Vought retirees find, restore World War II Corsair fighter

FWST ^ | 1-24-09 | BOB COX

[Dysart]

DALLAS — After four years of painstaking labor, artisans of the Vought Aircraft Retirees Club have restored an icon of U.S. aviation history, a World War II-vintage F4U Corsair fighter plane.

Working with pieces and parts from several wrecked and scrapped aircraft and building many others themselves from drawings, the retirees have spent thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars re-creating a version of the distinctive, gull-winged plane that Japanese soldiers and sailors dubbed "Whistling Death."

Rebuilding the Corsair, one of two great fighter planes — the other was the Grumman F6F Hellcat — that enabled Navy and Marine pilots to dominate the skies in the Pacific theater, "has been a real work of love for the last four years," said Hank Merbler, president of the Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation.

The recently completed plane, which isn’t flyable and will eventually end up in an area museum, will be rolled out for several hundred invited guests today in a hangar at Vought Aircraft Industries west Dallas complex.

Launched in 1938 to meet Navy requirements for a high-speed fighter airplane, the Corsair is the most famous aircraft designed and produced by the company founded by the aviation pioneer Chance Vought.

"It’s an airplane I’m really proud of. If you read all the history of it, it’s really something," said Dillon Smith, a 34-year employee of Vought who retired in 1994.

"It did what it was designed to do and that was defeat the Japanese Zero," Smith said.

The first new, highly capable fighter aircraft to reach the Pacific theater early in 1943, the Corsair was initially deployed with ground-based Marine squadrons.

Corsairs were flown by the famous "Black Sheep" Squadron, led by Marine Maj. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, whose exploits were the basis for the mid-1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep.

[Dysart]

Dillon Smith dusts the inside of the canopy of the Vought F4U Corsair, the famed World War II fighter, at Vought’s Grand Prairie facility.

Jerry Fischer, Ronald Griffith and Bob Szabados attach a tow bar to the F4U. STAR-TELEGRAM PHOTOS/IAN McVEA

[edpc]

Great plane. It was one of my favorite models to build as a kid.

[BigCinBigD]

Here's One that is flyable. Took this at the Fort Smith air show a couple years back. Love the old planes.

[Poison Pill]

Corsairs were flown by the famous "Black Sheep" Squadron, led by Marine Maj. Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, whose exploits were the basis for the mid-1970s television show Baa Baa Black Sheep

With all the interest in the past few years of turning iconic 60s and 70s TV shows into movies, I'm surprised they have never done that with "Blacksheep Squadron". With the story elements they would have to work with and today's special effects, you could make a great movie.

[Dysart]

Me too! It was one awesome,timely and badly needed bird. Kind of a shame this project is not flyable. Doesn’t diminish the efforts of these workers...18k+ hrs of labor in their spare time.

[r-q-tek86]

That looks more like an Avenger

[Dysart]

That’s a gorgeous shot. I always liked that hue of blue against the sky.

[jazusamo]

The F4U is a beautiful aircraft.

[tanknetter]

Dillon Smith dusts the inside of the canopy of the Vought F4U Corsair, the famed World War II fighter, at Vought’s Grand Prairie facility.

The four-bladed prop identifies this as a post-war Corsair. I'd want to say it's an F4U-4, but I don't see the distinctive scoop on the underside of the cowling. It's certainly marked as an F4U-4 from the Korean War era, with post-war national insignia (red stripe in the Stars and Bars) and big white MARINES fuselage identifiers (the Japanese kill markings might be appropriate, since there were WWII aces, Marine and otherwise, the few back into combat during Korea).

My overall guess, tho, is that this is a Frankensair. Bash-together of lots of different bits and pieces not only from different Corsairs (as the article mentions), but also from different Corwair sub-types.

[bill1952]

Probably incorrect to show the superiority of American society and technology over other races now, unless they could slide a backhanded slap at American imperial unilateral aggressiveness in some elitist and arrogant way that is a hallmark of most Hollywood trash these days.

I would certainly pay to see it.

[GreyFriar]

ping

[r-q-tek86]

I may be wrong, but I think I remember hearing that this aircraft will be displayed in the Aviation Heritage Museum portion of the newly rennovated Science and History Museum in Fort Worth.

I wonder if this is the same aircraft that sat in the CAF hanger at Mecham Field back in the 80’s. Anyone know more history on this?

[Rev DMV]

Pretty, hate the not flyable part.... :(

Here’s a site for guy that’s working on a scale replica:

http://www.corsair82.com/

[tanknetter]

"It did what it was designed to do and that was defeat the Japanese Zero," Smith said.

One small correction here. The Corsair wasn't designed to defeat the Zero. The Corsair was designed years before the US had enough knowledge of the Zero to design an aircraft to counter it. The Corsair was certainly improved over the course of it's WWII service based on combat against the Zero and other aircraft.

The F6F Hellcat had a lot more "counter-Zero" elements incorporated into its design. But even then the Hellcat started as an evolution of the F4F Wildcat that grew (thanks partly to analysis of Zeros captured early in the war) into a completely new aircraft.

[advance_copy]

If I was filthy rich, that is something I would have.

[magslinger]

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[tanknetter]

That looks more like an Avenger

Yup, that's a Turkey alright.

[AGreatPer]

"It was one of my favorite models to build as a kid."

Yea, that was fun. After you put the paper on it you would wet it. When it dried and shrunk it was ready for the paint. Cutting those pieces out of balsa wood was not easy. Loved the smell of Testors glue.

[Northern Yankee]

These are lovely planes to watch, but tricky to land and takeoff because as a pilot you sit so far back.

They are impressive planes that look like they mean business.

Saw an outstanding pilot fly one of these at the EAA Airventure in Oshkosh a few years back.

[Poison Pill]

Probably incorrect to show the superiority of American society and technology over other races now, unless they could slide a backhanded slap at American imperial unilateral aggressiveness in some elitist and arrogant way that is a hallmark of most Hollywood trash these days.

How 'bout if we split the difference with Hollywood; Lucy Liu as morally superior and hectoring Tokyo Rose but with a nude scene.