pinehilljoe
Senior Airman
- 670
- May 1, 2016
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More complete rubbish.The Fleet Air Arm nickname for the Corsair was the 'Bent winged bastard' - It was a beast of a plane, and it took no prisoners.
But! If you mastered it, it was one of the most lethal thing in the skies. Very fast, very tough, terrific handling.
Interesting bit of history
The Fleet Air Arm was lumbered with a large number of the awful Brewster built Corsairs the USN refused to accept as they were riddled with manufacturing defects.
The FAA was however perfectly happy with them - compared to the absolute trash that British manufacturers had been supplying them, these 'problem child' Corsairs seemed to the FAA pilots and aircraftsmen like they had been built by Cadillac!
More complete rubbish.
Dana Bell, who has researched the Corsair extensively noted:-
"Though Brewster Corsairs are often cited as inferior, Navy records do not agree. .....Brewster engineers had handled special projects, such as the shorter British wingtips, the centreline bomb rack, and a (poorly documented) Corsair wing. Brewster, however, had management and labor problems - raising costs and delaying F3A deliveries. By early 1944, the Navy was pleased with Brewster production, but in April a new board of directors was elected. Unhappy with several of the members, the Navy terminated Brewster contracts 22 May, allowing completion of up to 150 more aircraft by 1 July. Lawsuits followed, and most of BuAer's Brewster files were pulled by legal offices - leaving little documentation in today's archives."
Brewster built 735 F3A Corsairs before its contract was terminated. Of those, 430 (60%) went to the FAA as the Corsair III, the remaining 40% staying with the USN. Britain stopped receiving them several months before production ceased altogether. Neither the FAA nor the USN deployed them with operational squadrons but both used them extensively with units working up to operational readiness all the way through to the end of WW2.
Those 430 Corsair III represented only 23% of the 1,892 Corsairs Britain received under Lend Lease in WW2.
Britain also used the 95 early Vought production Corsair I only for training purposes, again replacing them with Corsair II/IV before units became operational.
That's an amazing bit of info. The Buffalo gets written up as awful as does Brewster. The Corsairs they were building was beset by problems. It had never occurred to me that other manufacturers may have contributed to the problems. It never occurred to me that other airplane manufacturers had similar trouble and similar sub-contractors. I had never looked farther than popular press stories.Hi Macandy,
I'm curious what you consider basic research - where did your quotes come from? It's true that there were problems with Brewster wing construction, but all Vought, Goodyear, and Brewster outer wing panels were built at Briggs; all inner wing sections were built at the same subcontractor (IIRC, Willeys?) All three Corsair producers had the same problem with hinges, and all three companies had unsatisfactory reports on hinge failures. Whatever source you chose found a problem with Brewster Corsairs, but ignored the problem turning up in ALL Corsairs. (The problem was eventually solved.)
The report you quoted mixed complains about Buffaloes and Bermudas and then assumed they were also found in Corsairs.
Much is made of the Navy's choice to send F3As to training units - this is often cited as proof that Brewster's Corsairs were too dangerous for combat units. Hogwash. Brewster built only 735 Corsairs - 430 of them went to the UK. The first 60 US Navy units were Birdcages, delivered after Vought and Goodyear had moved on to "-1As" - makes sense to send the older models to training units. The last 131 units were "1As" delivered after Vought and Goodyear had moved on to -1Ds and F4U-4s - again, the older models made more sense in training units. That leaves the first 114 Brewster F3A-1As. Their "problem" can be traced back to production delays - while Vought and Goodyear were adding the latest modifications, updates, and systems to production at an acceptable rate, Brewster was still struggling to deliver Corsairs built to older specs. I'm shocked that writers continue to think the Navy felt it was safer to train (and kill) fledgling pilots in dangerous aircraft so that the survivors would have the advantage of taking safer aircraft into combat.
The Navy did file a long report justifying its closure of the Brewster plant - all of the problems surrounded poor management and poor work ethics leading to very high costs per aircraft and very slow production rates. The Navy needed to justify what was considered an extreme action in wartime - the closing of a wartime combat aircraft factory. If there was a particular problem with the quality of the F3A versus the F4U or FG, that report would have been the perfect place to include it.
The Corsair story had been locked in myth to the point that when the actual history is found in the archival record, the truth is challenged as not following the myths...
Cheers,
Dana
Month | Vought | Goodyear | Brewster |
Jan-43 | 27,273 | ||
Feb-43 | 16,567 | ||
Mar-43 | 16,364 | ||
Apr-43 | 15,859 | ||
May-43 | 15,789 | 67,410 | |
Jun-43 | 14,408 | 68,636 | 25,000 |
Jul-43 | 12,813 | 33,309 | 25,000 |
Aug-43 | 13,044 | 33,309 | 25,000 |
Sep-43 | 11,167 | 26,005 | 25,000 |
Oct-43 | 10,375 | 22,136 | 48,438 |
Nov-43 | 9,504 | 18,782 | 43,750 |
Dec-43 | 9,411 | 18,080 | 28,906 |
Jan-44 | 9,055 | 17,160 | 24,746 |
Feb-44 | 8,593 | 15,566 | 21,807 |
Mar-44 | 8,279 | 14,151 | 19,864 |
Apr-44 | 8,117 | 10,000 | 18,320 |
May-44 | 7,637 | 9,804 | |
Jun-44 | 7,434 | 7,571 | |
Jul-44 | 7,196 | 9,362 | |
Aug-44 | 7,084 | 9,130 | |
Sep-44 | 7,012 | 8,222 | |
Oct-44 | 6,700 | 7,111 | |
Nov-44 | 6,365 | 6,889 | |
Dec-44 | 7,687 | 6,667 |
Whenever I see photos from the US mega aircraft factories I often notice the lack of workers, plus usually groups standing around, presumably waiting for parts. Maybe these photos were taken at lunch or the workers told to get out of the shot?For those who think the US did really well in WWII aircraft production consider Ford Willow run never operated at full capacity due to a lack of workers,
That is just your opinion. I was just getting ready to vent my spleen about poor Brits being given crap planes when someone introduced some facts, I really hate it when that happens.That's an amazing bit of info. The Buffalo gets written up as awful as does Brewster. The Corsairs they were building was beset by problems. It had never occurred to me that other manufacturers may have contributed to the problems. It never occurred to me that other airplane manufacturers had similar trouble and similar sub-contractors. I had never looked farther than popular press stories.
Great post.
Having worked in several of these "mega factories" (of course not during WW2) I can tell you that many times photos like these were taken during lunch or shift change and depending on the program were limited to only certain parts of the production lineWhenever I see photos from the US mega aircraft factories I often notice the lack of workers, plus usually groups standing around, presumably waiting for parts. Maybe these photos were taken at lunch or the workers told to get out of the shot?
View attachment 697667
View attachment 697668
They cleared the canteen for this celebratory photo.....many times photos like these were taken during lunch or shift change
Those are a bunch of airline pilots. They laid over next door and heard there was free snacks at lunch time...
And that was obviously a propaganda shot
Sometimes the undercarriage was the last thing to be installed, the canteen workers helped out with the lifting.And that was obviously a propaganda shot
Only if they get a free lunchSometimes the undercarriage was the last thing to be installed, the canteen workers helped out with the lifting.
Damned unionised labour and their demands.Only if they get a free lunch