Corsair Canopy Question

[corsair166b]

By 'full blown' I am assuming you mean one piece of glass with no supports other than the canopy framing itself holding the glass in place.

Let's take into consideration that F4U-4's were in service basically for the last 6 months of the war, but are best known for post war and Korean service. That would imply that the blown glass canopied -4 model DID see service in WWII. Remember, the war went on until Aug/Sept 1945, right past your date of Jan 1 1945....it just might not have shown up in that manual at that time as the F4U-4 was just getting into the swing of things at that point.

Where's Rob Mears when you need him? Probably in a recording studio playing guitar somewhere...

Mark

[RMAllnutt]

By 'full blown' I am assuming you mean one piece of glass with no supports other than the canopy framing itself holding the glass in place.

Let's take into consideration that F4U-4's were in service basically for the last 6 months of the war, but are best known for post war and Korean service. That would imply that the blown glass canopied -4 model DID see service in WWII. Remember, the war went on until Aug/Sept 1945, right past your date of Jan 1 1945....it just might not have shown up in that manual at that time as the F4U-4 was just getting into the swing of things at that point.

Where's Rob Mears when you need him? Probably in a recording studio playing guitar somewhere...

Mark

Hi Mark sorry, I meant to say Dec.1st, 1945 as in an earlier posting. yes, I did mean single piece glass. Does anyone have any photos of F4U-4's in service during WWII?

Cheers,
Richard

[Rob Mears]

As for the single-piece canopy being used during WWII, just have a look at any of the newly deployed “-1D” types sent to take part in the Japanese mainland strikes. The USS Bunker Hill was deployed in January 1945 with a full contingent of fresh -1D Corsairs and they all had the single-piece canopy. The photos that Jack Cook has posted of his cousin’s VMF-112 F4U-1D aboard the USS Bennington also show a single piece canopy, just to name a couple. Also VMF-216 aboard the USS Wasp (2-1945), VMF-511 aboard USS Block Island (2-1945), VMF-323 on Okinawa (8-1945), etc.

As for the F4U-4, to the best of my knowledge, no production F4U-4 ever wore the two-brace canopy. The earliest one I can find a picture of is BuNo.81377 while still at the factory and it has the single piece blown canopy.

FWIW, the sole surviving XF4U-4 (BuNo.80759) had a single piece canopy when it was pulled from long term storage back in the 1960’s, but it could easily have been swapped at some point prior to being cocooned.

The F4U-4X (BuNo.49753) is the only “-4” type I can find that wore the two-brace canopy, and that’s because it was actually a modified F4U-1A.

[mike furline]

Per Vought tech. manual, the clear blown canopy (no bars) was Master Change Request 503, was incorporated on and subsequent to airplane 3325 (BuNo. 92064).

Per F4U Corsair by Nick Veronico with John M. & Donna Campbell, "F4U-4 BuNo 81759-81778, 81829 and subsequent incorporated the flat bulletproof windscreens". These would also use a different type sliding canopy. The lead edge frame had a flat spot on top to match the windscreen.

Regards,
Mike

[Rob Mears]

My notes obviously don't trump the Vought Tech Manual, but the record I have shows that the single-piece canopy reportedly began with F4U-1D BuNo.57583. I know that single-piece canopied F4U-1D's in the 57xxx range went aboard the USS Bunker Hill during January 1945 for their Pacific combat cruise (the earliest I have documented on board being 57585), and that particular aircraft left the production line on July 30, 1944.

As an example, Roger Hedrick of "Jolly Rogers" fame was flying F4U-1D BuNo.57803 with VMF-221 aboard the USS Bunker Hill when he scored his final kills, and other than four months of 'pool' storage in San Diego, VMF-221 was the plane's first active assignment. I imagine the fresh planes in storage could have received post-factory retrofits before being earmarked for frontline combat but then I discovered this...

BuNo.92064 (as noted in the Vought Tech Manual) would have rolled off the line within a day of BuNo.92081, which records show was accepted by the US Navy on May 16, 1945. Single-piece canopied Corsairs had been embroiled in combat for months prior to that date, so I suppose the mystery continues?

PS - I just checked out some old photos of Bob Odegaard's F4U-4 BuNo.81857 in the condition it was in after being exhumed in the late 1970's. It has the early windscreen installed!

[mike furline]

My notes obviously don't trump the Vought Tech Manual, but the record I have shows that the single-piece canopy reportedly began with F4U-1D BuNo.57583. I know that single-piece canopied F4U-1D's in the 57xxx range went aboard the USS Bunker Hill during January 1945 for their Pacific combat cruise (the earliest I have documented on board being 57585), and that particular aircraft left the production line on July 30, 1944.

As an example, Roger Hedrick of "Jolly Rogers" fame was flying F4U-1D BuNo.57803 with VMF-221 aboard the USS Bunker Hill when he scored his final kills, and other than four months of 'pool' storage in San Diego, VMF-221 was the plane's first active assignment. I imagine the fresh planes in storage could have received post-factory retrofits before being earmarked for frontline combat but then I discovered this...

BuNo.92064 (as noted in the Vought Tech Manual) would have rolled off the line within a day of BuNo.92081, which records show was accepted by the US Navy on May 16, 1945. Single-piece canopied Corsairs had been embroiled in combat for months prior to that date, so I suppose the mystery continues?

PS - I just checked out some old photos of Bob Odegaard's F4U-4 BuNo.81857 in the condition it was in after being exhumed in the late 1970's. It has the early windscreen installed!

Maybe I made a mistake? I used #3325 from Goodyear. Was there a #3325 from Vought as well?

[Rob Mears]

I'm really not sure. I can't make any of the numbers match up. F4U-1A BuNo.17799 (Planes of Fame) is serial #3884 which is near the beginning of the F4U-1A series. Counting back from there to serial #3325 would put us way back in the four-digit F4U-1 Bureau Numbers. Other than photographic evidence, I'm not sure where else to look for the facts on this one.

[mike furline]

I'm really not sure. I can't make any of the numbers match up. F4U-1A BuNo.17799 (Planes of Fame) is serial #3884 which is near the beginning of the F4U-1A series. Counting back from there to serial #3325 would put us way back in the four-digit F4U-1 Bureau Numbers. Other than photographic evidence, I'm not sure where else to look for the facts on this one.

Maybe it's as simple as the canopy unit became available sooner than expected.???

I started digging in my Corsair pics,
BuNo. 57432 with the bar canopy.
BuNo. 57608 (pic taken Jan. 31, 1945) single piece canopy.
BuNo. 57632 (pic taken Dec. 4, 1944) single piece canopy.