Corsair canopy dive angle markings

[hbpencil]

Hi all,
While having a look at some Corsair photos from the NZ Air Force Museum site I noticed something quite interesting. In this photo (link below) there appears to dive angles marked on the canopy, something I don't believe I've seen on a Corsair before. At least I think they're dive angles as there were similar markings on Ju87s and Ju88s. I had a quick look to see if I could find any other Corsairs with such markings but I didn't see any. By the way, there's a photo of these same pilots in front of a different aircraft in that new 'Pacific Corsair' book, No.4 Course at the Fighter Leaders School at Ardmore from 11 June to 7 July '45.
Has anyone here heard of these on kiwi Corsairs before? Also, would anyone know the designation of that practice bomb rack half visible under the inner wing?

Cheers

link

[Dave Homewood]

Would the pilot be looking to the right while diving at the ground?

[baz62]

Jun 9, 2021 23:09:15 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Would the pilot be looking to the right while diving at the ground?

Probably a quick glance from aiming point out to angle marking. I would say once trimmed into the dive satisfactorily he would then concentrate on the aiming point.

[johnnyfalcon]

No downwards increments on a WW2 Attitude Indicator? Markings on canopy look a bit vague to me.

I did notice the target tug Avenger in the background

[hbpencil]

As baz62 pointed out, the pilot could glance to the side on the way down, it's what the Germans did with their dive bombers after all. I'm sure I read somewhere that during steep dives one can feel like one is diving at a steeper angle than is actually the case, so I could see how some visual reference like those markings could help train someone new to dive bombing. So far as I could find there wasn't any other instrument in the Corsair cockpit that indicated the angle of dive (or climb).

[markrogers]

The markings looked a bit vague to me, but a closer look with a magnifying glass shows a series of lines with a number under each line. First time I've seen something like that on a Corsair.

[tbf2504]

My guess is that the markings are various dive angles and the numbers would indicate the degrees of the dive, from my reading most dive bombing was 70 degrees or more.
Markings on the canopy for such bombing were also seen on the JU87 Stuka and later on the F86 Sabre.
And of course remembering that the AC47 "Spooky" gunships had chinagraph markings on the pilots side window as a lineup angle for gunning from the gatling gun mounted on the port side.
The there was our A4's with similar markings for the TLAR system

[Dave Homewood]

I wonder if the marking was applied for a specific course at the Fighter Leader's School?

I asked US-based Corsair pilot and historian Chris Fahey if he's ever seen these marks on a Corsair before. He replied, "...some airplanes like the F-86 ground attack airplanes had them to help determine dive angle. Easy enough to do on the Corsair I suppose but I've never seen them on an F4U."

[tbf2504]

There may be another explanation for those Ardmore base Corsairs having the markings. If it was mid-late 1945 when rocketry was being introduced, the may have been there to indicate the optimum diving
angle for the rockets to be launched

[Dave Homewood]

Good point.