WWII planes have a certain draw to them. They were the first airplanes that people really feared, both in the air and from the ground. Sure, there were planes in WWI, but they didn’t have the speed, distance and armament those in the second war had. If you heard a plane in the distant, you prayed that it was “one of ours”.

This Vought F4U-1D Corsair is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. During the war, unprotected by armor or self-sealing fuel tanks, no Japanese fighter or bomber could withstand for more than a few seconds the concentrated volley from the six .50 caliber machine guns carried by a Corsair. It was also the type of plane that Major Gregory “Pappy” Boyington’s Marine Corsair squadron flew, nicknamed the ‘Black Sheep’ squadron.