Turboprop F4U Corsair in Vietnam

[Librarian]

A superb (i'd say whiff) of my all time favourire a/c. Just looks the biz. Brackets were for the tentative but I'd love to know if this is fact. The only question would be why the secrecy? Apart from location, of course. The B-58 I understand, still a closed book. Could his memory have mixed the Pilatus with the Skyraider with a side order of Air America? Don't get me wrong, I really pray this a/c existed and flew where your Uncle said so .

[Old Wombat]

Holy Thread-Revivals, Batman!

Glad it surfaced, though, 'coz I hadn't seen this & it seriously deserves to be seen.

Awesome aircraft, Ed! Top notch!



Guy

PS: geschwarz, this is a "what if" site, not a secret projects site. I'd suggest that if a turbo-prop F4U existed there would never have been, & certainly not now, any reason to keep them secret. There were many aircraft more capable of performing the type of role already in production at the time, rather than resurrecting a 20 year old airframe & sticking a turbo-prop on it. It's, also, unlikely that the USAF would have used a USN/USMC aircraft when they had so many of their own to choose from. In addition I'd add that there were many missions carried out over Laos & Cambodia by the USAF, USN & USMC of which most are now at least acknowledged to have occurred.

[Dizzyfugu]

Uh, trolls are surfacing again...?

[Librarian]

Uh, trolls are surfacing again...?

Agreed. I'm out .

[Librarian]

A superb (i'd say whiff) of my all time favourire a/c. Just looks the biz. Brackets were for the tentative but I'd love to know if this is fact. The only question would be why the secrecy? Apart from location, of course. The B-58 I understand, still a closed book. Could his memory have mixed the Pilatus with the Skyraider with a side order of Air America? Don't get me wrong, I really pray this a/c existed and flew where your Uncle said so .

ps: IF they did, by this time they were designated AU-1.

[JayBee]

A superb (i'd say whiff) of my all time favourire a/c. Just looks the biz. Brackets were for the tentative but I'd love to know if this is fact. The only question would be why the secrecy? Apart from location, of course. The B-58 I understand, still a closed book. Could his memory have mixed the Pilatus with the Skyraider with a side order of Air America? Don't get me wrong, I really pray this a/c existed and flew where your Uncle said so .

ps: IF they did, by this time they were designated AU-1.

Surely it would then have been an AU-2, or maybe an A2U-1.   

[Librarian]

Duly noted (exits shamefaced ).

[kitnut617]

That's false.  My uncle described the turboprop F4U he flew in Vietnam just as it is shown in this thread.  They probably only made a hand full of them, and none of them ever returned to the States.  It is possible they were all modified in the Philippines, where there is a large skilled labor force around Clark AFB.  That might explain why there are no photographs of it taken here in the states, to be found on the internet.  He also spoke very briefly of the secret missions over Laos and Cambodia.  So that would further explain why there are no photos of these planes at his base...it was all secret.

Seeing as the model is a complete figment of Ed S's imagination, I very much doubt there was a Corsair like this in the real world.  There are however, a couple of other aircraft that look just a little bit like this.  First one that comes to mind is the Pilatus PC-6, this had an engine cowling very similar in looks to Ed's creation, and was used in clandestine missions all over that area.  I don't think it ever had wingtip tanks but could carry a drop tank under the wing.  The other aircraft that comes to mind is the Cavalier Turbo Mustang/Piper Enforcer, the Turbo Cavalier was built in the 70's so would fit in the time line, but there's not anything written anywhere that it was ever used over in S.E.A..  I believe this was the origin of Ed's creation though ----

[Ed S]

How can I reach Ed S, the guy with the model of the turboprop F4U?  He must have photos of that thing or he's going by memory, meaning that he was there in Vietnam with my uncle.

This model is strictly a figment of my imagination. To the best of my knowledge, NO real world F4U Corsairs were ever modified with a turboprop engine. I know of no piston driven fighters that were modified with turboprops and used in Vietnam.  Some turboprops were used, such as the OV-10 Bronco and the AU-23 but they weren't conversions.

Ed

[geschwarz]

I think my uncle knows a lot more about this than the rest of us.  A turboprop F4U has capabilities that no other aircraft of that time would have.  It may very well have been retrofitted at Clark AFB because of the convenient location and necessary resources.  Certainly little of what went on then remains secret today, but in effect it is by the absence of objective evidence, i.e. photographs and other records.

The modification of obsolete warbirds is a thriving business that has been going on for ever.

[kerick]

Its whif world, build 'em the way you want 'em! Marine green would be interesting. Or SEA like the AF Skyraiders turn out.

[tahsin]

And the question pertaining to reality would be better asked if it talked about a super duper supercharger mounted on the airframe, maybe as part of Vought's selling the F-8U to the French Navy, which was likely to have a couple of birds still available around. And naturally it would be all-over Pasific Blue. This post certainly doesn't claim it existed or the Hondurans wanted to buy a couple after 1969.

[PR19_Kit]

If ever there was a place where you DON'T want to try to pull the wool over people's eyes, this is it!

Ed was out there and if there's anyone who'd know about a turbo-prop Corsair, he would..............

[tahsin]

To repeat it once again there's no claim to any kind of reality and all it can ever relate to History is that Hondurans liked the effects of F4Us and would like to have more for ground attack and stuff. And any company represantative from Vought might have claimed this or that while collecting any suitable ads material. No words of whatsoever on whether this Vietnam type aircraft could ever hope to be superior to A-1 in any department that mattered in 1960-70. Perhaps we should wait for the word from Geschwarz's uncle. Will he say Corsair was employed in silent gliding attacks on the Ho Chi Minh trail? Trolling it might be, let the world hear it all if it's not . With respect to:

"turboprop F4U has capabilities that no other aircraft of that time would have"

[Jkob]

Nice work