The Vought F4U-1 Corsair fighters began to go into service in the Pacific soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Corsair was a single-place fighter of unusual design. Its wing had the shape of an inverted gull wing. This design allowed clearance for the Corsair’s 13-foot, 4-inch propeller. A straight wing would have needed a dangerously high landing gear to provide clearance for such a large propeller. Originally designed for carrier use, the 2,000-horsepower, 400-mile-an-hour Corsair was adopted for land-based operations by the United States Marine Corps. Marine Corps aviators used the Corsair with deadly effect against the Japs from Guadalcanal on. Navy pilots flew the Corsair as a night-fighter to put a stop to the Jap’s habit of bombing our Pacific airfields at night.
The Navy’s newest torpedo plane, the Grumman TBF Avenger, first appeared in the battle off Midway. The big Avenger had a speed of 270 miles per hour, a range of 1,400 miles, and carried a 2,000-pound bomb load or a full-sized torpedo concealed in its fuselage. The famous Torpedo Squadron 8, in fourteen weeks sank as many Jap warships including two aircraft carriers and one battleship; bombed one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and a number of smaller ships.
Avengers helped to pave the way for the establishment of bases in the Pacific. Corsairs, used as the Navy’s first night-fighters, broke up Japanese night bombings of the newly won island bases and allowed our hard-worked men to rest at night.
THE U. S. NAVY’S DEADLIEST FIGHTER PLANE
In the months following Pearl Harbor the tough little Grumman F4F Wildcat was ever in the thick of the fight in the Pacific. Based on the few carriers available for use against the Japs, the Wildcats outfought overwhelming numbers of enemy warplanes. Over the Marshall Islands in February, 1942, Wildcat fighters bagged ten Jap fighters and three bombers without any American losses. At Wake Island, a lone Wildcat, manned by a Marine, bombed a Jap cruiser to the bottom. Lieutenant Commander Edward (“Butch”) O’Hare was flying a Wildcat when he brought down six Jap bombers singlehanded in a few minutes. Such incidents were typical of Wildcat action in the first year of the war.
When President Roosevelt presented the Congressional Medal of Honor to “Butch” O’Hare, he asked him what kind of fighter was needed to beat the Japs. O’Hare replied, “Something that will go upstairs faster.” Commander John Thatch, master Navy combat technician, had told Grumman officials the same thing, and had added a request for more speed in general. Not many months later, the roar of a 2,000-horsepower echoed over Long Island, New York, and a new Grumman fighter began to “go upstairs faster.”