SlingShot
Maneuvering With Purpose
With Wilsonman's scale model build as well as Nerdnic's big Corsair, I thought it might be fun to learn a few things about this Great Plane. Here are a couple of things I know. Do you have any interesting facts?
1) This aircraft became operationally available in 1942 and was intended to be the carrier-based fighter of choice for the U.S. Navy. Unfortunately, the long nose combined with oil blowback on the windscreen made visibility a serious problem for carrier landings. There were a number of accidents and several pilots were killed trying to learn how to do it. The U.S. Navy deemed it too dangerous for carrier operations, and limited its U.S. duty to land based operations. It was however, deemed to be acceptable for lend lease to the British.
Necessity being the mother of invention, the Brits adapted and developed a specialized approach to the carrier. They would make a slow left-hand curving final approach which allowed the pilot to keep the deck and the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) in view until the last second. Success! The rest is history.
2) My uncle, a Corsair pilot, shared the following with me: He told me that they were warned not to spin the aircraft. More than 2 turns and the spin was virtually unrecoverable. Being young and dumb, they all had to give it a try
But stopped short of 2 full turns.
What else?
1) This aircraft became operationally available in 1942 and was intended to be the carrier-based fighter of choice for the U.S. Navy. Unfortunately, the long nose combined with oil blowback on the windscreen made visibility a serious problem for carrier landings. There were a number of accidents and several pilots were killed trying to learn how to do it. The U.S. Navy deemed it too dangerous for carrier operations, and limited its U.S. duty to land based operations. It was however, deemed to be acceptable for lend lease to the British.
Necessity being the mother of invention, the Brits adapted and developed a specialized approach to the carrier. They would make a slow left-hand curving final approach which allowed the pilot to keep the deck and the Landing Signal Officer (LSO) in view until the last second. Success! The rest is history.
2) My uncle, a Corsair pilot, shared the following with me: He told me that they were warned not to spin the aircraft. More than 2 turns and the spin was virtually unrecoverable. Being young and dumb, they all had to give it a try
But stopped short of 2 full turns.What else?
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