Combat Veteran Corsairs

[Pat Carry]

Do any of the surviving Corsairs have combat time in either WW2 or Korea? I'm not sure if this has been discussed here before or not.

[RMAllnutt]

Do any of the surviving Corsairs have combat time in either WW2 or Korea? I'm not sure if this has been discussed here before or not.

Most of the -4's and -5's have combat time in Korea (and a few in Honduras/El Salvador). Some of the FG-1D's have combat in Honduras/El Savador. None of the -1's have WWII confirmed combat time, although parts of some do... with the exception of the F4U-1 recently recovered from Vanuatu.

Cheers,
Richard

[Taigh Ramey]

The Flying Heritage Collection's FG-1D BuNo 88303 is a combat veteran and flew with VMF-115, Joe Foss' outfit.

I was doing some initial research on this Corsair and squadron for FHC and I went to one of the reunions where I met many of the squadron members as well as Mr. Foss.

I was able to contact several pilots who flew 88303 in combat at the reunion and through other methods.

One of the most striking things was how every member of VMF-115 spoke with such high regard and the utmost respect for Mr. Foss. He was bigger than life and yet to talk to him he came across as just a regular Joe. What an honor.

In 1995 I witnessed and filmed this very Corsair take off from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 in commemoration of the end of WWII. We were off of the coast of Oahu. She also launched of the deck again for fleet week in San Fransisco.

I can still see Ed Shipley taking off of the deck with the canopy back and a stogie clenched in his teeth!

[jdvoss]

I've attached to link to a Wikipedia site for Surviving Corsairs. It's a good start for finding surviving war veterans. I noted at least five former RNZAF Corsairs listed which are probably good candidates as war veterans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chance-Vou ... _survivors

[RMAllnutt]

The Flying Heritage Collection's FG-1D BuNo 88303 is a combat veteran and flew with VMF-115, Joe Foss' outfit.

I was doing some initial research on this Corsair and squadron for FHC and I went to one of the reunions where I met many of the squadron members as well as Mr. Foss.

I was able to contact several pilots who flew 88303 in combat at the reunion and through other methods.

One of the most striking things was how every member of VMF-115 spoke with such high regard and the utmost respect for Mr. Foss. He was bigger than life and yet to talk to him he came across as just a regular Joe. What an honor.

In 1995 I witnessed and filmed this very Corsair take off from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 in commemoration of the end of WWII. We were off of the coast of Oahu. She also launched of the deck again for fleet week in San Fransisco.

I can still see Ed Shipley taking off of the deck with the canopy back and a stogie clenched in his teeth!

Very interesting Taigh... I had no idea that any of the surviving complete corsairs had proven combat heritage. I'm really glad to hear that. When did 88303 make it out to VMF-115, and did you meet any of the pilot's who'd flown her? It must have been quite something to chat with so many of them.

I agree, Joe Foss, on the couple of times I met him was a truly down to earth and decent man. All of those myriad accomplishments didn't seem to have affected his sensibilities.

I noted at least five former RNZAF Corsairs listed which are probably good candidates as war veterans.

None of the RNZAF FG's arrived in time to see combat, and the two F4U survivors listed saw no action, having served exclusively in New Zealand in training units... they are very incomplete airframes also. Interestingly, one of the NZ birds sold a few years back had the rear fuselage of an F4U-1 birdcage, which I believe was recovered from a Pacific island back in the 70's... so clearly that aircraft had seen some combat... although it too was only a partial airframe.

Cheers,
Richard

PS. I know I've also seen it noted that F4U-1D Bu.82640 and F4U-1A Bu.17799 served in combat units, but I don't think there is conclusive proof in either case.

[corsairboss]

Combat Veteran Corsair..Korean War.

[jet1]

I think the super corsair lost at the phoenix 500 air race had combat history including bullet hole repairs....

[51fixer]

The Flying Heritage Collection's FG-1D BuNo 88303 is a combat veteran and flew with VMF-115, Joe Foss' outfit.

I was doing some initial research on this Corsair and squadron for FHC and I went to one of the reunions where I met many of the squadron members as well as Mr. Foss.

I was able to contact several pilots who flew 88303 in combat at the reunion and through other methods.

One of the most striking things was how every member of VMF-115 spoke with such high regard and the utmost respect for Mr. Foss. He was bigger than life and yet to talk to him he came across as just a regular Joe. What an honor.

In 1995 I witnessed and filmed this very Corsair take off from the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 in commemoration of the end of WWII. We were off of the coast of Oahu. She also launched of the deck again for fleet week in San Fransisco.

I can still see Ed Shipley taking off of the deck with the canopy back and a stogie clenched in his teeth!

I worked for Ed on this Corsair. I also was involved in the pre-purchase insp for him when I worked for John Muszala.
This A/C has logs from day 1 and lists combat missions, the carrier that transported it to combat and pilots who flew the missions.
It was also damaged in a belly landing at Glenview NAS and has reports of the cause, ect.
Interesting is that when I worked on it I found scrape marks on the lower landing gear and on the heads of clevis bolts in that area from that landing.
Rich