Chance Vought

F4U-5NL

D-FCOR

MeierMotors GmbH

Freiburger Str. 13

79427 Eschbach

Phone:

+49 7634 503797

Chance VoughtJust some words about history

Vought, Vought Sikorsky, Temco-Vought, fine-sounding names, one history.

At the beginning of this story stands Chance M.Vought, the founder of this old American aircraft manufacturer, which is st ill act ive in the market.

Chance name was actually "Chauncey Milton" and he was born on 26/02/1890 in New York. Chance M.Vought grew up in Long Island / New York, studied at the "Pratt Inst itute", NY University and the University of Pennsylvania. The first engineering job took him along with Harold McCormick (tractors). Vought was busy here from 1909 to 1912 and was involved in the construct ion of the "McCormick-Romme Umbrella". This flying umbrella has remarkable similarit ies to

the Vought Pancake which flew almost 30 years later.Vought achived in consequence a flying license (14/08/1912, No156, Cicero, I llinois) and was primarily responsible for the construct ion of the "Lillie biplane" (1913). The first complete self-construct ion, the socalled “PLV”, of Chance M. Vought flew in August 1914. In the year 1916, Vought founded the "The Lewis & Vought Cooperat ion" Long Island / New York, and rose in the aircraft business for

his own.22 years later, the most famous aircraft was designed by Chance Vought Aircraft , the F4U Corsair. The task was to design a fighter for aircraft carriers, with the development objectives minimal air resistance and maximum speed. The airframe was then constructed around the strongest available engine, the Pratt&Whitney R-2800 with about 1.800hp. To convert the massive power of that

engine into thrust, a large propeller with a diameter of about 13 feet was necessary. This in turn prevented the use of a conventional undercarriage.Vought Chief Engineer Rex B.Beisel designed then the significant gull wing, the signature feature of the Corsair. As a result the fuselage came up to give enough ground clearance for the propeller, and a very stable short undercarriage. The X4FU-1 first flew on 29/05/1940, serial production began in 1942.

As per margin: the "U" in the model designation is based on a U.S. Navy standardizat ion measure in 1935, when to each manufacturer, a letter was assigned. Chance Vought got the "U" and this letter was used by the manufacturer up to the F8U Crusader in the late '50s.

The Corsair was arguably one of the most outstanding designs of World War I I

and was buildt in various model series over 12,500 t imes. Even after the war the production went on and ended in 1952 with the F4U-7 for the French Navy (Aeronavale). The last operat ional missions flown by Corsairs were in 1969 in the so-called "Soccer War" between Honduras and El Salvador. At the end, not many of those 12.500 huge planes survived in airworthy

condit ion.

The presented aircraft is a Chance Vought F4U-5NL Corsair. The series -5 was the first post-war series. Flight test ing began in April 1946, production ended after only 538 units in October 1951, of which 315 aircraft were buildt in the version-5NL. This night fighter version was also equipped with a winter equipment.

Probably only five of these series-5NL Corsair are worldwide in airworthy condit ion, one of them is presented here.

The F4U-5NL serial 124541,

supposable the only one with detectable "combat-history".

The historycard

On the so called history card the “curriculum vitae” (CV) of all Navy/Marines aircraft were out lined. With this history card it was relat ively easy to follow the life

story of the F4U-5NL serial 12454 with the US Navy/Marines.

A turbulent history. Decisive for the restorat ion of the Corsair was the knowledge that one of the operat ional squadrons that used serial 124541 was the "VMF513". This squadron operated in the Korean War and became wellknown as the "Flying Nightmares", one of the most important operat ional units of the U.S. Marines.

# 124541 is probably the last surviving F4U-5NL operat ing with the "Flying Nightmares". So it was a matter of course to restore this rare, historic aircraft in the original appearance. "Preserving History", but more about that later.

F4U-5NL Corsairs on a typical Korean airfield

Maj. Al Sadeski, most probablyone of the combatpilots of Corsair #124541 over Korea

After Corsair # 124541 was stricken from the U.S. registers, she was sold to the Argentine Navy, the Armada.

In the Argentine Armada, she was listed with the number 0433. The aircraft received the tactical code 2-A-202 and served with 2nd Esquadrilla de Ataque since the beginning of 1959, and got later the tactical code 3-A-204.

The fighter was assigned to the Argentinian aircraft carrier "Independencia". On

06/11/1964 happened a landing accident with Lt .Jorge Pitaluga at the controls. The aircraft ret ired in April 1966 and was stored in the Naval Museum (El Tigre) as gate guard.

After the peaceful existence in the museum, the aircraft was sold in 1991 and ferried to Le Castellet/France in 1994. There, the aircraft received a basic restorat ion which lasted some years. The Corsair was converted to a F4U-7 and

painted in the colors of the French Aeronavale. The F4U-7 Corsair was the final series and served with the French Navy for a long t ime. One of the former Aeronavale Corsair combat pilots was Ramon Josa. Decades later, Ramon Josa got the chance to perform with the restored fighter at many airshows over Europe. The circle closes.

After the renovation works the aircraft got the French registrat ion F-AZYS and according to the conversion to series -7 standard the matching serial number 133704.

In December 2009, the aircraft was acquired by MaxAlpha Aviation GmbH and was flown in the 2010 season extensively. Thus, the Corsair was also a guest at the “100th anniversary of the Aeronavale” again with Ramon Josa at the controls

and of course performed at the “Flying Legends” Duxford.

To take the history of the Corsair into account, we decided, in the context of necessary revision, to restore the aircraft back to its originality. A very t ime consuming job, which also drew a comprehensive parts research itself. The

Corsair was completely st ripped to discover possible damage. The new covering of the control surfaces was one of the smaller tasks.

At the end of the day, the F4U-5NL serial 124541 resurrected and with the motto "preserving history" in the colors of VMF-513.

"Lets paint her black"

As part of the deployment history, the operat ional command realized that the

original paint scheme "glossy sea blue" was not suitable for night combat action. In the airdefense searchlights the fighter shone and gave a highly recognizable target for the Korean air defense. Spontaneous the Corsairs were oversprayed in matt black, the tactical codes and stencils were painted in dull red. As a result , no reflect ions in the search lights, the aircraft were virtually invisible at night. It should be a quick solut ion and so the standard blue paint was not washed off

with corrosives. For example, the bending points of the wings are st ill in that typical blue. Since the black paint was applied direct ly at the bases in Japan over the original blue, there was later a light blue shimmer in the black paint ing. Representing exactly this effect was one of the more difficult tasks for the MeierMotors paintshop.

In addit ion to the paint ing, the aircraft has to be restored back to series -5 Standard. This necessitated extensive sheet metal work. Thus, the wing air intakes have been reconstructed and the cowling. Just the cowling and their radiator

flaps, presented greater challenges to the team. Through our network we got missing -5 specific spare parts and also detailed factory documents. Some panels and hatches were defective and also had to be reconstructed.

First roll out

The debut - Flying Legends Duxford 2011

January 2012 – The Corsair got a new heart

Pratt&Whitney

R-2800 CB-3

Technical data

Chance Vought F4U-5NL Corsairserial 124541

year of construct ion 1950German registrat ion D-FCOR

wingspan 12,5 mtr (41ft)

length 10,54 mtr (34,6 ft)height 4,54 mtr (14,9ft)

empty weight 4.300 Kg (9.683 pds)max.weight 6.400 Kg (14.106 pds)max. speed 650 km/h (408 mph)

ceiling 12.600 mtr (41.400 ft)

range 1.800 km (1.120 mls)

powerplant

Pratt&Whitney R2800CB3 - serial P3365910 hours since major overhaul by Anderson Aeromotive

Propeller

Hamilton Standard 24E60-159 - serial A-217610 hours since major overhaul by San Antonio Propeller Service

Avionics

GTX 330 garmin X-Ponder

SL30 Nav/Com Garmin RadioSL40 Com Garmin Radio

Additional revisons

2010 new fuel cell / Aerotech2011 new hoses fuel and oil

2012 new brakesystem and oxygen-systemrestorat ion and maintenance MeierMotors GmbH / Eschbach

www.meiermotors.comHangarage MaxAlpha Aviat ion GmbH

contact

Achim Meier

Executive Director MeierMotors GmbHachim@meiermotors.com

cellphone 0049-175/5216889