Corsair OE-EAS
Year built
1945
Aircraft
F4U-4 Corsair
Base
Salzburg Airport
The Corsair flown at the Flying Bulls has a storied history: it was one of about 12,500 built models delivered to the US Navy in 1945, but it did not see action. A few years later, it was transferred to Honduras in Latin America where it was in active service until 1965. Then a Texas millionaire purchased it and gave it a complete overhaul in the USA. Its owner flew the plane infrequently in subsequent years. In 1990 he sold it to Sigi Angerer, the former chief pilot of the Flying Bulls, who at that time was searching for good vintage planes purely out of personal interest–and he was able to hammer out an acceptable deal with the millionaire with much patience and finesse. Angerer brought the Corsair, partly by ship, partly flying it himself, to Austria and received flight approval for it here.
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Chance Vought F4U-4 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.
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