CORSAIR VS FW 190 Comparison

By 1943, the variants of the FW-190 were in many Luftwaffe units. When the type was first introduced in the spring of 1941, it outclassed the Spitfire Vs flown by the RAF. In June 1941, FW-190s shot down 15 Spitfire Vs without a loss and then again in August, 25 more Spitfire Vs went down for a loss of only four FW-190s. This led RAF pilots to call the airplane “The Butcher Bird.”
The FW-190As true performance was not understood until June 1942 when a Luftwaffe pilot landed his brand-new FW-190A in Wales. The RAF allowed U.S. Army Air Force pilots fly the FW-190A. The knowledge gained from this testing led to the development of the Spitfire IX and a change in tactics by both the U.S. Army Air Force and the RAF.
Fast forward to 1943. Already plans were being developed for the invasion of Southern France in June 1944 that would put additional pressure on the Wehrmacht in France. Since the suitable landing beaches were beyond the practical range of land-based fighters flying from either Italy or Corsica, during the initial days of the assault, air support would come from Royal Navy and U.S. carriers.
Both navies wanted to know how the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair stacked up against the FW-190.
As luck would have it, the Allies captured an intact FW-190D on an airfield outside of Salerno. The fighter was ferried back to Patuxent River, inspected and tested against the F4U and the F6F. This video covers the results of the January 1944 comparison.

[mikemontgomery]

I loved the euphemism that Kurt Tank employed when describing the reason for his building of the FW. Went a little something like: Every nation that has produced fighter planes, always wants thoroughbreds. They get an airplane that has fantastic speed, with the aim of designing the fastest aircraft in the sky. By the time the aircraft receives its armour and armaments, it is no longer a thoroughbred, as originally designed. I don’t believe in sending our soldiers to battle in thoroughbreds. I believe we should send them in true war horses, instead.” Enter the FW 190.

[lhkraut]

My two all time favorites in one video! Thank you for all the work you put into this, Prost!

[wolframharms]

Thx for the interesting video, Marc! As a German I can tell it would be "Schnellkampfgeschwader". Only 550 of the G-3 were ever produced; it was rather a variant for long range ground attacks. A competition against the later versions A-8 or 9 would have been more time-like. ANY testing data of WW2 planes are tricky info. You never know if the captured aircraft is in it's best possible condition. And then the pilots - are they biased for the Allied or the German plane (much less likely). I think you'd need three very good, neutral test pilots (but where to find them?) and use the best performance results for each plane. Then there are other factors. The German production had to face growing problems with materials. OTOH German pilots often had a long-time experience on their planes, while the Allied pilots got exchanged after a certain time. However - Germany did not have the long-term capacities and was too overstretched to win that war. And I'm glad about that!

[dougcastleman]

The Corsair was the first SINGLE engined airplane to exceed 400 mph in level flight. The P-38 was the first, at least in the US. It was in Feb., 1939, in the XP-38, and went 420 mph.

[dogeness]

Those definitely weren't the only differences between the F4U-1 and F4U-4. The -4 had the much improved R-2800-18W engine (2450 horsepower) over the F4U-1's R-2800-8W (2250 horsepower). The -18W engine not only had more horsepower down low, but it also had a much better supercharging system and produced ALOT more power at high altitude.

[howzegoinlad]

I didnt know Peter Sellers knew so much about WW2 aircraft!

[widehotep]

After watching your comparisons of the Corsair vs P-51 and FW-190, I am convinced that the Corsair was the best overall WW2 fighter. Thanks for the presentations!

[brianivey]

Great video, awesome knowledge and great presentation !

[markray]

Two of my favorite planes from ww2. Great video. Live the scale models as well

[jerrywatt]

Kurt tank was a innovative designer I always liked the FW190 it was also pretty rugged from what I've read great show thanks !

[dianathaharris]

Very informative video my dad used to take me airshows in Galveston when I was a kid have a blessed day

[atreyuprincipalh]

Happy new year great insight in to this to great planes

[luizfernandolessa]

Sempre quis ver uma comparação dessas, agradecido.

[palmtree]

Excellent! Fair and unbiased. Do a zillion more of these.

[martinj.hammersmith]

This was very interesting. Thank you for creating the video! The Corsair has always been my favorite WW2 plane since I watched Baa-Baa Black Sheep as a kid.

[richardmiranda]

Well sir, I think you did a fine job. It was a very informative video and I enjoyed watching it.

[georgegonzalez-rivas]

Nice video. Two of my favorite WW2 planes.

[ralphfenortner]

Fascinating comparison, enjoyed it very much, thank you.

[jmrichards]

Well, that was a fantastic video. New channel to follow! Learning is fun!

[GTX]

Interesting that the USN did tests to see how the Corsair would do against the FW 190. I had never heard this before but it makes sense that they would have done this prior to the Normandy landings. One strategy could have been to use Corsairs and Thunderbolts together w P-47's dominating high altitude engagements and Corsairs to handling lower altitude combat.