A long first-person passage from Martin W. Bowman's F4U Corsair history follows a pilot trying to make an attacking Zero overshoot. The opponent instead loops above him and returns to the attack. After a bullet destroys the altimeter, the Corsair dives at full power, relying on intelligence that the Zero cannot safely match its high-speed dive and hard recovery. The Zero apparently crashes while the damaged Corsair then faces a fuel-critical return of more than 200 nautical miles. The account connects design strengths, combat intelligence, pilot judgement, and fuel management in a single naval-aviation episode.
Chapter · 1:09:39-1:20:15
A Corsair pilot uses speed and structure to escape a Zero
A pilot's account follows repeated attacks by a Japanese Zero and an escape that exploits the Corsair's high-speed diving strength.