F2G Corsair

Infobox Aircraft
name= F2G "Super" Corsair
type= Carrier-based fighter aircraft
manufacturer= Goodyear


caption= F2G-1 "Super" Corsair #88458, painted as Race #57, owned by Bob Odergaard of Kindred, North Dakota, flying at the 2005 AirVenture at Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
designer= Rex Beisel
first flight= 15 July 1945
introduced= 1945
retired= 1945
primary user= United States Navy
more users= Numerous air racers
produced=
number built=10
unit cost=
developed from= F4U Corsair
variants with their own articles=

The Goodyear F2G "Super" Corsair was a development by the Goodyear Aircraft Company of the FG-1/F4U-1 Corsair design as a special low-altitude version of a fighter equipped with a Pratt & Whitney R-4360 twenty-eight cylinder, four row radial air-cooled engine. Although often cited that the origin of the aircraft was as an interceptor of low-flying Japanese suicide airplanes, its actual beginnings came about in 1939 when the Pratt and Whitney company first proposed its enormous new engine. Thus the F2G lineage was tied to its engine design rather than tactical requirements. [ Pautigny 2003, p.76.]

Design and development

Using experience from building the fixed-wing FG-1, a version of the folding wing F4U-1 Corsair, in early 1944, Goodyear extensively modified a standard FG-1 airframe, designated the XF2G-1, to take advantage of the 50% increase in take-off power provided by the R-4360 engine. In addition, an all-round vision bubble-type canopy was installed. In March 1944, Goodyear was awarded a contract to deliver 418 F2G-1 and 10 F2G-2 aircraft. The F2G-2 version included modifications for carrier operations.

Armament provisions included alternative wing-mounted installations for four or six 0.5 inch (12.7 mm) machine guns and eight 5 inch (127 mm) rockets or two 1,000 or 1,600 lb (450 or 725 kg) bombs. The internal fuel capacity was increased greatly over that of the FG-1, and provisions were provided to carry two droppable external tanks.

By the end of the war in August 1945, only five each of the F2G-1 and F2G-2 aircraft were completed. Testing revealed deficiencies in lateral control and insufficient speed, which were bars to further development of the aircraft. Thus, further production of the fighters was canceled.

Racing

Only three of the "Super Corsairs" are still in existence:

* F2G-1 BuNo 88454, the first production aircraft, was acquired from the Marine Corps by the Champlin Fighter Museum, and later came to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington, with the rest of the Champlin collection. [http://www.museumofflight.org/Collection/Aircraft.asp?RecordKey=6A15B017-325E-4A52-A5D7-C12E95AEC233]
* The fifth F2G-1, BuNo 88458, was purchased by Cook Cleland, who went on to finish third in the 1949 Thompson Trophy Race and first in the 1949 Tinnerman Trophy Race. Over time, the plane, registered as NX5588N, went from owner to owner and slowly deteriorated. Finally, in 1996, NX5588N was purchased by Bob Odegaard of North Dakota, and was returned to airworthy condition in 1999. The aircraft is currently on loan to the Fargo Air Museum. [http://www.odegaardaviation.homestead.com/aircraft.html] Odegaard raced the plane in the Unlimited class at the Reno Air Races from 2006 to 2008 [cite web|url=http://www.airrace.org/databaseAbout.php|title=race results database|accessdate=2008-09-24|date=2008-09-24|publisher=Reno Air Racing Association|language=English] and it was featured in the movie Thunder Over Reno. [cite web|url=http://www.thunderoverreno.com/hardware|title= Thunder over Reno -HARDWARE-
accessdate=2008-09-24|language=English]
* Odegaard is currently restoring F2G-2 BuNo 88463, also of air racing fame, for a static display.

pecifications (F2G-2)

aircraft specifications

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop

crew=1
length main=33 ft 9 in
length alt=10.3 m
span main=41 ft
span alt=12.5 m
height main=16 ft 1 in
height alt=4.9 m
area main=314 ft²
area alt=29 m²
empty weight main=10,249 lb
empty weight alt=4,649 kg
loaded weight main=13,346 lb
loaded weight alt=6,054 kg
max takeoff weight main=15,422 lb
max takeoff weight alt=6,995 kg

engine (prop)=Pratt & Whitney R-4360-4 "Wasp Major"
type of prop=28-cylinder radial engine
number of props=1
power main=3,000 hp
power alt=2,200 kW

max speed main=431 mph
max speed alt=374 knots, 694 km/h
max speed more=at 16,400 ft (5,000 m)
range main=1,955 mi
range alt=1,699 nm, 3,146 km
range more=with external tanks
ceiling main=38,800 ft
ceiling alt=11,800 m
climb rate main=7,000 ft/min
climb rate alt=35.6 m/s
loading main=42.5 lb/ft²
loading alt=208 kg/m²
power/mass main=0.22 hp/lb
power/mass alt=370 W/kg

guns=4× .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, 400 rounds/gun
rockets=8× 5 in (127 mm) rockets "or"
bombs=1,600 lb (725 kg)

ee also

aircontent
related=
* F4U Corsair

similar aircraft=
* F8F Bearcat
* Hawker Sea Fury

see also=

lists=
* List of fighter aircraft
* List of military aircraft of the United States

References

* Green, William. "War Planes of the Second World War - Fighters (Vol. 4)." New York: MacDonald and Company, 1961.
* Lockett, Brian. "Corsairs with Four-bank Radials". "Goleta Air and Space Museum." [http://www.air-and-space.com/Goodyear%20F2G.htm] Access date: 16 January 2007.
* Pautigny, Bruno (translated from the French by Alan McKay). "Corsair: 30 Years of Filibustering 1940-1970". Paris: Histoire & Collections, 2003. ISBN 2-913903-28-2.
* "Racing Corsairs". Society of Air Racing Historians. [http://www.airrace.com/racing_corsairs.htm] Access date: 16 January 2007.

External links

* [http://www.museumofflight.org/Collection/Aircraft.asp?RecordKey=6A15B017-325E-4A52-A5D7-C12E95AEC233 F2G-1 Corsair on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle]
* [http://www.odegaardaviation.homestead.com/aircraft.html F2G-1D Corsair in flying condition at Odegaard Aviation]