DuckSouth.com

Is that a corsair in your signature? If so, my great uncle who passed away late last week logged thousands of combat hours in one and was shot down over the Mediteranian. He was back up a few days later. I am no expert on planes but he swore that he could land one of those things on a boat....at night. Any way, that NAVY blue single engine fighter that he was standing next to in that picture I always remember seeing as a kid is the symbol of a hero and a True Gentleman in my opinion.

God Bless America!

Yup. It's an F-4U Corsair.

Wouldn't ya love to have one!?!?

I would!

There's an airshow at Starkville every couple of years where they have some old WWII planes that are on static displays as well as flying. They've had Corsairs both times that I've been down there to see it. It's cool.

If you're ever on vacation down around Pensacola, you need to go to the Naval Air Museum. There's a lot of history down there!

those old war planes were sold for little of nothing after the wars.....they retired them and let the public have them for peanuts....now they're worth MUCHO! so when they retire the F-15, statch one up and save it for a few years....hehe

pick up an F-15. Well, I guess we can all dream can't we. Guess how easy my duck season would be then. I could hunt the entire MS flyway on weekends only. Take a quick supersonic jump up to Canada for a morning hunt...

That'd be the life!

Wonder what one of those old Corsairs goes for? If I ever win the lottery, I may get one!

That's the Hog alright! The Japanese called it "Whistling Death" because when in a dive, the air rushing over the oil coolers at the base of the wings on the leading edges, made a signature whistling sound.

I didn't know there were any Hogs in the Med. I thought they were mostly in the Pacific.

Do you know why the wings are bent like they are? One would think physics, flight dynamics or the like. But they were actually shaped like that to keep that 12 foot prop off of the ground. A straight-winged design would've required long, spindly gear that would've snapped with ease.



Oh wait, this is the duck forum huh?

Wingman

I wasn't aware of that little piece of trivia Wingman. I always thought it had something to do woth the folding wing design, or am I thinking of another plane?

Practically every aircraft that operated with the Navy or Marines had folding wings for storage on carriers.



The Hellcat, for instance, had folding wings, but they weren't the gull-wing design like the Corsair.



I had a pic once of a Helldiver, piloted by my great uncle, that crashed into a Delta field. I got the picture from a friend of his, along with all of his logs from the AAF, but let my great-aunt keep them for a while and she passed away. I got the logbooks back but not the picture of the Helldiver.

Crazy sight to see a huge beast such as the Helldiver in a plowed, Mississippi field. Props were twisted like pretzels.

Remember all of our vets this Memorial Day weekend.


Wingman

Wingman the corsair along with wildcats, hellcats, Mustangs, Thunderbolts, Lightenings, Buffalos, Spitfires, and serveral ohters served in almost every area of operations during WW2 the Navy planes in that bunch served in the Atlantic escorting convoys and the Brits flew them any where they could get a carrier. Then the army air corps. slew the Mustang, Thunderbolt, Lightening in the south Pac also. Then the Fins flew the Buffalos with a little more success than the Marines against the russians flying P-40 now ain't that ironic. Then the Brits flew the Spitfire every where from England to Malta to Burma/India to Australia.
Thats just my two cents worth though.

GFB.

Well now....do you know which color the Russians painted most of their Mig's, LaGG's and Yak's? Tractor green and tractor black. Do you know why? Because the tractor factories were converted to making aircraft during the war. Just a little trivia for a farmboy!

Wingman