Corsairs Over Connecticut

Spotlight on: Vintage Aircraft and the Heroes who Flew Them

• What the first single-engine U.S. fighter to top 400 mph?
• What plane was called "The Angel of Okinawa" by US troops and "Whistling Death" by Japanese soldiers?
• What is the official aircraft of Connecticut?

The answer to all three questions is the Vought F4U Corsair. Not only was the F4U designed and built here in Stratford at Vought-Sikorsky, but the propellers and the engines were built in Connecticut too, at the Hamilton Standard Co. and Pratt and Whitney Aircraft. The Corsair F4U is an all-Connecticut fighter plane.

An event called "Wings and Wheels" will be celebrating the 70th Anniversary of Connecticut’s State Aircraft, The F4U Corsair, this Memorial day Weekend (May 29-30) at Sikorsky Memorial Airport.

Five different F4U Corsairs, a Sikorsky Seahorse, a Dehavilland Beaver Floatplane, and a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter will be among the many vintage and modern aircraft on display.

In addition, you can see vintage and collector cars, vintage trucks and military vehicles, meet NASA Astronaut Joe Edwards, participate in science demos, and have fun at the "Hangar Dance." The event will benefit the Discovery Museum.

For more information: (203) 372-3521 X124 or www.wingsandwheelsct.org/

At the Stratford Library, we have a better-than-average collection of books on the history of aviation, with an emphasis, of course, on the contributions of Ivan Sikorsky and the Sikorsky Aircraft corporation. If this weekend's "Wings and Wheels" event sparks your interest in these unusual bent-winged planes that flew from World War II to the 1960s, come on in and borrow one of these titles:

Corsair Aces of World War II by Mark Styling. Chock-full of excellent color illustrations, this book focuses mainly on 'I was there' first-hand accounts of flying the Corsair in battle.
Whistling Death: The Test Pilot's Story of the F4U Corsair by Boone T. Guyton. Told by Boone Guyton, an experimental test pilot at Chance Vought, this is the true story of the rush to produce the F4U Corsair, the Navy fighter that brought America air superiority over the Japanese Zero in World War II.
Corsair: The F4U in World War II and Korea, by Barrett Tillman. This fast-paced history begins with the nerve-wracking test flights of the 1940s and concludes with the F4Us that were active thirty-eight years later. Placed skillfully in between are the stories that gave birth to the legend, including the Medal of Honor recipient who shot down twenty-five enemy planes, and the details of the combat missions of Charles A. Lindbergh.