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Favorite WWII aircraft?

P-51 Mustang

One of the 1st planes to have a blower in it 😉

and now with new info the P-38 🙂
 
Just for looks and all around I like the P38. I have always wondered what it would of done with the Merlin engines of the P51 vs. the Allison engines it had.
Best book I have found on the P38 is Fork Tailed Devil by Martin Caiden


Laust, the P51 was not the first airplane with a blower, both the P38 and P47 had super chargers before the P51. If fact the P51 was orginally designed as a low altitude plane. It was not until it was mated with the Merlin(British designed) engines that it became a good high altitude plane.

The story of the design of the P51 is fascinating. North American was approached about building P41s for the British. The president of NA said he could design and have flying in 6 months a better plane. I think it was 6 months and a few days to the first flight of the P51. It was quite a different airplane then the commonly recognized P51Ds of later in the war.

Somewhat ironically the P47 which was designed as a high altitude fighter did much better at lower altitudes in Europe.
 
I've always fancied a Bristol Beaufighter strike fighter - Four 20-mm. Hispano cannon in the fuselage nose and six 0.303-in. machine-guns in the wings and one 0.303-in. Vickers "K" or Browning gun in the dorsal position. One 18-in. torpedo externally under fuselage. Plus Eight rocket projectiles under the wings. & a range of over 1500 miles.

But what I really want is a Catalina Flying Boat, they make great smuggling aircraft, as they can land anywhere on the water (as long as its not too rough)
 
F4U Corsair , I loved watching Baa Baa Blacksheep every Sat. when I was a kid. 😉
The Hellcat was a sweet plane also.
 
The P-51 D then the B -17 G and then the Spitfire, altho the ME 161 and ME 262 were quite intriguing as wll as the V1 and V2 rockets.
 
DABANSHEE
I'll co-pilot that Catalina for you!😎

What was the British twin engined jet that was in production near the end? That design went on to serve in Vietnam! In fact, they were so good at ground support that the US literally flew them until there were no more parts available to keep them in the air.
 
What, the B17, - I remember there was a RAF song about the B17, it went something like 'there goes that silly yank plane, it flys high, high high & has a dozen men guarding yet it can only drop one tiny little bomb on Berlin'. Well the RAF versioned rymed, but you know what I mean.

Really the B17 looks like a great aircraft, but when you realise the bomber varient (day or night) of the De Havilland Mosquito fighter-bomber could carry the same bomb load the same distance & didn't need any gunners at all because it flew faster than virtually all the enamies fighters, yet it only needed 2 engines instead of 4 to do all that. You realise that the B17 was in practicle terms a poor performer & even though the B24 was heaps ugly it did the B17's job much better than the B17.

 
P-47N Thunderbolt.

The final and greatest version of the Jug. Very long range and one of the fastest piston engine planes ever. Toss in those 8 .50 cals and 2000lbs of bombs and rockets and you have a near perfect plane. An excellent dogfighter and a durable ground pounder all in one. Sure the P-51 was got the fame because it was sleeker but gimme the old bluecollar P-47 anyday. It never got as much fame but it was a true workhorse that did it's job and did it well.

Windogg
 
Ah yes the Mosquito made out of wood wasn't it? Great little plane but you see the FF17 could take the abuse and keep on flying unlike the Mosquito, which several well placed Axis machine gun or ack-ack rounds could down, and did. Mosquito pilots did not limp their planes home they left them where they were hit, and while the payload was similar the B17 had almost double the range of the Mosquito, check your facts before speaking incorrectly, DABANSHEE.
 
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