As with the Bearcat above, the US Navy was wanting to obtain fast interceptors to meet the Japanese threat, and ended up creating this monster, the F2G-1D “Super Corsair,” with its massive, 28 cylinder, Pratt & Whitney R-4360 “corncob” engine and its ridiculous, “pin you to the seat” 4,400 feet per minute rate of climb. Goodyear, building Corsairs under license, was the sole contractor on these outrageous Super Corsairs. This aircraft, built without a tailhook for Marine Corps u usage, is shown in the markings it wore while undergoing tests at Pax River. Aside from its military usage, this Super Corsair created quite a stir when it showed up on the postwar air racing circuit. Just imagine the performance of an aircraft with an engine that uses 56 sparkplugs. More recently, a rebuilt Super Corsair has been a race-painted as “Number 54,” in authentic red, white, and black livery, in commemoration of an early air racer, and flown in the last few years in competition at Reno, in those original racing colors, down to the single white propeller blade, just like the one that was replaced, and painted white, on that earlier Super Corsair, for races conducted decades ago, in the Cleveland Air Races. Clearly, the racing tradition lives on