CORSAIRS COMPOUNDED - F4U Boyington Royal Navy Marines belly landing National Archives Airailimages

This spectacular skidding Royal Navy Corsair footage was tacked onto other Corsair film depicting U.S. Marine F4Us on Espiritu Santo in 1943, and located in the National Archives.

U.S. F4U Corsairs are seen on Espiritu Santo in 1943. The white tape on the forward fuselage in some scenes was applied to stop gasoline leaks from a forward fuel tank, a problem solved on later Corsairs.

As fighter pilots gather for a mission briefing, it looks like Greg "Pappy" Boyington, on the left side of the frame, is giving the brief. His Blacksheep squadron, VMF-214, was at Espiritu Santo in 1943 when the film was made.

The scene shifts to patients in a Navy hospital, presumably on Espiritu Santo, and construction by Seabees of a Quonset hut.

That British Corsair belly landing is identified in captions as occurring at NAS New York, the former Floyd Bennett airfield. More than 20,000 new aircraft were said to be delivered to Naval Air Station New York for dispatch to the military services acquiring them.

This historical film is presented by Frederick A. Johnsen, award-winning Air Force historian and author of more than 25 historical aviation books. His NASA volume, "Sweeping Forward", a history of the forward swept wing X-29, earned the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) History Manuscript Award.

If you enjoyed this vintage film from the archives, hit the Thumbs Up button. And have you joined more than 115,000 subscribers who appreciate the Airailimages mix of vintage and new films and videos covering aviation and railroading topics? We appreciate it.