While there are always exceptions to every rule, I'm under the impression that the cockpit layout of earlier Corsairs was generally not well received, which may have been one of the reasons for the complete redesign when the F4U-4 came along.
During the Joint Fighter Conference held in October 1944, the F4U-1D ranked 3rd for "worst cockpit" (only the P-38L and P-61B ranked higher in this category), and these were primarily naval aviators doing the scoring. However the F4U-4 ranked second in "best all-round cockpit" (behind the F6F-5), which COULD have been do to the changes made in cockpit layout. The F4U-1D received no votes in this particular category.
And while the F4U-1D did get some votes for "most comfortable cockpit", the P-47D, F6F-5, F4U-4, P-61B, and P-51D scored higher in this category (in that order).
Food for thought....
Yes, early Corsair seems to have a problem with the cockpit 'layout'.
Boone T. Guyton, the Corsair's chief test pilot, also pointed out that there was a problem with the layout of the cockpit. He regretted that the solution was not reflected before the production line started.
"At this time a serious mistake was found in the arrangement of controls in the F4U-1's cockpit. Unfortunately, it had gone into production, slipped by all of us, and reached the combat zone. At least one pilot died as a result. while I could rationalize the error as unforeseeable, it should not have been. As Vought's chief experimental test pilot and most experienced naval aviator, I should caught it."
There was a pilot who was shot down due to unintentional emergency landing gear extended in combat. Because the emergency landing gear could not be retract again, His Corsair was caught by A6Ms.
"What the hell do you mean by putting that emergency landing gear bottle next to wing purging? Do you know what's happening?"
So, that's what he heard.
Perhaps including it with other problems to have been fixed with later variants, but it would have been just minor changes until cockpit was completely redesigned on the F4U-4.
However, it still has nothing to do with the opinion that most of the average pilots are limited in control or visibility because of the Corsair's wide cockpit design. For the pilots of various origin and times, the Corsair was evaluated as a maneuverable machine and easy to fly. If the it's cockpit was specially interferes with control and visibility compared to the other cockpits, most pilots would have said that - especially the combat pilots. However, except for the early Birdcage type, that opinion is not noticeable. Except for the frontal view from the ground due to the long nose, the Corsair with a raised cabin(In other words, bulged or semi-bubble) was seems well received. As far as I can see, unlike the layout, the control and visibility seem to belong to 'comfort'.
Well, this is an interesting subject, but I find it difficult to get the data. I did not even know the average stature of the USN and USMC pilots during World War II. Conversely, I was wondering how could assure that 75% of the pilots do not fit with it.
While the Hellcat was better in some ways than the Corsair, e.g., low-speed handling and ergonomics, it was less versatile and had, overall, slightly poorer performance.
As far as I know, exactly, It's not the low-speed handling but the handling in landing conditions. Corsair was an agile aircraft with a very light stick force, but the stick force of the elevator became excessive if it cuts the throttle. for touchdown to the aircraft carrier, the Corsair suffers from sluggish handling and low stability both when switching from a power approach to power off landing condition. The vertical stabilizer of the Corsair was advantageous in terms of agility because most of the sections are made of control surfaces, but the area of the pin was too small for terms of stability when rudder deflected. Moreover, flaps also decreased stability. It provides low stall speed and great combat flap due to it's excellent efficiency, but the flap's high chord ratio with low tail gear causes directional stability problem during touchdown. Lastly, a sudden fall of lift curve in throttle closed and decelerating situation causes a sharp wing drop. If pass all this safely, Corsair will finally complete the landing.
The interesting thing is that the design for better fighter makes an worse carrier based airplane. Vought seems chose the performance first, instead of maintaining this subtle balance.
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