Whistling Death

As much as I love the Corsair I wonder if a lot of the attractions to it weren't just because it's different.

I feel like if it could be everything it is, but it didn't have that gull wing, it wouldn't have near the following.


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Lawman said:
As much as I love the Corsair I wonder if a lot of the attractions to it weren't just because it's different.

I feel like if it could be everything it is, but it didn't have that gull wing, it wouldn't have near the following.


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I would venture to say 100% of the attraction is because it's different. No one gives a chit about the Hellcat because it's boring.
 
Lawman said:
As much as I love the Corsair I wonder if a lot of the attractions to it weren't just because it's different.

I feel like if it could be everything it is, but it didn't have that gull wing, it wouldn't have near the following.


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The wing definitely sets it apart. It's just a beautiful airplane.
 
NovemberEcho said:
I would venture to say 100% of the attraction is because it's different. No one gives a chit about the Hellcat because it's boring.
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One broke the back of the Japanese Naval Air Arm.... the other had a TV show about it.

Guess which one's a poster on my wall.

92afdc928253e913b296096096ec8676.jpg



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The ungainly Wildcat is supposedly favorite in terms of "fun to fly" of guys who've flown all three (Corsair, Hellcat, Wildcat).
 
Hacker15e said:
The ungainly Wildcat is supposedly favorite in terms of "fun to fly" of guys who've flown all three (Corsair, Hellcat, Wildcat).
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Got to hang out with Rudy Fresca few years back (and leave the autograph on the restroom wall, prettyfreakingspecial), and that was exactly what he said - if he had to sell all his toys and keep one, that would be the Wildcat.

P40 is like sitting in a friggin' Jacuzzi bath tub

Spitfire (he has a XVIIIe) - I strapped in, shut the door and canopy, looked over those elliptic wings.... and thought that if I wasn't such a well-mannered and respectful individual, they'd have to pry me out of it.
This bird - http://www.mgexp.com/phile/48/251646/TP280.jpg
 
This machine recently received a second set of controls and instruments in the rear cockpit....
IMG_0375.JPG

Wonder if he'll offer discovery flights?
 
MikeD said:
I can vaguely remember as a young kid, seeing one on firefighting standby as a fire bomber at Winslow, AZ in the late 70s.
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An F7F as a firebomber? Wouldn't have thought it had enough room to carry a worthwhile payload of water
 
NovemberEcho said:
An F7F as a firebomber? Wouldn't have thought it had enough room to carry a worthwhile payload of water
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Yes, removed the bay and attached a tank to carry a tank of slurry. Company out of Santa Rosa, Ca was the main operator of them....Sis-Q as they were known.

(Photo credit unknown)

image.jpeg
 
Lawman said:
As much as I love the Corsair I wonder if a lot of the attractions to it weren't just because it's different.

I feel like if it could be everything it is, but it didn't have that gull wing, it wouldn't have near the following.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Don't you DARE discount the one of the most bad ass TV programs from the 1970's: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073961/

Apart, of course, from The Rockford Files. :)

At least I think they were using Cosairs, I don't remember.
 
By all contemporary accounts I've read, the Bearcat could fly rings around any other prop fighter, theirs, ours, whoever. It absolutely PASTED some late model 51s and 47s. IMS, this was reluctantly confirmed by some AAC pilots later. Interesting thing about the Hellcat...while not nearly as sexy as the Corsair (let alone the Bearcat or Tigercat), it had a significantly larger effect on the course of air combat, and I want to say (with no reference) that it actually had a higher kill rate, supposedly down to the fact that it was relatively easy to fly and maintained some turning ability, rather than the pure energy fighting required of the more highly wing-loaded late war fighters. Oh, and was armored like an IL-2 (ok, not quite). The FM-2s (basically a stripped down Wildcat with more power) that were flown off the jeep carriers deserve a mention here, too.

Other names the Corsair earned: "Bent-wing bastard", "Hose-nose", and "The Ensign Eliminator".

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a beautiful thing, and its performance in the A2G role in the late Pacific Theater (and esp. in Korea) can hardly be questioned. But as a carrier-based air superiority fighter, let's be sanguine and say that it "had a few teething problems".
 
Boris Badenov said:
and I want to say (with no reference) that it actually had a higher kill rate, supposedly down to the fact that it was relatively easy to fly
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It had a very high kill ratio, but I think it's attributed as much to the fact that it was shooting down practically student pilots after the Japanese losses at Midway and other places.

I know the Brits flew the Hellcat from their carriers, did they ever come up against the Luftwaffe?
 
By the time they deployed the hellcat in Europe, opportunities for a2a were limited, but yes, I believe they did claim some kills. The Brits also managed to get the Corsair carrier capable before we did.
 
Boris Badenov said:
By the time they deployed the hellcat in Europe, opportunities for a2a were limited, but yes, I believe they did claim some kills. The Brits also managed to get the Corsair carrier capable before we did.
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It's a Hellcat, not a hellcat. They went straight for the throat when they named it. God Bless Grumman (And Gulfstream too).
 
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