You say that often the people arguing which is best dont always have the best information yet you seem to be of the opinion that anything written about the corsair is set in stone.
If theres one thing we can say for certain about WW2 information and records its that they are NOT all certain.what i mean is lots of records are based on estimates and claims which can never be fully proven.
You say the corsair had the best record as a fighter bomber yet you must surely know that by 1945 you have many other factors to consider concerning trying to evaluate combat effectiveness of any particular model.you have, just for a few examples:
1) overclaiming of damage done by pilots
2) Fabricated ground targets made by the defenders to attract fire from attackers.The british were superb at tricking the Germans but its a little known fact that the Japanese were expert at building mock up aircraft and other ground targets. Many claims for aircraft destroyed on the ground during the latter stages of WW2 vs the japanese were model mock ups.
3) The corsair was know as the 'Ensign killer' due to the fact it was very unforgiving on inexperieced flyers.So if your criteria for best fighter bomber involves safety or ease of use then you will struggle to get in the top ten here.
4)Japanes pilots were of a far lower quality towards the end of WW2 just as the German average level of skill faded fast from 1943 onwards.This means any aircraft which survived welll in the early years of the war should get extra consideration due to the quality of the oppersition.
we could go on all day.
A Fighter bomber whom I personally think would kick the corasirs bellybutton in the fighter bomber dept is the P47. It fought in a theatre which had far more formidable air defenses and I would guess a far higher likelyhood of interception.It was just as, if not more rugged and durable as the Corsair. It was a damn sight easier to fly for an inexperienced pilots and it basically was acclaimed by allied and axis pilots alike as a superb fighter-bomber. This for me would make me rate it above the f4u-4. Yes it(f4) was in advance of the enemies aircraft that it faced but that for me is a reason to count against it rather than for it.The f4u-4 faced what was left of the IJN/IJA in the last months of the war, not the formidable force it once was.If you look at other fighter bombers like Typhoons, mosquitoes, 190s ,110s, P47s,P38's and P51's etc etc they all faced enemies that were far more their equal than the aircraft the F4U-4 pilot was likely to meet. Maybe F4U-4's fought japans top fighters in late 1945? perhaps you can show us a few excerpts from pilots combat tales that mention some? I have never seen any myself and i suspect that the japanese they did face were mostly of the suicidal outdated types which made up the mmajority of japans airforce toward the end. They were throwing 1939 zeros into the fight as kamakazi's! .
Then theres the typhoon:
" [3] TYPHOON IN COMBAT
* By the time of D-Day, 6 June 1944, Gloster had built almost 2,000 Typhoons, and they were serving in 26 RAF squadrons. The Tiffies helped pave the way for the invasion by blasting coastal radar stations, and were put to good use as Allied armies advanced, using a "cab rank" system where fighters stood by in the air and awaited calls from ground controllers for targets to destroy.
On 17 July 1944, Typhoons attacked a German staff car that turned out to be carrying the commander of German forces opposing the invasion, Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. Rommel was badly wounded and did not return to action, as he was implicated in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and was forced to commit suicide.
The high point of the Typhoon's career was the Battle of the Falaise Pocket in the third week of August 1944. Wehrmacht divisions, forced by Hitler's obstinate insistence that they stand their ground when they should have withdrawn, were almost completely encircled in the area of the French town of Falaise by the Allied armies. The Germans in the pocket were then crushed by artillery and air strikes.
RP-firing Typhoons, or "Rockoons", were significant contributors to the butchery, hitting everything that moved, with Tiffy pilots walking up to a target with cannon fire and then loosing a devastating salvo of RPs. Allied scouts who moved into the area after the shooting died down described it as a "slaughterhouse", with German survivors in numb shock. The Allied victory ended serious German resistance in France."quoted from this web site:
http://www.vectorsite.net/avcfury.html#m3
