read some interesting infomation in a Fine Scale Modeler I got off e-bay. I thought I would see if anyone knew when the last mustang saw action, for what country, and what plane shot down the last mustang ever lost in action? I don't have a prize or anything, just thought it would be interesting.

Wasn't it a Corsair during the "Soccer Wars" (14-18 July 1969) in Central America?

Sabot's got it. A Salvadorean F-51D flown by CAPT Humberto Varela was shot down by a Honduran F4U-5 during the Football War. This would be also the last action seen by the Mustang.

Though, the last flight by a Mustang in the US active inventory was on 07 Feb 78 by F-51D 44-72990. The last Mustangs in operational service was serving with the Dominican Republic's El Cuerpo de Aviacion and were retired in 1984.

Cheers,
Linz

Yup, and it was actually an F4U-5N. Pilot was Capt. Fernando Soto -- sorry, I just bought the Victory Productions F4U-5/5N/AU-1 decal sheet at Nats . . . . and I stayed at a Hoilday Inn Express

While I hate posting a link to another modeling website, you guys might find these two interesting as they are build articles on two Soccer War Corsairs by David Aungst:

http://204.50.25.179/features01/soccerwarcorsairda_1.htm
http://www.features02.kitparade.com/f4u5nda_1.htm

Good job guys, I thought it would be a little harder but thats what I get for thinking. Normally in a head to head would a Corsair win against a mustang if the pilots where equal. I know there are 1000 variables that could change things to favor one or the other, but I would like to know generally which one would have the upper hand. I had always thought the mustang was a little better fighter than the corsair but I don't know a lot about the subject. So what do you guys and gals (have to add that for Penny think ) think on that topic?

I believe that the Corsair had a better record than the Mustang and was faster (final variant of each compared). But I thought that the Hellcat had an even better record. Of course, when a German pilot was shotcdown, (the Mustang's main adversary), he had the chance to bail out over friendly territory and fly again. Japanese pilots (Hellcat and Corsair's main adversary) didn't have that luxury and much experience was lost. German fighter development improved, whereas Japanese development was more stagnant and the Zeroes were fairly obsolete early into the war.

Personally, I liked the Hellcat.

Well, I guess it all depends whom you ask ! Ask a USN pilot and you'll get an answer... a USAAF pilot and you'll get another one !

Man, that would be a tough question. Both are such excellent planes when in the right hands.

If you just started with a comparison of technical data between the two planes it would seem the corsair would have the edge. The corsair was faster but didn't have a ceiling quite as high as the 'stang while both had almost the same climb rate in ft/min (thanks to an engine producing nearly 1000 more hp). I think one of the bigger factors would be time on station (fuel load). The range of the corsair was less than the mustang. Fuel also played a big part in the maneuverability of a plane with respect to how much fuel was left onboard. I know the spitfire fighters preferred to have at least half of the fuel in their fuselage tank expended because it significantly impacted the maneuvering characteristics of the plane (shifting of the center of gravity). The same may also be true for these two-I'm not sure but would be interested in finding out.

On the pilot side of the question I think there may be an advantage to the 'stang pilots. While the corsair may have had a better kill score I think that may be contributed to the lower skill of japanese pilots (this does open the door of the capabilities of the zero, though, which was a great plane in and of itself). The German pilots were much more experienced than the Japenese pilots so I think that's why we see a disparity between the kill numbers.

I think another characteristic (which I could not find) that would impact this corsair-'stang dogfight would be turning radius.

When you get closer to sea level I believe the Corsair (1D) also had a bit of a speed advantage up to about 5,000 feet, after which things may have shifted in the Mustang's favor up to about 20,000-25,000 feet. The -4B may have been more the Mustang's equal from sea level up to 25,000 feet though, and the -5 was probably a little better as well.

You'd also have to look at roll and pitch rate -- two of the main factors in point-and-shoot ability. Remember, the FW 190 couldn't bank and turn as well as a Spitfire V when those two types met in combat, but its roll and pitch rate allowed it to change direction and geometric plane and extend a lot quicker than the full-wing Spits could. That made for plenty of headaches among line RAF pilots.

Even though Corsairs, like most allied fighters, couldn't match the turn radius of a Zero or Oscar, its roll rate at high speeds made life a little difficult for many Japanese Navy and Army pilots. The Hellcat and Wildcat also had good high-speed roll qualities, as did the Mustang.

It's nice to be able to outturn your opponent. It's better to be able to change direction quicker and choose when to enter or break off combat. You gotta remember too, the basic air-to-air tactics for Tomcat and Phantom crews over the past three decades have been to extend when target starts trying to draw you into a turning fight, gain energy, attack on your own terms and repeat on the next target. Sounds like Claire Chennault's doctrine, eh?

Just my contribution to fogging the situation,lol

Thanks for all the info guys. These debates are fun and someday I will know enough that I can participate. Sorry I left out the F6 in the discussion but I had always heard that is was great against the zero's but the other two I mentioned where a little better overall airplanes. Being great against the zero was probably more important than anything else during the time so the argument that it's better makes a lot of sense.

hey, this was fun!! How about a Spitfire vs. Bf 109 argument buwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha