COBI F4U-4 Corsair Set 2417

COBI's F4U-4 Corsair is a 1:32 model built from 520 blocks under licence from Northrop Grumman, with an opening cockpit, movable ailerons, a turning propeller and folding undercarriage. The pilot figure comes with two interchangeable heads, and a display stand and printed nameplate are included. No stickers.

Whose aircraft this is

The markings are not generic. They belong to Ensign Jesse L. Brown, the first African-American aviator in the United States Navy, who flew Corsairs with VF-32 off the carrier Leyte.

On 4 December 1950, over the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, ground fire cut an oil line in Brown's aircraft and he crash-landed on a snow-covered mountainside. He was alive but pinned in the cockpit. His wingman, Thomas Hudner, did something no manual allows: he deliberately belly-landed his own Corsair on the same slope to reach him. He could not free Brown, and Brown did not survive. Hudner received the Medal of Honor, and spent the rest of his life saying the award belonged as much to the man he could not save.

The bent wing

The Corsair's shape came from its propeller. At more than four metres across it was the largest fitted to any fighter of the war, and it needed ground clearance that ordinary landing gear could only give with impractically long legs. Bending the wing downward at the root and back up again put the undercarriage mounting at the lowest point, so the legs could be short and strong. The cockpit moved aft to make room for fuel, which is also why early carrier pilots could barely see over the nose on approach.

Specifications

Pieces: 520 · Figures: 1 pilot with two heads · Scale: 1:32
Model dimensions: 30.8 × 38.5 × 14.5 cm (12.1 × 15.2 × 5.7 in)