Brewster F3A Corsairs

[mike furline]

Here's a couple of pics from the Archives.

F3A #04591, Pax River, March 1944. This plane has a venturi like device mounted on the bottom of the wing, just aft of the insignia bar.

F3A #08638 (JS643) Pax River, Nov. 1944. This plane has the venturi mounted on the gear door. Also, no lead edge stall strip and possibly no guns. I figured they are taped over, but no indentations visible.

Note aileron linkage differences between the two.








Regards,
Mike

Last edited by mike furline on Sun Dec 14, 2008 6:24 am, edited 2 times in total.

[Jerry O'Neill]

The British F2A looks like they used an airbrush to take the guns and spoiler out.
Jerry

[JDK]

Veeeery interesting.

The second aircraft in RN FAA colours looks like the outer wing is much thicker than the standard wing - also the tip, which was clipped on RN Corsairs to get into the RN carrier hangar decks, looks different to that kind, I think.

Here's a deductive guess - a new airfoil wing to improve the low-speed (approach) handling and fit British carriers? (Like most non-Sherlockian deductions, it's probably wrong.)

Thanks for that, I await the solution...

[Chad Veich]

[quote="JDK"]Veeeery interesting.

The second aircraft in RN FAA colours looks like the outer wing is much thicker than the standard wing - also the tip, which was clipped on RN Corsairs to get into the RN carrier hangar decks, looks different to that kind, I think.
[quote]

At first glance it looks like a flying model of a Corsair. They often use a much fatter airfoil out at the tip to make them less prone to tip stall. Plus, most R/C models have an external aileron linkage very much like that of the photo. Not sure what they were attempting but those are definitely some non-standard outer wing panels, and ugly!

[k5083]

James, I agree, and also think the wing might be less tapered, i.e. more nearly constant in chord from wingfold to tip. That would go hand-in-hand with the thickness since thickness must be proportional to chord if the airfoil is the same. Maybe an attempt to make up the wing area lost in the clipping by increasing the chord.

August

[JDK]

Yes, the more you look at that wing, the worse it gets!

That little sharp 'lump' on the leading edge is similar to the item on the Chipmunk l/e inner, where it causes the wing to stall there first, IIRC, to improve the stall or stall warning. Someone better informed can clarify, I hope.

[Jack Cook]

That little sharp 'lump' on the leading edge is similar to the item on the Chipmunk l/e inner, where it causes the wing to stall there first, IIRC, to improve the stall or stall warning. Someone better informed can clarify, I hope.

It's a stall strip. This mod was added to the F4U so the wings would stall at the same time elimating the vicious wing drop.

[Mgawa]

Very informative!!! Thank you Mike very much for this reference topic!

Cheers

[The Inspector]

The British mod appears to be a grafted on cuff attached @ what looks like the front spar on the existing wing and the cuff built up of false ribs and perhaps plywood as a 'quickie' mod to see if handling was better or worse, my bet is much worse which is why we don't see it on production types it probably handled like a steam shovel and was most likely markedly slower and clumsier with the ' big CUB' wing-perhaps a MoD or FAA requested experiment?
Also note that the venturi has been relocated to the R/H mains outer door instead of the outer lower surface panel.

[bdk]

Maybe they installed a drooped leading edge for a lower stall speed?

[merlin101]

Can you confirm the serial number for the FAA Corsair please. Records I have say's that 'JS643' was in UK during Nov'44! Unless pics were taken in the UK of course!!
Dave

[mike furline]

Can you confirm the serial number for the FAA Corsair please. Records I have say's that 'JS643' was in UK during Nov'44! Unless pics were taken in the UK of course!!
Dave

Best I can do,

[merlin101]

OK thanks, any more British FAA Corsairs photo's?
Dave