"Typical" Bomb Loads - F4U and P-51 (F-51) in WWII and Korea

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Conslaw

Senior Airman
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Jan 22, 2009
Indianapolis, Indiana USA
Spec sheets for the F4U and P-51D both say that each type could carry a 2,000 lb. bomb load. It appears to me though that a 1,000 lb. load was more common for both types in WWII, and 2,000 lb. loads were either never or rarely carried. (I'm well-aware that Charles Lindbergh took off with and a 4,000 lb bomb load in a F4U demonstration flight.) It appears that both types regularly carried 2,000 lb. bomb loads in Korea (with the Korean-war-era F4Us being F4U-4 and F4U-5n.) It also appears that in Korea, both F4U and P-51 regularly flew missions armed both with bombs and rockets, whereas in WWII, it was almost always bombs OR rockets. What accounts for the difference? What sacrifices in fuel/ammunition were necessary for each plane to take on a 2,000 lb. bomb load? Bombs+rockets - what were the limits? Airfield/flight deck lengths for different loads?
 
No hard numbers but I recall someone writing in a magazine years ago that he flew Corsairs off a forward strip in Korea and that P-51's operating from the same field had to carry reduced bomb loads due to the short runway length.
 
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If you include all Corsair models in Korea, then you have the AU-1:
 

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