Can someone please tell me why the Corsair wings went back to being fabric for the outer pannels in the F-4u 4 late war and Korean war planes when the WW2 corsairs had matal wings after the initial fabric ones?
Simplicity of build and weigt saving maybe?
Theuns
Were the all metal wings not fittted on the after war F4U-5?
Whenever they were introduced I belive it was for the purpose of drag reduction & increased top speed.
In my book “Corsair aces of WW2” I see pix of F4U-1A / C and D’s with what seems to be full metal wings.
I would assume the F-4u-4 was a later model?
Theuns
The model numbers run in logical sequence, so the F-4U-4 was a later model than the F4U-1A/C/D - can’t answer the metal wing query on those I’m afraid.
The only other thing that seems relevant (possibly?) is that the F4U-1D had “fully metal-plated underwing surfaces”.
I’m not an F-4U expert in the slightest, so possibly someone with more specific knowledge will chime in.
What is the source of the information on both? About the -1 series later having metal wings and the -4 series reverting back to fabric? IIRC, from the -1D onwards, underwing rocket rail capability was added, so I can see the underwing fabric panels around that area being replaced by metal skinning, but beyond that, no real need to change the upper surface. BTW, I am no F4U expert by any means…[whstl]
EDIT- looking at Wiki, the -1D did introduce the underwing metal panels because of the rocket launch capability. The -5 introduced fully metal skinned wings. No mention is made of any version after the -1D reverting to fabric skinned lower wings. But like we all know Wiki is not the last word on things of this sort.
I believe the whole wing was metal except for the ailerons