The Historical F4U Corsair is an American
homebuilt aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...
that was designed and produced by the
Historical Aircraft Corporation of
Nucla, Colorado
Nucla is a statutory town in Montrose County, Colorado, United States. The population was 585 as of the 2020 census, down from 711 in 2010. Its name comes from the town founders' intent that it serve as a "nucleus" for the surrounding farms and ...
. The aircraft is a 60% scale replica of the original
Chance-Vought F4U Corsair
The Vought F4U Corsair is an American fighter aircraft which saw service primarily in World War II and the Korean War. Designed and initially manufactured by Chance Vought, the Corsair was soon in great demand; additional production contract ...
and when it was available was supplied as a kit for amateur construction.
[Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 176. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998. ]
Design and development
The aircraft features a cantilever
low
Low or LOW or lows, may refer to:
People
* Low (surname), listing people surnamed Low
Places
* Low, Quebec, Canada
* Low, Utah, United States
* Lo Wu station (MTR code LOW), Hong Kong; a rail station
* Salzburg Airport (ICAO airport code: LO ...
gull wing, a single-seat enclosed cockpit under a
bubble canopy, retractable
conventional landing gear
Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...
and a single engine in
tractor configuration.
The aircraft is made from welded steel tubing covered in a shell of
polyurethane foam and
fiberglass
Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...
. Its span wing, mounts
flaps and has a wing area of . The cockpit width is . The standard engine used is the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
V-6 automotive conversion powerplant.
The aircraft has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot and baggage is .
The aircraft has fairly lengthy runway requirements with a standard day sea level take-off distance of and a landing distance of .
The kit included prefabricated assemblies, the engine and scale fixed pitch propeller, instruments and
avionics
Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...
. The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied kit as 2000 hours.
Specifications (F4U)
References
{{Historical Aircraft Corp aircraft
F4U Corsair
1990s United States sport aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Homebuilt aircraft
Replica aircraft