Chance-Vought F4U Corsair
One of the most outstanding fighters of WWII Pacific, the Corsair has become almost legendary by Pappy Boyington's "Black Sheep" and VF-17 "Jolly Rogers" in the South Pacific. It was a excellent land based fighter which became the main fighter of the USMC, its bent wings are its distinct feature. Demand for the Corsairs was such that they were also produced by Brewster and Goodyear.

400 mph+
The Corsair was the first U.S. fighter to exceed 400 mph, and had much better performance than the F4F Wildcat, which was the current top-of-the-line Navy fighter when the Corsair was introduced.

Carrier Controversy
Contrary to popular belief, it was not the F4U's long nose, that deemed it unsuitable for carrier operations, rather stiff main gear struts and a short tail gear, which caused the tail hook to bounce over carriers arresting cables. For this reason, early Corsairs went to the USMC. Later in the war it was proven that the Corsairs could operate safely off of carriers, with slight modifications.

FG-1
Goodyear built Corsair

References
Thanks to Dick Atkins / Chief Historian
Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation for assistance with this profile.