(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any
picture below.)
F4U Super Corsair |
(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any
picture below.)
The R4360 equipped Super Corsair racing plane was not a Goodyear F2G. In 1982 a standard F4U Corsair was modified with an R4360, clipped wings, and a cut down cockpit canopy to compete at the Reno Air Races. It won the 1985 Gold Unlimited Race at Reno, setting a new race record.
The origins of Super Corsair's airframe have been lost. The unidentifed F4U-1D served as a movie prop for a number of years before being added to the collection of the Air Museum in Ontario, California in 1959. Its fuselage was displayed at the museum through the 1960s.
James Maloney and the Planes of Fame Air Museum of Chino, California registered the Super Corsair as NX31518 in 1982 and raced it as Race #1. Steve Hinton and Fighter Rebuilders acquired it in 1984. Hinton won the 1985 Gold Unlimited Race at Reno in Race #1 at a speed of 438.186 miles per hour, establishing a new race speed record.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu on October 16, 1982.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu on October 16, 1982.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu on October 16, 1982.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu on October 16, 1982.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu on October 16, 1982.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu on October 16, 1982.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Naval Air Station Point Mugu on October 16, 1982.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at Edwards Air Force Base on October 30, 1983.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the Chino Airport on May 20, 1984.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the Reno Air Races, September 14, 1991.
The R-4360 radial engine has 28 cylinders in four banks of seven. Each cylinder is equipped with 2 spark plugs, for a total of 56 spark plugs.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the Reno Air Races, September 14, 1991.
Dreadnought, to the right of the Super Corsair is a Sea Fury that has also been equipped with an R4360.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the Reno Air Races, September 14, 1991.
John Maloney takes off in F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the beginning of Heat 3-A at the Reno Air Races on September 14, 1991.
John Maloney in F4U Super Corsair N31518 chases down Bob Yancy in Yak-11 N5943 Perestroika Race #101 in Heat 3-A. Perestroika came in eighth at 397.558 miles per hour.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 came in seventh in Heat 3-A at 397.694 miles per hour.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the Reno Air Races, September 15, 1991.
John Maloney taxies F4U Super Corsair N31518 out for the Gold Unlimited Race at the Reno Air Races on September 15, 1991.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 completed only seven laps of the Gold Unlimited Race, averaging 406.420 miles per hour.
Steve Hinton leans against the wing of F4U Super Corsair N31518 following the Gold Unlimited Race.
Kevin Eldridge pilots F4U Super Corsair N31518 in Heat 3-A at the Reno Air Races on September 19, 1992.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the Reno Air Races, September 19, 1992.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 came in seventh in Heat 3-A at 411.291 miles per hour.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 at the Reno Air Races, September 20, 1992.
Kevin Eldridge taxies F4U Super Corsair N31518 out for the Gold Unlimited Race at the Reno Air Races on September 20, 1992.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 finished in sixth place in the Gold Unlimited Race at 420.800 miles per hour by virtue of the fact that three out of nine participants did not finish the race.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 on display at the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino on October 17, 1993.
F4U Super Corsair N31518 on display at the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino on October 17, 1993.
The Super Corsair caught fire and crashed at the Phoenix 500 Unlimited Air Race on March 19, 1994. Pilot Kevin Eldridge struck the left horizontal stabilizer and was seriously injured as he exited the flaming airplane.
More F2G photographs are displayed on the Corsairs with Four Bank Radials Display.
- advertisement -
You can buy a 2020 calendar featuring my photographs of Corsairs with Four Bank Radials.
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.
- advertisement -
Send a message to Brian .