Vought-Sikorsky XF4u-1 CORSAIR Bu.No.1443 Prototype
In February 1938 the US Naval Aeronautical Bureau issued two requests for proposals for twin and single engine fighters. For the single-engine fighter, the Navy requested maximum speed and the ability to stop at no more than 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). A range of 1,000 miles (1,600 km) was specified. The fighter was to carry four guns, or three with increased ammunition. Provision had to be made for aircraft bombs to be carried on the wing. These small bombs, according to 1930s thinking, would be dropped on formations of enemy aircraft. These specifications were the reasons that led to the birth of the most beautiful fighter and the most deadly weapon that served in the Pacific.
At the Vought-Sikorsky (later Chance Vought) group of United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) in Connecticut, a team of designers under Rex B. Beisel decided to build the aircraft, which they referred to as the “Model V-166B” around the new engine XR2800-4 Double Wasp, 18-cylinder air-cooled double-cooled radial engine, with 1,500 kW (2,000 HP), manufactured by Pratt & Whitney (P & W), another division of UAC.
Such a large engine required a large propeller to absorb its power, and so the design featured a 4.06 m (13 ft 4 in) three-blade variable-pitch fixed-speed propeller designed by Hamilton Standard, another UAC division. The large propeller posed yet another problem for the design team.Calculate long landing gear so that .The propeller does not contact the ground. (On takeoffs and landings) But the long landing gear was too weak to tolerate hard ground landings. Designers came up with the idea of a low-slung “inverted gull wing” in which the wings bend from the root and then back to the tip, with the main landing gear at the lowest point on the wing. The wing layout also improved the visual pilot field,
The US Navy ordered a prototype to be built by the Vought design team as a new fighter named “XF4U-1” in June 1938. The plane was designed with two 7.62 mm (0.30 caliber) Browning machine guns on top of the engine nose and from a single 12.7mm (0.50 diameter) Browning in each wing. (Four guns total.) The prototype also had minimal bomb pylons on the outer wings for cluster bombs to be dropped in formation on the enemy With a window in the cockpit floor for observation . Bombs were an idea that the navy would quickly abandon, due to the role that this new fighter would assume to play.
The prototype had a more complex wing system than the production planes, with a small spiral vane above the main wing tip. This created a dual slot layout that was not carried over to production.
We see that the bottom window, in its original form, was teardrop-shaped. This eventually became square and in the F4u-1D version it was permanently removed. Reinforcing the cockpit armor.
Pratt & Whitney XR2800-4, the original engine had its hood painted in a red flame retardant paint.On the first test flight made, it proceeded normally until a crash landing was made when the propeller on the tail section of the propeller caused flapping.
On October 1, 1940, the XF4U-1 became America’s first helicopter to fly faster than 640 km/h, setting an average ground speed of 405 miles per hour (652 km/h) during a flight northeast from Stratford to Hartford .The Navy’s second fighter .With its twin engines, the USAAC Lockheed P-38 Lightning had flown over 400 mph in January-February 1939. In the original version, the reason is that the entire cockpit is ahead of the Corsair production line. The engine compartment space is much smaller
There is also no fuel tank and in this section, we find the 7.62mm Browning transverse guns (0.30 caliber) The end of the exhaust, in the first phase of the tests. It had a long ending, on the right and another one on the left. While some time later we meet it, having three smaller ones, in a row. On the right and another three on the left. The XF4u-1 had another empty section, On the wings they had placed two pods that contained airbags.
In case of flooding. So that the pilot has time to leave the aircraft in time. Later this idea was abandoned, in an effort to gain space for ammunition. However, along the way they found that it had the buoyancy to give the required time even without the airbags.
Camera could be installed in a mount to the right of the fuselage just below the windshield. This position had been tried on other aircraft of that time.
The XF4U-1 also had an excellent climb rate, but testing revealed some structural flaws. Parts of the aircraft would have to be redesigned and strengthened, adding a new propeller to the engine. We see the old propeller in the photo below. Which is thin and the redesigned one, which is wider. The propeller on its back side was painted black, so that reflections would not disturb the pilot and on its edge.
With red yellow and blue stripes. While the rest of the set remained bare metal.
At full power, the engine achieved speeds of up to 550 miles per hour, but not without damage. On the control surfaces and access panels and in one case, an engine failure.
(Flap) and spin recovery problems were also to be reduced as the distance from the required spin . It proved impossible without improving on a vent further from the fuselage. The problems clearly meant delays.
We see the elongated extension of the engine forward to muscle the shocks
Vought Engineers completed a full range of tests of the XF4U-1 in early 1939 in wind tunnel tests and by naval inspection. The initial flight of the XF4U-1 prototype was on May 29, 1940, with Vought test leader Lyman A. Bullard JR in the cockpit. The plane suffered excessive vibration and Bullard was in a turbulent flight due to the flap problem when he returned to base. The prototype was severely damaged in July when vibrations prevented test pilot Boone T. Guyton from reaching Vought Airport in Stratford, Connecticut. He ran low on fuel and was unable to climb high enough to communicate with the airfield on his radio, so he attempted to approach the XF4u-1 on a golf course in Norwich, Connecticut. Due to the uneven terrain, as well as the rain that had fallen on the spot. He was found hanging from a tree pushing the plane up and around. One wing was blown off and the fuselage was deformed, We see how it was before the first test flight as the XF4u-1 was and the bottom one is after the rebuild. It was painted again with aluminum color and the wings were painted with yellow on the upper surface.
The prototype was rebuilt in a few months and performed on October 1, 1940, at 650 KPH (404 MPH). However, the promise of this type was offset by continuing difficulties, including an unpleasant inclination of the Double Wasp engine to catch fire . the engine’s tendency to stall at high altitude. and some definite handling issues, such as poor spin recovery. Some things were fixed, others were inherent in the design – when Boone Guyton was later asked by Navy pilots about the F4U’s rotation, his response was minimal: “Don’t ask” The problems clearly meant delays in getting the type into production. To make up for the delays, reports coming from the war in Europe indicated that a gun of two 7.62mm and two 12.7mm machine guns was too light, so when the United States Navy requested production proposals in November 1940 , heavier armament was specified.
The twin 7.62mm Brownings in the nose, above the engine were removed and two 12.7mm were mounted on each wing. The guns were staggered to avoid mechanical interference between their feed and ammunition. Changing the equipment required significant design adjustments, which accumulated more delays.There was another annoying consequence: mounting all the guns on the wings meant eliminating the fuel tank, so the forward fuselage was stretched 45 cm (18 in) to include a new self-sealing tank in the center of the fuselage. The fuel tank also meant cockpit travel of about 91cm, making it difficult for the pilot to see over the nose during takeoff or landing. There was never any way around the long nose for a pilot to see ahead! He is reported to have said to himself as they focused on the runway:
“My God, I hope no one will be in this corridor!”Another notable difference between the XF4U-1 and the production Corsairs was the shape of the radiator inlet at the leading edge of the wing, while the oil cooler was partially hidden by the inlet.
The cowling was narrower and thinner than the one on the F4u-1. It also didn’t have the windshield and scope in the cockpit. Along the way they added a raised dome to the top of the hood to accommodate a mirror because up until that point, it was blind.
at 6 o’clock. They also painted a strip in black along the length of the hood up to the engine, because the reflections of the Sun disturbed the pilot in flight. The cowling was narrower and thinner than the one on the F4u-1. It also didn’t have the windshield and scope in the cockpit. Along the way they added a raised dome to the top of the hood to accommodate a mirror because up until that point, it was blind.
at 6 o’clock. They also painted a strip in black along the length of the hood up to the engine, because the reflections of the Sun disturbed the pilot in flight.
A wrong maneuver on approach took it off the runway in 1942. The propeller here appears to have taken its final form, in black as seen on the F4u-1.
The XF4u-1 was also a test platform for the installation of the radar and the development of the F4u-2 Corsair night version. With a wooden dummy. Official naval acceptance testing for the XF4U-1 began in February 1941, and the initial Navy order for 584 “F4U-1s” was placed on 30 June 1941. The type was given the name “Corsair”, inherited from the naval engineer Vought O2U of the late 1920s, which first bore the name – on June 30 of the same year. The first production F4U-1 made its maiden flight a year later on June 24, 1942. It was a remarkable achievement for Vought.
The fighter quickly underwent some improvements, with the number of 12.7mm Brownings in each wing being increased to three, for a total of six! The addition of 70kg of armor around the cockpit and oil tank, as well as a glass windscreen and self-sealing fuel tanks. fitting smaller wings and wider ones for direction and installing an upgraded R-2800-8 Double Wasp engine with two-stage turbocharger and 1,490 kW (2,000 HP) take-off power to cope with the aircraft’s increased weight. The US Navy received its first production F4U-1 on July 31, 1942, in trials that began from the USS SANGAMON on September 25, 1942. Getting the fighter into service proved difficult. The framed “birdcage” style cover proved inadequate, visibility on deck was a serious concern. Given the kind of damage the oversized mob could do to anyone or anything that got in its way. More seriously, the F4u-1 had a nasty tendency to “bounce” from touchdown, which could cause it to miss its arresting hook and sink into the crash barrier or even spin out of control.
The visibility problem with the long “hose tip” has already been mentioned, and there was the inevitable issue of the enormous torque of the twin-stick of the :P&W 2800 If a pilot had waves on landing, and throttle during the approach process. The Corsair was pulling to the left.
Another problem Corsair was facing. He had a tendency to flip over on his back if he made a hard landing. Yet another peculiarity was that, due to the pilot’s inexperience with the new fighter, the left wing would stall before the right on the landing approach, which tended to cause the aircraft to roll to the left. Note that the tube extends outside the fuselage to install the hook. The XF4U had a tip-type tail hook that was originally installed inside the fuselage and also for airfield testing. Most pictures show this swivel tube. While I also found a photo that is the hook on the wheel.
Vought production reached 178 Corsairs by the end of 1942. The company cooperated with the Marine Corps, which saw the potential of the type and from takeoff to the ground was less Production arrived anyway, with Vought built 178 Corsairs by the end of 1942. The company cooperated with the Marine Corps, which saw the potential of the type and was by nature less dangerous than the Navy due to the aircraft’s unpleasant characteristics on aircraft carriers. production in both bodies. Although the Navy came to accept the F4U. The Corsair was always going to be more of a sea fighter.
The type was declared “combat ready” at the end of 1942, although it was initially only capable of operating from land bases until matters of its carrier suitability were worked out. The Navy, despite the aircraft’s unpleasant characteristics, accepted the creation the first lieutenant with an F4u-1 Corsair.
A dozen F4U-1s arrived at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands on 12 February 1943 for the Marines. The US Navy he did not put them into battle until September 1943.The XF4U-1 Corsair This aircraft arrived at NACA in June 1941 and departed in March 1943.