The unmistakable centre section of the Corsair, which was shrink-wrapped for the journey from Texas, is unloaded at Stratford, Connecticut, on March 31.

On March 31 Goodyear FG-1D Corsair BuNo 92460 was returned to the Connecticut Air & Space Centre (CASC) in Stratford, Connecticut, USA, following 12 months of restoration work at Ezell Aviation in Breckenridge, Texas. The aircraft had spent 37 years displayed on a pole at the Igor Sikorsky Memorial Airport at Stratford, suffering structural damage and extensive corrosion before being removed in July 2008.

The work undertaken at Breckenridge has been mutually beneficial. Ezell is currently restoring the world’s only surviving Brewster-built F3A Corsair to airworthy condition, and needed a dismantled Corsair airframe in order to create jigs and formers. Although the CASC Corsair’s curved aluminium wing spar was suffering from extensive corrosion, it was good enough to serve as a pattern, as were many other major sections of the aircraft. In exchange, Ezell has repaired the spar and various other assemblies of 92460, eradicated all corrosion and primed the surfaces. An unidentified benefactor covered the six-figure bill for the work, and several members of the CASC Corsair crew have spent time in the Ezell workshop, assisting with the repairs to the cockpit and fuselage. Among them was CASC executive director Andrew King, who says: “The sense of community this project has stirred has amazed me. Being able to work in a very busy and active shop with such a great crew was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I have brought back many new ways to approach our restoration work.”

The F3A-1 Corsair, BuNo04634, crashed into a swamp near Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina, in December 1944, and was salvaged during 1990 by Lex Cralley of Princeton, Minneapolis. It was displayed on a trailer at the 2005 Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture show at Oshkosh (see News, October 2005 Aeroplane). Restoration of 92460 will continue at CASC, which occupies buildings 6 and 53 at the former Stratford Army Engine Plant complex.