F4U-4

Description

The F4U-4 Corsair is a rank American naval fighter with a battle rating of (AB), (RB), and (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.71 "New E.R.A.".

The F4U-4 is excellent at Boom & Zoom fighting. Its high energy-retention and acceleration make it the true pinnacle of the Corsairs. Although you don't get an air spawn, the climb rate of the F4U-4 makes up for that. When engaging an enemy, try and maintain an altitude advantage while keeping your speed up; speed is life, altitude is life insurance. When you gain an altitude advantage, dive on your opponent and fire. The engine lacks fuel injection, so experiencing negative G forces is likely to temporarily shut down the engine. The six .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns, while not as destructive as the quad 20 mm cannons of the F4U-4B or the eight .50 calibre (12.7 mm) machine guns on the P-47, will destroy any lighter aircraft with ease, with plenty of ammunition that allows spraying (with firing discipline) and still being dangerous in the later stages of the match.

General info

Flight performance

Details

Survivability and armour

• 38 mm Bulletproof glass in front of pilot.
• 3 mm Steel plates on top of fuel tank and in front of cockpit.
• 12.7 mm and 8 mm Steel plates behind pilot.

Modifications and economy

Armaments

Offensive armament

The F4U-4 is armed with:

• 6 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (375 rpg outer + 400 rpg centre + 400 rpg inner = 2,350 total)

Suspended armament

The F4U-4 can be outfitted with the following ordnance:

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs	1	1	1	1			1	1	1	1
250 lb AN-M57 bombs				1			1
500 lb AN-M64A1 bombs					1	1
1,000 lb AN-M65A1 bombs					1	1
HVAR rockets	1	1	1	1			1	1	1	1
Maximum permissible loadout weight: 1,400 kg

Usage in battles

Being true for the entire Corsair series the most distinctive features of this plane is its huge R-2800-P&W 18 Cylinder Radial engine and the inverted gull wing.

One advantage of the inverted gull wing:

The wing is impossible to rip in a dive as long as you don't pull a turn greater than 11 G's, which is almost impossible because the aircraft does suffer from compression above 800 km/h.

One disadvantage of the aircraft is its high-speed dive characteristics;

During the dive the aircraft tends to yaw severely to the right making you roll, possibly making the shot you need miss.

The worst enemies for the F4U are the Ki-84, N1K1, A7M's, and some late mark Zeros. Their extreme turning ability would make any of the F4U-4's attempt at turn fighting worthless. In the worst case scenario when these aircraft managed to get an energy advantage over the F4U-4, escape from the encounter with a dive and try to lose the aircraft through the assistance of allied anti-air fire from friendlies or the airfield.

In Simulator battles, the F4U-4 is exceptionally good at dogfighting due to its forgiving flight characteristics and excellent visibility. The six M2 Brownings are also easy to aim and can be sprayed for quite some time. Due to its stable nature, you can out-turn pretty much any opposing aircraft if it comes to it, though boom-and-zoom tactics are what you should be sticking to. Enemies especially worth noting are most Soviet and Japanese fighters. Soviet fighters can keep up with you in a dogfight quite well and the Japanese' turn rate is something to watch out for. On the other hand, however, both Soviet and Japanese fighters get set on fire quite easily, and once you get a good burst in, you have (in most cases) secured the kill.

Manual Engine Control

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Fast at all altitudes (3rd supercharger gear isn't needed until over 6,500 m altitude). Once it reaches max speed, only the Yak-3 (VK-107), Yak-3U, La-9, and Do 335 B-2, can catch it at sea level. This means diving away and extending is a reliable escape tactic
• Respectable armament of six .50 cal machine guns with late war belts
• Powerful engine, which allows for excellent energy retention
• Decent secondary weapons for destroying ground targets
• Excellent roll rate and good elevator authority at all speeds
• While turn-fighting is almost never "plan A" in this plane, turn performance is quite good above 400 km/h
• Longer WEP duration than previous corsairs (approximately 12 minutes total)
• Landing gear can be deployed at most speeds without breaking, which is immensely helpful when attempting to land at higher speeds (often necessary when damaged)
• Improved flight performance in all aspects over F4U-1s

Cons:

• Armament insufficient for high-speed snapshots, require more time on target than planes with cannons.
• Engine prone to overheating after prolonged usage of WEP (RB), though this can be mitigated with manual engine control
• Turn-fighting heavy aircraft at low speeds is not advised, as the engine isn't strong enough to compensate for the speed lost in prolonged turnfights
• Rudder becomes less responsive in high speed dives
• Supercharger setup leaves the plane weakest between 1,000 and 2,000 m and 6,000 and 7,000 m — at these altitudes, the previous supercharger gear is no longer able to maintain manifold pressure (plane begins to lose power and WEP does not increase power), yet the power draw from the engine to run the next supercharger gear is too much to make it worthwhile to switch until more altitude is gained
• Bleeds speed very quickly in vertical manoeuvres
• Supercharger setup allows for plane to be fast at high altitudes, but limited power-to-weight ratio on 3rd gear makes climbing or accelerating difficult above 7,500 m; this forces pilots to spend more time extending away from enemy planes before re-engaging

History

The F4U-4 was based on the -1A Corsair. In order to improve and modernize the Corsair, so it would be able to fight the new Japanese planes in the Pacific, a number of changes were made. One of the major changes was the engine. The Pratt and Whitney R-2800-8W engine was replaced by the more powerful R-2800-18W engine. This -18W engine boosted the speed of the Corsair by up to 46.3 km/h (25 kn, 28.76 mph). When injected with an alcohol/water mixture, the performance could be boosted even further. In order for the propeller to be able to handle the more powerful engine, the propeller had to be changed from 3 blades to 4 blades. Modifications to the fuselage were required, including the addition of a scoop to the lower engine cowling. In addition, the cockpit was completely redesigned.

The armament of the F4U-4-4 corsair was six .50 in machine guns, up to 4,000 lbs of bombs and/or eight 5 in rockets. There were multiple variants of the F4U-4. There was the F4U-4B, which had only slight modifications for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. They were never actually delivered to the Royal Navy, as the US kept them instead.The F4U-4C was another variant, which had four 20 mm cannons instead of six .50 in machine guns. There were also two night fighter variants, the F4U-4E and the F4U-4N. The -4E had an APS-4 search radar on the starboard wing tip, while the -4N had an APS-6 search radar instead. Both night fighter versions replaced the six .50 in machine guns with four 20 mm cannons. There was also F4U-4K, an experimental drone variant, and the F4U-4P, a photo reconnaissance variant.

Media

Skins

• Skins and camouflages for the F4U-4 from live.warthunder.com.

Videos

See also

• F4U Family
• F4U-4B
• F4U-1A

External links

• [Devblog] F4U Corsair: Sky pirates are back!
• Official data sheet - more details about the performance

References

Bibliography

• "F4U-4 Vought Corsair", F4U Corsair - The Bent Wing Bird plane site, Retrieved on 28 March 2020.
• "Types of Plane F4U - Variants", F4U Corsair- The Bent Wing Bird plane site, Retrieved on 28 March 2020.