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WW II plane buffs?

bigred

Penultimate Amazing
bigred
Joined
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Just wondering if anyone else gets into these history-wise. My fav was by far the P-51 but love em all. Folke-Wulf (sp?) was a bad ass too. B-17 of course a classic and B-29 despite its late entry due to its big role in ending it all but while I get into all the planes, I esp loved the fighters. Corsairs also a fav, that gull wing made it so cool-looking in such a distinctive way. baa baa. :)
 
My father flew a B-17 during the war, so I grew up being a plane buff. I must have had two dozen plane models hanging by threads from my bedroom ceiling.

The P-51D has to be the sexiest plane ever built. Great curves. If I had a few million dollars I'd get my license and buy a Mustang. A guy can dream, cant' he?

Did you see the thread about the 20 Spitfires found in Burma?
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=234160

Steve S
 
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I've got these two books that are really good. They contain pretty much every plane that was in service. The more obscure planes might get half a page to a full page. Major planes get about 6 to 9 pages. They've got photos, color profiles, full-color 3-views, 3/4-angle skeleton drawings, performance specs, and info about the various variants.

http://www.amazon.com/American-Warp...3727/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334892949&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Warplanes-Luf...8102/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334892854&sr=8-1

Steve S
 
I have a serious interest in warbirds.

b17gradioopcanopy.jpg


View to the rear out of the radio operators canopy in a B17 G, "Nine-O-Nine Moffet field in the background.

b17gbombsight.jpg


Bomb sight from the bombardier's seat.

b17gleftwaistgun.jpg


View from the left waist gunner position with dummy M3 .50 BMG.
 
The Don said:
Pushing the British candidate

de Havilland Mosquito
Click to expand...

Indeedy!

"In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I'm going to buy a British radio set - then at least I'll own something that has always worked."

— Hermann Göring, 1943
 
It's an interesting field of study. They started the war with airforces including bi-planes in their stock, finished with them flying jets and rockets.

Reading histories of that time, just flying these often temperamental machines in conditions that were often hazardous was just as likely to kill you as the enemy.
 
steve s said:
My father flew a B-17 during the war, so I grew up being a plane buff. I must have had two dozen plane models hanging by threads from my bedroom ceiling.
Click to expand...

About ten years ago I was working in an office when suddenly the whole building began to shake. It felt and sounded like the world was coming to an end.

Fortunately, one of the guys in the office knew what was going on. It was a squadron of B17s flying over, on their way to a local air base.

Damn, but they were loud!
 
I recall a thread perhaps here or on another forum, we were talking about the best looking planes - Vietnam vet popped up and answered whatever one saved your life at the time.

So I think I will go with that answer.

For sense of power I cant go past the P51 - I recall a small airshow a P51 was doing passes up the runway at 50 feet (illegal now) And your whole body shook from the sound of that piston engine thundering along
 
I've always thought that the Japanese built some of the most beautifully elegant aircraft of the period. Here's one of my favorites, the Mitsubishi Ki-83. It was powered by a pair of 2200 hp Ha-211 Ru engines and armed with two 30mm and two 20mm cannons. Only four were produced by war's end. U.S. Navy tests showed a top speed of 438 mph at 29,530 ft. and an initial climb rate of 4000 ft./min.

The illustration is by the incomparable Koike Shigeo

Ki83.jpg
 
Though my dad had been in the navy during WWII, I was fascinated with military aircraft as a child and got involved in building scale models, while at the same time reading everything I could get my hands on.
As an adult, when we got our first computer around '98/'99, the first game I ever tried was Microsoft Combat Fllight Simulator and promptly got deeply involved in flight-sims.
Flew the excellent IL-2 Sturmovik series for some years, and got one of those motion-sensing view devices so that it became a really immersive experience.
Flying Sturmovik aircraft on full realism settings with the TrakIR device is about as close as you can get outside of full-bore simulator.


One of my favorite aircraft from the era is the little-known YAK III, a small, light, fast, maneuverable Russian fighter that could stand up to the best the Germans had in the field.
 
Bikewer said:
One of my favorite aircraft from the era is the little-known YAK III, a small, light, fast, maneuverable Russian fighter that could stand up to the best the Germans had in the field.
Click to expand...

The Yak 3 is one of my favorites as well. I think it is every bit as sleek and pretty as any Mustang or Spitfire. At one point Luftwaffe pilots were ordered not to engage Yaks with no oil cooler under the nose. Of course, by time you could tell if there was an oil cooler under the nose or not, you were already pretty much engaged.
 
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