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F4U

The F4U Division lost off Hawaii and how Vought Corsair got the Nickname “Ensign Eliminator”

by Till Daisd August 16, 2023

After receiving its first Vought F4U Corsairs in October 1942, VF-12 earned the nickname “ensign eliminator.”

The best fighter aircraft in the Pacific region of World War II was the Vought F4U Corsair. On May 29, 1940, Lyman A. Bullard, Jr., a Vought test pilot, made the first flight of the Vought XF4U-1 prototype.

Rex Beisel, the chief designer for the Vought team, rebuilt each outboard folding wing panel to accommodate three.50 caliber machine guns after the US Navy demanded additional armament for the production Corsairs, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum website. The fuel tanks located on the front edge of each wing were replaced by these weapons. An 897-liter (237 gal) fuselage tank was added between the cockpit and the engine to make up for this lost capacity. Beisel had to move the cockpit approximately three feet to the back in order to maintain the fast and small fuselage profile. So, at the most crucial portions of the landing, the wing entirely obscured the pilot’s field of vision.

Aside from having a nasty stall, strong torque and propeller effects at low speeds, a short tail wheel strut, main gear struts that frequently shook the aircraft after touchdown, and cowl flap actuators that dripped oil across the windshield, the early Corsair also had a short tail wheel strut. These challenges made it practically impossible for the aircraft to land on the cramped deck of an aircraft carrier, in addition to the poor vision inside the cockpit. Because of its propensity to take the lives of these rookie pilots, Navy pilots quickly gave the F4U the nickname “ensign eliminator.”

The term “ensign eliminator” originated after the first Corsair squadron, VF-12, received its aircraft in October 1942, according to Martin Irons’ explanation in the book Corsair Down! Tales of Rescue and Survival during World War II. Stationed at NAS San Diego they suffered through slow delivery of their planes and the usual teething problems of early birds.

Walter Burkhart Bayless, USN, was forced to crash-land the Corsair 02167, just the fifteenth dash-one constructed, only a few weeks after receiving their Corsairs. The Annapolis man put his bird down on a mesa close to La Jolla after logging 1,000 hours of flight time. Just short of a 300-foot drop, Bayless was able to halt his bird after it tore through wire fencing and hit fence posts. On another day, both the human and the machine would finally take to the skies again.

With fourteen pilots lost by the Fighting Twelve by the middle of 1943, attrition was considerable. The squadron relocated from San Diego to Pearl Harbor in the spring in order to get ready for future carrier-based missions on the USS Saratoga.

Lt. Cmdr. Bayless led a dawn flight of four birdcages from Maui on May 4th. When last spotted, the division was approaching a storm front. They never came back. Further searches for the missing division turned up nothing except oil slicks and floating debris. It was never known if the birds were lost due to a midair collision, a loss of control in the storm, or structural failure due to the strong winds. Bayless and his charges, both aged 29, were listed as “missing.” The Navy eventually reclassified them as “dead.”

When they headed east to fight, Fighting Squadron 12 swapped their Voughts for Grumman Hellcats. Throughout the remainder of the war, they flew F6Fs. The task of making a Navy Corsair squadron combat debut would fall to VF-17.

Corsair Down! Tales of Rescue and Survival during World War II is published by Schiffer Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by: U.S. Navy

August 16, 2023 0 comment

History

The first Corsair combat proved a fiasco with nine American aircraft being lost for a single Zero-sen shot down

by Till Daisd August 9, 2023

written by Till Daisd

Although the F4U Corsair subsequently proved to be a better fighter in Pacific operations, its initial use in this theater of operations exposed its flaws

Although the F4U Corsair ultimately proved to be a better fighter in Pacific operations, its early use in battle in this theater exposed its flaws. In fact, the debacle known as the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre” displayed outstanding Zero-Sen fighter strategies.

The first F4U 1s to arrive at Guadalcanal in the afternoon of February 12, 1943, flew into Fighter 2 airfield, according to Michael John Claringbould’s explanation in the book F4U Corsair versus A6M Zero-sen Rabaul and the Solomons 1943-44. Later that day, another seven Corsairs joined the original 17 Corsairs.

A PBY assigned to retrieve downed US Marine Corps Wildcat pilots Lt Jefferson DeBlanc and SSgt James Feliton was escorted by two Corsairs from this second group just a few hours after they landed. When the first Corsair combat patrol was finished, 11 aircraft from VMF-124 were assigned to escort nine US Navy PB4Y-1 Liberators as they bombed Japanese ships off the southern coast of Bougainville in the Buin-Shortland area the following day. A few Zero Sens in the Buin airport circuit gave them a cursory glance from a distance but kept their distance.

The mission on February 14 was essentially a repetition of the action the day before, except this time it was the first Corsair vs Zero-Sen combat. Again, the F4Us were escorting PB4Y Liberators as they conducted a shipping strike off southern Bougainville. Because of the significant loss of American aircraft, the mission was dubbed the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.”

The first to see the approaching American formation was a 252nd Kokutai Zero Sen patrol commanded by FPO2c Tamotsu Okabayashi over southern Bougainville; shortly after, more A6Ms were scrambled from Ballale airfield. The 204th Kokutai’s 13 more Zero aircraft scrambled as the incoming American pilots observed the dust from Buin airfield rise. Lt Zenjiro Miyano led the fighters into the air. The 802nd Kokutai’s 11 A6M2-N “Rufe” floatplane fighters were also scrambled from their base in the Shortland Islands, raising the total number of IJNAF forces to 41.

Once the Liberators dropped their bombs and retreated southeast with their escorts around midday, a ferocious dogfight broke out. The ensuing melee claimed the lives of a PB4Y, three P-38 Lightnings, and two Corsairs flown by 1Lts Gordon Lyon Jr. and Harold Stewart of VMF-124.

The story of Koga’s Zero, the captured A6M that helped the F6F Hellcat become the most effective carrier fighter of World War II — Koga’s Zero

During the battle, at a height of roughly 20,000 feet, Stewart rejoined his element leader, 1Lt Lloyd Pearson, with gasoline vapor coming from multiple bullet holes in his wing. Ten minutes later, the Corsair ran out of fuel due to the streaming, at which point Stewart nosed down into the ditch. Minutes after the clean ditch, Following Zero Sens quickly located the downed fighter and dived to strafe Stewart in his yellow dinghy. He vanished without a trace.

Since both Zero Sen units claimed Corsairs in this pivotal combat, it is challenging to compare the belligerents. In response, the PB4Y gunners claimed nine A6Ms, while Lightning pilot Capt. Bill Griffith claimed one Zero Sen. VMF 124 was credited with downing a “Pete” floatplane and three Zero Sens. The 252nd Kokutai pilot FPO2c Yoshio Yoshida, who collided with Lyon’s Corsair during the dogfight, was the lone IJNAF loss, as opposed to 14 American claims. The 252nd Kokutai’s remaining Zero Sen pilots fired a total of 5,126 7.7mm and 1,369 20mm rounds, highlighting the fierceness of the battle. Even though the Liberator crews made generous shipping claims, only the 6,500-ton merchant ship Hitachi Maru was lost.

The Americans performed poorly in this first Corsair vs Zero Sen battle, losing nine of their aircraft, demonstrating the efficacy of Japanese fighter tactics and highlighting the strength of both the Zero Sen and the “Rufe” floatplane fighter. Because of the size of the American losses, additional daytime bombing operations against Bougainville were suspended until fighter escort strategies could be reviewed.

Five fighters should, in theory, cover each bomber, but at this point in the war, the Cactus Air Force (the name by which Allied air power on Guadalcanal was known from August 1942) was unable to provide such a generous ratio, according to the mission’s post-mortem. Instead, lengthy operations with aircraft escort to Bougainville were momentarily postponed. As a result, Corsair pilots only sometimes engaged in aerial combat throughout the months of March and April, and they played a minor role in the opposition to the IJNAF’s Operation I Go strike on Guadalcanal on April 7.

F4U Corsair versus A6M Zero-sen Rabaul and the Solomons 1943-44 is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by: U.S. Navy and Kogo Own Work via Wikipedia

August 9, 2023 0 comment

History

The F4U Corsair’s arrival in the South Pacific and the story of Ken Walsh, the first “Corsair ace”

by Till Daisd June 15, 2023

written by Till Daisd

The US Navy created the F4U Corsair as a carrier-based fighter, but there was no immediate plan to give it to the Marines

Nothing more represented Marine fighter aviation during World War II than the Vought F4U-1 Corsair, which would eventually replace the F4F Wildcat as the preferred aircraft of Marine fighting squadrons.

According to Bill Yenne’s narrative in America’s Few, Marine Aces of the South Pacific, Corsair’s entry into the South Pacific Area (SOPAC) did not follow a meticulous plan but rather happened practically by accident. The Marines were not meant to be the first to engage in combat with the remarkable new Corsair, just as they were not meant to be the first line of air defense in the South Pacific in the first place.

The US Navy created the aircraft as a carrier-based fighter with no imminent plans to give it to the Marines.

On aircraft carriers, Corsair’s enlarged nose made takeoff and landing difficult because it reduced forward visibility. The Corsair’s plans drastically shifted at this point. The Corsair, which was the most promising aircraft in every other way, was given to the Marines after the US Navy made the decision late in 1942 to limit the aircraft to land-based operations while techniques for carrier operations were developed.

The later F4U-1A and F4U-1D Corsair versions, which replaced the original F4U-1’s faceted “birdcage” canopy with a one-piece “blown Plexiglas” bubble canopy that had significantly improved view, eventually addressed the previous Corsairs’ poor visibility.

The Bent-Wing Bird proved to be the appropriate aircraft at the appropriate time when serving with the Marines in the Solomons. It was fast; the second American fighter (after the USAAF’s P-38 Lightning) to be capable of traveling at speeds higher than 400 mph, it was about 100 mph faster than the Wildcat and about twice as fast as a Zero.

Moreover, it possessed a range that was twice as big as the Wildcat, considerably increasing the operational range of Marine aviators in the Solomons. The Corsair, in contrast to the Wildcat, had the range to conduct combat missions all the way to Bougainville to engage the Zeros there at the top of the Slot.

Major William Gise commanded the VMF-124, the first active Corsair squadron. On February 12, 1943, they arrived at Kukum Field (“Fighter 2”) inside the Henderson Field complex, and the same day, they flew their first mission, escorting a search and rescue PBY. The Corsairs and VMF-124 faced their baptism of fire over the course of the following two days, but things did not go as planned. They were involved in the “St. Valentine’s Day Massacre,” which became famous in the records of SOPAC air operations.

The “accidental” arrival of the legendary F4U Corsair in the South Pacific and the story of Ken Walsh, the first man to become a “Corsair ace” — The first U.S. Marine Corps Vought F4U-1 Corsair of Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-124 Whistling Death on Guadalcanal, Feb. 13, 1943. It had arrived on Guadalcanal on the morning of Feb. 12 led by their commanding officer, Major William Gise. VMF-124 flew its first mission before lunch that day, with twelve F4Us escorting a PBY Catalina on a 350 km mission to pick up two downed pilots at Sandfly Bay, Vella Lavella.

Japanese losses were minimal, maybe as low as two, compared to American losses of 15 aircraft, including two Corsairs, during the sorties of February 13 and 14. Although the enemy may have left Guadalcanal, they were still a formidable force in the Solomons. VMF-124 gradually assessed how to take advantage of Corsair’s advantages in combat with the Zeros.

The Marine aviators on Guadalcanal had frustratingly little contact with the enemy up until April 1st. Air-to-air combat possibilities were less frequent during operations from the spring of 1943 compared to the almost daily contacts that occurred in the fall of 1942.

The first “Corsair ace,” Kenneth Ambrose Walsh of VMF-124, achieved his first aerial victories on April 1. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force (IJNAF) returned to the offensive in a major way on this day. The operation known as I-Go Sakusen, a two-week air onslaught against Allied positions from New Guinea to Guadalcanal, was started by Fleet Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the IJN Combined Fleet and the man responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

On April 1st, Ken Walsh was in the air commanding a VMF-124 flight on a combat air patrol mission over the Russell Islands, prepared to halt an approaching IJNAF strike force.

Zeros attacked a flight of USAAF P-38s because they were blind to the VMF-124 Corsairs flying over them. Walsh directed his flight in a diving attack that brought down two adversary fighters. On May 13, he added three more in a subsequent round of battle, making the one-time “flying private” the first Corsair ace. These were only the first chapters of amazing tales for both Walsh and the Corsair.

America’s Few, Marine Aces of the South Pacific is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo by U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps

June 15, 2023 0 comment

History

Comparing the Vought F4U Corsair and Hawker Sea Fury with the Seafire

by Till Daisd December 2, 2022

written by Till Daisd

“We had several interesting dogfights with the much larger and more powerful F4U Corsair. In turning dogfights, the Corsairs were unable to get a bead on us if we saw them first,” Commander R ‘Mike’ Crosley, former CO of 880 and 887 NAS.

The front-line Fleet Air Arm Squadrons were there when the naval version of the legendary Spitfire finally entered service after a long and occasionally challenging voyage. The Seafire was far from ideal as a naval fighter since it lacked endurance and was challenging to land on a carrier, but it provided the Royal Navy access to an interceptor with exceptional air performance, which helped the Allies turn the tables on the Germans as they went on the offensive.

The Seafire saw action in Malaya and Korea while serving in the Second World War from the North Atlantic to Japan and into the 1950s. There is a remarkable degree of agreement among pilots regarding how the Spitfire flew, which can be summed up as beautifully responsive and maneuverable in the air, but challenging to handle and land, especially on an aircraft carrier, according to Naval aviation historian Matthew Willis in his book Supermarine Seafire. Any criticisms usually focus on the excessively light elevators or the heavy ailerons. The following remarks from two pilots, one from the past and the other from the present, provide some context as well as a comparison with some of the Seafire’s rivals from the war and its immediate aftermath, the Vought Corsair and Hawker Sea Fury.

Commander R ‘Mike’ Crosley DSC (former CO of 880 and 887 NAS)

“Once the tail was raised – by prop slipstream over the tail and a small push on the stick – and the pilot could see where he was going, the true enjoyment began. The acceleration was like a racing car. Once airborne, the Seafire responded with the sensitivity of a polo pony to nearly all our ignorant demands upon it. It behaved in its normal habitat with such unselfish grace and with such rapid response and power, that we knew we were being allowed to fly a thoroughbred.

“We had several interesting dogfights with the much larger and more powerful F4U Corsair. In turning dogfights, the Corsairs were unable to get a bead on us if we saw them first. However, they could, like an Fw 190, out-dive us … Also, above 15,000 feet they were faster than Seafire L IIIs. However, the F III with its two-speed, uncropped supercharger, could easily keep up with the Corsair at 20,000 feet and above.

“The Corsair could not out-turn a Seafire I, II, or III as has been claimed. However, if the Corsair slowed down to about 90 knots and then the pilot selected half-flap —provided it was down to its last 50 gallons of fuel — it could hold a Seafire LIII at this speed and configuration at heights above 10,000 feet.”‘

Flying the Seafire: a comparison with the Vought F4U Corsair and Hawker Sea Fury — *Sea Fury, F4U Corsair, F6F Hellcat*

Lieutenant-Commander Chris Götke AFM (former CO Royal Navy Historic Flight)

“You can see the progression from a Seafire versus a Sea Fury. The Seafire [F 17] has got a short-block Griffon VI with about 2,000 hp. When you’re in the Seafire it’s incredibly noisy compared with a Centaurus, because you have all the exhausts and they come out down by your feet, pointing at you. The Centaurus engine is very good at lower rpm, so when we go cruising on it we’re down at 1,500 rpm which gives you about 220, 230 knots. The Griffon is complaining by the time you get it down to 1,800. For the pilot, one of the things you don’t want is to over-boost an engine. The Sea Fury was one of the first that you can’t over-boost. In a Sea Fury, as you go up on the boost, the rpm automatically rises. So, if you’re in combat and you’re just holding on, and then you get bounced, you can just slam the Centaurus open and it will go up to 2,700 and plus nine boosts. You can’t do that with the Griffon in the Seafire.

“Regarding the handling and maneuvering, if you were doing 300-plus knots in the Seafire you’d be getting very heavy ailerons, but in the Sea Fury you could do 100 knots or 400 knots and it’s the same feel. It’s a very well-harmonized system in that aircraft. The Seafire is very, very light in pitch, so is quite maneuver-unstable. You can get maneuvering very quickly, but if you hit turbulence as you’re pulling up, you almost have to unload, it’s so light in maneuver. The Sea Fury has 183 gallons internally, plus it had another tank which took it to about two hundred. That’s almost twice what you could get inside a Seafire, and the Seafire uses fuel at about the same rate. Actually, with the Centaurus, you can happily get down to 40 gallons an hour. In display, though, both are lovely aircraft.”

Supermarine Seafire is published by Mortons Books and is available to order here.

Photo by Imperial War Museum via Wikipedia

December 2, 2022 0 comment

History

F4U Vs MiG-15: when the WWII Corsair became a MiG Killer

by Till Daisd September 30, 2021

written by Till Daisd

“When his parachute opened, I could see his “G” suit burning from head to foot. I glanced down and saw the flaming MiG hit the water vertically,” Capt. Jesse Folmar, VMA-312 F4U Corsair pilot

Some U.S. Navy and Marine Corps F4U Corsairs were sent up against the night raiders that North Korea sortied over UN lines after dark during the Korean War, despite being outclassed by the new generation of jet fighters and primarily used in the close air support role. It was in an F4U-5N night fighter that Lt. Guy Bordelon became the U.S. Navy’s lone ace of the conflict.

Nevertheless, on September 10, 1952, Capt. Jesse Folmar, flying a Corsair from VMA-312, was able to shoot down one of the two MiG-15s that had bounced him and his wingman, according to Warren Thompson in his book F4U Corsair Units of the Korean War.

The light carrier Sicily supported attacks into North Korea by F4U units VMF-214 (1950), VMF-323 (1951), and VMA-312, which operated from the ship between September 4 and October 19, 1952, and between August 1950 and December 1952.

On September 10, 1952, the ship launched a significant number of the “Checkerboards” F4U-4Bs in order to put out the most effort possible for interdiction and close air support operations. A historic encounter with some aggressive MiG-15s would occur throughout the course of the operation between Capt. Jesse G. Folmar, who was commanding one division, and his wingman Lt. Walter E. Daniels. They were instructed to strike a troop concentration on the south side of the Taedong River, close to Chinnampo, and they took off at 16:10.

Capt. Folmar remembered the sequence of events:

“As we crossed the coast and headed into enemy territory, we begged to execute a tactical weave at 10,000 ft. Arriving over the target area, we observed no activity, so we continued to fly reconnaissance in the area of the Taejon estuary. As we started to bank over a small island off the coast, I caught a glimpse of two MiG-15s in the early stages of setting up for a firing pass on us. They were in loose section formation, so I steepened the angle of my banking turns into them while at the same time increasing power. I jettisoned all external ordnance and fuel tanks and then switched to the guard channel to report that we were being attacked by MiGs. I told Lt. Daniels to fly a much tighter weave and not to let the communist lees out of his sight.

F4U Vs MiG-15: the story of how the WWII Corsair became a MiG Killer

“Seconds later, I spotted two more of them closing rapidly from my ‘eight o’clock’. I turned hard to the left, trying to bring my guns to bear before they could open fire, but due to their rapid closure, I was unable to do so. Their tracers were overshooting us, so I reversed my bank to the right and turned inside one of the MiGs as he started a climbing left turn. I pulled up and got him squarely in my gunsights, giving him about 20 mils’ lead. I then triggered off a long, five-second burst with my four 20 mm cannons.

“I could tell that I had him boresighted by the blinking flashes along the left side of his fuselage. A grey trail of fuel vapor began to stream from the MiG, and this quickly turned into billowing black smoke. He nosed over slightly and seemed to lose acceleration. Seconds later, the pilot ejected, and he tumbled through the air in what appeared to be a ball of smoke. When his parachute opened, I could see his “G” suit burning from head to foot. I glanced down and saw the flaming MiG hit the water vertically.”

Folmar and Daniels both began their defensive weave, and soon four more MiGs—arranged loosely in a column of two sections—joined the battle. The Corsair couple’s chances were suddenly considerably worse against them. Folmar made the decision to leave and head home, ordering a hard break to the left and downward.

“I had just started picking up good diving speed when I saw balls of tracer passing on my left. At that instant, I felt a severe jolt and explosion in my left wing. My aircraft began to shudder as if in a high-speed stall. I glanced over and saw that my left aileron and about four feet of my left wing were gone. Also, the top of the left wing was gutted to the inboard side of my inboard 20 mm gun. My damaged aeroplane was trying to roll to the left, although the control column was placed in a full right position. This led to my decision that it would be too hazardous to attempt a landing back on Sicily, so I decided to bail out.”

Before preparing to bail out, Folmar sent out a distress signal for search and rescue and reiterated his location. Another MiG made a firing pass at him while he was doing this, but its shells missed. He dropped clear after rolling out of the right side of the cockpit at a height of 3000 feet.

He heard an ear-splitting noise as he pulled the D-ring on his parachute, and as he looked up, he saw another MiG shooting at his downed Corsair. Seven MiG-15s were still in the area, but they took off as soon as Folmar touched down in the sea. He calculated that he was in the water for around eight minutes until an SA-16 Albatross “Dumbo” came to his aid.

Photo by Bzuk via Wikipedia, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy

F4U Corsair Units of the Korean War is published by Osprey Publishing and is available to order here.

September 30, 2021 0 comment