Corsair F-AZEG
Year built
1951
Aircraft
F4U-5NL Corsair
Base
Jean-Baptiste Salis Airfield
This exact Corsair was built by Sikorsky with the US Navy Bureau No 124724. It was sold off and allocated civil registration N49051 before being delivered to Honduras in 1956 where it flew with the Fuerza Aerea Hondurena (Honduran Air Force) as ‘FAH-600’. After its military service, it was sold back to the US in 1978 and became NX4901E with a variety of owners before being exported to France in 1986 and being registered F-AZEG. It was grounded and rebuilt between 2007 and 2018 and flew again on the 9th of May 2018, now wearing the markings of VC-3/US Navy.
| Back to Top |
Chance Vought F4U-5NL Corsair
The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft that saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contracts were given to Goodyear, whose Corsairs were designated FG, and Brewster, designated F3A.
The Corsair was designed and operated as a carrier-based aircraft and entered service in large numbers with the U.S. Navy in late 1944 and early 1945. It quickly became one of the most capable carrier-based fighter-bombers of World War II. Some Japanese pilots regarded it as the most formidable American fighter of World War II and its naval aviators achieved an 11:1 kill ratio. Early problems with carrier landings and logistics led to it being eclipsed as the dominant carrier-based fighter by the Grumman F6F Hellcat, powered by the same Double Wasp engine first flown on the Corsair's first prototype in 1940. Instead, Corsair's early deployment was to land-based squadrons of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Navy.
The Corsair served almost exclusively as a fighter-bomber throughout the Korean War and during the French colonial wars in Indochina and Algeria. In addition to its use by the U.S. and British, the Corsair was also used by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, French Naval Aviation, and other air forces until the 1960s.
From the first prototype delivery to the U.S. Navy in 1940 to the final delivery in 1953 to the French, 12,571 F4U Corsairs were manufactured in 16 separate models. Its 1942-1953 production run was the longest of any U.S. piston-engined fighter.
| Back to Top |
| Back to Top |
