F4u SUPER CORSAIR N31518. “Budweiser Light 1”
Restoration
The Super Corsair is the reason I got into the modeling hobby. When it fell into my hands, a magazine “Aircraft illustrated, February 1983”. I still have a Super Corsair tribute and it was love at first sight. To me, the Corsair is the most beautiful helicopter to fly in the skies. The signature wings of the inverted seagull, as well as its performance in speed maneuvers and victories on the battlefields. It established it as the Navy’s flagship fighter. For years I had no information about the true image of the racing Corsair. Not even for its ancestor, the F2G Corsair. The image of this huge engine was what piqued my interest. The 3,000 hp, 450 mph R-4360 Pratt & Whitney was first installed by Goudyear in 1945. In aircraft coming off the production line. A total of 17 pieces were built in order to pursue the Kamikazes. Unfortunately he did not manage to complete the evaluation program and join the combat platoons. The end of the war meant the end of F2G.
In this article I will try to share with you. The birth of the fastest Corsair and in the next article its evolution. F2G find for annual barren helicopter (Reno) of this type. He led the team to turn to beard stocks. Some Corsairs stock has already been repatriated to the United States from Honduras. In 1978. One of these was the F4u-4 Corsair (17799) Here we see it in a rare photo, as it was before the Super Corsair 1981. Chino, CA, Another source says it was an F4u-1D Corsair (N 17799 ) who starred as a movie star in the TV series “Black Sheep” in Hollywood, California. it carried an F4u-4 engine.
The construction of the Super Corsair. The first phase of the restoration was done by removing the engine Pratt & Whitney 2800-18w. The aircraft was discolored and underwent structural modifications and reinforcement. A new vaulted cover has been installed. A reinforcement at the base of the fuselage with the wings. The cockpit, as we can see, is without the shielding and the floor that the F4u-4s had. The console also refers to the F4u-1D version. Although it has been enriched with new instruments. Redesigned exhaust outlet, based on the original version of the F2G. The same pattern was followed under the fuselage. Two new oil coolers were installed on the wings, type S-2 Tracker. The introduction of air in the Cooler had another conversion. It extended in front of the wings and narrowed the opening. Here we see the extension of the air intake to the Cooler and the cut wing, before its restoration. A new fuel tank (in the form of a sambre) has been replaced in the area, in front of the cockpit. ADI, in the nests shooting him high pressure water tanks were installed for the engine intercooler. With a careful eye, we notice that the wing, which was covered with fabric, has been replaced with an aluminum cover and the rudder has been removed.
The Pratt & Whitney R4360 that was installed was a more advanced version than the one worn by the first F2Gs in 1945. R-4360 3,800 hp. The cover comes from an A-26 Invader and engine support from a Skyraider.
History
“Chino Kid”, Jim Maloney, was the prime mover in the development of the Super Corsair race plane. Near the end of WW II, the Chance Vought Corporation had produced a. a total of 18 new F2G Super Corsair fighters, all powered by the massive Pratt and Whitney 4360 engine, which was, and still is, the largest aircraft piston engine ever built. Unfortunately, problems were encountered in the program and it was cancelled. After the War, a few enterprising individuals purchased some of these aircraft. The intent was to race these brutes at the Cleveland Air Races, which had resumed immediately after the war. Ex Navy fighter pilot, Cook Cleland, brought three Super Corsairs to Cleveland in 1947, and finished as the overall winner in the one he was flying. In 1948, air scoop problems forced him out of the race. Cleland and his F2-G regained the Championship Crown in 1949. However, due to the crash of the highly modified Mustang Beguine, which took the life of pilot Bill Odom, along with that of a mother and her child on the ground, the Cleveland Air Races were permanently cancelled. Fast forward to late 1981 where Jim Maloney, and fellow “Chino Kid”/ex-Red Baron pilot, Steve Hinton, began toying with the idea of creating a modern version of the Super Corsair for the Unlimited Class. With the help of Lockheed engineers Pete Law and Bruce Boland, the project was completed in time for the 1982 Reno Air Races.
1982: Sponsored by Budweiser, the Chino-based F2-G Super Corsair (actually a converted F4U, since there were no racing F2-Gs) marks its debut with Steve Hinton on the stick. Right now, it’s known as the Bud Light Special. In addition to the addition of the powerful Pratt and Whitney 4360s, other modifications to the aircraft include clipped wings for increased cornering, a modified canopy and sloping turtle deck for reduced drag, a larger fairing and air scoop to house the massive engine, and a reduction in overall weight of the aircraft. In its first time out, the plane finishes fourth in Sunday’s Gold Race.
1983: No gold, but the aircraft wins the Unlimited Silver Race.
1984: Renamed the Super Corsair, Hinton brings the plane home in third place in the Championship race.
1985: Victory for Super Corsair as Neil Anderson in Dreadnought clipped a pillar on the last lap of the Gold Final, allowing Steve Hinton, who was right on Anderson’s tail, to be declared the winner.
1986: Steve Hinton is set to pilot John Sandberg’s new Unlimited Racer, Tsunami. John Maloney succeeds Hinton as pilot for the Super Corsair. Problems plague the aircraft and it fails to make the field for the gold race.
1987: Super Corsair takes fourth place in Championship race.
1988: Maloney and runner finish sixth in Gold.
1989: F2G finishes a respectable third in the Gold final.
1990: Super Corsair crosses the finish line fifth in Sunday’s Championship race.
1991: Another top ten finish in Gold for Super Corsair, this time seventh.
1992: Taking over from John Maloney, Kevin Eldridge becomes the last of the trio to pilot the Super Corsair, finishing sixth in the Sunday Gold.
1993: Eldridge places Super Corsair fifth in Championship race.
1994: In March, at the inaugural Phoenix 500 Air Races, the Super Corsair suffers a major problem in the Saturday preliminary heat. Going into the fourth round, a plume of white smoke appears from the engine, followed by three separate bursts of flame, the last engulfing the cockpit. Pressing down, then up and to the right, Eldridge exits the ill-fated plane, hitting the horizontal stabilizer, which crushes two disks in his neck. He also suffered a broken arm and leg as a result of the impact, however, his duct opens and floats safely to the ground. The Super Corsair then rolls upside down and sinks vertically into the desert floor, ending its racing career in a ball of fire.
Collection (restoration photos) courtesy of team members Frank Mormillo & Chris Fah