The gull wing configuration had another advantage. The result was an extremely strong structure. Vought built a a special large jig to enable the wing’s centre section and lower fuselage to be built as one unit. Figuring out how to build the airplane’s structure was another engineering challenge. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons)Īerodynamically, the bent-wing mounted perpendicular low on the fuselage made a lot of sense. As Sibila recalled in an article on the Corsair in the February 1995 issue of Proceedings, that “Beisel asked: ‘Why don’t they put a little bend in the wing where the landing gear attachment would be lower and the gear shorter … ?’” With that, the Corsair’s most distinguishing feature, the inverted gull-wing, was born. Several configurations were considered but each required an abnormally long landing gear which would take up precious space and be heavy and complex.Īlfred Sibila, the team’s aerodynamicist, was in a meeting early in the design process with Chief Engineer Rex Beisel and six others from the design team to discuss wing placement and design. Wind tunnel tests from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (then NACA, but now known as NASA) indicated that to minimize drag, the wing had to be faired in where it joined the bottom of the circular fuselage. Their calculations suggested that the new fighter needed a propeller with a 13-and-a-quarter-inch diameter in order to exceed 400 m.p.h. To turn the power of the R-2800 into thrust, Vought’s engineers relied on data from prop manufacturer Hamilton Standard. Water/alcohol injection in later versions could add another 450 ponies to that total.
The powerplant pumped out an impressive 2,000 horsepower. The new fighter would incorporate the largest engine under development at the time: the 18-cylinder Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp twin row radial. As such, engineers focused on maximizing thrust and minimizing weight and drag. Regardless, Rex Beisel, head of the Vought engineering team designing the new fighter, made it clear that speed for the proposed aircraft was king. The nature of the military’s request strongly suggested - at least to the Vought design team - that the Navy wanted the fastest fighter ever built. Navy requirement for a single-seat shipboard fighter.
The Corsair was designed to meet a 1938 U.S.
Īfter making its combat debut over Guadalcanal in February 1943 – eight full months before the first F6F Hellcats entered service – the F4U Corsair would go on to become one of the most successful fighters of all times. Japanese pilots quickly learned to fear it.”īETWEEN Grumman and Vought Aircraft, the United States produced two of the best carrier-based fighters of World War II: the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair. Navy) “ By 1944, the Corsair was being deployed in the Pacific in ever-increasing numbers.
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