The World War II F4U Corsair Was The Allies’ Best Weapon In The Pacific – SlashGear

The folding design of the Corsair lent itself to carrier-based operations by the Navy, but that was only a small part of the its story. Problems with the airframe when it was first introduced delayed its Naval ship debut until 1944. It was used to great effect as a land-based fighter by the U.S. Marines during the Allied Force’s island-hopping campaign. The primary air-to-air armament of the Corsair were six .50 caliber machine guns. But it was also capable of carrying bombs, rockets, and whatever else the Marine Corps needed to make life difficult for the Imperial Navy and Army. The Corsair’s versatility and carrier-centric design made the plane infinitely valuable when taking off and attacking from short hastily prepared runways on Pacific Islands.

As the war came to a close, desperate Japanese forces deployed Kamikaze pilots who would intentionally ram their aircraft into Allied targets. When the Corsair saw combat from the deck of an aircraft carrier, it excelled at repelling these attacks and other last ditch efforts by the Imperial Navy.