Widowmaker: Living and Dying with the Corsair
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
The Vought-Sikorsky Corsair was one of the most potent fighters of the Second World War. It was also one of the most flawed. Conceived by Rex Beisel, Vought’s Chief Designer in 1938, the US Navy condemned it as being too dangerous for carrier operations and refused to certify it safe for use at sea. With the British Aero Industry unable to build fighters with sufficient range and potency for carrier use, the Admiralty sought alternatives. With the Roosevelt's Lend Lease program in place, they could acquire weapons from American factories. In practice, this meant standing in line behind the US Navy, Marines, and Army for service, but it still opened up new opportunities to be exploited. So, with newly built Corsairs being stockpiled and the promise of an improved version on the way, the Royal Navy saw a opening worthy of development and exploited it.
By the end of the war, the Fleet Air Arm had acquired more than 2,000 Corsairs to equip its squadrons. But the risks identified by the USN were largely ignored by the Royal Navy and far too many men and aircraft were lost in accidents as a result. Yet in the hands of experienced carrier pilots, its virtues were only too apparent and, in due course, they achieved great things. Eventually, the US Navy noted this “success” and certified the Corsair for use on their carriers too, but the aircraft never entirely lost its reputation as a “widow maker.”
This book describes the Corsair’s development and tells the sad but inspiring story of the young men who struggled and suffered to make the Corsair a going concern in the most vicious unforgiving war one can imagine. To do this, the author met and corresponded with almost a hundred veterans from America, Britain, New Zealand and Canada. Their recollections made this book possible and through their vivid memories we can experience what it felt like to be barely of age, a civilian called to arms, and a fighter pilot.
Tim Hillier-Graves
Tim Hillier-Graves was born in North London in 1951. From an early age he was fascinated by steam locomotives. In 1972, Tim joined the Navy Department of the MOD and saw wide service in many locations. He retired in 2011, having specialized in Human Resource Management, then the management of the MOD's huge housing stock as one of the department`s Assistant Directors for Housing. On the death of his uncle in 1984, he became the custodian of a substantial railway collection and in retirement has spent considerable time reviewing and cataloging this material.He has published a number of books on locomotives and aviation.
Read more from Tim Hillier Graves
Widowmaker: Living and Dying with the Corsair Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Modified Bulleid Pacifics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGresley and His Locomotives: L & N E R Design History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeaven High, Ocean Deep: Naval Fighter Wing at War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Turbomotive: Stanier's Advanced Pacific Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLMS Locomotive Design & Development: The Life and Work of Tom Coleman Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSouthern Railway, Lord Nelson Class 4-6-0s: Their Design & Development Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Princess Royal Pacifics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLocomotives of the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway: A Definitive Survey, 1854–1966 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlying Scotsman, and the Story of Gresley's First Pacific Locomotives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGresley's Master Engineer, Bert Spencer: A Career in Railway Engineering and Design Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGresley's Silver Link: The Evolution of the A4 Pacifics 1911-1941 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe A4 Pacifics After Gresley: The Late L N E R and British Railways Periods, 1942-1966 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeppercorn, His Life & Locomotives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Widowmaker
Related ebooks
Screwball Express Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLancaster Down!: The Extraordinary Tale of Seven Young Bomber Aircrew at War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bomber Command: Reflections of War, Volume 1: Cover of Darkness, 1939–May 1942 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill's Spearhead: The Development of Britain's Airborne Forces in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Catalina over Arctic Oceans: Anti-Submarine and Rescue Flying in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Surviving the Skies: A Night Bomber Pilot in the Great War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Captains Of War: They Fought Beneath the Sea Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Battle of Britain Spitfire Squadron: The Men and Machines of 152 Squadron in the Summer of 1940 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClive Caldwell, Air Ace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Leyte Gulf Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Shadows of Guadalcanal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEyes of the Night: Air Defence of North-western England, 1940–41 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting Our Wings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Story of the Lafayette Escadrille: Told by its Commander Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ice Soldier: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Never Had It So Good Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Seabee’s Story: Tinian and Okinawa, B-29s and the Air War Against Japan Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMilk Run: A Gunner's Tale Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTragedy At Honda [Illustrated Edition] Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAustralian Women Pilots: Amazing True Stories of Women in the Air Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Against All Odds: The Ray Firmani Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDesert Hawk: The True Story of Stocky Edwards, World War II Flying Ace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDragon Lady: A History of the 1960 U-2 Spying Incident Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fighter Pilot: The First American Ace of World War II Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Wings Over The Pacific Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Brereton Diaries: The War In The Air In The Pacific, Middle East And Europe, 3 October 1941-8 May 1945 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuper Bomb: Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNightstalkers: The Wright Project and the 868th Bomb Squadron in World War II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpecial Duties Pilot: The Man who Flew the Real 'Inglorious Bastards' Behind Enemy Lines Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/577 Days of February: Living and Dying in Ukraine, Told by the Nation’s Own Journalists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Art of War: The Definitive Interpretation of Sun Tzu's Classic Book of Strategy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doctors From Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Washington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Widowmaker
0 ratings0 reviews