Igor I Sikorsky Memorial Airport Corsair Restoration

[Cherrybomber13]

All I will say at this point in time is de Havilland... I'm glad to entertain guesses...




Oiler cooler cover panels


Interesting item we found. This starboard oil cooler was damaged and patched at some point before coming Stratford. Several people have looked at it with combat repair experience and feel that it is a high velocity puncture from possibly a 50 cal. The damaged exited out the top of the panel. It all makes no sense since the Corsair never saw combat from our best research. This is the lower cooler panel so to have happened on the ground it would have been a pretty impossible shot. Any Ideas?


Patching and full repair are in progress. Note how bad the skin corrosion was.

[shrike]

Interesting item we found. This starboard oil cooler was damaged and patched at some point before coming Stratford. Several people have looked at it with combat repair experience and feel that it is a high velocity puncture from possibly a 50 cal. The damaged exited out the top of the panel. It all makes no sense since the Corsair never saw combat from our best research. This is the lower cooler panel so to have happened on the ground it would have been a pretty impossible shot. Any Ideas?

Any possibility it's a .45ACP at close range instead? Someone using less than exemplary range safety practices with their sidearm on the ramp perhaps.
While it's popular to lionize WWII vets, it's worth remembering that they were often the same sort of young punk kids you wouldn't feel comfortable letting into your hangar.

[Cherrybomber13]

Interesting thought. Whats interesting is the hole was patched, with a gasket material on the back of the patch & it was secured with pop rivets and it was done before coming to Stratford in 1969. That would mean that if it happened in the junk yard, why would they have patched the panel? Ergo common sense would dictate that it happened at some point after coming to El Salvador and going to the Junkyard.

[shrike]

Still possible. Change 'WWII vets' to 'Salvadoran fighter pilots' (or indeed just 'fighter pilots') and the statement still hold up well<G>

[Tiger Tim]

All I will say at this point in time is de Havilland... I'm glad to entertain guesses...

Ah yes, the very rare Corsquito lightweight fighter. Built of non-strategic materials they were able to get away with using smaller engines for better range and maneuverability at the cost of being laughed at by the pilots of real Corsairs. To get a leg up on rival squadrons, they often re-engined Corsquitoes on the front with R-2800s to make a hot rod that was envied by other squadrons and feared by the enemy. Unfortunately, they were quickly withdrawn from combat as the humidity of the Pacific theatre caused delamination problems which frequently resulted in the in-flight loss of major components such as wings and engines. Today there are no originals to be found as they had all rotted to nothingness by the war's end and any components they shared with the F4U were scavenged to keep the latter flying.

Glad to see one going together!

-Tim

[Warbird Kid]

Lol. Its coming together nicely.

[Cherrybomber13]

Corsquito


Woah there buddy, where do you think you are going?
Mark's Monte Carlo with his new Corsair Wingman


Tail Section w/ new dog house cover


Starboard Wing


Cut off Aileron attach points


Mark Knopick &amp; Charlie Andrewson w/ Starboard Wing

[zorro7]

CBomber13:

Good Day!!

Any chance to have some close-up pictures of the id plates located at the set of wings??

Tks

[Cherrybomber13]

Zorro,
Thought I had those posted, Ill get them for you. We did find out our canopy is of Bu 90462

Work progresses


Warbird Kid Cleaning out The Starboard Gun Bay by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr


Birds Nests filling the Access Ports by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr


Gun Bay Door by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr


Corsquito gets a Nose Job by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr


Cowboy Corsquito by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr
The Corsquito wears a Stetson now, Stetson's are cool... Spoilers!

[zorro7]

CB13:

Good day!

Plz do! We've been searching for years the true Buno inventory of FAS FG-1Ds. Will you plz upload a close-up of the canopy Buno 90462 and its location? Is this Buno # stamped in both sides of the canopy??

Evidently that canopy was switched before c. 1957 when FAS bought the FG-1Ds at Litchfield Park NAS. We also found a much better b/w of your Buno 92460 still is FAS scheme. Other panoramic views of the FAS boneyard will follow shortly.

Keep the excellent restoration work going it's indeed a work or art!

[zorro7]

FAS 217/CB13 Folks:

Not the best B/W but the only one known of FAS 217 while in FAS service. La Aurora, Guatemala c. 1957. The previous photos in color were taken at the same place. Photo via FAS forum.

[Warbird Kid]

Thank you for this shot! So she did have the rocket rails installed.

[Cherrybomber13]

There will be some really big news being released next weekend. Please stay tuned.

Zorro has been asking for these forever. Happy Mayday! Go to flickr and look at the original size. Best I can do before I leave do Hawaii in a few hours.


Wing Plates by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr


Wing Plates by Cherry Bomb Photography, on Flickr

[Warbird Kid]

There will be some really big news being released next weekend. Please stay tuned.

Hint Hint Hint to everyone here. BIG News.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Could that firearm damage to the oil cooler area have happened in USN service before it went south?
Just a thought.
Looks like we might have a neat cockpit display at Wings & Wheels in a couple of weeks!
Jerry