[Iris7]

Howdy, Alfa.

Have great affection for the F4U. Your picture is very striking.

Once the American fighters got over 2,000 hp the Japanese could not outrun them unless coming out of a dive. In a dive or climb the heavy American craft could not be caught. P47 was that way, using the same engine, and weighing two tons more. Corsair must have been a rocket.

Oh, yes. Engine is a Pratt and Whitney R-2800 two row eigteen cylinder radial, of 2,800 cubic inches and 2,000 hp in the early models. Most excellent engine. DC-6 ran them, reliable, compact, powerful.

Vought - Sikorski design.

[alfa6]

IMHO the P&W R-2800 was the most important American aircraft engine of WW-II. A partial listing of the aircraft that used the R-2800 would be...
F6F Hellcat, the P-47 Thunderbolt, the F8F Bearcat, the A-26 Invader, F4U Corsair and the P-61 Black Widow

While the F8F Bearcat did not make it into the fight a quick look show that two of the three Navy fighters in WW-II had the R-2800. The P-47 while not a bad escort fighter was an even better fighter-bomber. The A-26 came in late but did good work in the Attack category.

The Allison V-1710 suffer from lack of an integral supercharger. It was the integral supercharger that made the Rolls-Royce Merlin the premier in-line engine for the Allies in WW-II.

Regards

alfa6 ;>}