The Corsair is considered by naval historians as the greatest all round naval fighter of World war II. The prototype first flew on 29 May 1940. By production's end in December 1952, Vought, Goodyear, and Brewster had built 12,571. The "bent wing bird" served the USN until 1958. It also operated with the USMC, Royal Navy, France, New Zealand, Argentina, El Salvador, and Honduras. Corsairs fought in W.W.II, Korea, Indochina, Suez, Algeria, and over Honduras and El Salvador. The last Corsairs retired in Honduras in 1975.

The Museum Goodyear-built FG-1D was delivered to the USN in August 1945, but was not used until 1948 when it served with the Naval Air Reserve (Norfolk) from June to November. It was one of 20 FG-lD's taken from storage in late 1957 and sold to El Salvador. It operated with the Fuerza Aerea Salvadorena through the July 1969 "Soccer War." It returned to the U.S. in 1974 and was operated by a number of civilian owners until coming to the Museum. It is painted in the markings of VF-53, U.S.S. Essex (CV-9). It is one of 37 Corsairs to appear on the U.S. Civil Aircraft Registry as of 30 June 1990.