Question on PTO footage from RL

[Sublime]

As you see around 430 or 5 minutes in this footage a Corsair is dropping napalm.  Its landing gear is down. Ive seen this before. It doesnt look damaged at all.

Any ideas what thats about? Trying to slow down to put the napalm in between those coral rocks?

 

[cardboard_killer]

The caves the Japanese were in were within a few thousand yards of the runway. The corsairs literally took off, dropped their bomb/napalm load, and circled back to land and rearm to do it again without raising their gear. Obviously there was no enemy air contesting the airspace.

[76IAP-Black]

Landing gear Dow = airbrake / divebrake

[Legioneod]

22 minutes ago, Sublime said:

As you see around 430 or 5 minutes in this footage a Corsair is dropping napalm.  Its landing gear is down. Ive seen this before. It doesnt look damaged at all.

Any ideas what thats about? Trying to slow down to put the napalm in between those coral rocks?

 

That was on Peleliu, the airfield was right next to the Japanese positions in the umurbrogol mountains. Time to target was so short that it was easier just to keep the gear down instead of taking the time raise it. By the time the gear would have come up they were already on the way back to the airfield.

[Ribbon]

1 minute ago, Legioneod said:

That was on Peleliu, the airfield was right next to the Japanese positions in the umurbrogol mountains. Time to target was so short that it was easier just to keep the gear down instead of taking the time raise it. By the time the gear would have come up they were already on the way back to the airfield.

Perfect for first PTO expansion?

[Legioneod]

4 minutes ago, EAF_Ribbon said:

Perfect for first PTO expansion?

Would certainly be easy to make, no Japanese aircraft required.

 

It was a vicious battle. Casualty rate was the highest of the pacific war iirc.

 

It’d be an interesting map for what if scenarios since irl the Japanese didn’t have any aircover from peleliu or ngesebus island.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Legioneod

[MiloMorai]

[Legioneod]

1 minute ago, MiloMorai said:

Nice map. Peleliu is such an interesting battle to study. Unfortunately it was an extremely wasteful battle in human lives, the island could have been bypassed.

[AndyJWest]

20 minutes ago, 76IAP-Black said:

Landing gear Dow = airbrake / divebrake

 

This.

 

From the F4U manual:

[Legioneod]

3 minutes ago, AndyJWest said:

 

This.

 

From the F4U manual:

That’s not why they had it down in the footage shown.

As explained above it was due to the airfields proximity to the target.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Legioneod

[Ribbon]

11 minutes ago, Legioneod said:

Would certainly be easy to make, no Japanese aircraft required.

 

It was a vicious battle. Casualty rate was the highest of the pacific war iirc.

 

It’d be an interesting map for what if scenarios since irl the Japanese didn’t have any aircover from peleliu or ngesebus island.

Very interesting, first time heard about it...out of reaction points so thank you!

[AndyJWest]

Just now, Legioneod said:

That’s not why they had it down in the footage shown, even though it was an actual tactic.

 

How can you tell?

[Legioneod]

1 minute ago, AndyJWest said:

 

How can you tell?

I guess I can’t. But pilots stated the reason for not raising the gear in this instance was due to the closeness of the target, within 15-20 seconds of the airfield.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Legioneod

[MiloMorai]

[Dakpilot]

Was one of my favourite maps in original IL-2 (after the 'mod' repaint) and had some great campaigns/missions 

 

Cheers, Dakpilot 

[StaB/Tomio_VR***]

14 hours ago, Legioneod said:

Nice map. Peleliu is such an interesting battle to study. Unfortunately it was an extremely wasteful battle in human lives, the island could have been bypassed.

 

Indeed but war is about lot of mistakes done on both sides

[Cunctator]

14 hours ago, Legioneod said:

That’s not why they had it down in the footage shown.

As explained above it was due to the airfields proximity to the target.

 

At 4:29 the F4Us tail wheel is clearly retracted, only the main wheels are down. Thus the pilot must have retracted the landing gear first and is now using the dive brake control as explained in the manual excerpt.

[Legioneod]

6 hours ago, Cunctator said:

 

At 4:29 the F4Us tail wheel is clearly retracted, only the main wheels are down. Thus the pilot must have retracted the landing gear first and is now using the dive brake control as explained in the manual excerpt.

I'm just repeating first hand accounts, some pilots retracted their gear, some pilots did not. Their stated reasoning is due to the closeness of the target to the airfield.

[GreenSound]

23 hours ago, cardboard_killer said:

The caves the Japanese were in were within a few thousand yards of the runway. The corsairs literally took off, dropped their bomb/napalm load, and circled back to land and rearm to do it again without raising their gear. Obviously there was no enemy air contesting the airspace.

Badass

Edited November 28, 2019 by GreenSound

[cardboard_killer]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Peleliu

 

I don't think the corsairs reached an altitude high enough to worry about dive bombing.

 

Quote

American forces put the airfield to use on the third day. L-2 Grasshoppers from VMO-3 began aerial spotting missions for Marine artillery and naval gunfire support. On September 26 (D+11), Marine F4U Corsairs from VMF-114 landed on the airstrip. The Corsairs began dive-bombing missions across Peleliu, firing rockets into open cave entrances for the infantrymen, and dropping napalm; it was only the second time the latter weapon had been used in the Pacific.[citation needed] Napalm proved useful, burning away the vegetation hiding spider holes and usually killing their occupants.

 

The time from liftoff to the target area for the Corsairs based on Peleliu Airfield was very short, sometimes only 10 to 15 seconds. Consequently, there was almost no time for pilots to raise their aircraft undercarriage; most pilots did not bother and left them down during the air strike. After the air strike was completed and the payload dropped, the Corsair simply turned back into the landing pattern again.

 

[Cunctator]

The scene in the footage above supposedly shows the bombardment of Angaur, an island close to Peliliu, before the airstrip there was secured.  

[Legioneod]

34 minutes ago, Cunctator said:

The scene in the footage above supposedly shows the bombardment of Angaur, an island close to Peliliu, before the airstrip there was secured.  

I don't think so, looks more like the Umurbrogol on Peleliu. (@ 4:24)

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by Legioneod