The Vought F4U Corsair was one of the most important fighters of World War II. The F4U-1 was the first version of the Corsair and 95 of them were delivered to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm in November 1943.

The F4U was designed to meet a US Navy 1938 specification for a high performance fighter.

To meet the requirements Vought designed their fighter around the most powerful engine with the biggest propellor then available and built it with gull wings to give the large propellor adequate ground clearance.

In all 12,582 F4Us were constructed.

The F4U-1 was called Corsair I by the Royal Navy.

Deliveries began in late 1943 and many of them had their wings clipped so they could fit into the hangars of smaller British aircraft carriers.

This model represents a Corsair I, JT150 of the Fleet Air Arm assigned to 1835 Squadron at Quonset Point in 1943.

Hasegawa 1:72 kit with EagleCals decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in March 2015.