Randy’s Warbird Profiles: Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair BuNo. 88454

By Randy Malmstrom

Since his childhood, Randy Malmstrom has had a passion for aviation history and historic military aircraft in particular. He has a particular penchant for documenting specific airframes with a highly detailed series of walk-around images and an in-depth exploration of their history, which have proved to be popular with many of those who have seen them, and we thought our readers would be equally fascinated too. This installment of Randy’s Warbird Profiles takes a look at the Museum of Flight‘s Goodyear F2G-1 Super Corsair BuNo. 88454.

This particular aircraft was built in 1945 by Goodyear Rubber & Tire Company in Akron, OH and was the first of a production of ten F2Gs. Five F2G-2 aircraft were built for carrier use and thus were fitted with arresting gear, hydraulically folding wings and a shorter diameter propeller, and five F2G-1 aircraft including this one were built for land-based operations, did not have an arrestor hook or hydraulically operated folding wings (they were manual), and were fitted with a larger propeller. The F2G aircraft never went into combat service and upon striking from the records, were frequently flown in air races.

This aircraft spent its service career in testing at the Naval Air Test Center at Naval Air Station Patuxent River (NATC, and in which markings it is painted) and Naval Air Station Norfolk from 1945 to 1948 and went into storage with 246 hours of flying time. In 1966 it was transferred to the Bradley Air Museum at Windsor Locks, CT. In 1974 it went to the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, VA and was featured aboard the USS Intrepid during the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial after which it was was barged back to Norfolk. Doug Champlin had acquired it and a Douglas Skyraider from the Marine Corps Museum in exchange for a Douglas SBD Dauntless and was featured at Enid, OK until he opened his Champlin Fighter Museum in Mesa, AZ. In 2003 it and the other Champlin aircraft went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle (MOF) and as of this writing, has been on static display at the MOF Restoration Center & Reserve Collection on Paine Field in Everett, Washington (just north of Seattle) which has been closed. While as of this writing it is FAA certified and registered to Windward Aviation Inc., in Tukwila, WA it will not be flown due to its rarity; it is one of two survivors of the variant. The stenciling on the tail fin “F2G-1D” is incorrect.

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About the author

Randy Malmstrom grew up in a family steeped in aviation culture. His father, Bob, was still a cadet in training with the USAAF at the end of WWII, but did serve in Germany during the U.S. occupation in the immediate post-war period, where he had the opportunity to fly in a wide variety of types which flew in WWII. After returning to the States, Bob became a multi-engine aircraft sales manager and as such flew a wide variety of aircraft; Randy frequently accompanied him on these flights. Furthermore, Randy’s cousin, Einar Axel Malmstrom flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 356th FG from RAF Martlesham Heath. He was commanding this unit at the time he was shot down over France on April 24th, 1944, spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. Following his repatriation at war’s end, Einar continued his military service, attaining the rank of Colonel. He was serving as Deputy Wing Commander of the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing at Great Falls AFB, MT at the time of his death in a T-33 training accident on August 21, 1954. The base was renamed in his honor in October 1955 and continues to serve in the present USAF as home to the 341st Missile Wing. Randy’s innate interest in history in general, and aviation history in particular, plus his educational background and passion for WWII warbirds, led him down his current path of capturing detailed aircraft walk-around photos and in-depth airframe histories, recording a precise description of a particular aircraft in all aspects.