Hobby Master Archive

The USN received the first F4U-1 on July 31, 1942. Immediately there were a few problems observed, the Bird Cage canopy restricted the pilot’s visibility; the aircraft would bounce when landing and could cause the arrestor hook to miss the cable. The long nose greatly reduced forward visibility for carrier deck maneuvering. The long nose earned the Corsair the nicknames “Hose Nose”, “Hog and “Bent Wing Widow Maker”. The decision was made to assign the Corsair to the land based Marines with 2 USN squadrons: VF-12 and later VF17 keeping them.