Vought F4U-5 Corsair : The Corsair who missed the golden age

[Gabausaurus]

[Would you like to see this in-game?]

• Yes
• No

How would you like it to be introduced in the game?

• Tech Tree
• Premium
• Event / Battle Pass

F4U-5 is an upgraded variant of the now legendary F4U corsair. This variant is based of the F4U-4 corsair and was developped after WW2 as a first line fighter until the arrival of more powerful carrier based jets. The main improvement over the earlier form of the corsair was a new R-2800-32W engine fitted with a two stage supercharger giving the machine a whopping 2300 horsepower, spring tabs were added ot the rudder and elevator, the cowling under the engine was delated and replaced by a little scoop on each lower side of the engine; the fabrics on the outer wing panels were replaced by metal decreasing drag and the cockpit was modernized for pilot confort and the canopy has been enlarged and raised to give the pilot more visibility over previous variants.

The aircraft first flew on 21 december 1945 and entered service in the USAF in 1946 US Navy would acquire them later in the year. 223 were built. The corsair saw his first conflict in the korean war, it’s purpose was to support troops on the ground and do some ground attack, in this role it could be fitted with up to 5200 lbs of ordonance. The F4U-5 saw dogfights with Yak-9 over korea but were outmatched with the arrival of MiG-15s; at this point on Corsairs were solely employed as CAS. They were later on decommissioned in 1953.

F4U-5 and her variants would be an interesting addition to the superprop roaster of war thunder as one of the forgotten late war marvel that are often overlooked over the predecessor; such as BF-109K4. This variants of the Corsair brought the highest performance of the fighter side of the family while conserving some great CAS options. It could be one of the many great superprop who rules the beginning of war thunder’s jet age!

Details and Specifications

- Crew : 1 (pilot)

- Dimensions :

• Length : 10,36m (34’)
• Height : 4,5m (14’ 9’')
• Wing span : 12,5m (41")
• Wing area : 29,2 m² (314 ft²)

- Weight :

• Empty : 4392 kg (9683 lbs)
• Internal Fuel: 636,8kg (1404 lbs)
• Gross weight: 5851 kg (12900 lbs) (full ammo, full internal fuel no external load)
• Max takeoff: 8300 kg (18300 lbs)

- Armor :

- Details from Erection and Maintenance Instructions:

Performance by Technical Moderator Metrallaroja

• Note: Values are based in 1949 F4U-5 NATC Final Report On Combat Power Evaluation, 1952 SAC of F4U-5 and 1950 A.E.L Calibration of Pratt and Whitney R-2800-32W Engine

- Engine : Pratt & Whitney R-2800-32W, 18 cylinders, double-row radial, air cooled

- Engine Power High Ram:

• Combat power (WEP):
  Sea Level: 2675hp
  10000 feet / 3048 m: 2625hp
  20000 feet / 6096 m: 2450hp
  30000 feet / 9144 m: 2120hp

• Military power (100% throttle):
  Sea Level: 2300hp
  10000 feet / 3048 m: 2250hp
  20000 feet / 6096 m: 2150hp
  30000 feet / 9144 m: 1960hp

- Engine Power Zero Ram:

• Military power (100% throttle):
  Sea Level: 2300hp
  10000 feet / 3048 m: 2200hp
  20000 feet / 6096 m: 2100hp
  30000 feet / 9144 m: 1840hp

- Supercharger: Nicknamed as the ‘‘Sidewinder’’ is a variable speed, two stage (automatic) supercharger that is considered the pinnacle of radial engine supercharging.

- Combat Range: 1463km (790 nautical miles)

- Maximum Speed:

• Note: Max Speed is based in F4U-5 and F4U-5P 1952 SAC. An estimation of clean configuration is based on several sources, this gives us that based on F4U-5 SAC the clean configuration increases SL vmax by ~20knots and at 30k feet by ~25 knots.

• Combat power (WEP), 13420lb:
  Sea Level: 630 kph / 340 knots
  10000 feet / 3048 m: 692 kph / 374 knots
  20000 feet / 6096 m: 746 kph / 403 knots
  30000 feet / 9144 m: 781kph / 422 knots

• Military power (100% throttle), 13420lb:
  Sea Level: 596 kph / 322 knots
  10000 feet / 3048 m: 652 kph / 352 knots
  20000 feet / 6096 m: 702 kph / 379 knots
  30000 feet / 9144 m: 737 kph / 398 knots

- Climb Rate at Sea Level :

• Combat power (WEP), 13420lb: 23 m/s / 4520fpm
• Military power (100% throttle), 13420lb: 19m/s / 3700fpm

- Combat Ceiling (2.5m/s / 500fpm):

• Combat power (WEP), 13420lb: 13400 m / 44000 feet
• Military power (100% throttle), 13420lb: 11950 m / 39200 feet

- Relevant parts of sources used:

- Flight Strength Diagram:
F4U-5 included spring tabs which helped with rudder and elevator at high speeds, maximum dive speed was increased to 425knots IAS at 10000 feet

Armament

Internal :
4 x 20 AN/M3, 2 per wing (ammo count : 924)

External :
2 x 1000 lbs bombs (centerline pylons)
1 x 1600 lbs bomb (centerline pylon)
1 x 2000 lbs bombs (centerline pylon)
2 x Tiny tims rockets (centerline pylons)
2 x 300 gallons fuel tank (centerline pylons)
8 x HVAR rockets (wing pylon, 4 per wing)
8 x 250lb bomb instead of rockets (wing pylon, 4 per wing)
2 x Napalm canister

F4U-5 can also carry 250lb bombs in wings like AU-1 with the installation of mk55 mod 0 or mk55 mod 1:

F4U-5 can be seen here carrying 8 HVAR rockets and 2 Tiny tims

Honduran F4U-5 carrying 2 napalm canister in the centerline pylons

Gallery

Sources

1. 1950 A.E.L Calibration of Pratt and Whitney R-2800-32W Engine: https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA800142.pdf
2. 1952 F4U-5 SAC: https://www.aahs-online.org/images/Navy_SAC/F4U-5.pdf
3. 1952 F4U-5P SAC: https://www.aahs-online.org/images/Navy_SAC/F4U-5P.pdf
4. 1952 F4U-5N SAC: https://www.aahs-online.org/images/Navy_SAC/F4U-5N.pdf
5. 1948 F4U-5 Erection and Maintenance Instructions: https://www.avialogs.com/aircraft-v/vought/item/55691-an-01-45hd-2-erection-and-maintenance-instructions-for-f4u-5-f4u-5n-f4u-5p-aircraft
6. 1951 F4U-5 Illustrated Maintenance Parts List: Avialogs: Aviation Library - Navaer 01-45HD-504 Illustrated Maintenance Parts List for F4U-5, -5N, -5P and -5NL Aircraft
7. R-2800: Pratt & Whitney’s Dependable Masterpiece by Graham White: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Graham-White/dp/0768002729
8. https://www.jdsf4u.be/f4u-5-vought-corsair
9. Here is old suggestion post: Vought F4U-5N Corsair - USA - War Thunder - Official Forum
10. 1950 Service Instructions for Aircraft Engines - Models R-2800-30W and R-2800-32W: Service Instructions for Aircraft Engines - Models R-2800-30W and R-2800-32W | AirCorps Library
11. 1948 Chance Vought F4U-5 Company Brochure. Aviation Archives: Chance Vought F4U-5 Brochure
12. 1952 Vought F4U-5,-5N,-5NL-5P Aircraft Flight Pilot’s Handbook Manual - 01-45HD-1 Aviation Archives: Chance Vought F4U-5/F4U-5N/F4U-5NL/F4U-5P Pilot’s Handbook
13. 1952 Action Report of AIr Task Group Two https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/nhhc/research/archives/action-reports/Korean%20War%20Carrier%20Air%20Group%20Combat/PDF's/atg2a-52.pdf

1949 NATC Final Report On Combat Power Evaluation

Thanks for reading this suggestion, it’s one of my first posts and it was co-written with Technical Moderator Metrallaroja who helped fix everything and make it more detailed and visually pleasing.
I wanted to start by submitting this marvel of an aircraft that is the F4U-5, i’m open to critics and rectification in case I made some mistake on the history behind this beast.

[BillyBobDa3rd]

Yes! Give me more corsairs! +1

Edit- okay I got a few questions. Can it carry the 2000lb bomb and the 1000lb bombs at the same time? Also, could it not carry bombs on the wings anymore? Oh and could it carry HVAR’s with the 2000lb bomb?

[Gabausaurus]

It’s kind of a middle ground between F4U-4s and F4U-6 / 7 (AU-1), It was meant for AA role but was produced too late and overmatched by jet so they would you it’s insane power to lift heavier weaponery.
So yes it could carry both 1000 lbs and 2000 lbs but Idk about wing loads; It could maybe carry bombs in the same way of F4U-4 or couldn’t

Long story short, the main source said that it could carry 8 tiny tims and no bombs on the wing, so i would say that it could carry more than F4U-4 but less than AU-1

Shorter version :

3rd reply, i’m yapping a little bit too much so TLDR + correcting the 2 previous replies :
yes you can take the 2 x 1000 lbs + the 2000 lbs, no there not any bombs on the wings, i’ve edited the original post to add his capacity to carry 2 x tiny tims
-definite answer

[BillyBobDa3rd]

Okay, thank you! :)

[Lowroar]

from SAC and Chance Vought Brochure ：）

[oom1992]

I predict F4U-5 & F4U-5NL at 6.3 BR, would be researchable vehicle and located after F8F-1B Bearcat and F7F-1 Tigercat in tier 4

[berezenboi]

@Metrallaroja

[berezenboi]

This is for the engine. The values you listed are a bit too high. At 100% throttle (millitary power) the maximum is 2300 horsepower. At WEP, the maximum is 2760

[berezenboi]

The maximum takeoff weight is listed as 5200 pounds of ordinance. So you could at maximum carry

1 2000
2 1000
8 HVARS

[Gabausaurus]

Damn man, thank you, Just to know what are A.R. on the second picture and if you can; (i’m not really good reading these) can you explicit those documents ?

[Gabausaurus]

Thank for the docs ! I’m not really sure what the first is about tho; is that some intel on how the plane performe according to the altitude/speed ?

[berezenboi]

From left to right on the second doc is

Climb rate, true airspeed, and horsepower as a function of altitude. The different lines are dependant on plane configurations, except for the horsepower chart.

The first document is engine technical data.

Make sure to update the values in the suggestion. If you need anything else just ask.

[Gabausaurus]

I cannot, unfortunately, edit the post from now on, I hope devs would see your comments. I’m new to the forum, I wanted to know : Is there a time limits after which you cannot edit posts ?

it is missing the option

[berezenboi]

You should be able to If you click on the pencil at the bottom of the post

[berezenboi]

or at the top. check the top

[Gabausaurus]

there this icon but it’s just a history of the changes

[berezenboi]

It also has an analog rocket ballistics computer in the gunsight. You forgot to put that in

[R_nminbiY_n]

Try now

[berezenboi]

If you want some technical data before you do the edit, DM me

[Gabausaurus]

Thanks, It’s now back