The corsair was not aboard carriers early in the war because the Essex class carriers were not in the fleet.Our early carriers were designed for biplanes and the first generation monoplane fighters and dive bombers and not equipped to hangar corsairs below decks.There was nothing wrong with the gear on the early corsairs either.If you notice the wings are gulled and the reason for that is the 13 foot prop needed alot of clearence compared to the Hellcat.Made the bird pretty tall compared to its contemporaries.
The Brit’s loved it and flew it from the Victorious class carrirs. Ironically for an aircraft that made its name in the Pacific, the Corsair’s first carrier action came in the North Sea. On 2 April 1944, Corsairs of No. 1834 squadron, based on H.M.S. Victorious took part in an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz, providing fighter cover. The Corsair could hold it’s own against ME109 and FW190 German land based fighters. The Brit’s developed some landing techniques to compensate for the shorter flight decks of their carriers and the higher landing speed of the Corsairs. The brit’s carriers were designed for Fairey Fulmar fighters originally.