July 2025
Vought Corsair Mk.II
British Eastern Fleet/British Pacific Fleet
Link to Website Index: 
Chance Vought F-
1834 Naval Air Squadron, 47th Fighter Wing, HMS VICTORIOUS, British Eastern Fleet, 1944
Hasegawa 1/72 with Xtradecal markings
Link to Website Index:
The summer of 1943 saw a step change in British carrier aviation capability as new ships were matched to a new generation of highly capable US aircraft, developed on the back of bitter Allied war experience and incorporating rapid technological development.
Perhaps the most capable of these aircraft was the remarkable Chance Vought Corsair. Based around the immensely powerful P&W Double Wasp rotary engine of 2,000 HP, the Corsair featured distinctive inverse gull wings that allowed the most efficient aerodynamic join between wing and fuselage whilst also shortening the length of undercarriage needed to keep the aircraft's huge propeller clear of the deck.
At first, the Corsair's bad-
Corsairs saw their first combat operations with the Royal Navy on 2 April 1944, when 1834 and 1836 Squadrons in HMS VICTORIOUS provided fighter cover for Operation Tungsten using the Corsair Mk.II, with its RN specified raised cockpit seat and bubble canopy to overcome some of the problems experienced with the original "birdcage" variant.
Wing tips on the RN aircraft were also "clipped" to allow stowage below decks in the rather more cramped conditions of the British carriers. A total of 2,012 Corsairs were supplied to the Fleet Air Arm.
1834 Sqn was formed in June 1943 specifically to be equipped with the Corsair. After training on Corsair 1s in the USA, they moved to Corsair IIs and these were ferried across the Atlantic onboard HMS KHEDIVE. On January 14th 1944, they formed up as part of 47 Fighter Wing at RNAS Stretton in Lancashire, with final training at RNAS Machrihanish before embarking in the Fleet Carrier, HMS VICTORIOUS.
Their first action was part of Operation Tungsten, the massed attacks on the Tirpitz in its Norwegian Fjord lair.
In mid June, HMS VICTORIOUS and 47 Wing departed for the Far East, arriving in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in early July and immediately participating in the British Eastern Fleet's attacks on Japanese facilities in Sumatra.
In November 1944, VICTORIOUS and her squadrons formed the core of the new British Pacific Fleet, Task Force 57, under the command of Admiral Spruance USN, CinC 5th Fleet, where they remained until the end of WW2.
.
Building the Hasegawa F4U-
This is another quick stress relieving build whilst I contemplate the practicalities
of my large submarine kit! 
Hasegawa's F-
Hasegawa advertised this issue as an F4U-
Whilst there are valid questions over whether it should have a curved or flat windscreen,
or what height its tail wheel should be (all of which were potentially retrospective
field modifications), conversion to a Fleet Air Arm Corsair really only needs the
outer wing trimmed slightly -
Other than that, it's almost "shake and make" !
In this 1983 “Hales” issue (Hales were the UK importer), decals are provided for
US Navy VF-
The decals have some small anomalies, claiming this is the aircraft in October 1945, however 1834 had disbanded by then, plus VICTORIOUS and 1834 had transferred to the British Pacific Fleet in November 1944 (with appropriate “bar” markings). I also believe this particular airframe was written off before late 1945, following a landing accident. I have therefore assumed the decal sheet is a typo that should have read October 1944 and although I can’t find a photo of this particular aircraft, I can see the Sqn CO’s in very similar markings in 1944.
The upper wing roundel also confused me, as most Eastern Fleet aircraft seem initially to have retained the full size blue section, only painting over the central red (and part of the white) areas. However, I have found some Pathe film of aircraft with mixed upper wing markings including the small ones.
Link to many more WW2 Fleet Air Arm models on my Flight Deck Pages
Background Image -
Above -
IWM (A 25751)
Above -
IWM (A 25751)
Above -
Above and below -
This month’s builds have been two aircraft of the same ship and same squadron, same type and same manufacturer’s batch, but at slightly different times in their lives and different fleets! The RN’s F4U Corsairs started their war as part of the Home Fleet, undertaking attacks on the Tirpitz in Norwegian waters. They then moved to the Indian Ocean as part of the Eastern Fleet, finally moving to the British Pacific Fleet operating with the US Navy over Japan, during the final days of WW2.
.
Chance Vought F-
1834 Naval Air Squadron, 47th Fighter Wing, HMS VICTORIOUS, British Pacific Fleet, 1945
Hasegawa 1/72 with Xtradecal markings
Building the Hasegawa F4U-
For those who have heard the tongue in cheek phrase "AMS" (Advanced Modelling Syndrome)
and wondered what it mean’t, here is a typical manifestation of my own personal "AMS".
I have already built 4 Corsairs and still have quite a few Hasegawa Corsair kits in the stash, plus at least one FROG kit and another Revell kit, so had always intended to build them in different styled markings. Having progressed almost to completion on the 1843 Sqn aircraft, I just couldn't resist digging another box out the stash and using one of the other sets of markings in the Xtradecal set 72209. I do intend to build a few more, but not immediately!
This one is a later issue of the kit (Scalemates suggests 1992), one that I purchased in 1996 (which makes it one of the longest lasting unbuilt kits in the stash!). The kit is subtly different, in that it has separate parts for the engine exhausts, which are rather underwhelmingly moulded on the underside wing surface of the earlier kit. Other than that (and a slightly nicer grey plastic rather than dark blue) it seems the same.
I have applied rather more weathering to this build, since the aircraft were the same batch, only a Pacific year’s worth of weathering and fading later! I also applied a slightly different configuration to the radio antenna, which do seem to have varied between aircraft and operations. This one has the forward mast and longer wire, which you can see from the picture at the end of this page of the earlier aircraft were not fitted during the period that the first model represents.
Link to Website Index:
Link to many more WW2 Fleet Air Arm models on my Flight Deck Pages
Below: with some of my other Corsair models -