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Big, robust, and fast, the Goodyear F2G was often referred to as the "Super Corsair" for good reason. Designed and produced by Goodyear rather than Vought, the F2G design was initiated as a late World War II upgrade to the famous F4U Corsair series. It combined the famous Corsair airframe with Pratt & Whitney's huge R-4360 Wasp Major engine, rated at 3,000 horsepower, the largest piston engine to ever enter production. Other changes included a bubble canopy and a taller vertical stabilizer with auxiliary rudder to compensate for the engine's extra torque. Some 418 F2Gs were ordered, but only ten were actually produced, with another seven units converted from Goodyear FG-1 models.
Timing and circumstances prevented the F2G from contributing to the war effort. However, the Super Corsair made its name in the peacetime world of air racing. Navy pilot Cook Cleland obtained four surplus F2Gs and substantially modified one, clipping six feet off the wingspan. He won the 1947 Thompson Trophy race at 396 mph. Two years later, the Super Corsairs scored a clean sweep with Cleland, Ron Puckett, and Ben McKillen taking the top three spots. In ten starts over three years, the F2Gs scored two wins, two seconds, and one third-place finish.
The Museum's F2G-1 Corsair, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics number 88454, was delivered in 1945. As the first production F2G-1, it spent most of its active career at the Navy Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland. In 1948, it went into containerized storage at Norfolk, Virginia, with only 246 hours flight time. In the early 1960s, it was discovered by Captain Walter Ohlrich.
Navy title then passed to the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico, Virginia. Subsequently, the museum traded the Corsair and a Douglas Skyraider to Doug Champlin in exchange for a Dauntless dive bomber. Champlin kept the Corsair at Enid, Oklahoma, until he opened his museum in Mesa, Arizona, in 1981, when former Thompson Trophy racer Ron Puckett flew the F2G to Falcon Field. The rare Corsair came to Seattle with the rest of the Champlin Collection in 2003.
Big, robust, and fast, the Goodyear F2G was often referred to as the "Super Corsair" for good reason. Designed and produced by Goodyear rather than Vought, the F2G design was initiated as a late World War II upgrade to the famous F4U Corsair series. It combined the famous Corsair airframe with Pratt & Whitney's huge R-4360 Wasp Major engine, rated at 3,000 horsepower, the largest piston engine to ever enter production. Other changes included a bubble canopy and a taller vertical stabilizer with auxiliary rudder to compensate for the engine's extra torque. Some 418 F2Gs were ordered, but only ten were actually produced, with another seven units converted from Goodyear FG-1 models.
Timing and circumstances prevented the F2G from contributing to the war effort. However, the Super Corsair made its name in the peacetime world of air racing. Navy pilot Cook Cleland obtained four surplus F2Gs and substantially modified one, clipping six feet off the wingspan. He won the 1947 Thompson Trophy race at 396 mph. Two years later, the Super Corsairs scored a clean sweep with Cleland, Ron Puckett, and Ben McKillen taking the top three spots. In ten starts over three years, the F2Gs scored two wins, two seconds, and one third-place finish.
The Museum's F2G-1 Corsair, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics number 88454, was delivered in 1945. As the first production F2G-1, it spent most of its active career at the Navy Air Test Center at Patuxent River, Maryland. In 1948, it went into containerized storage at Norfolk, Virginia, with only 246 hours flight time. In the early 1960s, it was discovered by Captain Walter Ohlrich.
Navy title then passed to the Marine Corps Museum at Quantico, Virginia. Subsequently, the museum traded the Corsair and a Douglas Skyraider to Doug Champlin in exchange for a Dauntless dive bomber. Champlin kept the Corsair at Enid, Oklahoma, until he opened his museum in Mesa, Arizona, in 1981, when former Thompson Trophy racer Ron Puckett flew the F2G to Falcon Field. The rare Corsair came to Seattle with the rest of the Champlin Collection in 2003.
