F4U Corsair

The F4U Corsair is an American fighter that entered service in 1942. But because of various flaws that the Corsair had, it was not deployed onto aircraft carriers until 1944. It took part in many of the major battles during WWII after Guadalcanal and flew in Korea as a low level bomber and a night fighter. It was very effective against Japanese Zero fighters as it could out perform the Zero in every way except for acceleration and climbing speed, although it was the fastest piston-engine fighter of the war due to its engine and gull-winged design. It was armed with six .50 cal machine guns with three in each wing (in the same arrangement as that of the F6F Hellcat) and had a lot of armor around the engine and cockpit, letting it take a lot of punishment without going down. The F4U was considered the best carrier-based plane during WWII, despite the fact it was hard to land the plane on a carrier due to its long nose. It was considerably faster than the F6F Hellcat, and featured a self-sealing fuel tank. The plane made its first appearance in the battle of Guadalcanal, and forged a name for itself in the battles of Tirpitz, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Rabaul.

Call of Duty: World at War
The first time the F4U appears is in the level Little Resistance when they fly over the LVT's landing at Peleliu. Many are shot down by the Japanese Tripple 25mm'smounted on the island, which usually shouldn't happen, due to the Japanese using sight only, and them being extremely fast. Even if the player attempts to shoot down the friendly Corsairs with it, the player should usually only get no more than 10 direct hits, and that's only if the player is a great marksman.

The player sees them on the level Hard Landing. At the beginning of the level there is one crashed in the swamp. The Japanese placed a grenade in the mouth of the pilot, that kills a Marine after he inspects the body. They are then seen at the end of the level, bombing the convoy of Japanese soldiers.

They are also seen is on the level Black Cats. They are defending the American fleet from Kamikaze attacks. The Corsairs however, appear at the end of the level destroying a trio of Japanese A6M Zeros that were close to destroying the PBY Catalina. This is also the only time you hear the pilots speak.

There was cut level Fly, when the player has to control F4U.

In multiplayer, the Corsair is only seen on the map Airfield. If you walk forward out of the bunker, the crashed plane is a Corsair. It is actually the same plane model from the jungle in Hard Landing, but with no dead pilot or rigged grenade.