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Goodyear F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 |
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During World War II and again in the 1980s, engineers sought to increase the performance of the Vought F4U Corsair by installing a 4,360-cubic-inch, 28-cylinder engine in place of the standard 2,800-cubic-inch, 18-cylinder engine. The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 radial engine generated nearly twice the horsepower of the Pratt & Whitney R-2800 that equipped the standard Corsair. The R-4360 is the most powerful reciprocating engine ever installed in a single engine airplane.
In order to combat the threat of Japanese kamikaze pilots in World War II, the R-4360 radial engine was mated to the Vought F4U Corsair to produce a specialized fighter with an extremely high rate of climb.
When the F2G went into production, it was referred to as Corsair, not Super Corsair.
Pratt & Whitney tested the compatability of the R4360 on F4U-1 Corsair, BuNo 02460. Goodyear modified two FG-1s, BuNo 13471 and BuNo 13472, to test the R4360 installation. Those Corsairs retained the FG-1 cockpit and turtle deck. Goodyear modified two FG-1s , BuNo 14091 and BuNo 14092, to evaluate the installation of a Republic P-47 teardrop canopy.
The production program for the R4360 equipped Corsair was assigned to the Goodyear Aircraft Company of Akron Ohio which manufactured the F4U under license as the FG. The new Corsair variant received the designation F2G.
The production F2G has a tear-drop canopy in place of the original Corsair cockpit and turtle deck. The vertical stabilizer of the F2G is 12 inches taller than on the standard Corsair and has an auxiliary rudder to counteract engine torque.
The rate of climb of the F2G was 7,000 feet per minute, twice the rate of climb of the standard Corsair and higher than the jet fighters of the time.
Only fifteen F2Gs were built: five pre-production XF2Gs (BuNos 14691 - 14695), five F2G-1s (BuNos 88454 - 88458), and five F2G-2s (BuNos 88459 - 88463). F2G-1s were intended to operate from land bases, not aircraft carriers. They had a manually operated wing fold mechanism and no tail hook. They were equipped with a fourteen-foot diameter propeller. F2G-2s were built with hydraulically powered wing fold mechanisms and tail hooks for carrier operations. Their propellers were thirteen feet in diameter.
Five F2Gs were converted to racing planes after the war: two pre-production XF2Gs (BuNos 14693 and 14694), two F2G-1s (BuNos 88457 and 88458), and one F2G-2 (88463).
Three F2Gs still survive; one F2G-1 in stock military configuration (BuNo 88454) and two of the racing F2Gs (BuNos 88458 and 88463).
F2G-1, BuNo 88454 was the first production F2G. It carries Goodyear construction number 6163. It was tested at Naval Air Station Patuxent River and Naval Air Station Norfolk from 1945 to 1948. The Navy placed it in a storage container and left it there for eighteen years. In 1966, it was transferred to the Bradley Air Museum at Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Walter Olrich of Norfolk, Virginia registered it as N4324 in 1972, intending to race it as Race #50. The Navy objected and retrieved the F2G-1. It was displayed at the United States Marine Corps Museum at Quantico Virginia in 1974. Doug Champlin and Windward Aviation of Oklahoma acquired it in 1974. It was displayed at the USS Intrepid Museum in New York in 1976. Champlin moved it to the Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa, Arizona in 1978. It, and most of the Champlin Fighter Collection, are now displayed at the Museum of Flying in Seattle, Washington.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on December 31, 1981.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on November 29, 1992.
For comparison, Goodyear FG-1D N700G at the Champlin Fighter Museum on December 31, 1981.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on December 31, 1981
For comparison, Goodyear FG-1D N700G at the Champlin Fighter Museum on December 31, 1981.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on March 25, 1985.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on March 25, 1985.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on November 29, 1992.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on November 29, 1992.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on September 30, 1999.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on September 30, 1999.
F2G-1 BuNo 88454 N4324 at the Champlin Fighter Museum on March 2, 2002.
In November 2003, F2G-1 BuNo 88454 moved to the Seattle Museum of Flight.
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A dozen photos of four Corsairs equipped with Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major twenty-eight-cylinder, four-bank radial engines, three Goodyear F2Gs and the Super Corsair racing plane. F2G-1 N4324 remains in stock configuration. F2G-1 N5588N and F2G-2 NX5577N were converted for racing in the post-war Thompson Trophy Races. The Super Corsair racing plane N51318 was converted from a standard F4U in the 1980s. This calendar has been updated with photos from the first reunion of two of Cook Cleland's racing F2Gs in sixty-two years at the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force on December 27, 2011.
Put a copy of the Corsairs with Four Bank Radials: 2020 Calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $14.95.
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More F2G photographs are displayed on the Corsairs with Four Bank Radials Display.
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