The Vought F4U Corsair has gone down in history as one of the best fighters of the entire Second World War. In the last two years of the USA's war against Japan, it carried out 64,051 missions during which 2,140 enemy aircraft were destroyed in combat, with only 189 losses - an incredible success ratio of 11:1. The British Fleet Air Arm used over 2000 Corsairs aboard its aircraft carriers in World War Two and afterwards. The Corsair continued to be operational throughout the Korean War, with the Fleet Air Arm at Suez and with the French navy in Indochina until 1964. After that, Corsairs became famous as the ultra-powerful racing aircraft in the Reno aerial races. This book describes and illustrates in detail the entire career of the Corsair, from the early prototypes and production versions to the later, evermore-powerful variants. * Essential reading and even more essential illustrations and technical drawings for modellers, aviation historians and enthusiasts. * Specially commissioned full colour artwork by a top aviation illustrator: 150 original aircraft profiles, plus 50 b+w archive photographs.