Royal Navy Aircraft - WW2 Part 5

Chance-Vought F-4UCorsair

Chance Vought Corsair Mk.1, Roosevelt Field, New York, 1943.

This is the Hasegawa F4U-1 kit, with "birdcage" canopy.  (Link to build page) The white numbers on the cowling were applied to identify aircraft on the ground and were mostly based on the 3 last numbers of the aircraft’s RN serial.   

Mk.1 Corsairs did not see combat with the RN, but after training in the US, then delivery to the UK, they remained in service as trainers.

Corsairs began to be delived to FAA units in June 1943. Royal Navy Squadrons conducted initial training and work-up in the US at NAS Quonset Point and NAS New Brunswick, before being ferried to the UK by sea.

Initial deliveries of Mk.1 Cosairs, wih their "birdcage" canopy were quickly replaced by later marks with a blown bubble canopy and trimmed wing-tips to allow their stowage in the cramped hangars of the Royal Navy's carriers.  

The Royal Navy operated more than 2,000 Corsairs of all types during WW2, including 95 Corsair Mk.I (F4U-1), 510 Corsair Mk.II (F4U-1A or D), 430 Corsair Mk.III (F3A-1 and 1D) plus 857 Corsair Mk.IV ((FG.1A and 1D).  

Mk.III Corsairs were built by Brewster and as result of their very poor quality were unable to be used in combat, which led the USN to cancel the contract and liquidate Brewster’s business.

Chance Vought Corsair Mk.II, 1836 Sqn Fleet Air Arm, HMS VICTORIOUS

Operation Tungsten, Attack on the Tirpitz, Kaafjord, Norway, April 1944.

This is the Hobbyboss kit with some very minor modifications and decals from my spares box. In deference to Vought's apparent use of substitute paints instead of normal FAA colours, I have used a lighter grey and olive drab instead of Extra Dark Sea Grey and Dark Slate Grey  (Link to build page).

Operation Tungsten took place in April 1944, a massed attack on the Battleship Tirpitz which was anchored and undergoing repairs in Kaafjord in Northern Norway.  This anchorage provided an ideal base from which she could slip out to sea and attack allied convoys  heading to the Soviet Union.   The attack was successful, with 15 bombs hitting the ship and disabling her such that a further 3 months of repairs were needed before she was ready for sea once more.  Four RN aircraft ad 9 aircrew were lost during the attack.  

Corsairs, Wildcats and Hellcats provided air cover and strafed coastal air defence batteries to allow Fairey Barracuda bombers to strike the ship.  

Vought/Goodyear FG-1D Corsair IV, 1841 Sqn HMS FORMIDABLE,

British Pacific Fleet, 1945.

Hasegawa's Corsair is a straightforward and well executed kit. Decals are from the box, although I have substituted Modeldecal roundels since the Hasegawa colours weren't quite right (no roundel blue border).

Later RN Corsairs were built by Goodyear and designated FG-1 / Corsair IV.  Supplied directly to the BPF in the Pacific, they arrived wearing standard US Gloss Sea Blue airframe colours.  Some of these aircraft were plumbed to fit twin fuel tanks (or bombs) below the fuselage centre section.

This aircraft represents that flown Lt Robert Hampton "Hammy" Gray VC, of the Royal Canadian Navy, one of 2 FAA recipients of the Victoria Cross during WW2.   Gray was killed during an attack on ships just off the Japanese coast.

Citation for Victoria Cross

"For great bravery in leading an attack to within 50 feet of a Japanese destroyer in the face of intense anti-aircraft fire, thereby sinking the destroyer although he was hit and his own aircraft on fire and finally himself killed. He was one of the gallant company of Naval Airmen who, from December 1944, fought and beat the Japanese from Palembang to Tokyo. The actual incident took place in the Onagawa Wan on the 9th of August 1945. Gray was leader of the attack which he pressed home in the face of fire from shore batteries and at least eight warships. With his aircraft in flames he nevertheless obtained at least one direct hit which sank its objective.

Lieut. R.H. Gray, D.S.C., R.C.N.V.R., of Nelson, B.C., flew off the Aircraft Carrier, HMS Formidable on August 9th 1945, to lead an attack on Japanese shipping in Onagawa Wan (Bay) in the Island of Honshu, Mainland of Japan. At Onagawa Bay the fliers found below a number of Japanese ships and dived into attack. Furious fire was opened on the aircraft from army batteries on the ground and from warships in the Bay. Lieut. Gray selected for his target an enemy destroyer. He swept in oblivious of the concentrated fire and made straight for his target. His aircraft was hit and hit again, but he kept on. As he came close to the destroyer his plane caught fire but he pressed to within 50 feet of the Japanese ship and let go his bombs. He scored at least one direct hit, possibly more. The destroyer sank almost immediately. Lieutenant Gray did not return. He had given his life at the very end of his fearless bombing run."

Vought/Goodyear FG-1D Corsair IV, 1843 Sqn HMS ARBITER,

British Pacific Fleet, 1945.

Built in 20 mins (genuinely), painting took another 4 evenings. This is the best of the 3 Hobby Boss kits I have built so far, going together perfectly without the need for any filler at all (even the wing roots). Decals are the left-overs from the Hasegawa kit. A few minor problems; I am not clear whether the RN Corsairs ever actually carried rockets or twin fuel tanks (although the FG-1D was definitely wired/plumbed for them), and the canopy looks too high (at least alongside my Hasegawa one) but apart from that, I think it compares very favourably with the Hasegawa offering, at less than half the price!

This particular aircraft of 1843 Sqn was embarked on escort carrier HMS ARBITER, assigned to protect the British Pacific Fleet's essential logistic "Fleet Train". Of particular note is the (partial) reinstatement of proper British red, white & blue roundels, although those on the fuselage still include a white centre to distinguish them from Japanese markings.

Just to confuse things, whilst the white X on the 1841 Sqn Corsair above indicates that the Aircraft belongs to the HMS FORMIDABLE Carrier Air Group, the red X on this one is simply an aircraft specific deck code.

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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 the rapid technological development of the previous 4 years of war.

Perhaps the most capable of these aircraft was the 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-mannered flying characteristics were deemed by US authorities unsuitable to fly from carriers, so the aircraft were delivered to US Marine units to operate from shore bases. In this role they were highly successful, but in the meantime the British Fleet Air Arm were desperate for more capable aircraft.  The Corsair was the best they could get so British pilots developed effective methods of operating the Corsair at sea, including a long sweeping approach pattern (similar to that used on their Seafires) that allowed the pilot to see the carrier deck over the Corsair's long nose.  Modifications to the cockpit including a raised bubble canopy and less bouncy undercarriage oleos completed the transformation into a highly effective naval fighter.

Corsairs saw their first combat operations with the Royal Navy on 2 April 1944, when 1834 and 1836 Squadrons onboard HMS VICTORIOUS provided fighter cover for Operation Tungsten using the Corsair Mk.II.  From the Corsair Mk.II onward, wing tips on the RN aircraft were also "clipped" to allow stowage below decks in the rather more cramped conditions of the British carriers. Two different modifications were used, one providing slightly more “clipping” than the other.  

A total of 2,012 Corsairs were supplied to the Fleet Air Arm from the factories of Vought, Brewster and Goodyear.

Sadly, at the end of WW2 most were dumped at sea as a condition of Lend-lease.

Chance Vought Corsair Mk.II, 1834 Sqn Fleet Air Arm,

47 Fighter Wing, HMS VICTORIOUS, British Eastern Fleet, Indian Ocean

Operation Crimson, Sabang, Lhoknga, Kutaraja, Indonesia, July 1944.

This is the Hasegawa F4U-1D kit with decals from Xtradecal set 72209.  (Link to build page).

Operation crimson was one of the first major Fleet Air Arm operations in the Indian Ocean as the Royal Navy began the fightback against Japanese expansion westward. Eastern Fleet Task Force 62, using carriers HMS VICTORIOUS and HMS ILLUSTRIOUS attacked Japanese airfields, harbours and ships in occupied Indonesia.

The Corsairs of the force were the same used in the attacks on the Tirpitz, by now wearing the subdued small size Eastern Fleet markings  with  red markings painted over to avoid confusion with Japanese forces.

Chance Vought Corsair Mk.II, 1834 Sqn Fleet Air Arm,

47 Fighter Wing, HMS VICTORIOUS, British Pacific Fleet

Attacks on Sakishima Gunto, Okinawa, Japan March 1945.

This is the same Hasegawa F4U-1D kit as above with decals from Xtradecal set 72209.  (Link to build page).  I have weathered this aircraft much more than the previous two, since after a year at sea on continuous operations, the effects of the tropical sun were plain to sea.

In late 1944, HMS VICTORIOUS and her squadrons were detached form the Eastern Fleet to become the new British Pacific Fleet for the final push to Japan.   Eastern Fleet markings were replaced by a new larger roundel that still had no red markings, but now included a white US-style bar to reduce the chances of friendly fire from US ships and ground forces.  

The BPF was given sole responsibility for operations over the Sakashima islands to suppress Japanese air activity during the attack on Okinawa.   By attacking the airfields from which Japanese Kamikaze aircraft were operating, the Fleet Air Arm was to reduce the number of these aircraft  reaching the US Fleet during the Iwo Jima landings and later .   The cost was high with all of the British Fleet carriers being hit by Kamikazes, but thanks to their armoured flight decks and heroic damage control activities by their crews, they were able to resume flying operations shortly afterwards.