moving Day For The Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair

Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair will be moved to another location within the Museum of Flight property

warbirdsnews.com

 

[RBHarter]

This one .
http://www.gmodelart.com/2016/11/f4u-super-corsair-article1.html?m=1

 

[BBerguson]

" ....I think the quad-bank radial of which you speak was the 28 cylinder P&W Wasp Major (nicknamed the "Corncob"). It was four banks of 7 cylinders."

There's a cut away Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major on display at the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum near Dulles Airport. It is an amazing example of American engineering skill and just an incredible engine to look at.

When the world gets back to normal I can highly recommend visiting that museum. I've been there several times and it is an excellent Air & Space Museum.

I’ll second this! I’ve been to the museum twice (recently) and it is a truly amazing place!

 

[smokeywolf]

A little thread drift?
I always wanted to spend about a month going through the Smithsonian. Might be able to take in maybe half of it in that time. Of course the "Arms" and "Aviation" galleries would get the first week or two. Did get to spend a few hours there in 1974. Almost not worth walking through the doors.
Been through the Gene Autry Museum a couple of times.
Went through the Cody Museum in about 1966 or '67; would love to go again.
Never seen the NRA Museum. Maybe it will move to Texas in the next couple of years.

 

[RicinYakima]

Cody Museum is all new and wonderful. If you email in advance and go in the middle of the week, they are very helpful. At my last visit I was researching Savage Model 23's and Springfield Armory NRA Sporters. They spent a good two hours with me, and I enjoyed every second.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Feeding the thread drift.
The Smithsonian complex on the national mall in Washington D.C. could easily take weeks to explore , if one was so inclined. However, because the collection is so varied, most people pick the museums that interest them. Even trimming down what you chose to see, there's a lot there.
The Smithsonian has two Air & Space museums - The original one in Washington D.C. on the mall and the Udvar-Hazy museum near Dulles. They are both excellent museums but the Udvar-Hazy museum at Dulles is by far the larger building (it's HUGE) and, in my opinion, a much better experience. The Udvar-Hazy museum is free but you must pay to park; so if you're visiting with friends - pile as many people into one car as you can.

While not affiliated with the Smithsonian, the Holocaust Memorial Museum is located near the national mall. I think every American should see that once. It is fittingly, located not far from the WWII memorial.

I've been to the NRA museum in Fairfax a couple of times and its a good collection. I wouldn't make a special trip to go back. You can view most of it in a couple of hours and it's largely a historical tour of the development of firearms.

The Marine Corps museum in Quantico is well worth the time to explore.

I was planning on visiting the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, OH, but COVID-19 screwed that up. I will go there when the world returns to normal.

Just an observation, many museums in the U.S. have free admission; that is not the case in most other countries. We are very fortunate in that regard.

 

[Joshua]

I’ve been to the Cody Museum in 1984 and 2017. And, The Smithsonian Museums in 1986 and 2010.

So, basically once as a child and once as an adult. I loved both of these visits, for different reason.

What’s funny to me is that my boy doesn’t remember much of the firearms display at the Cody museum. He wasn’t into that part all that much, back then. In fact my wife took him and left me in that wing of the museum while they got a snack and looked at other exhibits. What he does remember was the great raptor show they put on in the courtyard.

Josh

 

[RBHarter]

I may have mentioned it before , since we've wandered a little . I had the privilege of sitting in Don Beck's "Sorceress" before it went to the Air and Space display . It's an all metal "open" cockpit biwing racer that has so many cheats built into it all within the rules ......... Theres a button on the panel marked "Panic button" when pressed a flag pops up that reads " Remain calm . Fly the plane " . If Rare Bear ever retires it should have a home there too , 7 records should get man and machine a place . 17 min 0-20,000 ft is hauling burro with that 43?0 2 stage blower engine . 456 mph on the course at Reno was a course record in the gold race . The next year they qualified at 460 , ran a heat race at 463 , 478 and won the Gold race again at 496 passing 425 mph lap traffic in an 81 mile race the first lap was the fastest at 508 . NOS was in the cue and you could see the black fuel trace and acceleration on the back straight when it hit . 2 open 1/4 inch line of 7psi 150 octan fuel 1 second before the NOS hit on a 4300 cid redial engine already pushing 3000 horses . Their best guess was a 1000 HP hit for 5-6 seconds with spray bar cooling as over 7 seconds would have the heads up to 550° ...... They're aluminum screwed to steel barrels .

If you're a power junky that 496 mph race was indescribable sound and feel from the dead line in the pits , it was literally and earth moving expirance . Every hair , goose bumps at 80° in full sun ..... Nope , short of a lobotomy that will never ever go away .