Vought F4U-7 Corsair (French Aéronavale)

The F4U-7 was the last Corsair to be built: an AU-1 airframe fitted with an R-2800-43W engine and built for the French Aéronavale. The XF4U-7 flew on 2 July 1952, and 94 were completed — 79 in 1952 and 15 in 1953. The last one rolled out on 31 January 1953, closing a production run of 12,571 Corsairs that began in 1942.

Aéronavale flotillas 12F, 14F and 15F flew F4U-7s, together with ex-Marine AU-1s, in the First Indochina War, including 959 combat sorties around Dien Bien Phu in 1954. During the Suez operation of late 1956 French Corsairs flew from the carriers Arromanches and La Fayette against Egyptian airfields, and from 1955 to 1962 they flew ground-attack missions in Algeria.

French Corsairs stayed in front-line service until 1964, Several ex-French F4U-7s survive, among them BuNo 133714 (N965CV), which flies in the United States in the Marine Corps markings of AU-1 129378.