Oscar Brand, "Give Me Operations".Originally Posted by Jfpatch
Oscar Brand, "Give Me Operations".
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
I love the Mossie. Their role flying for BOAC during the war was interesting.Speaking as a memmber of Team Commonwealththe Mosquito is probably my favorite aeroplane of the war.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
Going back to Wayne's question, As much as I like P51's, (and most WWII warbirds) the me262 showed the world that the days of prop driven fighters were over..All one has to do is look at what happened in Korea..P51vs Mig15, the P51's were outclassed, B29's which were untouchable over Japan duri g WWII, got shot down in Korea, alot got bady damaged but made it home. By Korea, the writing was on the wall for most of the WWII leftovers, their best days were behind them, and the future for most of them was the scrap yard..
I''ve got a book around the house somewhere, that has alot of photos (quite a few in color)taken at a airbase during WWII in England, lots of great pics of P51's the last few pages deal with the end of the war in Europe, and show pics of locals hired to burn P-51's at a forward airbase about 3 weeks after the war in Europe ended.Nothing wrong with the aircraft, it was deemed too expensive to bring them back, so they were stripped of their guns, and any other parts that may have been needed, and then burned... Sad, but I can understand why, I've seen pics of P51's and other fighters stacked on their noses after the war, literally hundreds of them, in a field here in the US. waiting to be cut up for scrap... Nobody wanted them after WWII, (including the USAF ) and they had way more than they knew what to do with...especially when they were wanting to go to jet aircraft...
Last edited by ralph; 09-21-2018 at 06:55 PM.
A lot of informal scrapping went on. There has been an ongoing hunt in Australia for a rumored squadron’s worth of Spitfires that were buried in their crates in the desert at the end of the war.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
I would'nt be suprised, I remember my dad (he was in the Navy, in the Pacific) telling me that he saw brand new landing craft, pushed over the side and sunk, other stuff that wasn't needed, was also just pushed over the side..
I cant decide whether to thank you guys for mentioning my personal fav, or be pissed because you got there before me...
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
Speaking of Airacobras...
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
The P-40 squadron my granddad flew in had parrot heads (not the more common shark mouth) painted on the nose. Their call sign, and the parrot’s name, was “Scruffy”.
Nothing strikes fear into the heart of the enemy like a parrot’s head.
While the P-51 was a great plane, there are several factors that contributed to it's success. They entered the war late, and by that time the quality of the German pilots was in great decline. Further, when General Doolittle took over 8th AF, he stopped the foolish policy of anchoring the fighters to the bombers, and directed them to "destroy German fighters." Doolittle turned the fighters loose to hunt the Luftwaffe, which was much more effective than providing close escort to the bombers. Earlier in the war the P-47s and P-38s did not enjoy that kind of freedom.
http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineA...Luftwaffe.aspx
It's also interesting, that despite the limitations on the pilots early in the war, the top ace in the ETO was Francis "Gabby Gabreski, and he flew the P-47. The second highest ace in the ETO was Robert Johnson, and he also flew the P-47.
http://acepilots.com/usaaf_eto_aces.html
First, they were the "Tuskegee Airman." Second, other than the myth, which the surviving Tuskegee Airman acknowledged was nonsense propaganda long ago, about never losing a bomber, what other "lies" were supposedly "perpetuated" about them? The Tuskegee Airmen served honorably, and had an impressive combat record, despite the numerous obstacles put in their way.The only P-51 related complaint he ever had was the lies that were perpetuated about the Taskagee Airmen.
If you care to read a good account of what really occurred with the Tuskegee Airmen, I'd suggest reading "Freedom Flyers: The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II."
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"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me." - Isaiah 6:8
The problem with those lyrics is the A-7D did not have an afterburner (AB), and was designed to be "slow."
The A-7D had it's origins in the F-8 Crusader, but the A-7D was designed to be a sub-sonic (hence no need for an "AB") plane for close air support (CAS) missions, where it's big brother the F-8 was a supersonic "gunfighter."
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"Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me." - Isaiah 6:8
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