Rob Barion's newest warbird to his museum collection, a 1943 Goodyear built FG-1A Corsair. A surplus Navy museum piece, Rob obtained the plane in late October and christened it "Sam", after a nine year old boy he befriended, Sam Martin.

The FG-1A was an interim development of the F4U-1 series. The first model of Corsair, the F4U-1, had a low fitting "birdcage" canopy with many ribs, restricting vision. In 1943, Chance-Vought tested a new blown canopy that provided only two ribs, and more head room for the pilot, increasing vision. This modification was approved, and it got the unofficial "A" designation; the Navy, nor Vought made any official change to the designation, and all new Corsairs with the improved canopy continued to be stamped as "F4U-1/FG-1/F3A-1". Publications post-war gave the "A" designation to help this model stand out in the development cycle. Also new for the "A" models were plumbing for drop tanks, and ability to carry more bombs as the island hopping campaign heated up. This model was mostly land based with Navy and Marine squadrons, as the bounce and stalling issues were still being ironed out for carrier operations. FAA (Royal Navy) F4U-1A's, were known as "Corsair Mk. II's", and were carrier based- their improvement in landing performance coming from 8 inches clipped off the wings to fit in the hangars. The "A's" were later superseded in 1944 by the F4U-1D, which had a single piece blown Plexiglas canopy, and ability to carry rockets.

This Aircraft: Rob Barion's FG-1A was built by Goodyear in Akron, Ohio. It rolled off the assembly line in November 1943 and was accepted into the Navy, where it flew in the South Pacific as part of the island hopping campaign. It survived its tour of duty and was brought back to the United States in January 1945, where it was refurbished by Vought, and sent to a training squadron. It helped teach new ensigns how to fly the tricky, and at times mercurial Corsair. It's career came to an end in July 1945, when a training flight ended in a ditching in Lake Michigan. The Corsair was written off and left at the bottom of the lake until June 1993, when it was salvaged and recovered. The years spent at the bottom of the dark, cold lake preserved the airframe, and it was restored by the US Navy and placed on display in a Naval museum in 2003.

In 2020, faced with downturn from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Navy declared the aircraft surplus. Along with an FM-1 Wildcat, Rob Barion purchased the airframe "at a steal". He elected to have it return to flight "as all aircraft should!" and compliment his FG-1D "Ensign Eliminator", and his (being repaired/restored) F4U-5NL Corsair. He elected to return it to its training squadron markings of "G-228", to honor the war-weary Corsairs that gave valuable yeoman service in the States. He christened the aircraft "Sam", after nine year old Sam Martin, who he befriended while doing community service in Akron.