Chance Vought F4U-1 Corsair 02270

The Classic Jets Fighter Museum has salvaged an F4U-1 S/N 02270, from Vanuatu, where it force landed in a lagoon, near Quoin Hill fighter strip on the 5 th May 1944.

The Corsair’s pilot Captain James Vittitoe escaped uninjured. The Corsair’s machine guns were salvaged the next day and the aircraft was then abandoned.

The restoration of this magnificent fighter aircraft is by far the Museum’s most ambitious and challenging project.

Five Corsair crash sites have supplied many hard to find components for the project.

However the loaning to the Museum of several airworthy airframe modules, to build jigs around, enabled the construction of new modules as part of the Corsair buildup.

Utilising specific airframe stations as datum points, along with volunteer ingenuity, enabled the construction of the large and complicated fuselage section.