Corsair F4U-5NL “Devotion” – Startup, Wing Fold, Taxi & Flight [Video]

Korean War Chance-Vought F4U-5NL Corsair “Devotion”, flight training with Pilot Georg Raab at Siegerland Flughafen. Listen to the mighty R2800 18 cyl. radial engine stating up. Conditions were super windy, so camera footage is quite shacky, hope you can still enjoy the Corsair.

SPECIFICATIONS
Length: 10,66 m
Span: 12,49 m
Height: 4,60 m
Engine: 1 × Pratt& Whitney 18 cyl. R2800-CB3, 2400hp
Top-speed: 656 km/h
Service-ceiling: 12.600 m
Range: 2074 km
Empty weight: 4329 kg
Take-off weight: 6398 kg
Armament: four 20-mm-cannons mounted in the wings / various rocket and bomb combinations on the wing

Aircraft History:
Chance-Vought F4U-5NL Corsair “Devotion”

Particularly noteworthy about this aircraft is that #124541 has a verifiable history. The history can be traced on the basis of the still existing “History Card” (Curriculum Vitae or CV), which was available for all Navy/Marines aircraft. Unfortunately, these CVs have often been lost – not so with #124541.

Following the history card, #124541 flew with “VMF513” over Korea. The “VMF513” is one of the most famous operational units of the U.S. Marines and was nicknamed “Flying Nightmares” at the time. The history card was later provided to MaxAlpha Aviation by the son of the former operational pilot Al Sadeski.

After around 25 years in an Argentinian museum, the aircraft was sold in Argentina in 1991 and then taken to Le Castellet in France in 1994. There, the Corsair was rebuilt over many years of painstaking work. As part of this restoration, the F4U-5 was converted to the F4U-7 series to represent an aircraft of the Aéronavale (the French Navy). The F4U-7 F-AZYS was flown by Ramon Josa, who was a Corsair pilot with Aéronavale during his active service. In keeping with the -7 series, the Corsair was also given a matching serial number, #133704. The F-AZYS was a welcome guest at various airshows and was very well known.

In December 2009, MaxAlpha Aviation GmbH acquired the F-AZYS and the aircraft was transferred to its new home airport in Bremgarten (EDTG) on December 2nd by the aforementioned Ramon Josa. In 2010, the F-AZYS was flown intensively and was also a guest at the “Flying Legends” airshow in Duxford, now with the nose art “Cielito”. After finding out the unique history of this special Corsair, the original condition of the -5 series was restored by MeierMotors and finally painted in its original colors. It was then given the registration D-FCOR, which it still bears today.

In November 2023, Flying Legends GmbH acquired the Corsair. Since then, the D-FCOR has been stationed at Siegerland Airport and is part of the Flying Legends collection.

Visit:
https://www.flying-legends.eu/chance-vought-f4u-5nl-corsair/

Music:
METEOR DCS: F-4E OST – Of Ghosts and Thunder – “Bolo”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M460v_pwa6g

0:00 Startup
1:18 unfold Wings
1:40 Flaps up
1:55 clear pitot tube
2:02 Chocks away
2:22 taxi
3:10 Takeoff
3:31 aerobatic training
5:36 Landing
6:08 taxi
6:43 Wings fold-unfold
8:10 shutdown
8:30 Details