F4U1C plane analysis
US navy's cannon armed Corsair
Click here to see the Youtube video review with commentary&gameplay
Introduction:
Unlocked at level 12 in the American trajectory, the F4U1C is a fearsome adversary. Sporting a very particular and almost unique combination of qualities, the cannon armed Corsair flies very similar to it's machine gun armed siblings, but it adds a fearsome punch that the F4U1A and D sometimes lack.
Being carrier borne this is a fighter that can be used to it's full in every map in the rotation - unlike army aircraft which can't land on carriers in Pacific based maps. It's naval nature, and the demands it's role as a carrier based fighter forced upon the design, give this plane a very characteristic set of advantages - as all american fighters it excels at Boom and Zoom, but that huge wing area and highly effective flaps provide the plane with an excellent fall-back turn ability.
Hated by those who have to face it's guns, loved by those who fly it - the F4U1C is a remarkable fighter indeed, and a very powerful one.
General description:
The Chance-Vought Corsair is a low wing single engine fighter with a traditional configuration. The characteristic inverted gull wing profile - a design feature that stems from the need of lowering the wing to mount a short, strong, undercarriage able to absorb the heavy stresses of carrier landings - gives the model excellent high speed aerodynamics while it's sheer size keeps the wingloading within reasonable levels, thus making it a good plane to fly even at slow speeds.
Initially dubbed the Ensign Eliminator because of it's tendence to stall the right wing without a warning in low speed approaches, the F4U wasn't adopted for carrier use until very late in the war. However this problem was present in the early series of the fighter; after some time a spoiler in the left wing ensured that both wings would stall at the same time thus giving the plane much nicer stall handling and making it easier to land in carriers.
Powered by a 2300hp Pratt&Whitney R-2800 radial engine, the plane has the power, but weighing almost five tons at normal takeoff load, it's also got the weight. This is no lightweight plane by any means and even with a powerful engine, acceleration and climbrate are less than stellar.
Sporting four 20mm Hispano AN/M2 cannons - the american denomination for the british Hispano MK.II, an identical weapon, the F4U1C has tremendous hitting power. In addition to that, it also carries a huge load of ammunition ensuring those cannons can be used for pretty long bursts without fear of running out of ammo prematurely.
The biggest strenght of the F4Us reside in their mix of BnZ and turnfighting abilities - something pretty unique as most Boom and Zoomers are terribly vulnerable in turnfights. This is a plane that can outrun anything it can't outturn, and outturn anything it can't outrun, making it a very complete ride and a fearsome adversary for virtually any fighter it'll face on the battlefield.
Maneouverability:
Naval fighters needed good slow speed handling to be able to safely land and takeoff from carriers. To provide for that, the Corsair sports a huge wing with massive area for a plane that size. The plane is pretty heavy but the big wing area gives it a surprisingly low wingloading for a plane of such a massive size and weight. Not only that, the F4U has very effective, large area, flaps that when deployed into the combat setting noticeably improve turnrates. The plane can, and does turn well, as long as it has speed and energy to burn.
Control surfaces are very good up to very high speed. Pitch and yaw authority are very good. Roll is a mixed bag. Roll rate (speed the plane rolls at) is very good, but roll inertia (the resistance of the plane to answer to roll commands) is pretty high. As such the F4U is a pretty fast roller but has some problems changing roll directions or stopping the rolling motion once started - it takes some time to beat that huge wing from keeping on rolling.
Roll inertia norwithstanding, the maneouverability of the plane is nothing short of phenomenal at all speeds - it's a steady platform at high speeds with very good controllability even in the faster of the dives, while retaining a superb control and turn ability at slow speeds.
Performance:
The R-2800 is a notably powerful engine, but the plane weighs almost 5 tons. Powerloading is nothing more than average at best and as a result acceleration and climbrate are also average at best, and not one of the strenghts of this model. It's highly encouraged to devote time and patience at the battle start to reach a proper altitude before engaging in combat, and once in combat, to ensure that you never allow yourself to run low and slow because once out of energy the F4U takes a pretty long time to recover the energy it has lost.
Speed wise the plane is very fast at all altitudes - it might be not the fastest in some of them but the difference with other faster planes is not really big. At sea level speeds in excess of 585kph are feasible in level runs - and that's a pretty high top speed not many of it's adversaries can hit or exceed.
Energy keeping and high speed performance:
One of the main assets of the Corsair resides in it's excellent dive&zoom abilities. Coming close to 5 tons and with very good aerodynamics for high speed flight, this fighter has both the weight to use inertia to it's advantage and the aerodynamics to exploit BnZ tactics.
Dive performance is really good, as the plane accelerates very quickly with the nose pointed down. Care should be taken, however, in high speed dives, as this is not a plane with a very high terminal dive speed. At 750kph IAS flutter is already very high and pullouts at those speeds are tricky to achieve without losing the wings.
In high speed zooms and extensions the plane is highly efficient because of the high inertia and good aerodynamics. Over 450kph this plane retains energy very well in zooms, and being an aerodynamic efficient plane with that weight means that high speed extensions at speeds avobe the model's top speed will last for a long time as the plane will slow down with time, but at a very low rate.
Firepower&Weapons:
The F4U1C version of the Corsair sports four Hispano AN/M2 cannons with a more than generous ammunition load. While not shining in rate of fire, the Hispano M2 is a heavy hitter indeed with good ballistics (almost the same as those of the 50 cals) and powerful punch, and a battery of four of them ensures that there'll always be a good ammount of lead on the way of the enemy once fire has been opened - negating somehow the low rate of fire of the weapon.
Convergences are a matter of personal taste. Some people like setting them to pretty long ranges, other people love to set them pretty close - it's down to personal preference and style. A personal recomendation here would be to set them up no farther than 400m, however, given that most of the times the firing range will be under those distances.
Ammo belt choice is pretty much down to preference here as all belts do the job (and do it fast). Given the nature of the plane as, mainly, a Boom and Zoomer however, Stealth is highly favored, as it won't alert your prey that he's being fired upon until the first hits start to arrive. And usually those first hits are devastating enough to ensure a single pass kill.
The F4U1C can mount no ground attack ordinance at all.
Tactics:
Tactics when using this plane should be focused around Boom and Zoom. While the Corsair can outturn most german fighters, it's main asset is still it's excellent high speed energy retention and BnZ ability - the turnrate should be used as a safety net, a defensive measure, or to surprise the enemy with a well timed fast reversal in a key moment of an air combat ,not as the main tactic of the plane.
Base your flying on high speed tactics mainly. Your energy retention at speeds over 400kph IAS is extremely good, your dive and zoom abilities shine and the high controllability of the plane at all speeds means that very fast aim corrections are very easy to achieve even in a high speed dive. Given the F4U1C devastating firepower you'll need only a few hits to deliver fatal damage and score kills in single passes, thus emphasizing the brilliance of this plane as a pure BnZer.
If forced on the defensive or subjected to an attack, use that dive to accelerate down to lower altitudes and stay at high speeds. The Corsair in that turf is excellent and very few planes can keep up with one launched at full speed. If, however you're facing one of them (a german Fw190 or Ta152H have very similar or better BnZ abilities and might be a problem if they get the jump on you), you can always resort back to your plane's great turning abilities at all speeds to ensure overshoots and to try to drag the enemy plane into a contested evolving close fight where you have the cards and means to turn the tables and come on top in no time given your much better turnrate and the ability to use combat flaps to great effect.
On the offensive just stay fast and quick. Boom and Zoom should be your motto. Don't get greedy and don't fall for the trap of trusting your turnrate too much. Stay fast, stay quick, and only use that slow speed turning ability when forced to, don't make it your main fighting tactic because that will mean you'll waste your energy and leave yourself open to being attacked by higher enemies. Remember that no matter this plane turns well at slow speed, it doesn't build energy fast - it doesn't accelerate or climb well, so once you've been forced low and slow the end is coming shortly afterwards so just don't allow yourself to waste precious energy that you'll need later.
CONCLUSSION:
The Corsair was the best naval fighter of the war and easily one of the top five fighters of WW2 alltogether. I can safely assess that the same is the case with War Thunder F4Us - all of them are really, really good. The F4U1C is a special case, however, given that the 20mm weaponry adds a single pass killing ability the 50 cal versions sometimes miss, thus making a great fighter even better.
The main problem with the Corsair is how easy it is to trust it's turning ability instead of focusing on energy conservation tactics. Most players who don't know better try to turnfight the F4Us, and while that is a viable choice in some scenarios and those players will meet reasonable success doing so, it's wasting the huge plane potential in the BnZ department and downright dangerous against some planes as the early Bf109s and particularily the japanese fighters, all of them which without an exception turn much better than the F4U.
A tremendous fighter on it's own, the Corsair with 20mms is even more fearsome. And flown to its strenghts is a daunting task to shoot one down even for much higher level fighters - so my recomendation is...fly it to it's strenghts.
For further information, and to see gameplay of the plane flown right, check out my Youtube analysis on the plane
No comments:
Post a Comment