An Aeronautical Engineer’s View..... The Vought F4U Corsair And its Contemporaries
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About this ebook
An Aeronautical Engineer's View.....The Vought F4U Corsair and its Contemporaries (6th Edition), by Tom Brinkman, is a well researched, factual and historical description of five legendary United States fighter aircraft of WW II - the Vought F4U Corsair, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Grumman F6F Hellcat, and Lockheed P-38 Lightning. This book presents a clear description of the design rationale, capabilities, characteristics, performance, and limitations of each of these superlative aircraft. Also included are American vs. Axis aircraft dog fighting comparisons, results of formal military competitive fly-offs, and mock dog fighting match-ups between these aircraft. Several key flight behavior characteristics which are very rarely discussed are explained, and perspectives on a number of important topics not often given coverage in the popular media are presented. Brinkman has given many presentations on his book, including a symposium with several original VMF-214 "Black Sheep" pilots. Brinkman is an aeronautical engineer, retired from a career in engineering, engineering management, and program management with IBM Corp and several other companies in the computer industry.
Thomas Brinkman
Tom Brinkman has authored "An Aeronautical Engineers View: The F4U Corsair and its Contemporaries", and has co-authored "Marine Wings: Stories of war & peace as written by the pilots". Tom is a retired engineering manager with a BS and MS in Aeronautics & Engineering Mechanics, University of Minnesota; and an MS in Electrical Engineering, University of Vermont. Tom is Past President of a large WWII Round Table in Rochester, MN.
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Reviews for An Aeronautical Engineer’s View..... The Vought F4U Corsair And its Contemporaries
2 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A solid book compares various allied (mostly american) aircrafts of the ww2 and their aspects. Naturally the main theme is f4u Corsair, but general aspects of fighter aircrafts of the time are well described. I learned some new stuffs too -- recommended for any warbirds fans.
Book preview
An Aeronautical Engineer’s View..... The Vought F4U Corsair And its Contemporaries - Thomas Brinkman
An Aeronautical Engineer’s View…..
The Vought F4U Corsair
And its Contemporaries
By Thomas Brinkman
Copyright 2011 Thomas Brinkman
Smashwords Edition
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ISBN 978-1-4661-0783-0
Additional publication activity by Tom Brinkman:
Contributing author for the Regional Best Seller:
Marine Wings: Stories of war and peace as written by the pilots
(DeForest Press (2007). The collected stories of Minnesota Marine pilots who flew in World War II, the Korean War, and beyond.
Introduction
An excerpt from: An Aeronautical Engineer’s View….The Vought F4U Corsair and its Contemporaries
6th EDITION
Publishing History:
1st Edition (Preliminary Draft), published May 3, 2006
2nd Edition, published August, 2006
3rd Edition, published March, 2007
4th Edition, published October, 2007
5th Edition, published January, 2009
6th Edition, published July, 2010; 2nd printing May, 2011; eBook October 2011
Cover design and artwork by Thomas Brinkman
Cover photographs (P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, F4U Corsair,
P-51 Mustang, F6F Hellcat) by Thomas Brinkman
Feel free to contact the author at mailto:tombrinkman@charter.net
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
Thomas (Tom) Brinkman
Chapter 1 -- Introduction
Chapter 2 -- Design for Air-to-Air Combat
Chapter 3 -- Design for Ground Attack
Chapter 4 -- Engines, Supercharging, and Turbo-supercharging
Chapter 5 -- Improvements and ‘Stretch’
Chapter 6 -- Teething Problems and Design Issues
Chapter 7 -- British Commonwealth
Chapter 8 -- Korea and Early Cold War
Chapter 9 -- Maintenance
Chapter 10 -- Accomplishments in Theater
Chapter 11 -- It All Depends
Chapter 12 -- Summary
APPENDIX – PHOTOGRAPHS
United States
F4U Corsair, P-51 Mustang, P-47 Thunderbolt, F6F Hellcat, P-38 Lightning
Britain
Spitfire, Sea Fury
Russia
La-9, Yak-3
Japan
A6M Zero
Germany
ME 109 (Bf 109), FW 190
Bibliography
(books, articles, manuals, conversations and discussions)
TABLES
Table 1 -- Lead Designers of Leading Fighters -- WWII
Table 2 -- Aerodynamic Parameters
Table 3 -- Maturation—F4U Corsair
Table 4 -- Maturation—P-51 Mustang
Table 5 -- Maturation—P-47 Thunderbolt
Table 6 -- Maturation—P-38 Lightning
Table 7 -- Maturation—F6F Hellcat
Table 8 -- U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Strength 1942-43
Table 9 -- U.S. Aerial Combat Records -- WWII
Table 10 -- Joint Fighter Conference – October 194465
Table 11 -- WWII Development and Delivery Time from Contract Award to Best Model Delivery
Thomas (Tom) Brinkman
BS – Aeronautics & Engineering Mechanics, University Minnesota, 1963
MS – Aeronautics & Engineering Mechanics, University Minnesota, 1965
MS – Electrical Engineering, University Vermont, 1977
ASME Southern Minnesota Subsection – President, Vice President, Secretary, 1968-70
ASME Young Engineer of the Year (Minnesota), 1971
President – Scott Hosier WWll Roundtable (Rochester, Minnesota)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I was born five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, but somehow, almost instinctively I have had an interest in WWll and WWll aviation. The very earliest recollection in my life was being wheeled in a baby carriage at age 1, more or less, in 1942, and seeing a formation of single engine planes fly over in formation and bank away…true story! During my career as a busy engineering manager I missed inquiring of several uncles who were WWll veterans, and who are now gone. But finally I began to carve out small amounts of time as I approached retirement in order to explore longstanding but latent interests in history, aviation, and WWll. Finding opportunities to read more and to attend air shows, and having had the good fortune to make the acquaintance of several South Pacific Marine pilots from the original Black Sheep squadron (VMF-214), and then to enjoy friendships with a wonderful group of Minnesota Marine aviators who flew in WWll and in Korea, not to mention interesting post war careers, has been a rewarding part of my life.
The pilots who have provided guidance to this book have been there
, having flown in combat. I have not. My piece of this book represents historical research combined with engineering knowledge, having completed aeronautical engineering studies at the University of Minnesota and having completed a rewarding career in engineering, engineering management, and program management. My career spanned 30 years at IBM (Rochester, MN), followed by 10 years at Seagate, Western Digital, and Pemstar (an IBM spin-off). Interestingly, for 20 years of my career I worked on development of read/write heads for computer hard disk drives. This brought me back full circle to aeronautics and engineering mechanics because of the demanding aerodynamic ground effects which allowed heads to fly a few millionths of an inch over the surface of a disk rotating at 7,200 rpm (visualize a Boeing 727 flying several hundred miles an hour at one inch above the runway).
I have endeavored to provide a factual, sometimes passionate, sometimes dispassionate, and mildly technical article that reflects both engineering considerations and the lessons of a career in engineering design, test, and production. I sincerely hope that the fighter aircraft discussion in this book accentuates the war time contributions, experiences, and sacrifices these pilots have made while flying some of the greatest warplanes of all time.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors of the excellent historical material available on WWII and the Korean War, as attested to in my Bibliography.
Specifically the WWII and Korean pilots listed in my Bibliography, as well as all of the Minnesota USMC (Ret) pilots—members of the Minnesota Marine Air Reserve, LLC-- whom I have had the pleasure of knowing these past several years. Specifically, input and/or proofreading by Lyle Bradley, Harry Goodyear, Goodwin Luck, Clyde Slyman, Darrell Smith, Ed Sovik, and John Wastvedt has been key. Thanks to Dean Kevern for discussion on maintenance.
The inspiration I have felt from Bob McClurg, Jim Hill, Bruce Matheson, and Tom Emrich of the early Black Sheep Squadron (VMF-214) who flew in the South Pacific in 1943-44. Thanks in particular to Bruce Matheson for review and constructive input.
Minnesota Army Air Corps WWII pilots Darrell Johnson (deceased), Richard Nelson (deceased), Matt Ruper, and Clyde Taylor for input. Johnson flew in the Caribbean, and Nelson, Ruper, and Taylor flew in Europe during WWII.
Barrett Tillman for excellent review and constructive input.
The Department of Aeronautics and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Minnesota for an enduring engineering education which has enabled me, after all these years, to author this book.
Judy Pease for good natured patience, patience, and more patience, not to mention proofreading and important sentence structure guidance.
Special ‘Thank You’ to Pete Buffington for his professional services in eBook formatting and technical assistance, author of Squawk 7700
, http://www.squawk7700.com/
TB
PREFACE
The Minnesota Marine aviators who have contributed their WWll, Korean War, and postwar experiences to this book flew an unusually wide variety of aircraft during their lifetimes. Major Goodwin Luck originally flew Grumman F3F biplane naval fighters, then nearing the end of their frontline service. He also flew hazardous duty in the Solomon Islands with the sturdy, ubiquitous Grumman J2F Duck amphibian (scout and rescue). He, in fact, was the first to look for Lt John F Kennedy after his PT109 was reported missing, spotting wreckage which may have been from PT109, but not the crew. Among other responsibilities, Major Sherm Booen flew in Army B-17s overseas as an electronics instructor for auto pilot/bombsight operation. Booen went on to host the Twin Cities TV program World of Aviation
, which ran for 28 years! Others in this book in their postwar aviation careers went on to fly military and commercial planes ranging from the Fairchild C-119 transport, to the North American F-100 Super Sabre, to the Boeing 747, and many types in between. Col. John Wastvedt is among the nation’s oldest active glider pilots, still flying out of the Stanton, Minnesota airport.
Most Minnesota Marines in this book, however, flew the remarkable Chance Vought F4U Corsair in the South Pacific, Central Pacific, Western Pacific, or Korea. These pilots and their maintenance crews worked and flew from land bases, large Essex Class carriers (CVs), and smaller escort carriers (CVEs) in daytime aerial combat, night fighter combat, close ground support, and strafing missions.
TB
Chapter 1 -- Introduction
The wide range of approaches to WWll fighter design (Ref: Table 1) provides a fascinating array of both design philosophies and design technologies. It is a hard axiom of engineering design, development, and test that the more technological advances and design leaps incorporated into a machine, the more taming and debugging will be required to make it acceptable in the field. Alternatively, a less aggressive, staged design path involving several modestly different designs will most often yield a releasable design sooner (case in point—Grumman F6F Hellcat). The key difference in these two design strategies is most frequently a choice between safer/sooner with less improvement vs some additional angst/risk to achieve large and even quantum improvements in machine performance and other attributes by pushing the envelope and having the perseverance to see it through (cases in point—Vought F4U Corsair, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, North American P-51 Mustang, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt).
Some pilots and historians arguably consider the Corsair to be the best air-to-air fighter and best fighter bomber in the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) during WWll. Some indeed consider the Corsair to be the best all around piston engine fighter in history. However,