The F4U-5/5N was some of the last versions of the famed Corsair to be used. Too late to see service in WWII, they played an important part in operations in Korea and after the war. Though jets were the coming thing in the Navy, they just couldn't carry the ordnance of the Corsair and Skyraider. They also didn't have the loiter time of the piston powered aircraft. The greatest user of the Corsair during the war were the Marines. They not only used them for close support, but also in the night fighting role. Actually, night fighting is a bit of a misnomer as what they did was night interdiction, attacking North Korean troop and supply columns as they tried to bring forward materiel to the frontline troops during the cover of darkness.

The -5 Corsair also had the dubious honor of being involved in the last piston engines fighter to fighter conflict when a Honduran -5 shot down an El Salvador P-51D Mustang during the 'Soccer War' of 1969. Currently there are several -5 corsairs in the US flying as warbirds.

I only wish I had this sheet a month or so ago when I was struggling with the decals for my Hasegawa F4U-5N. These would have come in VERY handy. I could have saved myself a lot of searching for markings!

From left to right;

The first aircraft is a VMA-513 -5N. This plane is in overall flat black with red numbers and letters. On my sheet the insignia for this plane are a bit off register, but should be easy enough to replace.

The next plane is another -5N from VC-3 in a post war scheme of overall gloss dark blue. The tail tip, tank tip, fin tip, and prop hub are red. You will have to paint those on the kit as well as the thin white stripes.. The lightning bolts are provided as decals. No registration problems with these insignia.

The final scheme is the Honduran -5  of Maj. Soto who had three kills during the Soccer war. The kills are included with the sheet as are the wing and rudder markings.

The sheet to the right has been deliberately darkened to show the white markings. The blue in the Honduran insignia is actually a powder blue and not as dark as is shown.

Any of these should look just great on your Hasegawa Corsair.

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