Connecticut Air & Space Center’s FG-1D Corsair

FG-1D Corsair BuNo 92460 seen here late last year at the Connecticut Air & Space Center before the pandemic. A lot of progress has taken place in the interim, bringing the aircraft much closer to completion. Check out the museum's latest update. (Image via CASC)

Over the past decade, the Connecticut Air & Space Center in Stratford, Connecticut has been hard at work restoring Goodyear-built FG-1D Corsair Bu.92460. The aircraft had sat atop a pole near the terminal building at Igor I Sikorsky Memorial Airport since the early 1970s and was in a sorry state of disrepair when they brought her down for refurbishment in 2008. The restoration team has worked miracles on the aircraft since then, and she is getting very close to being done. It’s been a while since our last report on their progress, so we thought our readers would enjoy learning some of the most recent details of their work. The following is edited from their most recent update…

The fabrication of the dive brakes, which mount to the leading edge of each undercarriage leg, are almost complete now. There are just a few more fittings to finish machining before the panels are ready to mount back on the aircraft. Meanwhile, the team is cutting the stainless steel exhaust heat shield strips to complete the lower intercooler fairings. With respect to the wings, the gun bay door latching mechanisms are presently being re-manufactured.

The cockpit is coming along very nicely. The team has installed the correct instrumentation, lighting, radio equipment, gunsight, dashboard padding, control stick and rudder pedals. The pilot’s seat still requires a few more fittings to complete it; a custom seat cushion is also under manufacture. An acrylic fabricator will be making replacement Plexiglas sections for the windscreen.

Final inspection and repairs are underway to prepare the fuselage for its Glossy Sea Blue Paint! (photo via CASC)

The team has instituted an aggressive parts trading program has borne fruit in locating missing parts for the Corsair, but there are still numerous parts which need sourcing, either on loan for replication, or via donation:

1. Carburetor
2. Inner wing flap mounting hardware
3. Belly tank hard point pylons
4. Shoulder and seat harnesses

Please consider helping the Connecticut Air & Space Center to complete this important project. They would appreciate help in the form of donated needed materials/parts, or by giving whatever you can to help restore the 1928 Curtiss Flying School Hangar which will become the future home of this important piece of American and Connecticut History! Please Click HERE to donate.