... you might like this link:

 

http://celticowboy.com/AV2/index.htm

 

It's a history of Chance Vought, his company, and his aircraft. Much material on the F4U.

 

The cover picture juxtaposes the Corsair, the F4U, and the Corsair II, the A-7. Which reminds me of an anecdote....

 

I was in the instrument stage of the Navy's advanced flight training program at Kingsville TX in 1967 when a hurricane headed our way. I got a call at the BOQ to pack a bag, because I was going on a cross-country series of instrument training flights. All the aircraft, Grumman F-9 Cougars, were to be evacuated.

 

One night during the trip, my instructor and I ended up at the O club bar at NAS Lemoore, then the training squadron for the brand new A-7 Corsair II. My instructor, LCDR Frank Kolbek, was a crusty old veteran, on permanent assignment as a Kingsville flight instructor. He had flown Vought products from the F4U to the F7U, so he'd been around.

 

A young LTJG at the bar learned we were on hurrevac from Kingsville, in Cougars. He let us know, with some smugness, that he had just qualified as a "Corsair pilot."

 

"Oh, yeah? Bubble top or birdcage?" asked LCDR Kolbek. The suitably chastened LTJG bought the next round.

"Oh, yeah? Bubble top or birdcage?" asked LCDR Kolbek. The suitably chastened LTJG bought the next round

 

Another interesting story Stumpwiz, thanks. Back in 1967 I was pulling gun systems (M61A1) out of F-105's and tearing them down, and rebuilding, reinstalling. This was at Korat RTAFB Thailand. Good duty when I could have been out on the flight line humping ordinance in the very very hot sun. I also worked on the B-58 and did weapon loading evaluations on the F-111 at nellis AFB.

I also worked on the B-58 and did weapon loading evaluations on the F-111 at nellis AFB.

 

Once looked inside an F-105 when it was parked on the apron at NAS Miramar. But the F-111!!

 

When I was carrier qualifying in the the F-8 aboard Coral Sea, the Navy's version of the F-111 was undergoing carrier suitability testing.

 

"What 'Navy version'?" you're asking, right? I mean, wasn't SecDef McNamara's idea that we'd save money by having a common aircraft for both Navy and Air Force? Well, yes, that was the idea, but.... The keel the Navy wanted for catapulting and arresting was considered so much dead weight by the USAF. So much for commonality....

 

And as for carrier suitability, the F-111 was too long. When it was positioned on the cat, the jet blast deflector couldn't be raised. That means everything aft of the JBD had to be clear for Aardvark launches :-(. And that was on the Coral Sea! It was even less suitable for the smaller 27-C class carriers (Hancock, Shangri-La, etc.) still operating then.

Yes great story! (keep 'em comin'... beers go on my tab). Thanks for the vought link too... as a kid I dreamed of being a fighter pilot being "inspired" by shows like "Baa Baa Black Sheep". There are a lot of beautiful aircraft that came out of WWII... the F4U has been at the top of that "what a gorgeous design" list for me.

 

Read the first few pages and decided that would be a keeper (ordered from amazon).

 

And as for carrier suitability, the F-111 was too long. When it was positioned on the cat, the jet blast deflector couldn't be raised.

 

:LMAO: great! just great! So just kind of the opposite of a vacuum sweeper... just position one for launch and "jet clean" the deck of fod.

 

 

Back in 1967 I was pulling gun systems (M61A1) out of F-105's and tearing them down, and rebuilding, reinstalling. This was at Korat RTAFB Thailand.

 

Aha! Now we know who to blame for turning Pattaya Beach into a party town! :LMAO: :Just Kidding:

So just kind of the opposite of a vacuum sweeper... just position one for launch and "jet clean" the deck of fod.

 

The destroyer on plane-guard duty might not appreciate the junk you blow onto their deck!

 

Aha! Now we know who to blame for turning Pattaya Beach into a party town! :LMAO: :Just Kidding:

 

I'm getting a headache just thinking about oh-God-thirty ops from Pattaya.

Ok, my own story.

It must have been sometime in 1968 when I was at Nellis AFB that I witnessed a F-111 crash. I can still see it to this day replaying in slow motion in my head. The bird was on finial approach when the nose started to pitch up, it just kept going up past the vertical until the nose went all the way over. At this point the egress rocket fired and the crew compartment seperated from the aircraft, the chutes started to deploy. The aircraft was now heading straight down just off the end of the runway. I can still see the wiring in the nosewell burning and the chutes starting to fully open. Well, the aircraft hit the ground with the insuing fireball, The chutes are now fully open, the crew compartment swung once, twice and hit the ground very near the fireball from what I could see. I might add that it was a Navy pilot and an Australian pilot in the other seat. Yes, they both survived but it was very close. I would say the escape system worked as advertised. True, the F-111 did not work out for the Navy but the Ausses loved it. I do remember hearing that it was some kind of fuel transfer problem that could not be trimed out, but it was a long time ago.

 

Yes, Pattaya Beach was a GOOD time.

My dad was an engineer who worked on designing the chaff dispensers for the F-111. As I recall his stories, they had adjustable shredders so the foil could be made to different sizes to jam different radar frequencies. The main problem they had was getting the foil to punch through the wall of laminar air flow around the air frame. After some wind-tunnel testing, some judiciously placed small fins solved that problem by breaking up that flow just before the dispensers.

 

Of course his best story was about the middle of the night phone call after a Sidewinder warhead broke off during a carrier landing and started rolling around on the deck. My dad had predicted that problem and, thankfully for him, had the documentation to prove it.

I remember once USAF relatives of ours showed us the F-111 I was allowed to sit in the cockpit, quite something (was only small!) Mum took photos (despite being told not too) but discovered films vanished after leaving!