Great
value prints of F-4 Corsair in aviation art prints by
leading aviation artists. The F-4 Corsair in aviation prints by William S
Phillips and Nicholas
Trudgian depicting Corsairs flown by Bryan Cox, Robert Baker, Bruce
Porter, James Swett, John Bolt, Roger Conant, Archie Donahue and Kenneth
Walsh.
Angels of Okinawa by Stan Stokes.
In 1938 Vought won a contract for what was to become one of the last of the great propeller driven fighter aircraft, the F4U Corsair. Designed to incorporate the most powerful air-cooled radial engine available at the time, the Pratt and Whitney Double Wasp, the Corsair was powerful, heavily armed, ruggedly built, and designed from the onset as a carrier based fighter. The Corsair was fast, and became the first military aircraft to obtain 400 MPH in level flight. The Corsair incorporated the largest three-bladed propeller ever utilized on a single engine aircraft, a unique distinctive gull wing design, and its 2804 cubic inch engine developed a whopping 1800 HP, more than twice the horsepower of the Japanese fighters which dominated the early years of the War in the Pacific. Despite its design emphasis the USN was reluctant to utilize the Corsair for carrier-based operations because of the aircrafts poor pilot visibility during landings. As a result, the Corsair initially entered serv.........
The Chance-Vought F4U Corsair was arguably the finest naval aviation fighter of its era. Work on this design dates to 1938 and was headed-up by Voughts Chief Engineer, Rex Biesel. The initial prototype was powered by an 1800-HP Pratt & Whitney double Wasp radial engine. This was the third Vought aircraft to carry the Corsair name. The graceful and highly recognizable gull-wing design of the F4U permitted the aircraft to utilize a 13-foot, three-blade, Hamilton Standard propeller, while not having to lengthen the landing gear. Because of the rigors of carrier landings, this was a very important design consideration. Folding wings were also required for carrier operations. The F4U was thirty feet long, had a wingspan of 41 feet and an empty weight of approximately 7,500 pounds. Another interesting feature was the way the F4Us gear rotated 90 degrees, so it would lay flush within the wing when in the up position. In 1939 the Navy approved the design, and production commenced. The Corsair.........
Captain Archie Glenn Donahue of VMF-112s Wolfpack, becomes an ace in a day in the skies near Guadalcanal in May 1943. He would repeat this remarkable feat 2 years later, after shooting down five enemy planes while on service aboard the USS Bunker Hill, establishing himself as one of the finest aces in US marine aviation history.
Item Code : DHM2631
Semper Fi Skies by John D Shaw. - Editions Available
Yontan Airfield, Okinawa, June 1945. It was early evening at this tropical airdrome. The brilliant sun was setting, the air was hot and humid with a faint pall of propeller dust hanging over the field, giving the place an unusual softness. It was time for the planes at Yontan to start departing for their missions. While the day fighters came in to end daylight operations, the night fighters were only beginning theirs. The sunsets in the Pacific are truly things with soul. The violence of their color is incredible. They splatter the sky and the clouds glow with a surging beauty. The ocean blends into the horizon, and palm trees silhouette themselves dramatically against the fiery West. The noiseless peace that sometimes comes just before dusk hung over the airdrome. Men talked in low tones about the nights missions. The night fighter pilots are eager to get into the humid night sky. As they take off, one by one they are vectored to their positions, where they will spend the evening .........
Pappy Boyingtons VMF-214 Black Sheep squadron continues to fascinate aviation and military enthusiasts to this day. VMF-214 flew three combat tours starting from September 1943 and chalked up a total of 153 aerial victories with more than another 100 Japanese aircraft destroyed on the ground. Rabaul Harbor, more than 200 miles distant from their airfields, was a stronghold for the Japanese and a frequent target for the Black Sheep of VM17-214. Most missions to Rabaul involved the escort of SBD Dauntless dive-bombers, TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, or B-24s. The Black Sheep usually provided high cover at 20,000 to 24,000 feet, and on some occasions Japanese fighters would be waiting in the clouds above them. The Zekes would use their altitude advantage and dive at great speeds to penetrate the top cover and get at the attacking American bombers. The Black Sheep utilized the Thatch Weave to protect their own flights from tail-end attacks by the Zekes. Rabaul Harbor was not an easy target .........
HMS Anson at Sydney Harbour, July 1945 by Ivan Berryman.
The King George V class battleship HMS Anson is pictured in Sydney Harbour where she joined the Pacific Fleet in July 1945, viewed across the flight deck of HMS Vengeance, where ten of her Vought F4.U Corsairs are ranged in front of a single folded Fairey Barracuda.
Item Code : DHM1107
HMS Anson at Sydney Harbour, July 1945 by Ivan Berryman. - Editions Available
A new U.S. Navy fighter squadron designated VF-11 was organized in August 1942. The new squadron received several combat tested pilots, and many newcomers, including Vernon E. Graham, a Colorado native. After two months of training in San Diego the new squadron deployed to Maui, where, under the command of Charles Fenton, the squadron commenced a comprehensive training program. While in Hawaii several of VF-11s pilots came up with a squadron insignia which depicted two Grumman F4F Wildcats blasting a rising sun into the Pacific. Thus VF- 11 became known as the Sun Downers. The Sun Downers first combat tour would be land-based, flying out of Guadacanal with the Marines. This was a bit upsetting to some member of the squadron as the Marines were flying the state-of-the-art F4U Corsair, while VF-11 was equipped with the older Grumman F4F Wildcat, an aircraft somewhat inferior in dog fighting capability to the Japanese Zero. During the first several weeks of its first combat tour the Sun .........
Few fighter units in World War II gained the notoriety of Pappy Boyingtons Marine Corps VMF-214 Black Sheep Squadron. Equipped with the Chance Vought F4U Corsair, under Boyingtons spirited leadership, the Black Sheep pilots were accorded one of only two Presidential Unit Citations awarded to Marine Corps squadrons during the war in the Pacific. With the American forces pushing up through the South Pacific, the First Marine Air Wing was urgently looking for a seasoned fighter pilot to form a unit to take the brand new F4U into combat. Boyington had the experience - he had become an Ace flying with Chennaults Flying Tigers in China - and the rank to lead a squadron; he also had a reputation as an aggressive fighter leader, and was a natural choice for the job. Recruiting pilots from the reserve pool, together with others awaiting assignment to squadrons, the 30 year-old Boyington - dubbed Pappy by his group of young pilots - knocked them into one of the most effective fighter units in .........
For their outstanding contribution to the war in the South Pacific, the Black Sheep were awarded one of only two Presidential Unit Citations accorded to Marine Corps squadrons during the war in the Pacific. With typical mastery, Robert Taylor has brought to life an encounter over Rabaul in late December 1943, paying tribute to one of the US Marine Corps most famous fighter squadrons, and its outstanding leader. With the Japanese airbase at Rabaul visible in the distance, Pappy Boyington and his fellow pilots of VMF-214 tear into a large formation of Japanese Zekes and a series of deadly dogfights have started, one Zeke already fallen victim to their guns.
Item Code : DHM2673
Rabaul - Fly For Your Life by Robert Taylor. - Editions Available
Nicolas Trudgians action packed painting shows an attack on Rabaul during the fall of 1943. B-24 Liberators of the Army Air Force pound the harbor and docks below whilst the Marines Corps pilots of VMF 214 - the famous Black Sheep Squadron - provide top cover in their F4U Corsairs. A fierce dog-fight has developed between the F4U pilots and Japanese Zeros. One Zero, already smoking, begins to roll out of control, while the two F4U pilots turn their attentions on to a second. Below further dog-fights are in progress, the air filled with aerial combat.
Item Code : DHM2116
Gunfight Over Rabaul by Nicolas Trudgian - Editions Available
Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1916, Ken Walsh enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1933. He initially served as an aircraft mechanic and radioman, and was accepted for pilot training in 1936. He graduated in 1937 receiving his Wings of Gold at Pensacola, Florida. Walshs initial assignment was with VO-7M (later to be designated VMS-1) at Quantico, Virginia. He later served with various scouting and observation squadrons attached to the USS Yorktown, USS Wasp, and the USS Ranger. In mid- 1941 Kens ambition of becoming a fighter pilot was realized when he was transferred to VMF121. With more than 1600 hours of flying time, Walsh was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1942 and was assigned to VMF-124, the first Marine squadron to be equipped with the Chance Vought F4U-1 Corsair. He flew combat missions with VMF-124 from February to September 1943 in the campaign to retake the Solomon Islands. During this period he attained twenty confirmed aerial victories. He was awarded the Congressional.........
With its macabre skull and crossbones insignia, and a reputation for total disdain of authority, VF-17 arrived in the Pacific with a variety of nicknames ranging from the Irregulars to the Cast-offs, but under the dynamic leadership of their Squadron Commander, Tom Blackburn, VF-17 made their presence felt immediately upon their arrival in the fall of 1943. Equipped with the F4U Corsair, VF-17 pilots had what Blackburn was convinced was the best fighter aircraft of World War II, and on 1st November, during the invasion of Bougainville, VF-17 pilots shot down 6 Japanese planes in their first taste of battle - 2 falling to the guns of their C.O. Over the next 8500 hours of combat in the Solomons, its pilots shot down 156 enemy aircraft, 8 Japanese aircraft for each plane it lost, and produced the highest number of Aces of any squadron in the Navy. Blackburns Fighting 17 were the toast of the Navy brass, earned the respect of their peers, and became known throughout the Pacific as The .........
