F4U-4

F4U-4

F4U-1D

F8F-1

F4U-4

F4U-1D

F8F-1

USA

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
4.3	4.3	5.3

Class:

Fighter

Naval aircraft

Research:18 000

Purchase:47 000

Show in game

This page is about the aircraft F4U-4. For other uses, see F4U (Family).

Description

The F4U-4 Corsair is a Rank III American naval fighter with a battle rating of 4.3 (AB/RB) and 5.3 (SB). It was introduced in Update 1.71 "New E.R.A".

The F4U-4 is excellent at Boom & Zoom fighting. Its high energy-retention and acceleration make it the true pinnacle of the Corsairs. Although you don't get an air spawn, the climb rate of the F4U-4 makes up for that. When engaging an enemy, you should try and maintain an altitude advantage while keeping your speed up; speed is life, altitude is life insurance. Once you have attained an altitude advantage, you will want to roll then dive because the R-2800 P&W Double Wasp doesn't have fuel injection so if you bunt over into a dive you will most likely lose power momentarily. The six .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns, while not as destructive as let's say four 20 mm cannons or the eight .50 caliber (12.7 mm) machine guns on the P-47, they will destroy any lighter aircraft with ease.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 9,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
681	667	11,500	21.3	21.7	11.9	14.2	200
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 9,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
?	?	11,500	??.?	20.0	?.?	?.?	200

Details

Features
Combat flap	Take-off flap	Landing flap	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	✓

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
0	730	470	~??	~?

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 450	< 220	< 500	> 450

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
450 m	2,100 hp	2,450 hp
Setting 2
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
5,638 m	1,885 hp	2,199 hp
Setting 3
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
7,619 m	1,710 hp	1,955 hp

Survivability and armour

• 38 mm Bulletproof glass in front of pilot.
• 3 mm Steel plates on top of fuel tank and in front of cockpit.
• 12.7 mm and 8 mm Steel plates behind pilot.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The F4U-4 is armed with:

• 6 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine gun, wing-mounted (400 rpg = 2,400 total)

Suspended armament

The F4U-4 can be outfitted with the following ordinance options:

• Without load
• 2 x 500 lb AN-M64A1 bombs + 8 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs (1,800 lb total)
• 2 x 500 lb AN-M64A1 bombs + 2 x 250 lb AN-M57 bombs + 4 x 100 lb AN-M30A1 bombs (1,900 lb total)
• 2 x 1,000 lb AN-M65A1 bombs (2,000 lb total)
• 8 x HVAR rockets

Usage in battles

Being true for the entire Corsair series the most distinctive features of this plane is its huge R-2800-P&W 18 Cylinder Radial engine and its inverted gull wing.

One Advantage of the Inverted gull wing;

The Wing is impossible to rip in a dive as long as you don't pull a turn greater than 25 G's, which is almost impossible because the aircraft does suffer from compression above 800 kph.

One disadvantage of the aircraft is its high-speed dive characteristics;

During the dive the aircraft tends to yaw severely to the right making you roll, possibly making the shot you need miss.

The worst enemies for the F4U are the Ki-84, N1K1, A7M's, and some late mark Zeros. Their extreme turning ability would make any of the F4U-4's attempt at turn fighting worthless. In the worst case scenario when these aircraft managed to get an energy advantage over the F4U-4, escape from the encounter with a dive and try to lose the aircraft through the assistance of allied anti-air fire from friendlies or the airfield.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Not controllable	Separate	Controllable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm	FMBC mk.1
II		Compressor	Airframe
III	Wings Repair	Engine		New 12 mm MGs	FLBC mk.1
IV	G-Suit	Engine Injection	Cover		FRC mk.2

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Fast
• Respectable armament of six .50 Cal machine guns
• Powerful engine, which allows for excellent energy retention
• Decent secondary weapons for destroying ground targets

Cons

• Engine prone to overheating after prolonged usage of WEP (RB)
• Turn-fighting heavy aircraft at low speeds is not advised

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] F4U Corsair: Sky pirates are back!