The Corsair prototype had a cockpit located 91 cm farther forward than normal.
Reconnaissance from Europe indicated that the production Corsair needed more fire-arms, meaning that later, six .50 calibre machineguns were placed into the wings. Earlier, the wings’ space which now contains the machine guns was occupied by wing fuel tanks. As a result of the need to remove the wing fuel tanks, the fuselage main tank had to be extended as the cockpit had also to be shifted backward allowing enough space.
I found this image in the answer to a question on Quora.
When the cockpit was moved rearward, the pilots did not see as well forward which made for complications in carrier operations.
Edit: I have never before managed to attract so many viewers and receive so many upvotes in so short a time, thank you. :)
Armament of the prototype:
Each of the wings had a single calibre .50 machine gun.
A .50-caliber and a .30-caliber gun each, one over the engine were installed and positioned to fire through the propeller disc.
Uncharacteristically, an arrangement with one .30-caliber gun and three .50-caliber guns.
Another Edit:
Wasn’t it possible to have the fuel tank shifted aft to extend the pilot’s sight ahead? The continuous loss of fuel changes the weight of the plane, and thereby its centre of gravity. Should the plane not receive constant trimming, it can have its nose gradually dropping downwards. By putting the fuel tank close to the center of lift, the effect of diminishing fuel weight was reduced, along with the requirement for constant trimming.
I explored a bit further into detail about the wing fuel tanks. On a F4U-1A, on a carrier, there were two fuel tanks in the wings, of 235 liters each. Other F4U variants were also missing additional fuel tanks in the wing.
Fuel tanks in the prototype design were included in the outer sections of the wing but removed as the armament system becomes more massive.
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