P-51 Mustang vs F4U Corsair in Combat

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
P-51 Mustangs versus F4U Corsairs

Most people recognize that on the allied side, during World War II, the highest pinnacle of production fighter aircraft which fought in any numbers during the war came with the P-51 Mustang, predominantly flying in the European theater, and the F-4U Corsair, predominantly flying in the Pacific theater.

Both aircraft were high performance, capable fighters, and both could also perform ground attack. Both were very understandably feared by their opponents.

For decades quite a few air enthusiasts wondered what would have happened between the two had they ever met. Which one was truly "the best." Some bemoaned the fact that since both were US aircraft, that they never...outside of airshows perhaps...had the chance to meet in combat.

But most of those same people are not aware that they actually did.

Both aircraft flew on after the war. The F4U played a fairly significant role in Korea.

After their US service, both aircraft continued to fly with various nations' air forces. Many were sold, or transferred to allied nations of the US.

As a result, in 1969 the time for confrontation, in combat, between the two aircraft came.

Both Honduras and El Salvador had benefited from transfers and sales of vintage US aircraft over the years.

In 1969, the two fought a brief, but bloody war, sometimes called "the football war," because a couple of soccer matches (football in Central America) started riots that are said to have initiated the war. But, although the riots over those games may have been the spark, both nations had long standing disputes which the fighting was really about. The more normal name for that war has come to be the "100 hour war."

At the time Honduras had a more established air force, with 16 or 17 military-surplus Vought F4U-4, F4U-5, and F4U-5N Corsair aircraft.

100hour-war-01.jpg
Honduran F4U Corsair aircraft in flight

100hour-war-02.jpg
Honduran F4U Corsair aircraft in flight​

El Salvador had several Corsairs too, but they were Goodyear built aircraft (the Corsair was produced by several factories during World War II) called FG-1Ds and they had not been as well cared for. I believe four or five of these aircraft were active in the war. In 1968, in order to help upgrade their air force, El Salvador had also purchased six P-51 aircraft from Sarasota Aviation Corp (later Cavalier Aviation Corp). They were designated as F-51D, Cavalier Mustangs IIs, and I believe four of those were active during the war.

100hour-war-03.jpg
El Salvadoran FG-1D Corsair aircraft in flight

100hour-war-04.jpg
El Salvadoran F-51D Mustang II on the ground
It was these aircraft, Corsair on Corsair and Corsair on Mustang, that met in combat over Central America in 1969.

Now, we must grant that the Honduran air force was probably better trained. And the El Salvadoran air force and only had their Mustangs a few months. That must be taken into account.

There were only two dogfights in the war involving these aircraft, and only one actually involved Honduran Corsairs versus El Salvadoran Mustangs.

Interested in what happened?

Let me quote from an article in the Smithsonian Air and space Museum entitled:

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Smithsonian Article said:
Hostilities commenced at dusk on July 14, 1969, when a Salvadoran Douglas C-47 transport, escorted by two Cavalier Mustangs, pushed out 100-pound bombs over Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Although this and several other early evening aerial attacks caught the Hondurans by surprise, the damage was primarily psychological.

Over the next two days, the Salvadoran and Honduran air forces devoted most of their sorties to bombing missions and close air support. But on the third full day of fighting, Honduran Captain Fernando Soto and his wingman, Captain Edgardo Acosta, came to the aid of a third Corsair pilot who’d been jumped by a pair of Salvadoran Mustangs while strafing targets south of Tegucigalpa.

Soto was among the most experienced pilots in the Honduran air force. He pounced on one of the two Mustangs, turned inside it “real, real easy,” he recalled later, and, with three bursts from his four 20-millimeter cannon, knocked off its left wing. The Mustang pilot, Captain Douglas Varela, was reportedly killed when his parachute failed to deploy fully.

Later that afternoon, Soto and Acosta spotted a pair of Salvadoran pilots flying Goodyear Corsairs. They jettisoned their wing-mounted bombs and used their Pratt & Whitney R-2800‑32W Double Wasp engines to climb above the Salvadoran fighters. During his diving pass, Soto flamed one of the FG-1Ds. (The pilot parachuted to safety.)

But Soto had no time to savor his victory. He quickly realized that Acosta had remained at altitude to check two Salvadoran Mustangs that had arrived on the scene. Much to Soto’s horror, the remaining Salvadoran airplane slid in on his unprotected tail.

The two Corsairs, one built by Vought and the other by Goodyear, embarked on a classic knifefight in a phone booth: each zooming, diving, and twisting to get a clear shot at the other. After what seemed to him “like a century,” Soto performed a split-S that lined him up behind his quarry. He let loose a stream of cannon fire, and Captain Guillermo Reynaldo Cortez died in the fireball.

This action was the last air-to-air engagement between Honduras and El Salvador, and Soto ended the war with the only three recorded aerial kills. He went on to become director of civil aeronautics and was declared a national hero by the National Congress of Honduras in 2003. He died three years later.

The Hondurans continued to fly Corsairs for a decade after the Football War. Soto’s airplane, FAH-609, was transferred by legislative decree to the Air Museum of Honduras. Although FAH-609 last flew in 1981, its fuselage still carries the white silhouettes of three airplanes—two Corsairs and one Mustang, the kill markings graphically symbolizing the end of the era of propeller-driven dogfights.


100hour-war-05.jpg
Fernando Soto stands proudly on his Corsair with the markings of the aircraft he downed​
 
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Miragedriver

Brigadier
Which is better, mmmmmm, that is a though one. The Corsair 4 bladed prop gave it a terrific rate of climb and was at least as maneuverable as the Mustang, also, the Corsair, was a very tough plane. As both carried 6 .50 Cal. machine guns they were equally well armed. The Corsair was able to survive dive compression and in case of trouble, could split-s and dive away to out run the enemy. All in all both are excellent fighters and their aspects are very close to one another. I don't know off hand what their operating ceilings are, if you had that statistic it might tip the scales.

One more thing. The liquid cooled engines were much more prone to debilitating damage the air cooled models.

The P-51 is a nicer looking aircraft, and they are always nicer to fly.


Back to bottling my Grenache
 

Miragedriver

Brigadier
I like this thread Jeff! You should have some other X vs Y World War II aircraft threads after this one!

May I suggest the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 vs
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:)


Back to bottling my Grenache
 

b787

Captain
P-51 Mustangs versus F4U Corsairs

Most people recognize that on the allied side, during World War II, the highest pinnacle of production fighter aircraft which fought in any numbers during the war came with the P-51 Mustang, predominantly flying in the European theater, and the F-4U Corsair, predominantly flying in the Pacific theater.


Fernando Soto stands proudly on his Corsair with the markings of the aircraft he downed​
Mexico and Guatemala were almost of the brink of a small war,and in that occasion, there were P-47s and B-25s versus P-51s, but thankfully it never came to war
 
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