Profiles of Flight

Profiles of Flight
Author: Dave Windle
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 71
Release: 2011-07-01
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1848844085

The Vought F4U was the best carrier based fighter of WW2. 12,571 aircraft were built and downed 2,140 enemy aircraft for the loss of only 189 Corsairs. It was developed early in 1938 for the US Navy. The designer, Tex Beisel, worked on the principle of the largest engine in the smallest airframe. Britain received 2012 of the type. This book contains the world famous color profiles created by Dave Windle of the type in different operational modes, configurations and color schemes. Martin Bowman has written detailed descriptions and photographs to create the perfect enthusiasts reference.

The Vought F4U Corsair

The Vought F4U Corsair
Author: Martin W. Bowman
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2019-12-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 1526705907

This fully illustrated history of the iconic American fighter plane examines its development and combat experience through WWII and beyond. First flown in 1940, the Vought F4U Corsair was the fastest fighter in the world and the fastest US aircraft of any description. Powered by a huge 18-cylinder Pratt and Whitney Double Wasp engine, the first Corsairs were capable of speeds up to 417 miles per hour. This figure would rise to nearly 450mph in later versions. The F4U entered service with the US Navy in September 1942 and over time was extensively used by the US Marines, Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Air Force. Famous squadrons that flew these planes—like VMF-214 'The Black Sheep' and VF-17 'Jolly Rogers'—maintained their superiority over the Japanese for the rest of the war. After the Second World War the Corsair was used with distinction by the French in Indo-China and again by the US Navy in Korea. Since then, Corsairs have remained a favorite among warbird enthusiasts the world over. This comprehensive book examines the engineering of the Corsairs alongside a detailed history of their development and usage in combat. Illustrated with scores of rare and previously unpublished photographs, Vought F4U Corsair is the perfect book for any fan of the 'bent wing bird'.

Corsair

Corsair
Author: Barrett Tillman
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 234
Release: 2014-01-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612515428

This is the remarkable story of an airplane that became a legend--with a sleek silhouette and bent wings, it doubled as a day and night fighter, could fly off carriers or from land, and served both as a dive bomber and reconnaissance plane. Filled with facts and figures, this fast-paced history begins with the nerve-wracking test flights of the 1940s and concludes with the F4Us that were active thirty-eight years later. Placed skillfully in between are the stories that gave birth to the legend: the exploits of the aces, including the Medal of Honor recipient who shot down twenty-five enemy planes, and the details of the combat missions of Charles A. Lindbergh. During thirty months of combat in World War II with the U.S. Navy and Marines, the Corsair shot down more than two thousand Japanese planes. In Korea the U-bird, as it was called, was credited with ten aerial victories. A trip down memory lane for anyone who has followed the career of this Cadillac of the props, this new paperback edition of a book first published in hardcover in 1979 offers fine historical aviation reading that presents a riveting picture of the men and machine that helped win two wars.

Vought F4 Corsair

Vought F4 Corsair
Author: Dave Windle
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2011-12-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1783461268

The Vought F4U was the best carrier based fighter of WW2. 12,571 aircraft were built and downed 2,140 enemy aircraft for the loss of only 189 Corsairs. It was developed early in 1938 for the US Navy. The designer, Tex Beisel, worked on the principle of the largest engine in the smallest airframe. Britain received 2012 of the type. This book contains the world famous color profiles created by Dave Windle of the type in different operational modes, configurations and color schemes. Martin Bowman has written detailed descriptions and photographs to create the perfect enthusiasts reference.

F4U Corsair

F4U Corsair
Author: Nicholas A. Veronico
Publisher: Motorbooks
Total Pages: 144
Release: 1994
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780879388546

F4U Corsair Veronico, Campbell & Campbell. The formidable gull-wing F4U Corsair was flown in WWII and Korea by such legendary aces as ôPappy" Boyington, ôIke" Kepford, and ôTommy" Blackburn, by top squadrons such as the ôBlack Sheep" and the ôJolly Rogers." This famous fighter aircraft is profiled in-depth in this detailed combat history, based almost entirely on interviews with the pilots who fought Zeros and MiGs high over Pacific and Korean battlegrounds. A complete developmental history of all US and foreign variants. Sftbd., 9"x 10 1/2", 144 pgs., 89 b&w ill., 44 color.

America's Hundred Thousand

America's Hundred Thousand
Author: Francis H. Dean
Publisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
Total Pages: 608
Release: 1997
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780764300721

America's Hundred Thousand covers in detail the eleven U.S. fighter aircraft types produced just before and during World War II - with a combined production total of just over 100,000 aircraft. Covered are the Army Lockheed P-38 Lightning, P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk/Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, and the Navy F2A - Buffalo, F4F - Wildcat, F4U - Corsair, and F6F - Hellcat fighters. The text is supplemented by more than 650 photographs, and 200 tables and graphs. Fighter production figures are also included. After an introduction of each type, a heavily illustrated overview of earlier inter-war production from 1920-on, along with a discussion and illustration of wartime experimental types, is provided. A lengthy section considering several technical factors affecting fighter performance follows. These include engine models, supercharger types, propellers, aerodynamic thrust, lift and drag, aircraft weight, balance, stability and control, and armament. America's Hundred Thousand also provides details of each U.S. World War II production fighter in terms of models and changes, numbers produced, and major engine and aircraft performance aspects - in tabular and graphical form - details of weights, discussion of handling qualities and general comments, along with detailed descriptions containing many illustrations of aircraft structures and systems showing the technology of that time. In addition a comprehensive week-to-week and month-to-month chronology of development and wartime combat operational life for each fighter is provided, including many photos. This study concludes with comparisons of the eleven types in terms of program milestones, aircraft drag, power available at various altitudes, speed, climb, rolling and turning, acceleration, and diving performance, as well as general evaluations by World War II pilots.

Bodies of Memory

Bodies of Memory
Author: Yoshikuni Igarashi
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2012-01-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1400842980

Japan and the United States became close political allies so quickly after the end of World War II, that it seemed as though the two countries had easily forgotten the war they had fought. Here Yoshikuni Igarashi offers a provocative look at how Japanese postwar society struggled to understand its war loss and the resulting national trauma, even as forces within the society sought to suppress these memories. Igarashi argues that Japan's nationhood survived the war's destruction in part through a popular culture that expressed memories of loss and devastation more readily than political discourse ever could. He shows how the desire to represent the past motivated Japan's cultural productions in the first twenty-five years of the postwar period. Japanese war experiences were often described through narrative devices that downplayed the war's disruptive effects on Japan's history. Rather than treat these narratives as obstacles to historical inquiry, Igarashi reads them along with counter-narratives that attempted to register the original impact of the war. He traces the tensions between remembering and forgetting by focusing on the body as the central site for Japan's production of the past. This approach leads to fascinating discussions of such diverse topics as the use of the atomic bomb, hygiene policies under the U.S. occupation, the monstrous body of Godzilla, the first Western professional wrestling matches in Japan, the transformation of Tokyo and the athletic body for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and the writer Yukio Mishima's dramatic suicide, while providing a fresh critical perspective on the war legacy of Japan.

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Baa Baa Black Sheep
Author: Gregory Boyington
Publisher: Bantam
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2013-08-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0804150796

Here, in his own words, is the true story of America's wildest flying hero, of his extraordinary heroism, and of his greatest battle of all—the fight to survive. The World War II air war in the Pacific needed tough men like Colonel Pappy Boyington and his Black Sheep Squadron. The legendary Marine Corps officer and his bunch of misfits, outcasts, and daredevils gave new definition to “hell-raising”—on the ground and in the skies. Pappy himself was a living legend—he personally shot down twenty-eight Japanese planes, and won the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. He broke every rule in the book doing so, but when he fell into the hands of the vengeful Japanese his real ordeal began.

Vought F4U Corsair

Vought F4U Corsair
Author: James D’Angina
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2014-11-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781782006268

This is a definitive technical guide to the Vought F4U Corsair. With over 12,500 produced, the Vought F4U Corsair is one of the icons of mid-20th century military aviation. With a USN kill rate of 11:1 during World War II, demand exceeded Vought's manufacturing capabilities, and it holds the record for longest production run of an US piston-engined fighter aircraft. It was as a Marine Corps aircraft that the Corsair was to become famous, fighting through World War II and Korea. Able to outperform its contemporaries, notably the A6M Zero, the Corsair combined speed, resilience and firepower. It also served in Indochina and Algeria, and in 1969's 'Soccer War' between Honduras and El Salvador, Corsairs were flown by both sides and fought the last propeller-aircraft dogfights in history. Color illustrations and photographs augment the examination of the technical characteristics and combat performance of this exceptional and important aircraft.