Bartleby submitted a new resource:
Plane Language (The Alternative Dictionary of Aviation) - Everything you could ever want to know about aircraft names
Read more about this resource...
#AircraftNames #PlaneNames #Nicknames #AviationLanguage #AviationSlang #AviationTerminology #PlaneLanguageBook
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Vought F4U Corsair With its distinctive cranked wing and massive radial engine, the iconic Corsair naval fighter soon picked up a string of titles like Bentwing Bird, Bentwing Monster, Horseshoe, Hog Nose, Hose Nose, U-Bird & Super Stuka, and there were even jokes about seagulls learning to scare Japanese pilots by flying upside down (most so-called gull-winged aircraft would be more accurately termed inverse-gull) The wing configuration was supposedly necessary to keep the undercarriage relatively short whilst still providing ground clearance for the huge 13ft 4ins diameter propellor, although this is now contested (the F6F Hellcat had virtually the same engine/propellor combination, but a more conventional wing) The name Mercury was suggested for the F4U in 1941 (see Part Three) The short-fuselage XF4U-1 prototype became known retrospectively as the Stubby or Stubby Top. Early models with the framed canopy were Birdcage Corsairs, and many sources still say the Japanese knew the Corsair as Whistling Death after the sound from the leading-edge intakes, although this is now generally accepted as apocryphal; Japanese records do not support the name, but oddly show it sometimes referred to as the "Sikorsky" (the Vought & Sikorsky divisions of United Aircraft having merged in 1939)
The F4U was not without its vices though, and an early reputation for hairy carrier landings, ascribed by some to poor forward visibility and a tendency to "bounce" (finally cured by simply adjusting the shock absorbers) earned it the usual USN epithets of Ensign Eater or Ensign Eliminator. Yet another myth surrounding the F4U is that carrier operations only became viable when the British devised the "curved approach," when in fact the USN had been using that method before the F4U even entered service. Either way, once the wrinkles had been ironed out the F4U went from strength to strength, hitting the headlines as the Sweetheart of the Marianas (during the famous 1944 "Turkey Shoot") and again in 1945 as the Angel of Okinawa.
The name Tempest was proposed (see Part Three) for the Brewster-built F3A variant, known unofficially in-house as the Battler, but neither were ever ratified so the F3A remained a Corsair. Brewster was a troubled company at the time, but stories about unreliability and poor quality seem to have been exaggerated. As well as building over 4000 Corsairs under the FG designation, Goodyear developed their own F2G Super Corsair high-altitude interceptor variant with a more powerful R-4360 engine and bubble canopy, but production was limited to just 10 aircraft. The F4U remained in production until 1953 (the longest production run of any American piston fighter) and saw action as late as 1969 when both El Salvador and Honduras used it in the so-called Soccer War. On May 17th 2005, the Connecticut legislature signed into law a bill making the F4U the official aircraft of the State of Connecticut, Vought having moved to East Hartford in the early Thirties.
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Everything you need to know about aircraft names and nomenclature- nicknames, lesser-known conversions, upgrades & variant names, changed names, airline class names, fictional names, NATO & WWII Allied reporting names, phonetic alphabets, anecdotes, colloquialisms, and naming protocols- all recorded & analyzed here; https://tinyurl.com/4tk2nubk
Plane Language (The Alternative Dictionary of Aviation) - Everything you could ever want to know about aircraft names
Read more about this resource...
#AircraftNames #PlaneNames #Nicknames #AviationLanguage #AviationSlang #AviationTerminology #PlaneLanguageBook
"
Vought F4U Corsair With its distinctive cranked wing and massive radial engine, the iconic Corsair naval fighter soon picked up a string of titles like Bentwing Bird, Bentwing Monster, Horseshoe, Hog Nose, Hose Nose, U-Bird & Super Stuka, and there were even jokes about seagulls learning to scare Japanese pilots by flying upside down (most so-called gull-winged aircraft would be more accurately termed inverse-gull) The wing configuration was supposedly necessary to keep the undercarriage relatively short whilst still providing ground clearance for the huge 13ft 4ins diameter propellor, although this is now contested (the F6F Hellcat had virtually the same engine/propellor combination, but a more conventional wing) The name Mercury was suggested for the F4U in 1941 (see Part Three) The short-fuselage XF4U-1 prototype became known retrospectively as the Stubby or Stubby Top. Early models with the framed canopy were Birdcage Corsairs, and many sources still say the Japanese knew the Corsair as Whistling Death after the sound from the leading-edge intakes, although this is now generally accepted as apocryphal; Japanese records do not support the name, but oddly show it sometimes referred to as the "Sikorsky" (the Vought & Sikorsky divisions of United Aircraft having merged in 1939)
The F4U was not without its vices though, and an early reputation for hairy carrier landings, ascribed by some to poor forward visibility and a tendency to "bounce" (finally cured by simply adjusting the shock absorbers) earned it the usual USN epithets of Ensign Eater or Ensign Eliminator. Yet another myth surrounding the F4U is that carrier operations only became viable when the British devised the "curved approach," when in fact the USN had been using that method before the F4U even entered service. Either way, once the wrinkles had been ironed out the F4U went from strength to strength, hitting the headlines as the Sweetheart of the Marianas (during the famous 1944 "Turkey Shoot") and again in 1945 as the Angel of Okinawa.
The name Tempest was proposed (see Part Three) for the Brewster-built F3A variant, known unofficially in-house as the Battler, but neither were ever ratified so the F3A remained a Corsair. Brewster was a troubled company at the time, but stories about unreliability and poor quality seem to have been exaggerated. As well as building over 4000 Corsairs under the FG designation, Goodyear developed their own F2G Super Corsair high-altitude interceptor variant with a more powerful R-4360 engine and bubble canopy, but production was limited to just 10 aircraft. The F4U remained in production until 1953 (the longest production run of any American piston fighter) and saw action as late as 1969 when both El Salvador and Honduras used it in the so-called Soccer War. On May 17th 2005, the Connecticut legislature signed into law a bill making the F4U the official aircraft of the State of Connecticut, Vought having moved to East Hartford in the early Thirties.
"
Everything you need to know about aircraft names and nomenclature- nicknames, lesser-known conversions, upgrades & variant names, changed names, airline class names, fictional names, NATO & WWII Allied reporting names, phonetic alphabets, anecdotes, colloquialisms, and naming protocols- all recorded & analyzed here; https://tinyurl.com/4tk2nubk
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