Torque

[Chris Trott]

It is similar with the Corsair. It was not called the Ensign Killer because of difficulty flying or seeing the plane in carrier operations, but because Ensigns tended to revert back to their previous training in SNJ Texans (aka T-6, aka Harvard) where you could firewall the engine and go around and maintain controllability. With the Corsair, going to full power without correcting with an immediate counteraction of torque with the rudder an aileron would result in a very quick roll inverted and crash off to the side of the runway or carrier. The other problem was that the massive propwash was sufficient to cause the left wing to stall before the right giving a similar snap and crash. The stall problem was cured when a stall strip was placed on the left wing, but the torque issue remained.

One has to remember that many of these "high performance" engines that produce at or above 2000BHP also produce an equal or greater amount of torque in FT/LBS. Add that to the momentum caused by a large propellor as was fitted to these aircraft to absorb the torque and keep the tips under the speed of sound and you have a recipe for disaster when you treat it like a trainer. At the same time, that is what made the planes so great because you could use that torque to your advantage when attempting to evade or set up a shot on an enemy aircraft. As with many things airplane, it's a double-edged sword.