XF4U-1 -> F4U-1

[KJ_Lesnick]

I'm curious about something: I know the basic story about the F4U-1

• The F4U-1 originally had a shorter nose
  
• To add additional fuel, the canopy was moved further aft
  

This of course had a detrimental effect on visibility

However I do remember reading about some interesting details about the XF4U-1

• The plane originally had small 5 pound bombs to drop on enemy aircraft formations: Idiotic if you ask me, though I suppose a rocket-propelled bomb with guidance is basically a missile if you think about it
  
• It had more fuel in the wings
  
• It had 4 x 12.7 guns
  

Did the addition of 6-guns and other changes lead to the need to move the fuel out of the wings and into the fuselage?

[scooter]

See if you can find a copy of Whistling Death.  The book details *all* of these changes, as well as the development of the Corsair.

[Librarian]

If that's "Whistling Death" by Guyton, then damned good book and well worth reading. Heartbreaking account of a badly laid out console leading to the death of a Marine pilot.

[scooter]

If that's "Whistling Death" by Guyton, then damned good book and well worth reading. Heartbreaking account of a badly laid out console leading to the death of a Marine pilot.

Thanks for the correction.  It's been nigh on 25 years since I last had my hands on a copy of it; my copy got lost transitioning moving around the world, courtesy of Uncle Sam.

[Librarian]

....and a bit off topic but this superb conversion I've been drooling over for some years now shows the differences well:

http://www.hyperscale.com/2009/features/xf4u148dw_1.htm

[tahsin]

Brings modelling into the thread, she would have no objections. But I would suppose there was a window under the cockpit, was that for early series aircraft?

Edit: Looking on at the link, I must say the window is there but seems to be painted over.

[KJ_Lesnick]

Everybody

What I'm looking for mostly is the following: How much length was taken off the front of the cockpit and behind it?

I've done some rudimentary research on the following data for the aircraft's lengths

• XF4U-1: 31'11"
  
• F4U-1: 33'4"
  
• F4U-4: 33'8"
  
• F2G-1: 33'9"
  

So the XF4U-1 was 17" longer than the F4U-1

Librarian

Heartbreaking account of a badly laid out console leading to the death of a Marine pilot.

Was that because the instruments were in odd places, or because the pilot somehow banged his head on something?

[Librarian]

Has been a long time since I read the book but I think it was two similar switches, one to purge the fuel tanks of vapour (?) and one to knock the landing gear down...might be wrong, my memory is poor at present...but result was the pilot ended up with u/c down and was instantly jumped by Japanese fighters. When Guyton went to meet the CO (a friend) off the boat he got a serious bollocking for not having picked up on an obvious design flaw.

[KJ_Lesnick]

I'm curious how the addition of 2 x 12.7mm guns ended up displacing the wing's fuel-tanks: Was it in just the inboard or outboard leading-edge?

[jcf]

Clearly you've never seen a Browning M2 .50 in the flesh, they're not small, and by
the time you add in the ammo storage, you're taking up some space.

[wuzak]

http://atomictoasters.com/wp-content/gallery/exploded-views-and-cutaways/vaught-4fu-1-corsair.jpg

[KJ_Lesnick]

joncarrfarrelly

Now that was helpful!  It's nice sometimes to be able to visualize something: I didn't realize the ammo boxes took up as much space as they did due to layout...

[Librarian]

A good example of the ammo can size is described by Blackburn in "Jolly Rogers". Having to move from one base to another the squadron was horrified to have to leave behind their huge stash of alcohol/beer. One of the pilots realised that by removing four guns from each plane they could fly the entire lot to the new base in the vacated space .

[KJ_Lesnick]

Librarian

A good example of the ammo can size is described by Blackburn in "Jolly Rogers". Having to move from one base to another the squadron was horrified to have to leave behind their huge stash of alcohol/beer. One of the pilots realised that by removing four guns from each plane they could fly the entire lot to the new base in the vacated space .

LOL!  Now that's creativity!

[tomo pauk]

Hello, people,
In the XF4U, there were 4 wing tanks - one pair was between landing gear wells, another pair was in the oter wing panel, in front of the main spar. Neither was self sealing. The self sealing steals the useful volume, so after a decision was made to go with s-s tanks, the single protected tank made far more sense. The most favorable location was between cockpit and engine, but it was a small volume available, mostly taken by .30 ammo and .30 guns's receivers. The .30s were deleted since the armament was to be improved, the cockpit was moved back, single big protected fuel tank got between cockpit and engine, the inner pair of wing tanks was deleted, but outer wing tanks remained in production aicraft until some time, even after the drop tank facility was added. Outer wing tanks got the CO2 sytem to fight gas fumes, but not the s-s lining. Outer tanks were again installed in the FG2 Super Corsair, this time self sealing and of lower capacity than previously unprotected variety.
The additional 2 pairs of BMGs & ammo took roughly the space prevoiusly aloted for anti-aircraft bombs.

The 'Detail & scale' book on the Corsair is well worth having, BTW.