Official FlightLine F4U-1A Corsair 1600mm (63") Wingspan

[davegee]

For any Corsair fans who like to explore the history and development of this classic aircraft, the latest issue (July 2021) of Air & Space Smithsonian magazine has a great article on it.

Of particular note, and one I found fascinating is how they conquered the problem of getting the Corsair safely onto a carrier deck. In a few trials with a test pilot, they met with near disaster as the plane wanted to suddenly and violently drop its left wing and roll to the left, just short of landing on the carrier! This would be a fatal flaw, and early on, the plane was relegated to land based assignments, mostly with the Marines.

The fix seemed to be a little triangular piece of metal, 6 inches long, that they put on the leading edge of the Right wing. It was called a "stall strip" and allowed the right wing to stall at the same time as the left wing, hopefully a couple inches above the deck of the carrier for a safe landing!

I have built several Corsair airplanes large and small, and have always included this stall strip, mainly because I was so impressed how they managed to figure out the problem and save the airplane to be able to land aboard carriers, a primary goal from the very beginning.

I'll attach a photo of the stall strip on my Flightline Corsair, and a couple of photos from the latest A&S Smithsonian article. Well worth reading, if you have the time and interest

[Aros]

Thanks davegee for the tip I'll be sure to grab that edition of A&S. I've known about the stall strip and it's yet another ultra-cool scale feature to add to this and other Corsair models for sure! My question just from a pure aerodynamic perspective is how does it work? How can such a small item on such a large wing span's leading edge have such an aerodynamic effect to cancel a violent left roll tendency? I'm always fascinated how relatively small changes to a wing can have such a drastic effect.

[davegee]

For any Corsair fans who like to explore the history and development of this classic aircraft, the latest issue (July 2021) of Air & Space Smithsonian magazine has a great article on it.

Of particular note, and one I found fascinating is how they conquered the problem of getting the Corsair safely onto a carrier deck. In a few trials with a test pilot, they met with near disaster as the plane wanted to suddenly and violently drop its left wing and roll to the left, just short of landing on the carrier! This would be a fatal flaw, and early on, the plane was relegated to land based assignments, mostly with the Marines.

The fix seemed to be a little triangular piece of metal, 6 inches long, that they put on the leading edge of the Right wing. It was called a "stall strip" and allowed the right wing to stall at the same time as the left wing, hopefully a couple inches above the deck of the carrier for a safe landing!

I have built several Corsair airplanes large and small, and have always included this stall strip, mainly because I was so impressed how they managed to figure out the problem and save the airplane to be able to land aboard carriers, a primary goal from the very beginning.

I'll attach a photo of the stall strip on my Flightline Corsair, and a couple of photos from the latest A&S Smithsonian article. Well worth reading, if you have the time and interest

That's a Very good question, Aros! I'm not sure what the answer is. The plane is carrying quite a bit of power on final approach, flaps at about 50 degrees down, and with the power up and in a nose high pitch attitude, you've got P-Factor working, which is the downward moving blade on the right side of the plane (as seen from the cockpit) causing more lift and wanting to turn the aircraft to the left, and also torque from the engine itself wanting to turn the aircraft to the left, as well. I'm thinking as long as you keep the aircraft above stall speed and use a lot of right rudder on final approach, you'll plop down ok on the deck and catch a wire. But you're very close to a stall, and if you do enter one, the left wing will drop violently and you're done, if you're still behind the boat.

I think the stall strip would help when you're going to make the deck ok, but if you get a stall, the disruption of air on the right wing, with the stall strip will cause the right wing to stall about the same time as the left wing, but hopefully with both wings stalled, you are over the deck and about 2 inches above it to safely land the plane. In any case, even with the stall strip, if you stall the airplane, you definitely want to be above the deck when that happens! The Vought engineers came up with the stall strip design and size with slide rules and probably some wind tunnel tests back home in the USA to arrive at this solution.

The Brits came up with a technique where they would come upwind on the right side of the carrier, make a 180 degree turn so that they are on "left downwind" to the carrier deck, and continuously descend through a 180 degree turn so that the pilot can see the deck and the Landing Signals Officer with the paddles throughout almost the entire approach until straightening out at the last second to align for an arrested landing, chop the power when the LSO signals to, and plop onto the deck and catch a wire to stop. I think our naval aviators from the marines and navy used a similar technique near the final phases of WWII in the Pacific and also Korea. Being that far back with that long nose, it would have been tough to safely land on a carrier deck, but these guys figured it out and did it very well. The F6F Hellcat, on the other hand, you had a pretty stubby nose, and you could Always see over the end of the nose to land on the carrier.

[Aros]

Excellent response, thank you Dave!

[davegee]

Successful Maiden this morning!! I went out early to the field to do the final checks and then try the maiden on my new Flightline Corsair. I don't really like doing the maidens on my own airplanes, prefer to have a better pilot than me at the sticks on that first foray into the air. But, since that isn't possible these days like at my old field, I have to bite the bullet and see how it goes!

The Corsair took off ok, still need to work on the overall flying from takeoff to landing. I did install the 3.5" Robarts for the mains, I think that helped. They got a bit loose by the end of the second flight, although the second landing wasn't all that bad, a two-point, tail low like I usually try to do these warbirds.

I had WAY too much elevator and aileron throw in at first, even in low rates, per the manual. Once I got it back on the ground after the first flight, I dialed them down quite a bit and I think it flew much better.

So, that hurdle has been jumped, now to continue to work on flying it better and getting used to it some more. I now have this plane to add to my FMS 1500mm P-47, and the E-Flite P-51, and Flightline Spitfire that I now fly of the tailwheel warbirds.

Took a few pics at the field of the Corsair with my I phone, not the best for lighting being early morning, but you can at least see it.

Oh, and this being Memorial Day weekend, I couldn't leave out that this plane is based on one flown by the top ace in the Corsair aircraft, Lt., Robert M. Hanson, USMCR. He scored 25 kills in the Corsair in just a matter of months in 1943-44. Sadly, he was shot down on a fighter sweep in the Solomon Islands in early February 1944, the day before his 23rd birthday. He was due to ship home in just a few days. He was awarded the MOH, posthumously.

Cheers

davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Successful Maiden this morning!! I went out early to the field to do the final checks and then try the maiden on my new Flightline Corsair. I don't really like doing the maidens on my own airplanes, prefer to have a better pilot than me at the sticks on that first foray into the air. But, since that isn't possible these days like at my old field, I have to bite the bullet and see how it goes!

The Corsair took off ok, still need to work on the overall flying from takeoff to landing. I did install the 3.5" Robarts for the mains, I think that helped. They got a bit loose by the end of the second flight, although the second landing wasn't all that bad, a two-point, tail low like I usually try to do these warbirds.

I had WAY too much elevator and aileron throw in at first, even in low rates, per the manual. Once I got it back on the ground after the first flight, I dialed them down quite a bit and I think it flew much better.

So, that hurdle has been jumped, now to continue to work on flying it better and getting used to it some more. I now have this plane to add to my FMS 1500mm P-47, and the E-Flite P-51, and Flightline Spitfire that I now fly of the tailwheel warbirds.

Took a few pics at the field of the Corsair with my I phone, not the best for lighting being early morning, but you can at least see it.

Oh, and this being Memorial Day weekend, I couldn't leave out that this plane is based on one flown by the top ace in the Corsair aircraft, Lt., Robert M. Hanson, USMCR. He scored 25 kills in the Corsair in just a matter of months in 1943-44. Sadly, he was shot down on a fighter sweep in the Solomon Islands in early February 1944, the day before his 23rd birthday. He was due to ship home in just a few days. He was awarded the MOH, posthumously.

Cheers

davegee

Congratulations Dave! She sure is a beauty and the perfect way to honor Memorial Day weekend. Semper Fi!

[davegee]

Thanks, Hugh. It's always good on a nice 3 day weekend and the unofficial beginning of summer to remember for a few minutes, the ultimate sacrifices of those who have helped to give us the great country that we have today.

On another subject, do you use the OEM wheels and tires on your Flightline Corsair? If so, do you have any problems with it bouncing on landings? I did years ago with my old one that crashed, but I did replace the OEMs with Robart 3.5" wheels which seemed to help. Thing is, with the Robarts, I have to furnish the sleeve adapter between the steel axle and the diameter of the wheel hub to slide onto the axle. I use a 1/4" diameter aluminum tube to get a good fit between the axle and wheel hub, but it is still a bit sloppy and there is some annoying wobble left and right on each wheel. The stock adapter sleeves that come with the Robart kit don't fit the diameter of the Corsair axle, so you have to use something else.

I had to do the same thing with my E-Flite P-51D 1.5m plane as there was a LOT of bounce on the hard stock tires. But I still have a little wobble in those, too. But ok to keep using for now. I think even with that wobble, it was still better than those hard plastic tires that caused some bad bouncing on landings for me and many others.

davegee

[Hugh Wiedman]

Thanks, Hugh. It's always good on a nice 3 day weekend and the unofficial beginning of summer to remember for a few minutes, the ultimate sacrifices of those who have helped to give us the great country that we have today.

On another subject, do you use the OEM wheels and tires on your Flightline Corsair? If so, do you have any problems with it bouncing on landings? I did years ago with my old one that crashed, but I did replace the OEMs with Robart 3.5" wheels which seemed to help. Thing is, with the Robarts, I have to furnish the sleeve adapter between the steel axle and the diameter of the wheel hub to slide onto the axle. I use a 1/4" diameter aluminum tube to get a good fit between the axle and wheel hub, but it is still a bit sloppy and there is some annoying wobble left and right on each wheel. The stock adapter sleeves that come with the Robart kit don't fit the diameter of the Corsair axle, so you have to use something else.

I had to do the same thing with my E-Flite P-51D 1.5m plane as there was a LOT of bounce on the hard stock tires. But I still have a little wobble in those, too. But ok to keep using for now. I think even with that wobble, it was still better than those hard plastic tires that caused some bad bouncing on landings for me and many others.

davegee

Thanks Dave, but I also use the Robart 3.5" wheels so I have no idea how the OEM wheels respond. I tend to use Robarts in virtually all of my aircraft, or an occasional Hangar Nine Pro Lite, and have acquired an extensive inventory that Tire Kingdom would be jealous of.
Regarding the wheel hubs, I used a very scientific and highly engineered approach. I enlarged the hole of one of the sleeves on my drill press, using the hub that has the largest hole. Can't remember exactly what drill I used, but probably started small and worked my way up till it rotated freely. I may have butchered one or two in the process, but eventually got it done holding the hub with my hand (tried a plyers first but messed it up) and managing not to drill a hole in my fingers. I have to say, there is absolutely no wobble, so I probably just got lucky. I may have also used a collar (5/16th??maybe) with set screw under the wheel spokes, but can't remember if this needed one. I know that I've had to use that collar on several aircraft to hold the Robart in while still being able to insert the wheel spokes on, but just can't remember which aircraft I did that on.

[davegee]

Thanks Dave, but I also use the Robart 3.5" wheels so I have no idea how the OEM wheels respond. I tend to use Robarts in virtually all of my aircraft, or an occasional Hangar Nine Pro Lite, and have acquired an extensive inventory that Tire Kingdom would be jealous of.
Regarding the wheel hubs, I used a very scientific and highly engineered approach. I enlarged the hole of one of the sleeves on my drill press, using the hub that has the largest hole. Can't remember exactly what drill I used, but probably started small and worked my way up till it rotated freely. I may have butchered one or two in the process, but eventually got it done holding the hub with my hand (tried a plyers first but messed it up) and managing not to drill a hole in my fingers. I have to say, there is absolutely no wobble, so I probably just got lucky. I may have also used a collar (5/16th??maybe) with set screw under the wheel spokes, but can't remember if this needed one. I know that I've had to use that collar on several aircraft to hold the Robart in while still being able to insert the wheel spokes on, but just can't remember which aircraft I did that on.

Thanks for the info, Hugh. I'm still experimenting with different washers, other sleeves, maybe try brass instead of a 1/4" diameter aluminum adapter hub that I have now. I'm sure I'll arrive at an acceptable solution at some point. I tightened up my gear set screws and there is still a slight wobble, but probably ok to deal with, for now. I'll try to fly it in the next couple of days again.

Cheers

Dave

[Aros]

Thanks, Hugh. It's always good on a nice 3 day weekend and the unofficial beginning of summer to remember for a few minutes, the ultimate sacrifices of those who have helped to give us the great country that we have today.

Here! Here! Cheers to your wonderful tribute and successful maiden.

[davegee]

Here! Here! Cheers to your wonderful tribute and successful maiden.

Thanks, Aros. I later saw that the photos I took in brilliant sunshine with my I Phone instead of a good SLR camera show the fading on the tops of the wings and stabilizers a lot more noticeable than I had planned. When you look at the plane in normal lighting conditions with the naked eye, it looks much more like the photos you see of these beat up U Birds in the South Pacific in WWII!

They called Bob Hanson "Killer Bob" and a "one man army." He was totally fearless in battle, by all accounts. Not long before his death, he had a landing mishap where his plane flipped over, and his thumb got severed in the process. One of the last photos taken of him was of a heavily bandaged hand, but even that didn't keep him out of the fray. RIP, Bob!

davegee

[KC8REH]

Finally got the Corsair redone in the colors of the FG-1D from the Kalamazoo Airzoo! Takeoff in a 15 mph Left hand crosswind was Not successful. The Damage sofar is the Right retract and Maybe a slightly bent prop shaft. Now to wait for parts!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Finally got the Corsair redone in the colors of the FG-1D from the Kalamazoo Airzoo! Takeoff in 15 mph crosswinds was Not successful. The Damage sofar is the Right retract and Maybe a slightly bent prop shaft. Now to wait for parts!

Bummer, some of us, including me, have been there. Just have to get back up on the horse! I've found that the only crosswind I'll take-off in with the Corsair is a wind coming from the aircrafts right hand side. This directly opposes the Corsairs natural tendency to take a hard left from the prop wash when the tail lifts up and it is easier to keep on the runway than a crosswind from the left, which is almost impossible. On the other hand, that wind from the right also tends to lift the right wing first, which is also the same direction that the Corsair goes in a stall when it drops it's left wing. On second thought, I'll stick with a headwind!

[davegee]

Bummer, some of us, including me, have been there. Just have to get back up on the horse! I've found that the only crosswind I'll take-off in with the Corsair is a wind coming from the aircrafts right hand side. This directly opposes the Corsairs natural tendency to take a hard left from the prop wash when the tail lifts up and it is easier to keep on the runway than a crosswind from the left, which is almost impossible. On the other hand, that wind from the right also tends to lift the right wing first, which is also the same direction that the Corsair goes in a stall when it drops it's left wing. On second thought, I'll stick with a headwind!

I'm good going with the Headwind, or No wind!!👍

[KC8REH]

I'm good going with the Headwind, or No wind!!👍

Today's Crosswind was from the Left! I should have known better than push a bad situation but I wanted to get some flight time on it and also some inflight pics. Oh well, I will get it fixed and try again!

[Hugh Wiedman]

Today's Crosswind was from the Left! I should have known better than push a bad situation but I wanted to get some flight time on it and also some inflight pics. Oh well, I will get it fixed and try again!

That's the attitude! Your Corsair is great looking BTW. From your photos on the runway, looks like you were not using take-off flaps. I would suggest that you take-off without them anyway, if you don't already. It gets up quite early even without them, but that's just a personal preference for me. The Corsair and Spitfire are probably the only birds that I take-off without flaps, but that's probably just me.

[Aros]

Thanks, Aros. I later saw that the photos I took in brilliant sunshine with my I Phone instead of a good SLR camera show the fading on the tops of the wings and stabilizers a lot more noticeable than I had planned. When you look at the plane in normal lighting conditions with the naked eye, it looks much more like the photos you see of these beat up U Birds in the South Pacific in WWII!

They called Bob Hanson "Killer Bob" and a "one man army." He was totally fearless in battle, by all accounts. Not long before his death, he had a landing mishap where his plane flipped over, and his thumb got severed in the process. One of the last photos taken of him was of a heavily bandaged hand, but even that didn't keep him out of the fray. RIP, Bob!

davegee

Oh trust me I am well aware of your prowess when it comes to detailing and weathering the Corsair. I can only imagine how fantastic she looks in person. And for the record I still thought she looked pretty damn amazing in those shots!

Bob Hanson, like other aces in WWII were just cut from a different cloth. I think about the current young generation and I don't think they could even find their way to ground school because that would involve having to take a breath and look up from their smart phones.

Sigh.

[f4u ausie]

Both these new corsairs look awsome.. never seen the kalimazoo scheme..b4... I too am not a fan of crosswind... I fly at an industrial park . So i just launch an land into head wing... Guess thats why im nervous about a cross.... Practice i guess and better rudder skill

[rifleman_btx]

Cross wind with jets isn't as bad, but with the warbirds it definitely makes for some challenging times!

[davegee]

Cross wind with jets isn't as bad, but with the warbirds it definitely makes for some challenging times!

totally agree!!👍