USA Lend-Lease f4U Corsair to Russia?

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 01-14-2006, 01:41 PM

I dont recall Corsiars going to Russia, maybe some that were lost in Korea went to the Russians from the N. Koreans.

Yaldy · 01-16-2006, 08:58 AM

I'll work on getting the name of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Thanks to everyone for their responses.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 01-16-2006, 12:27 PM

Cool would be interesting to see.

mosquitoman · 01-16-2006, 01:54 PM

One Mossie went to Russia, that I do know

Wildcat · 01-16-2006, 10:49 PM

The only Corsiars I recall going to Russia were the ones that bombed the sh*t out of Steiner's men in "The Cross OF Iron" !!

DerAdlerIstGelandet · 01-17-2006, 01:26 PM

hogzed · 02-18-2007, 07:59 PM

I'm pretty sure that all the P-47s went to Russian Naval Aviation-Fleet defense in the Black sea Fleet . The B-25s were modified ( Turret Location) in Rodina. What about the 3 B-29s that were interred ? Anyone know whether the PR Mk IV spits that they got were based on the Mk I or the Mk V?

Jabberwocky · 02-19-2007, 03:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yaldy

Does anyone know anything about the US giving Russia any F4U Corsairs during World War 2?

The reason I ask - A person claimed to have met a Hero of the Soviet Union who flew a Corsair with 55 kills.

I was skeptical and said, "I"m not sure about this..."

Any help, knowledge, or comments are appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Top Soviet WW2 aces (Credited kills):

Ivan Nikitovich Kozhedub (64 inc 2 P-51's)
Alexandre Ivanovich Pokryshkin (59)
Nikolai Dimitrievich Gulayev (57)
Grigori Andreevich Rechkalov (56)
Kirill Alexeevich Yevstigneyev (53)
Arsenii Vasilyevich Vorozheykin (52)
Dmitri Borisovich Glinka (50)

So, your unnamed ace would slot in between Gulayeva and Rechkalov.

renrich · 02-19-2007, 05:34 PM

My reference which lists all the Corsairs built and to whom they were delivered shows none to the Soviet Union.

Glider · 02-19-2007, 07:32 PM

Re the three B29's that the Russians aquired.

The first was B-29-5-BW Serial No 42-6256 the 52nd off the production line. Was hit by AA guns over Anshan that knocked out No 3 engine and damaged no 4 and landed on the 29th July at Tavrichanka. The captain was Capt Jarrell.

The second was B-29-15-BW Serial No 42-6365 the 'General H H Arnold Special' captained by Capt Price. After bombing Omura had ran low on fuel due to not receiving a recall message due to strong headwinds that hadn't been forcast. He landed at Vladivostok on 11th November

The third was also a B-29-15-BW Serial No 42-6358 the 'Ding How' captained by Lt Mickish. This was hit over Omura by fighters and he also landed at Vladivostok on 21st November.
As an aside this mission involved 109 bombers, one crashed on take off and another eight failed to make it home mostly due to damage from fighters who reacted strongly according to reports. By no means did the USA have it all their own way in these early missions.

The Russians had always planned to 'aquire' B29's as soon as they were deployed in theatre. The Russian airbases were offerred as a safe landing ground to the USA as allies, but the Russians always planned to keep any planes that landed. The excuse to be used and was used, was that Russia wasn't at war with Japan and as a neutral had to impound millitary equipment that could be used against another country.
You have to admit they would have made great lawyers.

Hope this is of interest

Aggie08 · 02-19-2007, 07:56 PM

What about the 3 B-29s that were interred ?

Those never saw action, Tupolev was too busy reverse-engineering them.

JoeB · 02-20-2007, 09:53 PM

"Never" is a risky word, but I'll risk it for Soviet Lend Lease Corsairs: there weren't any.

Corsairs captured in Korea would be a close second, highly unlikely. The Soviets did restore at least one crashed F-86 to flying condition, but never heard of any Corsairs and hard to see why by that point they would have bothered restoring crashed Corsairs. None were for example left behind nicely intact on overrun airfields.

A remotely possible twist on the story might be Soviet aces from WWII who *claimed* Corsairs in Korea. One self described low scoring Soviet ace from WWII did that (the loss is not reflected in US records though, nor is he listed as WWII ace in references I have). A middling Soviet WWII ace Nikolai Stroikov (14 individial+21 shared), participated in the first combat between the MiG's and the USN, where there were Corsairs present but he didn't claim one AFAIK. Actually Soviet MiG's didn't down any Corsairs, the three lost in air combat were to non-Soviet MiG's. Relax the story another degree to claimed other US prop types and there's a few more....

Joe

HealzDevo · 04-01-2007, 10:37 PM

Okay, would be interesting to find out the truth. They might have been sent before the USN worked out how to land them properly on carriers to get rid of some of the mistakes... It wasn't until 1944 that they became standard carrier aircraft. Therefore it is possible that prior to this some could have been given to Russia...

R Leonard · 04-02-2007, 07:36 AM

No, doesn't matter when carrier use started. There were no F4Us provided to the USSR though lend lease, period, none. If you take the time to look things up rather than guess at "would have's" and "could have's" you can find the information, even on the internet. Idle speculation is great, but in the face of the facts it is an exercise in futility. You can check USN sources, you can check RN sources, you can check Chance-Vought sources, you can even check the lend lease list . . . and, yes, there is such a list. No F4Us to the USSR.

Rich