The F4U-7, built for the French Navy, completed the venerable Corsair line. Essentially the same as an F4U-4 in an F4U-6 (AU-1) airframe, it was equipped with a Pratt and Whitney two-speed, two-stage engine (R-2800-18W), making it a high-altitude fighter.

In 1952, the F4U-7 was used by the French in Indochina - the Corsair’s third war.

For 13 years (1940 through 1952), F4U Corsairs were produced for the U.S. Navy. The last of the Corsairs (the F4U-7) was delivered to the French Navy early in 1952, making it the last piston-engined fighter to be built in the United States. When the last Corsair rolled off the production line it had the number 12,571. Never before had a fighter enjoyed such a long production life. Nor was the Corsair’s glory all of battle origin. Commander Cook Cleland, USNR, flying the Vought-designed airplane as a civilian, captured the Thompson Trophy event in 1947 and again in 1949 with average speeds of 396 and 397 miles an hour over closed courses

The Corsair thus completed the cycle: from fighter to dive-bomber, to fighter-bomber, to attack plane, and back to fighter.