Flavor of the year? Corsairs are HOT....

corsair166b · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2005 3:12 pm

They grace three of the four magazine covers that I usually read at Border's (Flight Journal, Warbird Digest and Classic Wings), some new restorations are coming to light and flying for the first time, a few more are being followed with anticipation as they progress in restoration shops, they had their OWN shown at the original factory site in Stratford CT in June of this year, they will share the limelight early next year in Paul Bowen's new photo essay book 'Mustangs and Corsairs'.....I think it';s time to ask the question, WAS the Corsair the Warbird of the Year in 2005? I think a good case could be made that it was (it always seems to be 'The year of....' for one plane or another in the warbird world)....on the horizon besides Paul's new book is Rob Mears highly anticipated book on Corsair survivors which will hopefully be ready soon. I daresay that we might suffer a 'Corsair Burnout' form all the recent threads posted here and on other forums (for which I will claim a fair number of them that I started) and those of you rolling your eyes and saying "Oh no, not ANOTHER Corsair thread!"....but it truly is one of the best looking of warbirds and looks set to be around for a LONG time to come as more and more are revealed to the world and restored, either to fly or in a museum somewhere. For me personally I recently had a small Corsair revelation in that my grandfather used to work in the Vought art department and I came across a guy in Oregon who has NINE of my grandfather's original pieces of Corsair art (to view some of them enter 'Blaine Morris' in your yahoo search engine and then go to page three of the results...scroll down to the F4U corsair page with Blaine Morris' name on it and it SHOULD pull up the page) and the owner of these prints is sending them to me so I can copy them for the family records. It's been a good year for the Corsair.

Mark

corsair166b · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2005 3:48 pm

Need photos for it? Got plenty here....photos in trade for a copy of it, Rob...

I also forgot to add to my list of reasons that Black Sheep Squadron came out on video this year.

Mark

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

"They grace three of the four magazine covers that I usually read at Border's"

Now I understand why, most of the magazines there don't look new!!! : )

Rob, I know you have plenty of photos, but whatever I have on the subject, is yours; I have some not-yet published Argentinean and Honduran Corsair photos.

And write me in for a copy of your book, when you publish it, let me know where to buy it.

Saludos,

Tulio

mike furline · **Joined:** Wed May 05, 2004 3:45 pm **Posts:** 2635

Hey Mark,

I just bought a set of those Corsair prints off of ebay a month or so ago. They do turn up now and then.

Regards,
Mike

Randy Haskin · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:52 pm

Rob, tell us a little more about your book project.

wls3 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:16 pm

Quote:

Flavor of the year? Corsairs are hot...

I know I'm about to tread on thin ice here with some folk.
First, I have nothing at all against the Corsair. And yes,
they did have a wonderful show of their own in Connecticut
this summer.

But I think a case could also be made for the B-17 this year.
The gathering of 8 flying B-17 at Thunder over Michigan
this last August was a rare site and one can only wonder
when that many will ever be able to get together again.

Just my 2 cents on Flavor of the year.

Bill

michael luther · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 1:29 am

I wanted to run this by everyone. I have noticed that the last few years of our show we have had three corsairs on site, and very few people are around them, don't get me wrong, the corsair is my favoret warbird, but I don't get it. I know that most people besides us buffs all/most know three warbirds types, in order.
1. P-51
2. B-17
3. F4u
In general the first two non warbird people flock to, but what is the deal with the corsair? they all can tell you "yes it's a corsair".

Just wondered what you all thought.

corsair166b · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 1:42 pm

Mike-

Sorry, ya lost me there....are you saying folks know the Corsair and the P-51 and B-17 but don't go near them? But they DO go to the civilian planes? It's been my experience at airshows that folks flock TO the warbirds (almost any kind) because they want to see a piece of flying history and hear it run and smell the fumes and actually FEEL it in their bones as the engines idle and run up....never seen a lot of folks LEAVE the warbird area when the planes fire up and roll out for their part in a show....

just my bit...

Mark

Eric Friedebach · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 2:45 pm

Image

michael luther · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 5:13 pm

corsair166b wrote:

Mike-

Sorry, ya lost me there....are you saying folks know the Corsair and the P-51 and B-17 but don't go near them? But they DO go to the civilian planes? It's been my experience at airshows that folks flock TO the warbirds (almost any kind) because they want to see a piece of flying history and hear it run and smell the fumes and actually FEEL it in their bones as the engines idle and run up....never seen a lot of folks LEAVE the warbird area when the planes fire up and roll out for their part in a show....

just my bit...

Mark

Sorry, What I mean is if you ask people (non aviation people) in general what warbirds they know, most say B-17, P-51, F4u, and that are the only three most can name, so they are very well known aircraft.

Now put them three on a ramp side by side, the corsair attracts the least attention. (atleast at our show) and I don,t get it.

krlang · **Posted:** Sun Nov 13, 2005 8:58 pm

Yes to all those questions.

The Mustang and Corsair are the most recognizeable.
Most regular people think Sophie's Navion was "The Flying Tigers" airplane cuz of the "Teeth"!

The Corsair shindig was neat but the sight of an all Fort Missing Man was it for me!

Here Here to the Luthers!

TimAPNY · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2005 8:52 am

Corsairs are not shinny, people like shinny things.

setter · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2005 4:16 pm

Every where I go NZ, Duxford - anywhere there is a Corsair flying people stop in their tracks and watch - it is a Big flying brick outhouse of an aircraft, brutal, big and fast and commands respect of the crowd so I don't know why people say that in the US they aren't as popular

I know here inAus we are stocking up on Yank Corsairs at present so if things are that bad send the rest downunder and we'll look after them for you!!!LOL

Regards
John P

corsair166b · **Posted:** Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:32 pm

I have never, not at any airshow that I and a Corsair have been present at, NOT seen a crowd gather and continue to STAY gathered (with various members of the crowd coming and going) around the Corsair as long as they were allowed to be there....I have only ever heard of 4 'special aircraft' airshows- a Mustang Gathering, the gathering of B-17's at Michigan, and two Corsair gatherings, at which I was present both times....I am sure that in due time we will have P-40 gatherings, F4F Gatherings, etc etc and they will be welcomed and fun, but only ONE aircraft gets me up off my airshow seat consistently...the F4U.

M

michael luther · **Posted:** Tue Nov 15, 2005 2:13 am

Would another corsair gathering go over well? Or has it been done for now?

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