A very well used U.S. Navy Reserve Vought F4U-4 Corsair (BuNo 96832) in flight from NARTU Los Alamitos, California (USA), circa in 1950. (U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation photo No. 1996.253.7140.026.)
By 1950 the Corsair, one of the best fighters in the world just five years before, was obsolete, being replaced by the Navy’s first operational jet fighters, the Grumman F9F Panther and follow-on F-9 Cougar. With Uncle picking up over 2600 F9’s in the early 50s, the Corsair was fast on its way out. With that being said these trusty prop gullwings remained in training, evaluation, and close air support roles with the Navy and Marines until at least 1955.
