The Vought F4U Corsair was one of the most important fighters of World War II. The F4U-7 was the final version, constructed in the early 1950s for the French Navy, where they served until September 1964.

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 final F4U’s to be built were 94 dedicated ground attack F4U-7s for the French Navy.

They began entering service in June 1953 and were flown by three Aeronavale squadrons.

They served in Indo-China, during the Suez Crisis and in other fighting in North Africa.

This model represents a F4U-7 in service with 12F of the Aeronavale in late 1953.

Italeri 1:72 kit with Berna Decals decals completed by Leigh Edmonds in February 2015.