Royal Navy Corsair Is were modified with a bulged front cockpit canopy to allow the pilot to improve visibility by raising his seat. Other modifications included clipping 16 inchs from the wingtips to enable storage on the smaller British carriers (clearly visible in this picture), fitting Rocket rails, and on some earlier machines providing a fuel drop-tank beneath the fuselage.
Deliveries to the F.A.A. commenced on June 1, 1943 when No.1830 squadron formed with Corsair Is at Quonset. By the end of that year seven more squadrons were forming up with Corsair Is or IIs.
The first operational sorties by F.A.A. Corsairs occurred on April 3, 1944, when Corsair IIs of No.1834 squadron provided air cover for torpedo bombers attacking the German Battleship Tirpitz
The Royal Navy took delivery of ninety-five F4U-1 (Corsair I), 510 F4U-1A (Corsair II), 430 F3A-1D (Corsair III) and 977 FG-1D (Corsair IV) operating in nineteen squadrons. In addition a further 370 F4U-1Ds were supplied to the R.N.Z.A.F operating in three squadron.
British Corsairs were built by Chance-Vought (Corsair I and II), Brewster (Corsair III) and Goodyear (Corsair IV).
