French Corsairs

[ALU]

Hi,

Here is some pictures of French AU-1 and F4U-7 Corsair.









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Circa 1963, the paint scheme changed. The squadron number was removed giving place to the 3 last digit number of BuAer. The squadron was recognisable to the color of the propeller hub:
White = 14F
Dark Blue = 15F
Light Blue = 12F
Red = 17F
By the end of 1964, all Corsairs were retired and the sound of Crusader J57 would fill the decks til the end of 1999.



Corsair 133722, the last of the Corsair owned by the the navy. There is numerous pics of this airplane. She was refurbish with a -4 cowling by Garry Harris (I guess it was in 1974), then she went with Lindsay Walton at Duxford and at Tillamook where she lost her french Suez campaign paint. I have heard that she has been put for sale?



















The shame apron.The end of the road for most of the french Corsairs. There awaiting scrappers at Cuers naval Air station. Only 4 escaped:
133722 (see above)
133704 (mobile, painted and refurbished as a USMC AU-1)
133693 (painted as US fighter, crashed at Mojavec circa 1980. I don't know what's remain of the wreck)
133710 (painted as Us fighter and name Alberta Blue)
For information, many years later, french navy launch unsuccessfully a sbscription to buy a corsair and to put it in a museum. At that time the were afraid that they were not able to save them. By now most of alize have been scrapped , Etendard and Crusader remainings are in bad shape. Everyting is blocked because of the laws concerning asbestos.
Despite the reasons are different, history is always the same.



The last of the -7. Despite she was an original -5, she becames the 95th F4U-7 built when she was converted to -7 standards. The original engine was removed and replaced by R2800-CB16 (DC7 engine which is more reliable) The cowling and exhaust ring was exchanged with Mobile original 133704 one's. (Does anybody knows what happened to this corsair which was damaged by hurricane Katrina?)
This Corsair has been put for sale by her 3 owners. I did my best to find solutions but by now I can't do anything more. She runs and fly perfectly. I keep my fingers crossed that she will stay in France which is highly uncertain (sorry for my poor English, I am not sure it is the good word!)












Original -7 instrument panel.


The new cockpit. The armaments panels and the gunsight are missing.
The intercooler flap switch is inhibited due to the fact that the super charger has been removed.






Despite it is a -5, two generations of US fighter that definitly marked the French Navy. The F8 has been retired (with alize, Etendard and me in the same package!) in 1999, giving place to fly by wire, computers, glass cockpit... The last of the "gunfighters" is definitly gone!


Bye.

[lestweforget]

Thanks for posting these incredible pictures. Your English is very good. I too hope that Corsair F-AZYS stays in France where it belongs. It is nice to see a Corsair in French markings. Who knows, maybe the one at Tillamook will be returned to French markings one day

[Pat Carry]

Thanks for sharing the Corsair photos!

[Mark Nankivil]

EXCELLENT! Being a lover of the Corsair and the Crusader, I really appreciate your putting these images out for all of us to enjoy!

Any chance you have more Crusaders?

Enjoy the Day! Mark

[viking73]

Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures! I enjoyed seeing them.

[RMAllnutt]

Many thanks for these pictures. If you have any more photos of corsairs in French service, I would love to see them. It is a side of the corsair story rarely seen in the English-speaking world. Loved the color shot from the scrap yard. It's incredibly sad that only three of these beautiful beasts survived until today, especially when you consider that they were still available in the late 1960's. When was the last one scrapped, and why did none make it into the national museum at Le Borget?

All the best,
RIchard

[Django]

Very interesting!

[ALU]

Hi,

Thank you for your messages.
I have first posted some pics in response on the topic "french Hellcat".
Here is some other Corsair pics.
Concerning the Crusader, I will send a new topic in a few weeks, but I have to numerise my pictures first and before this I have to pull them out of storage because I just change of house, and I have most of things in box.
To my mind, the main reason that there is no 50-60's Navy airplane at our national museum (Le Bourget) is that museum was under the managment of French Air Force, and as you must guess, they probably didn't want to see Navy planes in their museum. at That time our navy was not and seems to be still not interested and worried with airplane preservation.

[corsair166b]

Absolutely phenomenal stuff, my friend....welcome to the forum and any and all Corsair postings like this will certainly light the place up...I will assume that you already have your French compatriot Bruno Pautigny's Corsair book that came out a few years ago? If you are not him yourself? I took it to the Corsair gathering at Bridgeport CT a few years ago and got a number of autographs in it (including a picture inside of it that showed Bob McClurg sitting in the cockpit and smiling, a photo he knew was out there but had'nt seen since the war!)

Mark

[JDK]

Great stuff.

I used to really like Lindsay Walton's Corsair on show in the UK in the 80s and 90s, and was sorry when it went to the US; sorrier that it lost that lovely scheme too.

Likewise, let's hope that France can retain an Aeronavalle Corsair; and flying too.

Great to have you 'aboard' the forum!

Regards,

[ALU]

Sorry, I am not M. Pautigny, I am just a Corsair lover who was lucky enough to be involved with Corsair for airshows.
I enlist below the pics that I have post on the topic "french Hellcat".
I would really be interested to have news from Mobile's 133704 which was damaged by hurricane Katrina.
Thanks.

[LAHarve]

ALU many thanks for posting your images, hope you do not mind me adding these of Lindsay Walton’s Corsair, at one time Europe’s only airworthy example and in my opinion one of the most photogenic paint schemes......

[John Kerr]

Here is a photo of F4U-7 133704 after removal from the USS Alabama (due to hurricane damage) awaiting transportation to the USS Midway in California. Photo taken late last year at Pensacola NAS, Fl. Photo by John Kerr

[Matt_in_NC]

All these pictures have been AMAZING! Thanks for all who posted them. On a side note, has anyone else noticed that the -7 had a tailwheel that completely retracted (rather than leaving part of the wheel exposed)? Did the -5 have that same setup? I wonder what was done differently. It sure looks clean in the pictures...that little bump is nicely absent!

[Jerry O'Neill]

Here is a photo of F4U-7 133704 after removal from the USS Alabama (due to hurricane damage) awaiting transportation to the USS Midway in California. Photo taken late last year at Pensacola NAS, Fl. Photo by John Kerr

I thougt the Midway already has an F4U-4 under restoration for display.
Isn't that being a little greedy?
Jerry