Bent-wing bird: Technological evolution of the Chance Vought F4U Corsair series

Although the Chance Vought Aircraft Company designed the F4U Corsair initially as a fighter-interceptor, the aircraft evolved into a fighter-bomber, then to an attack aircraft. This Thesis will examine the reasons that allowed the Corsair to survive as a frontline combat aircraft in a postwar jet-age. By comparing previously written secondary sources with Vought Aircraft, Pratt & Whitney, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps primary records, a clearer answer to this question emerges. The primary reason for the plane's longevity is the manufacturers and services involved with the Corsair continually modified the aircraft and tactics employed to a changing aviation environment. Since the USN/USMC deployed the Corsair during a time when these services were transitioning to jets, the Corsair provided a temporary stopgap solution until the USN/USMC could refine jet aircraft and develop aerial tactics. The Corsair's long evolutionary process in tactics and technology allowed the USN/USMC to deploy the aircraft beyond World War II and into the Korean Conflict as a close air support plane and it allowed foreign nations to deploy the aircraft into the late 1960's.