In my earlier blogpost I already
featured an F4U-Corsair or what is left of it; mentionally a half of its
fuselage and one of its wings, I originally planned to build another one from a
completely brand-new kit but at the last minute I decided to try a pre-built "Hobbyeasy" 1:72 scale F4U-1 Corsair"
Instead. Although the Corsair is one of my favorite World War Two (WWII)
aircraft I find it unnecessary to spend tedious time for a model piece I
already built as a boy. Its my firs time
to purposely get a no assembly needed scale model, and appropriately as what
the brand said; its so “easy” …, it was a kind of mild situational
dis-orientation when I took out the F4U scale model from its box to be
photographed; its seemed so un-complicated; no tools and materials to prepare,
no adhesives or paints to mix, its quite clear that old modelers will miss the
nostalgia of building a model from a kit and the anticipating excitement as
your project slowly take shape, it’s the “build” and aura of participation that
appeals some to indulge in this activity and “pre-built” models don’t have this
appeal out of the box.
Despite all the seemingly
unsatisfying traits that a pre-built
models offer to an old-school modeler I don’t consider it too bad of an idea,
foremostly I am a single middle age man which have to do battle with single-blessedness
and creeping gray hair, coupled with lessened “senses” capacity I know at some
point in the near future I will probably have to solely resort on “pre-built subjects” whenever I feel the
need to reminisce my childhood pastimes and writing about them whenever my personal or economics `situation can still allow it..
Sea Pirates of the Caribbean
and the Atlantic are traditionally classified as “Buccaneers”,
while pirates that operate mainly in the Mediterranean area known as
“Corsairs”. The Chance-Vought F4U
Corsair is a World War Two (WWII)
single seat fighter originally conceived to meet America’s need for a new “Aircraft
Carrier-Based” machine that can over-match “Japanese” warplanes that “shamed”
United States (US) armed forces in Land, Sea and Air. Introduced at the middle
of the war in the Pacific (1941-45); the Corsair did have some early
operational problem mainly because aviators have to adjust on the characteristic of it distinctive
“inverted gulwing” and long-engine configuration which for some seemed inappropriate
for a flying machine intended to be used primarily on carriers, this
utilization problem however was overshadowed by the F4U’s durability, speed and
maneuverability; it can operate on
roughly prepared and even muddy “land-base” runways, eventually further
modification of the planes controls surfaces and adaptive piloting techniques
led it to be used as a formidable
fighter of the “US Marine Corps “ for their “carrier-based" operations.
The F4U Corsair saw action in almost all theaters of the war
but it was on the U.S. push to retake the “Central-South Pacific” from the
Japanese Imperial forces is where the “Corsair is famously noted for. The
legendary status of the Plane in WWII folk history was enhance when a maverick marine
officer named “Gregory Boyington” trained and then led a team of young airman called
the “Blackship Squadron” using F4U
Corsairs in the campaign to harass Japanese forces in their island strongholds at
the start of America’s island-hopping campaign to reclaim the Pacific Islands
from the enemy.
During an “air–raid” on Japan’s
major logistics and airforce base at “Rabaul”
(Papua New Guinea) Boyington was shot down and captured by the Japanese Navy,
he remained a Prisoner of War (POW) throughout the remainder of
WWII. Occasionally reputed by social and institutional critics for his alledge
unconforming public lifestyle and maybe because of his involvement as a U.S.
sanctioned “volunteer” pilot for “Nationalist China” against Japan (even before
America and Japan was officially at war); Boyington became a controversial figure in America’s “on war” and post war
social opinion landscape, nevertheless he is a recipient of official service
awards (Medal of Honor, Navy Cross) for his part in turning his outfit from a
once apprehensive members of a liberation force into a high morale and well
motivated squadron thus contributing greatly to pan the tide of victory by deed
or by opinion to the “Allies” favor
during the conflict.
Battle of Guadalcanal, Liberation of the Philippines,
Invasion of Iwojima are just three
of the many notable battles the F4U-Corsair
saw action in, the airframe continued service well after the war thus it had
different numerical designations for every variant. In the Korean War it was
superbly used as a “fighter bomber” (primarily the F4U-4 variants) equipped with rockets and fire-bombs.; the F4U was
also flown to battle in the “French-Indochina”
conflict of the 1950’s, Great Britain
and New Zealand also have F4U
Corsairs in their Air Forces during WWII.
1:72 F4U-1
Corsair ( foreground: “Jolly Rogers” cowling ) with a 1:72 F4U-4 Corsair ( background: “White
Serpent” cowling ).
1:72 HobbyEasy F4U-1 Corsair in size comparison with a 1:72 Academy A6M "Zero".
" In my earlier blog post I already featured an F4U-Corsair or what is left of it; mentionally a half of its fuselage and one of its wings,"
PS Disclaimer : The scenes and objects depicted in this blog are mainly for the blog author’s personal opinion and artistic expression only and not meant to claim absolute authoritative presentation of actual events and people that often the inspiration for the subjects featured in this site....
