Bob M. wrote in message ...
I recently visited the Udvar-Hazy facility and received the usual
story about how the Corsair got its inverted gull wings, i.e. to
accomodate the 13 ft. prop which, in turn, was necesitated by the
engines power. However, the Hellcat used essentially the same engine,
and IIRC also used a 13 ft. prop. Yet it did not need those wings.
In fact it was mid winged, not low winged. So what is the true story?
Were the gull wings just one solution. How did the Hellcat
accomodate the prop? Longer landing gear? Or am I wrong? Was the
Hellcat prop 13 ft.?

Corsair propeller diameter 13 feet 4 inches, ground clearance
9.1 inches, engine R-2800-8.

Hellcat propeller diameter 13 feet 1 inch, ground clearance
7.3 inches, engine R-2800-10.

The gull wing was one solution to the trade offs between wing
placement relative to the fuselage, propeller diameter and landing
gear size.

I would suggest looking at cut away drawings to see the differences
between the two types. The Corsair went for a smaller fuselage
size, putting the fuel in front of the cockpit and putting the air intakes
in the wing roots. The Hellcat had the fuel located effectively under
the cockpit, with the bonus that the deeper fuselage raised the cockpit
giving better forward view, very useful for carrier operations, it also had
the air intakes mounted under the engine, hence a larger frontal area
than the Corsair with the inevitable performance penalties but mounting
the engine higher in the fuselage to help propeller clearance. It looks
like the Hellcat's wing was slightly broader than the Cosairs, so more
room for the landing gear and the Hellcat had a smaller landing gear
tread 11 feet versus 12 feet 1 inch so the gear was mounted closer
to the fuselage where the wing was broadest.

Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.

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