An F4U-1, with BuNo 02460,  produced by Vought Corporation was transfert to Pratt & Whitney This plane had a lager cowling to serve for the  Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major.

The R-4360 was a 28-cylinder four row air cooled radial engine setup. Each row of seven air-cooled cylinders possessed a slight angular offset from the previous, forming a semi-helical arrangement to facilitate effective airflow cooling of the cylinder rows behind them.

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The Pratt & Whitney R-4360 Wasp Major was a radial piston aircraft engine designed and built during World War II, and the largest displacement aviation piston engine to be mass produced in the United States. It was the last of the Pratt & Whitney Wasp family,and the culmination of its maker's piston engine technology, but the World War II was over before it could power airplanes into combat.

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This R-4360-4 - 2650 HP (1976 kW) Wasp Major engine was installed on 23 may 1943 and flown on 12 september 1943 as the F4U-1WM, WM stands for Wasp Major.

Pratt & Whitney tested the airplane at its Harford , Connecticut plant.

The  US Navy saw certain advantages in the F4U-1WM configuration.

Achieving with this plane the highest speed on a carrier deck, would permit this fighter to intercept enemy planes.

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It was finally Goodyear, that took the F4U-WM design a step further in evolution.

The XF2G-1 Super Corsair used a sub-rudder on takeoff and in landings to counteract the torque of the 2650 HP engine,

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(*) : Index - References - Notes - Citations

     : Books - Bibliography

     : External Links

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