Side Topic to "Best Prop Fighter II"

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Hi All,

I’ve sent an inquiry about the BuNo. 88466 accident (88466 bounced on landing and broke in half NAS Alameda 6 February 1949).
Confirmation and details, if and when received.

With regard to pre-production F2G aircraft, this from the Baugher BuNo. listing:
a) 14691/14695 converted to XF2G-1.
Must have been diverted from Royal Navy batch
14694 was tested at Mustin Field and NAS Patuxent from 10/45 to 5/47. Stricken from Navy records May 31, 1947. As N91092 it raced as #18 when it was purchased by pilot Ron Puckett and raced in the 1947 and 1949 National Air Races. BuNo. 14694 was a Goodyear FG-1D Corsair converted to a XF2G-1. Ron Puckett was a Navy test pilot and also familiar with the F2G's Ron acquired his F2-G in time to enter the 1947 Thompson Trophy Race with a stock airplane. At that time #18 still had the original sub-rudder. Ron took off after all others had completed their first lap due to a problem with an official. Ron was able to move up to 3rd place, in the nineteenth lap, engine problems forced him to land. In the 1949 Thompson Trophy Race, Ron came in second. After the race, Ron sold his F2G to a broker who had a customer for the R-4360 engine. Ron believes the airplane was scrapped.

b) Goodyear FG-1, FG-1A Corsair 12992, 13471, 13472 converted to XF2G-1

Also, very interesting info about pre-production F2Gs on the following link: http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/F ... 8_F2Ga.htm

And one about F2G racers:
http://www.warbirdaeropress.com/articles/bail_out.html

Cheers,

Amado

[Bill Greenwood]

Amado, 425 mph at sea level at 14,000 lbs. in 1940 might be a slight exageration, don't you think?

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Hi Bill,

You may be right after all, for May 1940, that is ... the XF4U. I believe the specs are for combat production F4U-1s (June 1942), and most sources I consulted with show similar data as that in the following link: http://www.vought.com/heritage/products ... 1spec.html

Model Number : F4U-1
Model Name : Corsair
Model Type: Fighter

Specifications
Weights and Capacities
Empty Weight
8982 lb
Gross Weight
14009 lb
Powerplant Characteristics
Type: Pratt & Whitney 18 cylinder, twin row air cooled radial, R-2800-8
Rating
2000 hp
Maximum Speed, Sea Level
425 mph
Cruise Speed, Sea Level
186 mph

With regards to the Supermarine S.6B: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_S.6B

That means an 11-year difference, and although I am no expert in this field, the other facts seem to remain valid.
I am by no means trying to demerit the 29 September, 1931, S.6B (one of the major technical achievements in British aviation) impresssive speed record.

I indeed appreciate your comment.

Cheers,

Amado

[Bill Greenwood]

Amado, thanks for your polite respnse. When new guys ask me which plane to buy, I always say get one of each. You can never have too many Warbirds. Have you ever seen the real seaplane racer in London? It is scary to contemplate going 420 in something that small with that much power, and open cockpit. It even has a fixed propeller.

[mike furline]

Jaybird hit the nail on the head. Seven preproduction XF2G's and ten production F2G's, 5 F2G-1s & 5 F2G-2's. Some of the production aircraft were accepted by the Navy post war in late 45. The -1's would be land based versions with manual fold wings, no arresting gear/tailhook and the -2's were fitted out for carrier ops, hyd. wing fold, tailhook, shorter propeller, etc.
Not sure there is any evidence that they ever made a carrier landing.
Only 3 F2G-2's ever made it to the fleet, Casu-5, Fleet Air Service Squadron & Instructional Aircraft Training Unit. The others were used for flight test at Goodyear & Pax River.
The F2G wasn't designed for top speed. It was slower than the F4U-4 at some altitudes. It was designed to climb and intercept kamikaze's. I believe its initial rate of climb was 4500fpm, FG-1D - 3100fpm, F4U-4 -3300fpm.

BuNo 13471 - XF2G
BuNo 13472 - XF2G
BuNo 14691 - XF2G
BuNo 14692 - XF2G
BuNo 14693 - XF2G
Buno 14694 - XF2G
BuNo 14695 - XF2G Belly landing Akron, during recovery crane boom broke and fell on a/c, hitting it between firewall & windshield.

BuNos 88454 - 88458 F2G-1
BuNos 88459 - 88463 F2G-2


As a side note, there were several FG-1 Corsairs used in testing different elements of the F2G package, such as the bubble canopy. These kept thier original FG-1 identity.
There are some late war built FG-1D's that have their spars stamped F2G.

Regards,
Mike

Last edited by mike furline on Tue Sep 26, 2006 4:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[corsairkid]

Hi,

I have the pleasure of knowing a retired Navy Captain, who flew F4-U's in combat (what a blast it is listening to him tell war-stories about dog-fighting Zero's as if he had just trapped back on board ten minutes prior). I asked him about the FG-2. He said that he had flown them while at NAS Jax. He stated very clearly and without hesitation that only 18 were built. He also said that there was so much HP, you couldn't clear the plugs before takeoff, that you just added throttle while popping and backfiring the whole way down the runway until they cleared. He also remarked about the INCREDIBLE initial climb rate.

His name is Capt. Robert Timme.

Ivan

[Amado Aguiluz F.]

Have you ever seen the real seaplane racer in London? It is scary to contemplate going 420 in something that small with that much power, and open cockpit. It even has a fixed propeller.

Hi Bill,

During my first visit to England in July 1984, I visited the Science Museum and was able to see the S.6B. Unfortunately, at the time I was more interested in combat aircraft, so I only took one photo of it (which I will have to search for).

The video is very impressive indeed.

Cheers,

Amado