Love the patina on that paint scheme. I’ve always held a warm spot for warbirds that wear authentic paint rather than the modern glossy stuff. 8)

A very special request

If you by chance happen across the remains of the RNFAA Corsair reocvered off of the Quilon Coast, PLEASE snap some quality photos of it for me. 😀

The low quality photo at the link below is the only evidence I’ve ever seen of this particular plane.

http://www.warbirdsofindia.com/news01.html

Not really sure where it ended up, but the Sri Lanka museum is as good a guess as any. I also doubt it would be displayed prominently. Might have to ask around, or have a look at their junk piles 🙂 A pic of this plane would be a major score in my book!

The Corsair would have been a GREAT match up for the Fw-190 in my opinion. Both had stellar roll rates and gobs of power, but as the energy of the fight decreased through hard maneuvering, the F4U would most definitely have dominated the 190. Both are ” boom & zoom” type energy fighters as opposed to “turn & burn” maneuvering types like the Spitfire, etc.

The Bf-109 on the other hand would have been a trick for the F4U pilots to master. The 109 had excellent vertical maneuvering capability and big guns (like all German fighters), but as long as the F4U pilots maintained the same discipline used against the Zero, they could use their superior energy-retaining capability to stay above the fight. A 109 attacking from above would demand that the F4U immediately unload all of its potential energy in a dive, use its high-speed handling capability to distance itself from the 109 and bring itself back over the top in hopes the 109 would go for the climbing shot and stall out while hanging underneath. You’d have to be dropping in on the 109 at the same time the 109 was running out of energy to get a definite kill. If the F4U pilot wanted to turn with the 109, he would have only a few seconds of pure advantage using flaps to get inside the circle before his energy dropped below that of the 109, at which point the F4U would be forced to dive out again and repeat. As long as the F4U didn’t allow the fight to drop too close to the deck, he could use this method of “evade and reengage” at will to try and wear down the 109 pilot. In my opinion, favor would still fall to the experienced F4U pilot since he retains the ability to engage and disengage at will.

Few pilots would have traded their Spitfire for an F4U when going up against the 109 simply because the Spit and Corsair enjoy two different types of fighting style. The progression of the Spit and 109 designs were one of the great ongoing matches between “knife fighting” style fighter planes during WWII. Had the F4U actually been employed as a bona fide player in the European Theatre, it’s resulting “energy fighter” match with the Fw-190 would certainly have rivaled that of the 109/Spit scenario! I dare say the ultimate direction of Chance Vought’s design would probably have been dictated far more by requests from the British than by the US Navy as a result. It would have been a marvelous bout!

I believe James Slade actually purchased the Corsair from the OFMC after its arrival in New Zealand. To the best of my knowlege, it’s now part of the Old Stick & Rudder Company collection at the Hood Aerodrome in Waiarapa.

I’ve got photos of the Schneider Hurricanes that I took back around 1990 or so. I believe they were recovered out of Canada and all were basically comprised of only the formed tubing center sections. At the time, the one example now with Cavenaugh was under restoration inside what was previously a 1950’s (Route 66) era gas station. Woodwork to the aft fuselage was being completed at the time.

It was/is a very interesting facility to say the least, and located nowhere near an airport. It’s a lonely little “one-stoplight” town in east Texas named Hawkins. I found the place purely by accident after making a wrong turn traveling down Highway 80. What a suprise to make a turn down this little road and be met head on by a partially disassembled PBY Catalina, TBM, Bolingbroke, UH-1 Huey, seven French Nord trainers, and the hulks of those Hurricanes all shoe-horned into the little grass lot next to that ancient gas station!

I returned about three years later to see what had become of the place, and discovered that Mr. Schneider had erected a full blown aircraft hangar along the south wall of the gas station where those planes had one sat. I snuck inside the unlocked door and was met with the likes of three P-40’s (one of which was lit up in the corner and nearing the end of its restoration), an F9F Panther, the TBM, various military vehicles, a Model T, etc.

As it turns out, Mr. Schneider’s operation was largely centered around performing restoration work for the infamous David Tallichet. At least some of the aforementioned aircraft belonged to Tallichet while the others had been acquired directly by Schneider during various trade deals, etc.

Nowadays, most all of the planes are gone, other than the very surreal display of an F-111(!) which had literally been towed into town by road and parked under a big oak tree by the south wall of the new hangar. The big bomber is privately owned by Schneider and is basically complete minus its engines.

I’ll try to dig up the photos and post them if I can get the time. 🙂

I’d try to preserve the entire airframe if it’s at all possible to do so. The US is converting all of their remaining F-4 airframes into drones and shooting them down as quickly as they can. I figure the type is going to be a very rare beast in the not too distant future. Definitely ultra rare in regard to privately owned examples.

That’s what you’d call a data plate restoration with benefits. 😀