F4U-1A (USMC)

F4U-1A (USMC)

F4U-1A

F4U-1D

F4U-1A (USMC)

F4U-1A

F4U-1D

USA

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.0	3.0	3.3

Class:

Fighter

Research:6 900

Purchase:32 000

This page is about the American naval fighter F4U-1A (USMC). For other uses, see F4U (Family).

Description

The F4U-1A (USMC) Corsair is a rank II American naval fighter with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB/RB) and 3.3 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.39.

General info

Flight Performance

Describe how the aircraft behaves in the air. Speed, manoeuvrability, acceleration and allowable loads - these are the most important characteristics of the vehicle.

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 5,486 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
627	602	10360	22.1	22.8	8.8	8.8	250
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 5,486 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
687	653	10360	20.0	21.0	16.8	12.3	250

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flaps (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
		470	~11	~3

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 450	< 450	< 500	> 450

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
300 m	2,000 hp	2,270 hp
Setting 2
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
4,785 m	1,800 hp	2,096 hp
Setting 3
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
6,400 m	1,650 hp	1,921 hp

Survivability and armour

• 3 mm steel - above front fuel tank
• 8 mm steel - behind pilot's body
• 12.7 mm steel - behind pilot's head
• 38 mm bulletproof glass - armoured windscreen

Armaments

Offensive armament

The F4U-1A (USMC) is armed with:

• 6 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine guns, wing-mounted (375 rpg outer + 400 rpg centre + inner = 2,350 total)

Usage in battles

Due to its great energy retention and high dive speed, the Corsair is very good at Boom and Zooming. It is recommended to be used this way, especially against any Japanese planes. Against any German planes BnZ is still recommended, but some planes you can out turn (Fw 190 A-4). As with every American fighter, always climb at the start of a match. The only way to be successful with this plane is to climb high and end up higher than the enemy. Using this tactic will greatly increase your chances of getting the enemy and forcing the enemy down low where you can finish them off.

Another thing to note is that the USMC Corsair's engine is optimized for operation at lower altitudes and climbs marginally faster in the lower altitudes than the F4U-1A due to the tweaking of the engine's capabilities. In addition to this, removal of the carrier landing equipment lightened the F4U-1A (USMC) few hundred kilograms compared to the original F4U-1A, resulting in a slight advantage in manoeuvrability. This positively affects both the vertical and the horizontal manoeuvres along with providing slightly faster acceleration and a minor edge with its maximum speed.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable Auto control available	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Controllable 3 gears	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe
III	Wings repair	Engine		New 12 mm MGs
IV		Engine injection	Cover

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Great diving characteristics
• Good energy retention
• Great speed
• Better performance than its original counterpart
• Good climb rate
• Great high-speed manoeuvrability
• Great armament

Cons:

• Can't land on carriers, lack of arrestor hook
• Mediocre flat turning characteristics
• Vulnerable to incendiary ammo
• Big target, easy to hit
• Weak damage model

History

The single-engine Chance Vought F4U Corsair was designed in 1938 for a U.S. Navy single-seater carrier-based fighter competition. This aircraft was designed from the outset as a carrier borne fighter. It featured an inverted gull wing to keep the huge propeller off the ground while keeping the landing gear short for carrier operations. Even after the completion and launch of the F4U-1, a number of problems were discovered which initially prevented the aircraft from being used as a carrier-based fighter such as bad stall characteristics due to the gull wing, no visibility over the nose for carrier landings and bouncing off the deck after landing. The Navy was forced to use the first F4U-1s for Marine Corps ground-based operations until January 1945 when most of these problems were overcome.

In the middle of 1943, the F4U-1A variant made its debut. To improve visibility, which was especially important when landing on an aircraft carrier, the cockpit canopy was modified to a convex shape, and the pilot's seat was raised 17.8 cm. Dive speed problems were solved with a stall strip just outboard of the gun ports on the starboard wing's leading edge.

The F4U-1A was produced not only at the Chance Vought factory, where the aircraft was designed but also at the Brewster and Goodyear factories (with the designations F3A-1A and FG-1A, respectively). The latter model differed in that its wings could not fold. The Chance Vought factory produced a total of 2126 F4U-1A's.

Media

Images

• 

  Reworked model of the F4U-1A (USMC).

Videos

The Shooting Range #1 - Pages of History section at 04:26 discusses the F4U Corsair.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• encyclopedia page on the aircraft;
• other literature.