F4U1C Vs F4U1A

[earl1937]

  I had a rather interesting sortie yesterday which just goes to prove, even if you get the breaks sometimes things just don't work out!
While in a 1C, hunting bombers which had been hitting one of our bases, I came across a flight of B-17's, set up my approach proceeded to dive in for the "kill"! But, alas, a Spit 8, which I hadn't noticed moved into my 4 O'clock position, so I cut off my attack on the 17's, which I had hit one, but he killed one of my guns. With the Spit having a height advantage, decided just to dive out, get some distance between us and sure enough, he was about 4.5 back and broke off and went his own way. I am now in "Indian" country about 2 sectors, so decided I needed to get back closer to home.
I came up on a flight of KI-67's, about 2K below me and to my right. Dove in for the attack and in the ensueing exchange of gun fire, killed two of them and ran out of cannon. Still had 62 rounds in the damaged gun, but what the heck, think I will just go home.
I am now down to about 5K when I noticed behind me a F4U1A about 4.5 back! OK, no problem, I am about 30 miles or so from friendly base, started a swallow dive to gain speed, engaged wep and looked back, now this guy is 3.5 back with a minus on the distance, so I know he is gaining on me. The 1A will out run the 1C, but with a little luck, I can get to friendly base and the base ack will drive him off. Nope! he is now 2.0 back gaining on me, even tho I am doing right a 500MPH IAS!
Finally, he is 1K back, so I turn hard left, pulling g's to where I only have a small view and thought, see if this guy can turn that thing! Round and Round we go and I am actually gaining on him, to where I can just barely can see him and thought, "Now what ET, you got no ammo"! Glancing at the DG, I waited until the rough heading to home, rolled left 270 degrees and headed for home! Gained a little on him, he is now 1.5 back, but closing a little bit, but I am about 2 minutes from base. We are now down in the bushes, running like "ber rabbit" and he aren't going to give up.
About that time, he must have hit a tree or something, because I got the kill on him, now have 3 kills and about 30 seconds from landing. Relaxed a little, started to turn final and "boom", a PT boat sitting right off shore killed me. I had not noticed a enemy CV about 5 miles off shore.
Oh, well, another day in the life of a Aces High throttle pusher! LOL

[Randy1]

That 1A is my favorite F4U.  Man those PTs can catch you off guard.  It makes it worse when you think your on easy street heading for the fence.

[Saxman]

I was having a pretty good day on Saturday. My gunnery was leaving a LOT to be desired, but I was on a decent kill streak on four fighter sorties (1, 1, 5, 2 without a loss). I was on my fifth fighter sortie of the day and had plenty of gas and ammunition to loiter, and had already added two more to my count for the day. I was just coming off my second victory and entered a climbing turn to get back above the fight to look for another target when I heard a sound that made my blood turn cold: Windows's "Device Disconnected" alert. The USB hub all of my controls were connected to decided to shut off.

My Corsair started rolling, and in a panic I grabbed for the USB cable on the hub to disconnect/reconnect it. The lights on my controls came back up, but Aces High was no longer recognizing them! I was stuck watching helplessly as I spun in and splattered myself across the landscape.

Stupid USB hub...

[icepac]

I only use my hub for non-critical devices.

My stick is plugged into the best and fastest usb port on my pc because it is my most important input device.

[pipz]

Fantastic!   

[J.A.W.]

Interesting that Earl states he is combat flying with another F4U at "500mph IAS",
- since that is way faster than the Vne allowable [by ~50mph]  -in the pilots notes,
& the real aircraft would not have been capable of combat manoeuvres at those speeds. 

[earl1937]

Interesting that Earl states he is combat flying with another F4U at "500mph IAS",
- since that is way faster than the Vne allowable [by ~50mph]  -in the pilots notes,
& the real aircraft would not have been capable of combat manoeuvres at those speeds. 

  You sir are correct, just like the LA-7 was a dominate aircraft in WW2 and yes, I have had the 1A at 550 before in this game. Never flew one of these aircraft in RL, but would have loved it! 

[J.A.W.]

 Brooke,  got any comment about "...the 1A at 550...in this game"?

& Earl, if it had really come to it, the USAAF & RAF could've done the VVS up a treat in `45..

[MK-84]

I had a rather interesting sortie yesterday which just goes to prove, even if you get the breaks sometimes things just don't work out!
While in a 1C, hunting bombers which had been hitting one of our bases, I came across a flight of B-17's, set up my approach proceeded to dive in for the "kill"! But, alas, a Spit 8, which I hadn't noticed moved into my 4 O'clock position, so I cut off my attack on the 17's, which I had hit one, but he killed one of my guns. With the Spit having a height advantage, decided just to dive out, get some distance between us and sure enough, he was about 4.5 back and broke off and went his own way. I am now in "Indian" country about 2 sectors, so decided I needed to get back closer to home.
I came up on a flight of KI-67's, about 2K below me and to my right. Dove in for the attack and in the ensueing exchange of gun fire, killed two of them and ran out of cannon. Still had 62 rounds in the damaged gun, but what the heck, think I will just go home.
I am now down to about 5K when I noticed behind me a F4U1A about 4.5 back! OK, no problem, I am about 30 miles or so from friendly base, started a swallow dive to gain speed, engaged wep and looked back, now this guy is 3.5 back with a minus on the distance, so I know he is gaining on me. The 1A will out run the 1C, but with a little luck, I can get to friendly base and the base ack will drive him off. Nope! he is now 2.0 back gaining on me, even tho I am doing right a 500MPH IAS!
Finally, he is 1K back, so I turn hard left, pulling g's to where I only have a small view and thought, see if this guy can turn that thing! Round and Round we go and I am actually gaining on him, to where I can just barely can see him and thought, "Now what ET, you got no ammo"! Glancing at the DG, I waited until the rough heading to home, rolled left 270 degrees and headed for home! Gained a little on him, he is now 1.5 back, but closing a little bit, but I am about 2 minutes from base. We are now down in the bushes, running like "ber rabbit" and he aren't going to give up.
About that time, he must have hit a tree or something, because I got the kill on him, now have 3 kills and about 30 seconds from landing. Relaxed a little, started to turn final and "boom", a PT boat sitting right off shore killed me. I had not noticed a enemy CV about 5 miles off shore.
Oh, well, another day in the life of a Aces High throttle pusher! LOL
(Image removed from quote.)

   DOH!!!

[J.A.W.]

In real life, a F4U-1A jockey at 550 mph IAS would
very probably be - fatalistically - watching his fabric wing skinning peel off,
that is, if he could bring himself to look, -  at all..

[mtnman]

Brooke,  got any comment about "...the 1A at 550...in this game"?

The test version of the initial version (XF4U-1) was tested at speeds up to 885km/h (550 mph), but it did have control surface damage.  I'm not sure if any changes/improvements were made in regard to that for production versions?

[J.A.W.]

Was the IAS speed correction [pitot] ASI accurate on the prototype Corsair?

Was it modified/relocated for production?

Or was it simply a safety matter of setting the Vne at a figure ~100mph lower than that?

The Tempest was cleared for a Vne of 540mph,
 but had its pitot head moved from an underwing [& 90`bend] location  - to projecting forward
from the wing leading edge, & away from shock waves - to ensure ASI accuracy.

Another point is - was the F4U was capable of manoeuvre at Vne, or was it in compressibility lock?

[J.A.W.]

What is the Vmax penalty for the long cannons in the 1C?

I guess the fact that they were so rarely used,
 was why they didn't put aero-fairings on them like the Spitfires & Typhoons had?

The Tempest speed difference in between the long (but faired) cannons & short fully enclosed V-type H.S. cannon was reckoned to be worth 5-8 mph..

[Jabberwock]

Spped penalty for the 4 x 20 mm in the F4U-1C was 2 mph at sea level and 1 mph at 20,000 ft, at least according to the USN.

[earl1937]

In real life, a F4U-1A jockey at 550 mph IAS would
very probably be - fatalistically - watching his fabric wing skinning peel off,
that is, if he could bring himself to look, -  at all..

"Fabric covered wing"! Surely you jest! If you are serious, then really you need to stay out of this thread!