Conceived in early
1938 in response to a US Navy requirement for a
high-speed, high altitude fighter, the prototype
inverted gull-winged XF4U-1 Corsair first took to the
air in May 1940 and immediately proved itself to be one
of the fastest fighter aircraft in the world. In June
1941, the Navy issued the first production contract for
the somewhat revised F4U-1 model and the basic design
continued in production until January 1953, at which
time over 12,800 Corsairs of all models had been built.
Although the Corsair (often known as the "Whistling
Death" by the Japanese because of the noise that it made
in high-speed flight, the "Bent-Winged Bird" by its
crews because of its wing design or simply "Old Hose
Nose" because of its very long nose) enjoyed an
extremely long production run by the standards of its
era, the aircraft, primarily because of economic
considerations, did not become as popular on the civil
register as some other fighters such as the North
American P-51 Mustang. Nevertheless, there are still a
few Corsairs airworthy around the world and, from time
to time, racing versions of the big fighter have even
bested the more numerous and streamlined highly modified
Mustangs in unlimited air races.
One of the basically stock Corsairs still active is
F4U-1A Bu No .17799 (civil registration NX83782) which
belongs to The Air Museum "Planes of Fame" at Chino
Airport in Southern California.
