Vought F4U Corsair - top ten ace list

[knusel]

What date was the very first aerial victory claimed by the Corsair ?

[R Leonard]

Depends how you want to count . . .

In an F4U-2 (the night fighter version) VF(N)-75’s LT Hugh Daniel O’Neil Jr was credited with shooting down a G4M at approximately 2300 on 31 October 1943 about 12 mi southeast of Shortland Islands, 300 deg, 12 min from west tip of Vella Lavella.

The next day VF-17’s LT Shelton Roy Beacham was credited with shooting down an A6M, LTJG Douglas H C Gutenkunst – a D3A, LTJG Tom Kiliefer – an A6M and sharing another A6M with ENS Frederick James Streig; all between 0745 and 0800 near 6-30S,155-10E.

Me, I’d go with VF(N)-75’s O’Neil . . . G4M shoot downs were usually pretty spectacular and I’d bet even more so at night.

[knusel]

October ?
But the Corsairs fought from February onwards, didn't they ?

[R Leonard]

Ahh, sorry, my goof. Those were the first USN F4U credits. Both VF(N)-75 and VF-17 deployed in October 1943. My material is almost exclusively USN oriented.

I would suppose that one of the first enemy aircraft, an A6M, lost in action against F4Us would be the one that collided with VMF-124's Lt Gordon Lee Lyon, Jr., 14 February 1943 over Bougainville/Kahili, with fatal results for both. This date was VMF-124's first actual combat exposure and, I believe the squadron's third day in theater.

After a quick look through various sources, only Hammel in his "Pacific Air War Chronology" specifically mentions Japanese A6Ms being shot down by F4U pilots on this date. Hammel writes: "And the 3 A6Ms credited to VMF-124 pilots are the first enemy aircraft ever credited to the new F4U."

Not sure if the three included the one from the mid-air and no other names are mentioned.

[twocee]

In his book on Marine Fighter Squadrons Barrett Tillman credits the first shootdown on February 14 to Capt. J.F. Quigley, but I think he meant Joseph F. Quilty.

[R Leonard]

Thanks, George!

[knusel]

Good evening Leonard and George,

thanks for your posts.
Scoring from 14Feb1943 until 17Jul1969: a period of 26 years, five months and three days. Certainly a record for piston-engined planes.
I'll search a jet that supersedes this and report to you if I find anything.
(Ultra-narrow for the F/A-18: 17Jan1991-18Jun2017, 26 years, five months and one day).

I wish you a fine weekend. Mine will be one day longer because my host country Switzerland has its national day.

Cheers,

Michael

[BruceMk11]

Michael,

This book may be of interest to you. Released in March this year.

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/m...s-a6m-zero-sen

[knusel]

Good evening Bruce,

I have several OSPREY DUEL volumes including this one:
https://ospreypublishing.com/f4u-corsair-vs-ki-84-frank
and like the concept of this series very much.
Maybe I will acquire the book you mentioned, too.
But before that I will work through the OSPREY AIRCRAFT OF THE ACES volume by Mark Styling.

Best greetings and wishes,

Michael

I found the aircraft that scored over a longer period of time than the Corsair and opened a new thread about it:
http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showth...562#post321562