Hey guys, i was talking to my partners Pa the other day and he served in Los Negros during WW2. He often spoke of an F4U corsair with straight wings. I think hes mistaken but im just wondering, was there ever a variant with straight wings, or something very close that could have been mistaken for one?
Must be mistaken!!!
Reminds me of a guy I used to work with. We saw a B-17 flying overhead, and he said it was a B-52. He had seen it at an airshow, and it said B-52!!! I said BULL S&^%, a B-52’s got 8 jet engines, blah, blah. He said he knew what he was talking about because he was in the Navy, on a carrier that had squadrons of F-15s and F-16s!!! [:(DD]
There was no such thing as a straight wing Corsair. The prototype and all subsequent planes had the familiar bent wing. There were a lot of F4-F Wildcats around the Pacific, especially the early parts of the war. He might be thinking of that bird with the similar designation numbers.
Darwin, O.F. [aln]
Must be thinking of the Vultee P-66 Vanguard which looks similar to a straight wing F4U, but was used in China and as AAF trainers. Check the AF Museum website for photos.
Actually there was but it was a biplane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O2U_Corsair
Think he might be talking about the Hellcat?
He could have it confused with a Hellcat or Bearcat too?
The Corsair’s bent wings were used to provide clearance for the prop, even on the XF-4U, hence there couldn’t be a straight wing.
However, here’s something I’ve never seen before:
XF4U-1 with counter-rotating propellers.
Now, to the guy who couldn’t tell a B-17 from a B-52, maybe he’s watched Dr. Strangelove one time too many. (Watch closely as Major Kong’s plane’s shadow is cast on the ground in low level flight.)
I think Rich has given the best answer so far. If you had only a quick look, and were familiar with the Corsair but not the Vanguard, you might think one was a variant of the other.
I doubt he meant any of Vought’s previous Corsairs, which were biplanes (there were at least 2 different models that were dubbed “Corsair”, weren’t there? Just like all the Curtiss Hawks). I don’t think any flew in any war zones.
Thanks guys. youve all been a huge help. Ill go back to him and get some more details.
I suspect he was thinking of the F6F. Same engine, front line fighter in the same time frame, and painted the same colors.
Bill
The plane known as the straight winged Corsair was a Vought plane desinged to test new engines and resembled a Corsair with straight wing. The Vought V-326 http://oppositelock.kinja.com/vought-v-326-the-corsairs-straight-winged-brother-1731973978
Wellllll there was a straight wing Corsair, but not during WWII or being an F4U, the A-7. There might have been some O2U Corsairs left but they were pretty well out of service by WWII. Lol, yeah sometimes they just don’t get what they are saying.
Thanks Steve for the head’s up- interesting plane that I’d never heard of.
On the other hand Mike hasn’t posted on this forum for two-three years now so I doubt he’ll see it.