Saturday, July 27, 2013

The Corsair

Chance-Vought F4U Corsair
Yesterday as I was making my rounds through the blogosphere, I noted that blog-bud Kerry McCauley had his Your Weekly Lex, For Strength post up, and as he always picks a good one (yeah, like there's a "bad" Lex post...) I headed on over.

Once again I'll state, for the record, that though Kerry does enjoy jumping out of perfectly functioning aircraft, for fun (and profit!), he also knows how to fly those aircraft. And his blog is always a source of incredible aerial photos from his work as a ferry pilot. And the occasional photo of people jumping out of perfectly good airplanes. You really should read his blog, all the time. Hint, hint.

Now this post from Lex, in which the good Captain talks about his pilot's logs, also jumps into talking about the F4U Corsair as used by our maritime services in the Big One, Dubya Dubya Deuce. Most unfortunately the two links that were there are no longer viable. However, as there has been a bit of (ahem) discussion about the relative merits of the P-51 Mustang versus the Spitfire, just thought I'd let you read Lex's take on P-51 versus Corsair.

Point is, we all have our favorite birds. It's a matter of taste innit?

Oh, and here are some sweet Corsair videos I wanted to share. Enjoy.




12 comments:

  1. Another fine American flying machine!

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    1. The Whistling Death.................
      My Dad was on the ground in Korea. The favorite CAS airplanes were the Corsair and the Skyraider.

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    2. Both good birds in that role.

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  2. Ahem. Just in case ya missed it: "... but that it was the highest expression of the art form – a title I had thought reserved for the P-51 Mustang.

    Our Man thought correctly, the first time. Just because the Corsair had a tailhook, yadda, yadda, yadda. (Insert smiley-face thingie here)

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    1. Just wanted to put that out there.

      Just wanted to show that great minds can differ on the idea of beauty.

      Heh. Great minds. Lex sure, me? YMMV

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    2. Tailhooks Forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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    3. Sorry Glenn, didn't catch that...

      ;-)

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  3. Corsair was better for ground attack, and why have an airplane if you cannot kill opponents who do not?

    I want a Corsair like I want nothing else that I'll likely never be able to afford.

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    1. In one of those videos, as the Corsair is taxiing out and unfolding her wings, I thought "how positively brutal and prehistoric looking." Kind of what you want in a Warbird.

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  4. The late Father of one of my best friends flew both Hellcats and F4Us in WW II. Once I asked him why he didn't stay in the Navy post-war and make it a career as he had always said how much fun he'd had and he replied: "Well, see, I made seven night carrier landings during the war and I decided that if I wanted to live a long life I'd better get out of the Navy." LOL!

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    1. Yeah, night carrier landings. I do believe our Lex told a story or three about them!

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