Wow, what a plane! I was watching some countrymen engage one the other day, even filmed it. When reviewing the film I saw it dive from 14k to 9k and then pull back up to 16k. My poor ole F4U-1A just couldn't keep pace. I thought what is up with this. In fact, reviewing the film the plane actually accelerated while climbing at one point. Nothing super major, maybe 2 to 3 mph. My plane decelerates the instant I pull up. I thought to myself this is nonsense. So I went to the TA and tested one with a full tank of gas. I dove down from 14k to 9k and in fact climbed to 17k and probably could have made it to 18k. It was still climbing at about 90 to 100mph. I'm surprised I don't see 5 of these for every other plane up. I then tested it in a dive. No problem there either. Dove great! When you see them on the deck you just know they are going to go vertical but you cannot even come close to bringing your gun sights on them unless you catch them at the apex of their climb, at least not in an f4. What really gets me though, is that they are usually the last one left in a furball and when you shoot them down, the arrogant xxx call you carp or much much worse, thinking they are just superior pilots. No not in this case, it really is the plane.
