WIX Archives

North Korean Corsair...'Revealed'

Posted by Rob Mears on Fri Oct 26, 2001 01:35:46 AM

Well, I FINALLY retrieved my reformatted video from the local processor and got a good look at North Korea via a British production company's hidden camera. Needless to say, I'm glad I'm not a citizen of a Communist country :)

Now for the good part! The individual who turned us on to this tape was right on the money with this plane's identity. For about four fleeting seconds there is a full screen view of a Corsair which resides in the basement of a particular museum in Pyonyang.

This particular Corsair is most obviously an F4U-4 (sorry, no AU-1 as hoped by some). The -4 exhaust ports are quite apparent from the shot. I can confirm that the entire center section and main wing spar are intact, while the outer wing panels are missing. The close-up shot on the video was taken from the low 11 o'clock position so the rear fuselage isn't really visible. From what I remember from the still picture we located a few weeks ago, the rear fuselage was intact - at least partially (my main computer is down right now so I can't reference it). The engine is missing, but the four-bladed propeller is present. It is displayed in front of the firewall (no cowling) to represent the general image of the aircraft.

Hopefully in the near future I will determine how too download a still image from the video player into the computer so I can share the shot of the plane with you all. If anyone has any experience doing this, please drop me some hints. I'd love for everyone to finally get a good look at this this "new" F4U-4. :)

Rob Mears

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