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Did the F4U-4B have any fabric control surfaces, and if so which ones were they?
Not at home to dig thru my books, but I'm fairly certain they still had fabric covered ailerons, outer wing panel, elevators and rudder. I have some Korean War pic's a buddy took and the F4U-4B appears to have the ribs showing on the outer wing panel and you can see the ribs in the elevators in another pic.
These were taken by the late Doug Parker aboard the USS Bairoko during a cruise off Korea.
Does this shot look familiar? Actually aircraft Monogram used for the original Box Top Art of the 1/48 F4U Corsair.
Check out the first Corsair on the right. It appers to be #18.
Picture of F4U-4 hanging in the Pensacola Naval Air Museum. I don't know it it's the actual aircraft or just painted in those markings. I've been meaning to check on it during my bi-annual visits to Florida.
Clear Left!
Mel
Groovy pics thank you. I was thinking they would have the rudder and elevators in fabric. Wasn't aware of the outer wing panel, hmmm.
All the surfaces went to sheet metal, maybe in the -5's and up. I'll check my sources Tues. when I get back home. I had those pic's on Photobucket so could share them now.
Just did a Google search on F4U and Wikipedia mentions the all the fabric surfaces and later in the variants mentions the -5 had all metal wings. My memory ain't so bad after all, at least when it comes to aviation!
Interesting pics.
In that top pic (looking down at the top of the aircraft), you can see ribs in the outer wings right in front of the ailerons, but it looks like the skin is dented where the wingtip damage is.
Dave,
Right, the area of the wing that is covered in fabric is the retangular panel behind the wing spar 1/3 back from the leading edge to the ailerons, inboard of the metal wingtip. You can see a slight faded area with ribs. The undersides of this area were also fabric.
Great photo's, thank you! I do see what you're talking about with regards to the outer wing panel...good to know. Also, it looks like the fabric didn't fade as much as the metal surfaces, is this common to most aircraft? It can be hard to tell from B&W photos.
Wolfram von Sturmwolke Also, it looks like the fabric didn't fade as much as the metal surfaces, is this common to most aircraft? It can be hard to tell from B&W photos.
I think it depends on the paint scheme. I've seen color photos of OD aircraft where the fabric surfaces look lighter than the metal surfaces.
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