Corsair loss 2 July 1945

[Revi16]

Originally Posted by Skyraider3D

Here is the photo. Looks like a very violent kind of landing accident!!!

Interesting details that are visible are:
- hole in rudder and damaged left horizontal stabiliser (battle damage?)
- large tear down the rear fuselage (cannon shell or prop strike?)
- scratches down the side of the cockpit
- missing canopy (did Frazer consider bailing or did the pilot have to be cut out, possibly exlaining the scratches?)
- misalignment of the bulkhead behind the cockpit (possibly indicating structural failure following a very rough landing)
- torn-off left wing (Frazer was hit a badly in the left wing and could this have fallen off upon landing or did this aircraft in the photo collide in a landing accident?)
- fluid leaks all over the wing
- fuel tanks still attached (Frazer indeed couldn't drop his tanks)

If this was indeed a landing accident on 4 July, then it's still strange that Frazer's Corsair isn't on the loss list. Perhaps it was repaired afterall?

Seeing as the photo comes from Hunchar's collection, and he had photos of other damaged Corsairs too (damage to Lt. James Johnson's Corsair is shown on the same page in the book) I still believe this could indeed be showing Frazer's machine upon return.



NB. The 20mm shells from the George's cannon didn't have time-delay fuses and thus exploded on impact, causing extensive skin damage but relatively limited internal (structural) damage. This might explain why an aircraft looking this bad could still have made it home.

I've been a pilot and A&P mechanic for about 25 years. I use to restore WWII aircraft and my guess would be that this Corsair was involved in a take-off or landing accident and it may not have been the one flying.
The photo evidence shows a plane with drop tanks and flaps retracted, this is normally seen during the take-off sequence or when parked on the ramp.
There doesn't seem to be any damage to the propeller or to the landing gear which makes me think this plane was parked when another aircraft hit it. The other aircrafts wing cutting the slice thru the fuselage.

If you're a believer in that this Corsair has just returned from a flight, these are some of the events that had to take place.
Un-able to drop belly tanks, electrically or mechanically. Un-able to lower flaps hydraulically or manually. After hitting an object hard enough to rip off the left wing and slice thru several of the fuselage frames the a/c did not swerve or pitch up or down to damage the prop or the landing gear. The airframe is almost broke in two, look at the twist in the white bar of the fuselage insignia. You can see a frame showing due to the split in the lower fuselage.

Regards,
Mike