The Whistling Death
- Brandi F.
- Jul 23, 2021
- 3 min read
Introduced during WWII, the Vought F4U Corsair is most notably distinguished by the bent wing design and was nicknamed "The Whistling Death" by the Japanese, for the high pitch whistle the aircraft would produce during dive bombing operations.
In 1938, the US was seeking a new sort of aircraft that would offer a higher speed and higher altitude to help defend the US forces during the war at sea, following Japan's invasion of China in 1937. This new aircraft was the
Vought F4U Corsair
Chance Vought F4U Corsair Specifications
--Wing Span: 41 ft
--Length: 33 ft 4in
--Gross Weight: 14,000 lbs
--Top Speed: 477 mph, with over 500 mph in a dive configuration
--Altitude: 36,900 ft
--Range: 1,016 miles
--Crew Size: 1
--Engine: One Pratt & Whitney R-2800, 2000 hp engine
--Artillery Outfit capable of 2000 lbs of bombing equipment
Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941; this Japanese attack on US territory introduced the Americans into WWII. The US now focused their attention from defensive strategies to offensive tactics towards the Japanese forces.
With the first Corsair introduced into the naval fleet in July 1942, the aircraft was flown straight to the Pacific islands that were occupied by the Japanese, to start test flights off aircraft carriers. Initially, the Corsair had shown several design flaws that made operating on aircraft carriers difficult for pilots: oil leaked on the windshield during flight, there was reduced visibility for pilots due to the long nose design, and most damaging of all was the tendency for the aircraft to stall during the low speeds needed during landings. Considering these discrepancies, the Navy then decided the Corsairs would only operate from land and the fleet was banned from serving aboard any aircraft carrier.
Following this decision by the US Navy, Marines then adopted the fleet after the US took control of the Guadalcanal airstrip from the Japanese in August 1942. With it's first taste of combat in February 1943, the Corsair quickly proved to be a dominating match to the Japanese Zero aircraft. With this ground breaking threat of an aircraft and it's relentless group of fighter pilots that flew them, WWII experienced a shift in battle as the Japanese were now forced to operate on the offense to American forces.
Land based testing began in 1944 on the Corsair as the Marines developed ways to install heavy bombing equipment to the bottom of the aircraft. The Corsair was now capable of being a fighter bomber in the war. And with the help of the British Royal Navy, pilots were also able to develop a landing technique to better position the plane for landing on aircraft carriers and alleviate the the Corsair's tendency to stall during lower landing speeds.
"The Corsair was the right aircraft, at the right time, and in the right place." --Robert Keller, Corsair Pilot
By 1945, Marines and their Corsair fleet were sent back to Naval aircraft carriers and continued in the fight against the infamous kamikaze Japanese air fleet. After three months of battle to occupy the island of Okinawa with the US's introduction of the napalm bomb, the world's first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and a second devastating bomb to Nagasaki, the Japanese declared defeat on September 2, 1945.
By the end of the war, over 40,000 US airmen were killed in combat, and 18,000 more wounded. 12, 571 Corsairs were produced during the war. And with an 11:1 killing ratio against the Japanese air fleet, the Vought F4U Corsair's design and capabilities prevented even more casualties.
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