F4U Low Drag Wing Study

In February 1946, the Vought Engineering Team researched a Performance Improvement Proposal for the US Navy using the F4U-5 Corsair as a baseline. One of the ideas they created was the Low Drag Straight Wing.

This wing had dihedral at the center section of 1° 30' and dihedral of 7° on the outer panel quite a bit of change over the original design. The proposal also featured a revised landing gear due to the wing change to maintain propeller clearance and circular arc type spoilers.

From the VAHF microfilm are the following drawings for your viewing pleasure.

Side view

Front view

 And the top view

As you can easily see it changes the looks of the lady quite a bit. I have not found anything so far to indicate if the proposal was submitted to the US Navy or comments they might have had concerning the design. None the less it would make an interesting subject for "What If" modelers!

Merry Christmas TEMCO style!

TEMCO produced F-101 aft sections along with several aircraft designs and rework services for the military. Here are a couple Christmas greetings placed on F-101 aft sections prior to delivery to McDonnell.
Photo credits Vought Aircraft Historical Archives

V-371 Interceptor

Change Vought entered the V-371 Interceptor in the competition for the MX1554 requirement for the USAF which ultimately led to the F-102 being fielded. The V-371 was projected to have a top speed of 1,221 mph at 35,000 ft. In Tony Buttler's new book Early US Jet Fighters Proposals, Projects and Prototypes covers the MX1554 requirement and the contending designs on pages 152-163.
Images courtesy Vought Aircraft Historical Foundation archives and my microfilm scan.

I am currently gathering material about scale model scratch building with an eye towards building a replica of this design. As you can imagine there is not an abundance of material about this design since it was not selected. I am looking for copies of the following Chance Vought Engineering Reports:

8063	Estimated Weight and Balance	V-371
8064	Design Philosophy Report	V-371
8065	Performance Report Appendix	V-371
8066	Stability and Control Report	V-371
8067	Tactical Analysis Report	V-371
8068	Systems Report	V-371
8069	Preliminary Stress Analysis	V-371
8070	Weight and Balance Report 8216	V-371

8216	Detail Specification	V-371
8217	Estimated Cost and Delivery Schedule	V-371
8218	Summary	V-371
8219	Producibility Brochure	V-371
8220	Standard Characteristics Report	V-371
8221	Summary Drawing Report	V-371
8222	Characteristics Summary	V-371
8223	Tactical Performance Report	V-371

Please contact me if you can help me locate any of these reports. The final decision on building the model has yet to be made. More later..........................

Welcome

This is a new blog to talk about and illustrate things I have found in the Vought Aircraft Historical Foundation's archives. I have spent the past few years working with the VAHF researching drawings for their aircraft restorations (V-173, F6U, F7U-3 and O3U-3 project) and helping to answer questions.

During my searches for materials to support those projects I have come across lesser well known Vought projects for two seat Corsairs (F4U and A-7), a low drag, straight wing F4U proposal, bomber projects for WWII and later along with a number of other interesting bits and pieces. I am looking forward to sharing these in future posts and invite your comments and participation.

I also plan on posting some images of the restorations and the O3U recreation that the group has in progress along with some details that should be of interest to the aviation reader.