FAA Corsairs in COLOR

[D.James]

from the US Navy Archives.. Must be enroute...Only a few English looking chaps about...



Oh yeah, and an Avenger. Or would it already be a Tarpon?

[Wildcat]

Very nice!

[Wurger]

Nice stuff here.

[Amsel]

Some good photos here.

[Gnomey]

Nice photos!

[D.James]

Found some back ground info wouldn'tcha know it, from here..
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/avi...-faa-3370.html (F4U Corsairs in the RAF/FAA...)

Maestro said:
F4U Corsairs in the RAF/FAA...
Greetings ladies and gentlemen.

I just found this on a web site and I thought I should share the information with you.

Taken from : The Vought F4U Corsair

CORSAIR IN BRITISH & NEW ZEALAND SERVICE

The British Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) warmed to the Corsair much faster than the US Navy. In November 1943, the FAA received under Lend-Lease the first of 95 Vought F4U-1s, which were given the designation of "Corsair I". The first squadrons were assembled and trained in the US, either at Brunswick, Maine, or Quonset, Rhode Island, and then shipped across the Atlantic. The Royal Navy put the Corsair into carrier operations immediately, well ahead of the US Navy, but wasn't like the British worked miracles with the F4U: they found its landing characteristics just as beastly, suffering a number of fatal crashes, but bit the bullet and did it anyway.

This initial British batch was followed by 510 Vought F4U-1As under the designation of "Corsair II"; 430 Brewster F3A-1Ds under the designation of "Corsair III"; and finally 977 Goodyear FG-1Ds under the designation of "Corsair IV". It is unclear if the stateside squadron training scheme was retained for all British Corsair squadrons.

All but initial deliveries of FAA Corsairs had 20 centimeters (8 inches) clipped from the wingtips to permit storage in British carrier hangar decks, with the clipped wings also apparently improving the roll rate. Some sources suggest that at least some of the clipped-wing Corsairs supplied to Britain had the US designation of "F4U-1B". Many FAA Corsairs were fitted with rails for launching British 7.62 centimeter (3 inch) unguided "Rocket Projectiles (RPs)". At its peak, the Corsair equipped 19 FAA squadrons.

FAA Corsairs originally fought in a camouflage scheme, with a light-green / dark-green disruptive pattern on top and a white belly, but were later painted overall blue. Those operating in the Pacific theater acquired a specialized British insignia -- a modified blue-white roundel with white "bars" to make it look more like a US than a Japanese insignia to prevent friendly-fire incidents.

FAA Corsairs performed their first combat action on 3 April 1944, with Number 1834 Squadron flying from the HMS VICTORIOUS to help provide cover for a strike on the German super-battleship TIRPITZ in a Norwegian fjord. This was apparently the first combat operation of the Corsair off of an aircraft carrier. Further attacks on the TIRPITZ were performed in July and August 1944, with Corsairs from the HMS FORMIDABLE participating. It appears the Corsairs did not encounter aerial opposition on these raids. A confrontation between a Corsair and the tough German Focke-Wulf FW-190 would have made for an interesting fight.

Even as British Corsairs were fighting the Germans, they were going into combat in the Indian Ocean against the Japanese, with the first operational sorties on 19 April. Royal Navy carriers would be participants in the final battle for the Japanese home islands. On 9 August 1945, days before the end of the war, Corsairs from HMS FORMIDABLE were attacking Shiogama harbor on the northeast coast of Japan. A Canadian pilot, Lieutenant Robert H. Gray, was hit by flak but pressed home his attack on a Japanese destroyer, sinking it with a 450 kilogram (1,000 pound) bomb but crashing into the sea. He was posthumously awarded the last Victoria Cross of World War II.

425 (some sources say 370) Corsairs were also provided to the Royal New Zealand Air Force, beginning in late 1943. By the time the New Zealanders had worked up to operational Corsair squadrons in 1944 there was little for them to shoot at in the South Pacific, and they saw little combat. Most of the New Zealander Corsairs were scrapped after the war, as were the British Corsairs.
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[ccheese]

Good pic's, thanks for sharing...

Charles

[rochie]

these pics must be of the first batch of FAA corsairs ! as none have the clipped wings.
great pics will be very usefull to me for the next group build as i'm attempting a FAA corsair II

[D.James]

Originally Posted by rochie

these pics must be of the first batch of FAA corsairs ! as none have the clipped wings.

My thoughts exactly!

[Orion_vp31]

Nice shots...thanks!

[Doughboy]

Nice pic.

[Catch22]

Great pics, seen a couple of them before, but didn't know there were more.

Originally Posted by rochie

these pics must be of the first batch of FAA corsairs ! as none have the clipped wings.
great pics will be very usefull to me for the next group build as i'm attempting a FAA corsair II

That's very interesting Karl! I know ALL -1's (Corsair Is, the birdcage Corsairs) didn't have clipped wings, but I thought all Corsair IIs did. I guess I was wrong. There are some birdcage ones in there, but you can clearly see that at least one is a II (-1A), and you're right, no clipped wings.

Also, that last picture is actually of an Avenger.

Thanks a lot for sharing, great pictures!

Shoulda read the post more carefully, I guess you knew it was an Avenger hehe. At that point I think it'd be a Tarpon still, but pretty soon thereafter they standardized with the US and used the US names.