Rod Lewis's Chance Vought FG-1D Corsair

Rod Lewis, of San Antonio, Texas, is the owner of this beautifully restored Chance Vought (Goodyear Built) FG-1D Corsair (BuNo 67070), which was restored by Vintage Fighters, and is available for airshows, flybys, film. In 2006, it won Grand Champion WWII Warbird at Sun 'N Fun and Best Fighter at AirVenture in Oshkosh.

Conceived in early 1938 in response to a US Navy requirement for a high-speed, high altitude fighter, the prototype inverted gullwinged XF4U-1 Corsair first took to the air in May 1940 and immediately proved itself to be one of the fastest fighter aircraft in the world. In June 1941, the Navy issued the first production contract for the somewhat revised F4U-1 model and the basic design continued in production until January 1953, at which time over 12,800 Corsairs of all models had been built. The FG-1D is virtually identical to the Chance Vought F4U-1D Corsair, and was built under contract by Goodyear to keep up with demand for the design, which first flew in 1940.

During World War II the Corsair proved more than a match for the Japanese Zero and other advanced Japanese fighters. The Corsair achieved an impressive eleven-to-one victory ratio against Japanese aircraft. Corsairs also excelled in the ground attack role and were heavily employed as close air support aircraft during the Pacific island hopping campaign.

As a testament to the plane's effectiveness, Japanese ground troops nicknamed the Corsair “the Whistling Death” (the plane's distinctive whistling was caused by airflow over the F4U's leading edge oil coolers). Later during the Korean War, the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps used the plane almost exclusively in the attack role, carrying high explosive bombs, napalm and high-velocity aircraft rockets. Corsairs were instrumental in the Marine's famous “advance in a different direction” from the Chosin Reservoir in December 1950.

FG-1D BuNo 67070 was delivered from the Goodyear factory to the United States Navy A&R Facility in San Diego, California, on September 17th 1945. This Corsair accumulated 693 total flying hours with the U.S. Navy and Naval Reserve units it was assigned to.

BuNo 67070 was stricken from Navy records January 7, 1957. From that point until sometime in the Early 1970's the plane was in El Salvador, where it served with the Salvadorean Air Force, Fuerza Aérea Salvadoreña (FAS).

John Roxbury retrieved this FG-1D from El Salvador in the early 1970's. Mr. Roxbury began restoration work on this plane and stored it in Minneapolis, MN. Mr. Roxbury owned the plane until we recently purchased the project from him and took delivery on September 15th of 1999.

Paint scheme chosen for Vintage Fighters FG-1D Corsair BuNo 67070 was of VF-17 #29, flown by Lt (jg) Ira Cassius "Ike" Kepford.

Ira Cassius Kepford was born in Harvey, Illinois, on May 29, 1919, son of George Raymond and Emma McLaughlin Kepford. His family moved to Muskegon, Michigan, shortly after he was born. An all-around athlete at Muskegon High School from 1935-1937, he capped his prep career by being named an All-State back in his senior year. He enrolled at Northwestern University in 1938 to study for a dentistry career.

Kepford enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve on August 18, 1941, and was honorably discharged on April 29, 1942, to accept appointment as Aviation Cadet, U.S.N.R. After flight training at the Naval Air Stations, Corpus Christi, Texas, and Miami, Florida, he became a Naval Aviator on November 5, 1942, and was commissioned Ensign, U.S.N.R., with date of rank October 16, 1942. He was promoted to Lieutenant on May 1, 1945, and was transferred to the Retired List of the U.S. Naval Reserve on June 1, 1956, and advanced to the rank of Lieutenant Commander on the basis of combat citations.

Detached from Naval Air Station, Miami, Florida, in December 1942, he served with Fighting Squadron 17 in the Pacific War Area until March 1944. That squadron won the Navy Unit Commendation and he was personally awarded the Navy Cross, a Gold Star in lieu of the second Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross.

From March until June he was attached to the Fleet Air, Alameda, Command, and the last six months of that year served with Fighting Squadron 84. In December 1944 he was transferred to the staff of Commander Fleet Air, West Coast, and remained in that assignment throughout the remaining period of hostilities. After the Japanese surrender, and period of terminal leave, he was released from all active duty on November 7, 1945.

In addition to the Navy Cross with Gold Star, the silver Star Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the ribbon for the Navy Unit Commendation to Fighting Squadron Seventeen, Lieutenant Commander Kepford has the American Defense Service Medal; the American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal; and the World War II Victory Medal.

Kepford returned to Chicago after becoming the U.S. Navy's leading ace scoring a record 16 confirmed Japanese planes destroyed during World War II. In January 1956 he was Vice-President, Marketing and Advertising, Liggett-Rexall Drug Company. He left the Ligget-Rexall post in the late sixties to dabble in investments in New Jersey and Connecticut. He retired in the early seventies and returned to Harbor Springs, Michigan, where he remained until his death in 1987. He was survived by his wife Kraeg, a daughter Tracey and a son Tim. To his family, his classmates, and many admirers in the Muskegon area, Ike remains the classic prototype of an American hero---a title earned in two distinctly different fields of endeavor.

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