Talyn
Emissary
How the F4U Corsair got its Distinctive Look
During the late 1930s, the trend for power plants for fighter aircraft was shifting more and more towards inline engines. Pratt & Whitney was even asked by the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) to concentrate on developing inline liquid cooled engines and abandon the radial all together.
Bent Wing Beauty: How the F4U Corsair got its Distinctive Look
Despite the ability to create a more streamlined and aerodynamic design with inline engines, the U.S. Navy stayed with the radial engine design, asking
theaviationist.com
However, the U.S. Navy (USN) recognized the advantages of the radial and that development of the design was essential for their uses, and asked Pratt & Whitney to develop the largest and most powerful radial aircraft engine at the time, the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 radial engine.
The XR-2800-2 Double Wasp was rated at 1,850 horsepower at takeoff, way above anything in the inventory of the USN at the time. In order to harness the available horsepower and put it to good use, Hamilton-Standard produced a huge three-bladed propeller with a diameter of 13 ft 4 in.
The largest propeller ever designed for a fighter aircraft presented challenges to the design team lead by Rex Beisel. Clearance would need to be maintained for takeoffs and landings, moving across the ground on the mainwheels with the nose closer to the ground than it would be when resting on the tailwheel.
The XF4U-1
On Feb. 8, 1939, a full scale mock-up was completed of the V-166B, and Vought was authorized by the Navy to build a single prototype that would be known as the XF4U-1.The XF4U-1 would be shorter in length than the later production Corsairs at 31 ft 11 in in length. Wingspan was 41 ft, and the empty weight was 7,505 lb with a max takeoff weight of 10,074 lb.
Vought’s V-166B featured stub wings that left the fuselage dropping down at an angle with the outer wing panels canting back upwards, giving the aircraft the distinctive inverted gull wing appearance. This allowed the clearance issue for the propeller to be solved by placing the main landing gear at the lowest point in the Vee formed by each wing, allowing a short and rugged landing gear leg.
Head on view of the design showing the large propeller, short main gear, folding wings, and the cooling intakes
in the stub wings. (Image Credit: Vought)
Side view of the XF4U-1. (Image Credit: Vought)
Into Production and Into History
On June 30, 1941, Vought was awarded a contract to construct 584 of the first production model Corsair, known as the F4U-1. The type would go on to see several modifications and be produced by three different firms including Brewster and Goodyear joining Vought.
A Goodyear produced late model Corsair displaying the distinct inverted gull wing design and large propeller. The Goodyear designation
is the FG-1D, while known by Vought as the F4U-1D. (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)
