FAA Pilots impression of the Corsair (1 Viewer)

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I posted on FB- since it is 7 December :
Can you imagine what it was like spending hours watching the radar scopes for incoming Japanese planes and then, during an attack, not knowing what was happening outside, sweating it out?
A salute to those brave men who sacrificed so much- many even their lives so that we could live.
This is the Combat Information Center aboard the USS Yorktown CV-10.
 

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I posted on FB- since it is 7 December :
Can you imagine what it was like spending hours watching the radar scopes for incoming Japanese planes and then, during an attack, not knowing what was happening outside, sweating it out?
A salute to those brave men who sacrificed so much- many even their lives so that we could live.
This is the Combat Information Center aboard the USS Yorktown CV-10.
I cant imagine being under attack but I did spend hours looking at CRTs in darkened places, your retina gets burned with the display, those guys will have seen that screen display when they shut their eyes to go to sleep, I did hours after leaving work.
 
As for the Fleet Air Arm, I'm sure they'd be very pleased to asap 1943 swap out every Sea Hurricane, Seafire, Fulmar and Firefly for Corsairs. 2,000+ hp, >440 mph, 1000 mile range, and six .50 cal can forgive poor landing visibility.

 
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As for the Fleet Air Arm, I'm sure they'd be very pleased to asap 1943 swap out every Sea Hurricane, Seafire, Fulmar and Firefly for Corsairs. 2,000+ hp, >440 mph, 1000 mile range, and six .50 cal can forgive poor landing visibility.
Likewise I'm sure RAF pilots were pleased to go from MkV to MkIX Spitfires, P40 pilots were pleased to get P51's, and F4F to F6F the list goes on, trouble is the war started in 1939 not '43-44'
 
In 1943 more Hellcat squadrons were not an option for the FAA. The USN demand in the Pacific restricted Lend Lease Hellcat deliveries to Britain. Allocations promised were not met. This became worse at the end of the year with the USN decision to simplify its Pacific Fleet logistics chain, ditch the F4U as a carrier fighter, and standardise on the F6F.

Look at the squadron formations in 1943. 4 Hellcat v 8 Corsair.

First half of 1944 3 Hellcat (incl a PR unit of 6 aircraft) v 5 Corsair. Followed by another 8 Corsair squadrons through to April 1945. It was only from Sept 1944 that Hellcat deliveries to the FAA began to build up to allow more squadrons to form on, or convert to, the Hellcat either in Britain or South Africa. By the end of the war those additional Hellcat squadrons totalled 6 fighter, 2 Night fighter and a second PR squadron (6 aircraft). In mid-1944 the RN expected Hellcat deliveries to cease by the end of 1945.

Of course come 1945 USN demand for the Corsair increased substantially as more units transitioned to that aircraft, leaving more Hellcats available for Lend Lease.
 
I thought it was the P-39. An expert told me the prototype did, until NACA and the British ruined it.
It was the Janitrol gas heater that really was the crux of the problem. If it had not been installed, the engineers could have fit the oversized Allison two stage motor in it, added contra rotating propellors to get rid of that nasty torque / CG spin problem, while simultaneously shrinking fuel tank size so the late model Mustangs would have similar range. Adding to that was a 50 gal ink tank, that when a pilot found himself being bounced, squirted it's entire contents out like an octopus to help his escape...
 
Okay I'm just going to say it, I want you all to come out of the closet and admit you all love the greatest aircraft that never really did anything, that wonder of aeronautical engineering and design, the that coulda woulda shoulda single handedly won the second world war on it's own, the mighty Groundhog.
groundhog_owsigor_AdobeStock_242088684.jpg

No not that one, this one

P-39s-P-400s_over_Australia_in_early_1942.jpg

Isn't she a thing of beauty, this one must be on the way to Berlin, it has a drop tank fitted.
 
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?

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Aircraft factory pics are most often taken to show the airplanes, not the workers. The idea is to WOW the enemy with what he is facing, not to showcase the workers. Factory production pics were usually taken by the customer in WWII, not the manufacturer. It might be different today, but the customer controlled EVERYTHING in WWII.
 

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