Looking for info on Corsair IIs, 1841/ 1842 Naval Air Squadrons , HMS Formidable, Aug. 1944. 1 photo I’ve found shows JT606 (T) from 1842 Sqn. prior to launch for Operation Mascot. Has the centerline fuel tank ( A-1 style) and a 500 (?) pound bomb (US or Brit?) to port. I’d think there’d be another bomb to starboard. (?) I did not think these bomb racks did not come in until the U1-Ds or were they refitted to the A-1s? For Goodwood two Corsairs were armed with 1000 lb bombs. US or Brit bombs? Did they use the Brewster centerline bomb rack? I resume these aircraft did not carry drop tanks. Any clue what two aircraft carried the 1000 pounders?
( Corsair JT606 (’T’) about to begin its take-off run on FORMIDABLE… On August 24th JT606 and its pilot Sub-Lt J. H. French RNVR, failed to return from the first strike of Operation Goodwood.)
Damn! I missed those tail fins when I saw this pic before. 1000 lbs APs? (look longer and skinnier than others I’ve seen.) Something I just noticed … aren’t the pitot and ID lights on the wrong side? They should be on the port wing. (Or is it something like the Bris driving on the wrong side of the road?)
Yes that photo is reversed. Four of the 1842 squadron Corsairs, carried a single 1000lb bomb on the starboard side to attack Tirpitz. They were Corsair IIs, - 1As. One was hit and the other three had little effect.
It was the naval Operation Goodwood in August 1944 not the earlier Normandy operation.
Oops! Missed the ID lights on the PORT wing Thought those bomb racks did not come in till the 1Ds. (thought 1Ds had the 2 racks at the wing roots,no centerline. 1As had only the centerline.) WOuldnt a centerline tank and a 1000 pounder make for a hell of an imbalance? Least for the ingress. Was the starboard bomb rack mounted.
Well given the tendency of the Corsair to veer left on take off, perhaps the drag of the bomb might actually help. After that rudder trim takes care of the asymmetry.
I don’t know anything about how the additional pylon was added. But I’m sure there’s an expert out there who does.
“It was also found that the Corsair’s starboard wing could stall and drop rapidly and without warning during slow carrier landings. In addition, if the throttle were suddenly advanced (for example, during an aborted landing) the port wing could stall and drop so quickly that the fighter could flip over with the rapid increase in power.
These potentially lethal characteristics were later solved through the addition of a small, 6 in (150 mm)-long stall strip to the leading edge of the outer starboard wing, just inboard of the gun ports. This allowed the starboard wing to stall at the same time as the port.” Except on the U-2. The radar dome (and missing.50cal?) solved the problem. Not sure what they are talking about “inboard of the gunports” Only one I’ve seen is outboard. (yellow circle)
“The triangular wedge on the right wing is the spoiler. The first generation of the aircraft often had an ad hoc wooden block there to spoil the airflow, before the design was updated and produced with the spoiler installed as part of the normal assembly.”
While the stall issue was solved or reduced with the strip. The other issue was the torque roll which often occured when the pilot overreacted to the stall and applied full power. This could also happen on take off particularly with novice pilots. There’s a horrible video of a Corsair from a training unit torque rolling into the sea, probably because the pilot lost control.
But as late as Korea, it was still happening. The famous picture of Guy De Bordelon’ s crashed F4U-5N was a result of an Air Force pilot, inexperienced on the Corsair who torque rolled it on take off.
The Corsair was and is a beast but training and experience tamed it.
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Thought those bomb racks did not come in till the 1Ds. (thought 1Ds had the 2 racks at the wing roots,no centerline. 1As had only the centerline.) WOuldnt a centerline tank and a 1000 pounder make for a hell of an imbalance? Least for the ingress. Was the starboard bomb rack mounted.