Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
I was going to start a tread for tactical bombers ... Stuka, Sturmovik, Mosquito ... All planes of infamy ... But it seems the the British Mosquito is already getting votes.
Heard a story about the mosquito that Hitler based all later bomber designs on the mosquito in an effort to find the secret of it mysterious speed and agility. But his designers could never figure it out ... They were building their prototypes of metal and so it's weight kept it from matching the mosquitoes performance ... They couldn't believe that the plane that was confounding them so all throught the war was in fact a wooden plane
Gimmie the roar of an R-2800 any day of the week.You can't mistake the sound of those Spitfire Merlin engines, music to one's ears, there's usually one or two at the WWII airshows.
The Mosquito was largely a tac bomber and recon plane...It's deployment as an air-to-air platform was rather limited.If we could possibly regain formation, gentlemen.
For me it'll always be the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane (the latter of which was the workhorse of the Battle of Britain, while the former's lasting elegance and legend stole the show). But it would be wrong not to give credit where credit's due. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Spitfire's equal and superior in so many ways, and it duly struck terror into the hearts of RAF pilots. A match made in heaven and hell, if you will. The P-51 debuted later, but she swooped into the fray in the nick of time.
But let's not focus too much of our attention on the machines themselves, but rather the heroes (on both sides) who had the honour of flying them.
My grandfather flew the de-Havilland Mosquito in the Mediterranean theatre. His old flying boots and escape & evasion equipment were donated to the Imperial War Museum, where they still rest.
Gimmie the roar of an R-2800 any day of the week.You can't mistake the sound of those Spitfire Merlin engines, music to one's ears, there's usually one or two at the WWII airshows.
Visited the facility in Seattle where that one was built.
I disagree with the speculation about a changed situation arising from changed German tactics. The only thing that could have changed the situation would have been a lot more 262s to work with, plus more pilots to fly them.
World War II has been called the ultimate war of attrition. Compared to today's versions, tanks, airplanes, and just about everything else except capital ships were cheap and quick to build. Today there are no wars of attrition. Wars are decided by quality of equipment, personnel, and strategy/tactics/logistics. But the Axis was beaten by being overwhelmed by huge numbers of enemies.
Germany tried to fight a war of quality, having generally better troops and equipment than the enemy (tank vs. tank in the Soviet Union being one of the rare exceptions when the enemy equipment outclassed them, and even then the Germans had better tank crews and tactics and could hold their own against the superior Soviet tanks). As long as they were fighting an enemy that could be taken out quickly, the Germans could win, but two enemies couldn't be defeated that way: Great Britain because it was on an island and had a superior navy, and the Soviet Union because it was just too friggin' big and stubborn. Forced to fight a war of attrition, WAY out of their weight, the Germans had no way to win. They lost the war when they failed to knock the USSR out in 1941. After that, nothing could save them.
The F4U Corsair has a pretty colorful history. The gull wing plane was developed as a Carrier plane but novice Navy pilots had trouble seeing past the nose and crashes were not uncommon. Marines used the power and speed of the well built plane effectively amd the legendary Black Sheep flew Corsairs. The plane was so strong that a Corsair chasing a flimsy Japanese fighter at extreme high altitude had it's guns jam due to the cold and flew close enough to the Japanese plane to cut it's tail off with the powerful Corsair prop. The Japanese plane went down and the Corsair lost about 4 inches off the prop ans flew back to base.
If we could possibly regain formation, gentlemen.
For me it'll always be the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane (the latter of which was the workhorse of the Battle of Britain, while the former's lasting elegance and legend stole the show). But it would be wrong not to give credit where credit's due. The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the Spitfire's equal and superior in so many ways, and it duly struck terror into the hearts of RAF pilots. A match made in heaven and hell, if you will. The P-51 debuted later, but she swooped into the fray in the nick of time.
But let's not focus too much of our attention on the machines themselves, but rather the heroes (on both sides) who had the honour of flying them.
My grandfather flew the de-Havilland Mosquito in the Mediterranean theatre. His old flying boots and escape & evasion equipment were donated to the Imperial War Museum, where they still rest.