MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- Often referred to as the "hog" or "bent wing," the Vought F4U Corsair made its mark on the pages of history from its creation in 1940 through its service in both World War II and the Korean War.
During the Corsair's development, the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics already had a custom of issuing proposals for aircraft that pushed the limits of technology of the time.
With a quest of building a high performance, carrier-based fighter, it was decided early on to install the experimental XR-2800-4 version of the Pratt-Whitney Double Wasp engine into the Corsair.
The R-2800 was the most powerful engine in the world in 1940, exceeding 100 horsepower per cylinder for each of its 18 cylinders.
According to "The Jolly Rogers," a novel by Navy Lt. Cmdrs. John T. Blackburn and Eric Hammel, about Navy Fighting Squadron 17 who flew Corsairs against the Japanese in World War II, the 2,800 cubic inch engine was a monster to fire up after it sat in subfreezing weather overnight.
However, with the development of the prototype, the Navy wanted an aircraft that no other could match.
The only way to efficiently convert the engine's 1,850 horsepower into thrust was with a huge Hamilton Standard Hydromatic 3-blade propeller that measured 13 feet, 4 inches in diameter.
On aircraft with normal wing and propeller configurations, a propeller this size would strike the deck when the plane was on the ground. So Vought engineers invented the infamous inverted gull-wing design, which gave the F4U Corsair its nickname as the "bent wing."
The bent wing design allowed the huge propeller to clear the deck while also allowing a short and stout landing gear to be used. The Corsair was also the first Navy aircraft to have landing gear that retracted flush into the bottom of the wing.
The prototype version of the aircraft, the XF4U-1 first took flight on May 1, 1940, and flew at a speed of 405 mph, becoming the first production aircraft to exceed 400 mph in level flight.
The Navy was very pleased with the performance of the Corsair and, in June 1941, ordered 583 units. During the next 11 years, that figure grew to 12,500 aircraft.
Although the Corsair had already hit the record books twice since its creation, there was a devastating flaw with the aircraft.
Because of the position of the cockpit, it was virtually impossible for pilots to see the Landing Signals Officer during carrier landings when the Corsair was on final approach.
Adding to this problem were leaks from the engine compartment.
Each of the fourteen cowl flaps had its own baby hydraulic cylinder to open and close it, said a passage from "The Jolly Rogers." It was these components that tended to leak.
The combination of hydraulic fluid and oil rapidly coated the windshield and seriously decreased the pilot's inherently limited forward visibility.
The pilots quickly became experts at locating rain showers through which they could fly in order to wash away the oil.
However, this wasn't the worst part about the Corsair when dealing with carrier landings.
The pilot had to have the aircraft at stall speed just as the tail hook snagged the deck wire, which was very difficult to do, as the Corsair's left wing normally dropped like a rock when stall speed was reached.
After several mishaps, the Navy decided the Corsair wasn't fit for carrier duty, so the hog was given to the U.S. Marines for land-based operations.
During World War II, the Corsair was considered one of the greatest fighter planes of its time. It could out-fight, out-climb and outrun any propeller-driven enemy aircraft.
The Corsair carried six M2 .50 caliber machine guns and either two 1,000-pound bombs or eight 127mm rockets.
Some variants sported four 20mm cannons instead of the .50 caliber machine guns.
The Corsair soon earned the nickname of "Whispering Death" among the Japanese, as it achieved a kill ratio of 11-to-1 against the deadly Japanese Zero aircraft.
By the Korean War, the Corsair was getting old and destined to become the Marine Corps' last propeller-driven fighter, as new fighter jets were just beginning to enter service.
However, it wasn't time for the hog to quit just yet, as the Corsair provided superior air-to-ground support, plastering North Korean targets in front of advancing Marine ground units during the war.
It was during this conflict that the Marine Corps pushed the evolution of combat forward through the introduction of a new form of warfare in the air-ground team.
Throughout its history, there were seven different models of the Corsair produced.
The last of the models, the F4U-7, was built specifically for the French Navy.
When the production of the last model began in June of 1952, the long production run of the Vought F4U Corsair finally came to an end. The last corsair was delivered to the French in December of that year.
Today, Miramar is home to one of the renowned F4U-5N model Corsairs used during the Korean War. It resides at Miramar's Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation and Aviation Museum.
Presently, there are fewer than 30 Corsairs left in existence. However, the Corsair's legacy lives on.