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yankeedog — Whistling Death
Published: 2005-02-08 21:53:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 3075; Favourites: 36; Downloads: 152
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Description
The pride of Long Beach, California, the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair was a most unorthodox aircraft with it's inverted gall wings, huge propeller and lot of fire power, the Corsair was one of the most successful fighter aircraft of WWII. The Corsair was one of a only a handful of prop driven aircraft to still be in use during the Korean War. The Corsair not only proved itself as a formidable fighter plane, but in the hands of Navy and Marine aviators it was one of the best close ground support aircraft ever built. Because of it's use in close ground support, the Japanese called it "Whistling Death" due to the unusual sound it made while in a dive.One of the things that I find so extraordinary about the Corsair was that it was built almost exclusively by young American women! Their contribution to the war effort should never be forgotten. Labeled Rosie the Riveter by the press, they show what American women could do!
This one's for Viper 13!
Adobe Illustrator 8.0, Apple Macintosh G4 Power Mac OS 9.2.
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Comments: 29
Now there my baby. Keep the P-51, I take the Corsair any day of the week. Great job
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A hell of a plane. I myself prefer the Jug, but anything air cooled is fine with me.
-YD
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hum... i don't know much about this plane, but didn't they made some of they in pure silver? like factory model or something like it? i remenber seing some on an warplanes book somehere, anyway, it's looking sharp, i liked how you shaded the white color on it's botton, looks really good
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Thanks! I'm sure the prototypes were all metal finish, they usually did that sort of thing. It created less drag than a painted plane and would give the prototype an added boost in the speed department, not to mention the added weight of paint. I do like the blue paint on the Navy and Marine Corsairs, I've seen other paint schemes like RAF and Australian RAF paint jobs and I still like the Navy Blue the best!
-YD
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Right on, Don. The Corsair is one of my favorite aircraft of the WWII era. Its up there with the P51-D Mustangs and stuff. 
Great pic!
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Thanks Kat! One of my favs too! I have a poster of one on my wall at the studio I work at. I met one of the women who helped build them, she did the rivets on the interior wing section because she was little and could fit inside! Nice lady, Helen Schwab, while she was helping to build Corsairs, her husband, Del Schwab was flying bombing missions over Europe with my uncle on a B-17.
-YD
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i love this not just for the detail (which is once again flawless) but for the way youve chosen to present it (in fact i dont think ive ever seen this framing style from you before) - it makes me think of seeing this photo in some sort of classic retro 50's diner hanging up behind the milkshake bar. its a cheesy stereotyped scene (the diner ... not your photo) but it was my first thought!
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Thanks Brian! I was trying to give it a finished on the wall look. A friend of mine told that people don't understand what to do with art unless it's already matted and framed, so this is a little experiment, I'm glad you like it!
I like that idea, and art diner, there is an old dine at Station Square in Pittsburgh [link] that was donated by the Ritters family who owned a bunch of diners around here. A stipulation of their donation was that the old diner not ever be used as a diner, but it might make a cool little gallery!
-YD
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awesome work man. i must say how much i love this plane. i watched one at biggin hill from when the pilot fired it up and the engine spluttered into life to its graceful fly-bys. you do great justice to a fantastic machine
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Thanks Myles! They are interesting planes, I love the design of the plane. I've always liked them too and I did the nickname that the Japs gave it.
My dad said that during the Korean War, his ammo dump was always being harassed at night by a North Korean in a small Russian built observation plane that they called "Bed Check Charlie". Dad said the plane had a weird sound, like it had a miss in the firing sequence or it's timing was off. This guy would fly over under cover of darkness and drop hand grenades, he never did any real damage, but with all that ammo around there was always the potential for disaster. They had AAA quad 50's at the ammo dump, but they were never able to shoot him down. So one night they got the Air Force to scramble a few F-86's from nearby Kimpo AFB, but while the F-86 Saber was more than a match for a Mig, they were way too fast to deal this slow fly prop driven plane. That's when they called in a USMC Corsair! Well, "Bed Check Charlie" flew his last sortie that night. The Marine Corsair with a few blasts from it's 50's dispatched "Bed Check Charlie" to a fiery grave. -YD
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haha, guess he picked a fight with the wrong people!
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it!
-YD
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Another one for my collection.Great work Don.
Peace&Respect Jojo
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Thanks! It was an inspiring subject.
-YD
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EXCELLENT! my favorite plane! i just think its a sexy design. 
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Thanks Tracy! Yeah, one of my favorites too. I have some photos of one at an air show in Reading, PA and one on the carrier Yorktown down in Charlston, SC.
-YD
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EXCELLENT! my favorite plane! i just think its a sexy design.
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Thanks Tracy! One of my favorites too! That pretty much describes it, a sexy design! It just has incredible lines.
-YD
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Jenn was laughing at me, I jumped out of my seat when I saw the thumbnail. That is beyond awesome, I'd kill to have this as a poster. That is fantastic. I wish there was a permanent fav, this would be it.
And the whistling was made by the unique ram air intakes at the wing base, just a bit of trivia. I've spent hours reading up on this plane.
+FAV!
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LOL! Thanks Viper! I'm glad you like it. There are some things I like to redraw on it. I originally did this about about 10 years ago for a T-shirt design. I'm a much better vector artist now. The USMC insignia needs redrawn. There's a bunch of little things I could fix. Plus is not an accurate paint job. There a Corsair that shows up at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading PA for their WWII Day air show that is painted like this, but in darker blue and has Yosemite Sam for nose art, I have some photos of it somewhere. I also have this in a Navy scheme too!
I did a whole series of these for T-shirts for a friends of mine, but they went out of business. I did a B-17, B-24, B-29, a Dauntless Dive Bomber, P-51, P-38, P-47, a Brewster Buffalo, a P-40 and a C-47. All the designs would have to be redrawn and cleaned up, they are all in Illustrator 5.5 and 6.0. Thanks for the +fav!
-YD
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This looks great!!! I love ur style it is soo unique and consistant!
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Thanks! I'm glad you like it and that it's coming across as a unique and consistent style. I've been trying to develop this look for years, even before using computers and it's almost right where I want it. I'm almost at a point in my career as an artist where if I have an idea or a concept, I can can just do it. Not that it's been simple to do, but being able to take something from concept to finish and have it look good is rewarding. It hasn't manifested itself in terms of more money yet, but I'm sure that will happen. It's a weird feeling, to just be able to do something the way I want it and have it turn out as good or better than I had envisioned it. It's not always been that way, I've always struggled with things. I'm probably my own worst critic too, so if something doesn't look right to me, I work at it till it does.
-YD
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Thanks! I'm glad you it!
-YD
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