Corsairs in Europe

Hi All,

Heres an B&W I took while over on that side of the pond.

Sorry for the fussyness of the photo if I find the Neg. I’ll repost it.

Cheers Crazymainer

The one which was completely destroyed is the Cavanaugh Corsair (F4U-4). I believe the remains have been sold to John.

The Cavenaugh plane (previously with Doug Arnold) now resides in a closed hangar at the airport in Breckenridge, Texas. It was one of three non-flying Corsairs purchased by Jim Frye back in 2002. The other two were Howard Pardue’s F4U-4 (BuNo.97302) which he crashed landed back in 1993, and the “F4U-4” reconstruction project from Reiley Aviation Kissimmee, Florida.

Mr. Frye’s original plan was to quickly restore the ex-Pardue F4U-4 to basic airworthy condition, then take the time to restore the Cavenaugh machine to 100% stock configuration. That plan has now changed, and the ex-Pardue Corsair restoration (which has been underway for a couple years now) will be receiving all of the extra attention and returned to stock config. I’m not sure where that leaves the ex-Cavenaugh Corsair in regard to its future return to flight status. The owner has kept the restoration efforts moving along at a snail’s pace, which is probably why one reason why the extra effort is now being stepped up on the ex-Pardue project.

The third (Kissimmee) plane was never truly a candidate for return to the skies. The previous work done to the plane was way out of spec, so it’s now been earmarked for use as the primary parts source for the other two planes.

Outstanding article, thanks for pointing me towards it. 🙂

Whiskey Delta,

I suggest you to read the following article written by Dennis Bergstrom: Bent-wing History DB

Ben

Thanks Ben. Those folks at Airpower Unlimited did and outstanding job, they should be proud. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Gary Koh will bring out his aircraft in the future. It did fly during this summers event. 🙁

edit: Wow, I just looked at the Airpower Unlimited website. Those folks have done some outstanding restorations. It seems that they have a knack for the FG-1 as they have 4 restorations on their resume as well as 1 F4U.

Hi Whiskey Delta,

I believe it’s Gary Kohs FG-1D Corsair. It has been rebuild by Airpower Unlimited of Jerome, Idaho. Its BuNo is 92106 and she is registered as N106FG.

Ben

Don’t mean to butt in to your European Corsair discussion but I was wondering if any of you would know something about this Corsair. This particular FG-1 was the star of the annual airshow at the Akron-Fulton airport which is the location of the old Goodyear Corsair factory (quite a home coming 🙂 ). Talking to one of the volunteers there I was told that this FG-1 was recently restored to it’s immaculate condition under the financing of her private owner. This appearance was it’s first public appearance since being competed and was going to be flown home never to be seen as the owner doesn’t plan to participate in any other airshows.

Does anyone know the history of this particular aircraft (I don’t have the serial # sorry) and will we never see her again?

here some of my pics of the 3 French Corsair

F4U-5NL, F-AZEG (Jean Salis, La Ferté)

Photo : La Ferté Alais 2003

F4U-4, F-AZJV (Christophe Jacquard, Dijon)

photo : Flying Legends 2004, pilot : C. Goujon

F4U-7, F-AZYS (Semendise, Avignon)

Photo : Orange air show 2004. Pilot : Ramon Josa

Here all the Corsair photo of my site :

http://pegase.foxalpha.com/search.php?Family=2

Franck

Yak 11 Fan:”Other than the former Warbids of Great Britain Machine which if I’m not mistaken was the one which hit Howard Pardue’s Bearcat at Oshkosh some years ago and destroyed itself. I know at the time the pilot survived the crash however I have heard nothing since, has anyone else??”

IIRC,the aircraft has been repaired and flown again in the last few months,there was certainly a short news item about the resurection of a Cavanaugh-owned Corsair in Aeroplane a few months back,although I don’t have the copy to hand at the moment.I’m 99% certain it was the machine involved on the Oshkosh accident.
As for the pilot,he suffered severe back injuries and will almost certainly never walk again. Sadly,the incident was dragged through the American legal system,the Bearcat and Corsair pilots both blaming eachother for the accident and demanding compensation etc. I don’t know what the final outcome of the proceedings was.

Sorry Y11F, please ignore my message then… 🙁

Ben

It was the F4U-4 I was refering to. I know the F4U-5 got away with it. At one point WoGB had the FG1-D, F4U-4 & F4U-5

Y11F,

The former Warbids of Great Britain machine (N179PT) was not destroyed when the OSH accident took place. She substained some damages but was flying again in 2000.
The one which was completely destroyed is the Cavanaugh Corsair (F4U-4). I believe the remains have been sold to Jim Frye.

Maybe Corsair guru (Rob Mears) could confirm this info.

Ben

With the exception of the ex-Walton dash -7 model (because it rarely if ever flies/is seen), most of the ex-UK Corsairs are doing great over here

Other than the former Warbids of Great Britain Machine which if I’m not mistaken was the one which hit Howard Pardue’s Bearcat at Oshkosh some years ago and destroyed itself. I know at the time the pilot survived the crash however I have heard nothing since, has anyone else??

Hmmm. I’ve never seen that 2nd generation paint scheme on the OFMC’s N240CA. Looks like they simply exchanged the star in the original insignia for a nonstandard RNFAA roundel, before eventually repainting the plane in RNZAF colors.

Any idea how long the plane operated in that configuration? Did it ever fly while those RNFAA roundels were applied?

1 = N1337A
2 = N179PT
3+4 = F-AZVJ
5 = F-AZEG

Some of my Corsair pics, 1-4= G-BXUL, 5+6 =G-FGID, 7 = G-CCMV, 8-10 = N240CA.

AH…Mr. Bergstrom , I presume…thought it was with Brian Reynolds, or so I put to the caption with your photo?

Mark

Mark, Brian has the ex CWH FG-1D. Dennis

Then there was the OFMC’s FG-1D (see separate thread!), Doug Arnold’s F4U-5, Lindsey Walton’s magnificent F-4U-7 (my all-time favourite! 🙂 ), OFMC’s short-lived F4U-4 that returned to the USA…….

Don’t forget the late Paul Morgan’s Corsair G-CCMV 🙂

AH…Mr. Bergstrom , I presume…thought it was with Brian Reynolds, or so I put to the caption with your photo?

Mark

2.F4U-5 F-AZYS, Claude Semenadise

Does anyone have any background on Claude Semendaise? I still have Paul Franceschi listed as the man in charge at Les Ailes de l’Aéro. More info in general concerning this organization would be great to learn.

As I’ve understood it, the Association Française d’Avions Historiques became Les Ailes de l’Aéro as a result of a name change only. Does anyone know if ownership of the plane has actually changed hands during this time?