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new to me F4U-1 - seems to be VMF-124,


Troy Smith

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a couple more eye catching F4U-1 pics, 

Vought-F4U-4D-Corsair-White-L54-taking-o

 

Vought-F4U-4D-Corsair-White-L54-taking-o

 

both captioned as 

"F4U 4D Corsair White L54 taking off with a burst tyre from CVE 81 USS Rudyerd Bay"

and other pics are here

https://www.navsource.org/archives/03/081.htm

 

But CVE-81 flew FM-2 and TBM's,  A look in @Dana Bell F4U-1 Vol.2 has a pic on page 66 of a VMF-124  FG-1A 'L63'  with the same checkers on nose and tail,  which is taken on land, so I presume these  date from when the unit was back in the USA in 1944 reforming, but doing some carrier training?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMA-124#World_War_II

 

"The squadron remained in the Solomon Islands until September 1943, fighting over the Russell Islands, New Georgia and Vella Levella.

Following the fighting in the Solomons, the squadron was disbanded and reconstituted back in the United States where it trained in the Mojave Desert at Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Mojave for the next year.[5] When they received their orders for carrier assignments they had 5 combat experienced pilots as their training nucleus[6] VMF-124 left the States again on 18 September 1944, heading to Hawaii. "

 

I'm wondering if L54 is another example of a caption the the above book of a Corsair where the Sea Blue was taken down to the white without the Intermediate Blue ( I can't spot what page it was on right now)

 

extensive discussion here https://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php?topic=229415.0

 

but no conclusion as was presumed to be a unit based on CVE-81 Rurdyerd Bay,  not training from it? 

I'll @Tailspin Turtle  as well.

 

the white stripes on the wing are unusual. 

 

Hope of interest.  Would make for a different Corsair model if you could do the checks.

 

 

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4 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Would make for a different Corsair model if you could do the checks.

 

The checks look a bit rough to me, and would probably be easy enough to mask off with kabuki tape.  

 

The giant "L54" on the fuselage makes me suspect this is a stateside training aircraft.  It was fairly common for Corsairs to be rotated back to CONUS after a combat tour, where they would be refurbished and used to familiarise new pilots.  I have seen at least one wartime photo from a US training base depicting a glossy sea blue Birdcage F4U-1 with large white alpha-numeric codes on the fuselage sides.

 

Interesting photos you've found, Troy.  Thanks for sharing them.

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According to the USN air combat statistics, F4U and FG operating from CVE May to August 1945 fired 1,562 rockets, the F4U and FG operating from the fleet carriers fired 22,107 rockets February to August 1945.

 

The port side vent says it was a CVE, the Rudyerd Bay CVE-81 commissioned 25 February 1944, decommissioned 11 June 1946.


Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

Following shakedown off southern California, Rudyerd Bay ferried planes to Espiritu Santo in April and May 1944; conducted qualification exercises off California into July; then made another ferry run, this time to Majuro. On her return, she embarked Composite Squadron 77 (VC-77) and, on 8 August, she again headed west. At Eniwetok, she joined TG 30.8, the fast carrier forces' replenishment group, with which she arrived at Manus on the 31st.

 

During early September, she covered the replenishment group as the 3d Fleet supported the Palau campaign.  In October, she continued that cover as strikes against the Philippines began. On the 18th, she took on survivors of Houston and transported them to Ulithi, whence, in November, she resumed covering operations which continued into the new year.

 

On 29 December, Rudyerd Bay, with Nehenta Bay (CVE-74), tankers, and other ships, departed Ulithi. In the Philippine Sea until 10 January 1945, the replenishment group shifted to the South China Sea as the fast carriers continued support of the Lingayen assault and conducted strikes against enemy installations and shipping from Indochina to Formosa. On the 22d, they retired via the Sulu and Mindanao Seas and Leyte Gulf, to Ulithi. Bay remained at Ulithi until 10 February. She then proceeded to Saipan to prepare for the assault on Iwo Jima. Departing the Marianas in TG 51.17, she provided air cover for the troop transports en route to the Volcano Islands, 16 to 18 February. On the 18th, she joined TG 52.2 and, from then until 8 March, operated to the east of Iwo Jima as VC-77 flew support missions over the contested island and antisubmarine patrols over the surrounding waters.

 

Anchored at Ulithi from 11 to 20 March, Rudyerd Bay, with VC-96 now embarked, got underway for the Ryukyus in TU 52.1.2 on the 21st. On the 25th, she arrived at her position 60 miles to the south of Okinawa and began launching strikes against enemy positions on Kerama Retto and on Okinawa.  With the exceptions of 1 April and 8 April, VC-96 flew daily support missions until 17 April. On 13, 14, and 15 April, the squadron target was shifted from Okinawa Gunto to Sakishima Gunto. On 17 April, Rudyerd Bay rotated to TG 50.8. For the next 10 days, she provided air cover for that group, then returned to TG 52.1 and resumed support missions for the troops fighting ashore. On 8 May, she again joined TG 50.8, which she covered until retiring from the Ryukyus on the 20th. By that time, VC-96 had flown 1,257 missions in support of the Okinawa offensive.

 

Rudyerd Bay arrived at Guam on the 23d, detached VC-96, and embarked VC-85 as passengers for transport back to the United States.  By the end of July, the escort carrier had completed a ship yard overhaul and had been reassigned to plane ferry duty.  On 1 August, she departed Alameda for the Marshalls. On the 14th, hostilities ceased. Rudyerd Bay continued on, discharged cargo and passengers at Eniwetok, then proceeded to Ulithi and the Philippines, whence she moved VC-33 to Okinawa. There she embarked another squadron for the voyage back to California.

 

On 8 October, she arrived at San Francisco, underwent repairs and alterations to enable her to carry troops, then joined the “Magic Carpet” fleet. Into the new year, she brought veterans of the Pacific war back to the United States.  On 23 January 1946, she completed her last transpacific run and, on 18 February, she departed California for the east coast. Transiting the Panama Canal on the 28th, she off loaded aircraft at Jacksonville in early March, and proceeded to Boston to begin inactivation.

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5 hours ago, Geoffrey Sinclair said:

on the 28th, she off loaded aircraft at Jacksonville in early March

 

Oh dear.  I know what happened to those poor airplanes at that nasty place.  Reduced to ingots they were!  😟 😬 😪

 

I've seen the photos, they aren't for the faint of heart.

 

 

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A few comments from a guy who doesn't really consider himself a Corsair specialist.

1. Lack of rocket stubs under the wing outer parts and pylons for bombs/fuel tanks under the centre wing, framing on the canopy sliding part, and white tapes sealing the fuel tanks at the wing leading edges make it identify this aircraft as F4U-1A, not -1D . We consider the name F4U-4D used by Troy to be a typo, because firstly, such a variant did not exist, and secondly, we can clearly see the 3-bladed propeller.

2. The plane is in a three- (purists will find it in a four-) colour USN 1943-45 livery, as evidenced by white main landing gear covers, tail wheel covers and lower section of the cowling edge. Remember that in this scheme the vertical tail was Intermediate Blue, much brighter than Sea Blue visible on the top of the fuselage, as well as the top of the wings and the horizontal tail.

3. The plane bears a (probably unit) marking in the form of a checkerboard on the cowling and vertical tail. But this is not a typical marking of the VMF-312, whose Corsairs over Okinawa had 7x36 squares around the engine and 10 vertical and 13 horizontal rows on the rudder (I remember these numbers exactly since 1979, when I painted this marking with my own hand with the 00 brush and no template on my "611" in 1:72 scale). While in the VMF-312, the fin remained blue, as did the front of the cowling itself. And here we have only 6x6 fields on the tail (with full coverage of the fin) and 3x16 fields around the engine (also covering its front edge) - so the fields are twice (comparing the side length) or rather four times (looking at their surface) larger.

4. But the most interesting issue is the colour of the chessboard. According to the current knowledge, the VMF-312 used the Sea Blue and White colours (although 50 years ago Aircam showed white and red fields). But here the dark fields on the rudder are lighter than the vertical fin base, which was light Intermediate Blue after all. So Sea Blue definitely comes off - i.e. white and red or maybe some bright green? What do you think about it?

Cheers

Michael

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1 hour ago, KRK4m said:

3. The plane bears a (probably unit) marking in the form of a checkerboard on the cowling and vertical tail. But this is not a typical marking of the VMF-312, whose Corsairs over Okinawa had 7x36 squares around the engine and 10 vertical and 13 horizontal rows on the rudder (I remember these numbers exactly since 1979, when I painted this marking with my own hand with the 00 brush and no template on my "611" in 1:72 scale). While in the VMF-312, the fin remained blue, as did the front of the cowling itself. And here we have only 6x6 fields on the tail (with full coverage of the fin) and 3x16 fields around the engine (also covering its front edge) - so the fields are twice (comparing the side length) or rather four times (looking at their surface) larger.

4. But the most interesting issue is the colour of the chessboard. According to the current knowledge, the VMF-312 used the Sea Blue and White colours (although 50 years ago Aircam showed white and red fields). But here the dark fields on the rudder are lighter than the vertical fin base, which was light Intermediate Blue after all. So Sea Blue definitely comes off - i.e. white and red or maybe some bright green? What do you think about it?

Not VMF-312 , I think it's a Corsair with a low Sea Blue demarcation. 

18 hours ago, Troy Smith said:

Dana Bell F4U Corsair F4U-1 Vol.2 has a pic on page 66 of a VMF-124  FG-1A 'L63'  with the same checkers on nose and tail,  which is taken on land, so I presume these  date from when the unit was back in the USA in 1944 reforming, but doing some carrier training?

 

There is another Corsair from another training unit with a striped cowling on the same page. Given they are shown together, in the section on US based trainers,  I assume that is correct.

Not you get some interesting trainers, old birdcage Corsairs repainted in Gloss Sea Blue overall for example.

 

 

1 hour ago, KRK4m said:

We consider the name F4U-4D used by Troy to be a typo, because firstly, such a variant did not exist, and secondly, we can clearly see the 3-bladed propeller.

yes, I just said how the image was captioned.   I call it a F4U-1 in the heading.    Thanks for the detail that's a -1A. 

 

Some good observations.

cheers

T  

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Troy,

I'm afraid you got me wrong (my poor English again). I said VMF-312 because AFAIK it was the only USMC unit to use the chessboard as a marking.

But - as I emphasized - it CANNOT be the VMF-312, because the size of the checkerboard fields in your photos, their layout on the plane and (probably) the colour are completely different here.

Cheers

Michael

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