WWII War Birds - pics and video

[JR Hartman]

that early Zero is really, really rare. Good to see one still whole.

 

[scott585]

A few pics of the Vickers Vimy that Steve Fossett and Mark Rebholz flew in July 2005 to recreate the first nonstop crossing of the Atlantic in June 1919.

As you may recall, Fossett went missing a couple of years later in the Sierra Madre Mountains (while flying another aircraft) and his crash site was discovered a year after that.

looks like they put a fair bit of updated tech into that one

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

IIRC, the engines were/are 454 CI Chev big blocks. There was an article about that airplane in National Geographic many years ago.

More Zero goodness - the FHC has one:

[youtube]i3pk9WHke5M[/youtube]

Wrong engine, but they fly the damn thing...

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Postwar B24 as a civil airliner:

 

[Ganderite]

There was a cargo version of the B24. The engines were not as powerful, I think. I seem to recall pilots complaining about it.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

You've taught me something, Ganderite - many thanks for that!

The C87 Liberator Express:

Not anything like a success, apparently.

 

[Ganderite]

When I was in Gander in the 50s, all manner of milsurp a/c passed through, and as a ramp rat, I got to climb and around them and talk to the crews. I recall the pilots did not like the C-87 because of poor power from the engines.

Google C-87

The C-87 was plagued by numerous problems and suffered from a poor reputation among its crews. Ernest K. Gann, in Fate is the Hunter said, "They were an evil bastard contraption, nothing like the relatively efficient B-24 except in appearance." Complaints centered around the clumsy flight control layout, frequent engine problems, hydraulic leaks, and a disconcerting tendency to lose electrical power in the cockpit during takeoff and landing. The C-87 did not climb well when heavily loaded, a dangerous characteristic when flying out of the unimproved, rain-soaked airfields of India and China; many were lost in collisions with terrain soon after takeoff. Ernest K. Gann's book recounts a near-collision with the Taj Mahal after takeoff in a heavily loaded C-87 when full flaps had to be hastily deployed to increase the aircraft's altitude to clear the Taj Mahal. The aircraft's auxiliary long-range fuel tanks were linked by improvised and often leaky fuel lines that crisscrossed the crew compartment, choking flight crews with noxious gasoline fumes and creating an explosion hazard. The C-87 also had a tendency to enter an uncontrollable stall or spin in the event of inflight airframe icing, a frequent occurrence over the Himalayas in the days before accurate weather forecasting (Gann said they "...could not carry enough ice to chill a highball").

Because of war production bottlenecks and shortages, many C-87 aircraft were fitted with turbosuperchargers producing lower boost pressure and power than those fitted to B-24s destined for combat use, and ceiling and climb rate were accordingly adversely affected.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

I plan on using the phrase "evil bastard contraption" once a day for the rest of my life.

 

[Ganderite]

I rather like "...could not carry enough ice to chill a highball". Gann wrote some excellent books if you are into aviation. "God is my Co-Pilot' being one of his best known ones.

 

[sail32]

'Oscar Brand" did a number of air force songs related to WW2 and the Korean War.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_koK3NdU0F0&list=PLeMr1QHiEg0BzeXg7FOJcDneJQKCHQkL_

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

The hairy-lookin' Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket:

No examples left, sadly. Neat idea, and a real performer for its time.

 

[6MT]

That does look cool!

 

[CV32]

looks like they put a fair bit of updated tech into that one

Yeah, I took the pics myself, shortly before Fosset et al made the attempt, and have to say, if I were going to cross the North Atlantic in that aircraft, I'd want a bit of modern tech too.

 

[sail32]

To bad the Westland Whirlwind was plagued with the faulty Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines.

 

[Cb750k]

Here's a photo from my grandfather. He served in the Luftwaffe, as a pilot.
The back of the photo lists the pilots and their planes markings.

Fliegergruppe Cottbus, Staffel II, 19/10.35 (19/10/1935)
Pre-war monoplanes: Heinkel He-46c reconnaissance fighter, aka: "the flying cloths line". Unarmed in this photo.
location of the photo: Fürth Germany.

We recently found this photo behind another framed family photo. The photo is quite large 11"x7.75". I want to get it re-framed under UV glass.

I come from a family of German pilots, my Grand Uncle who flew and died in his Messerschmitt over Romania in late 1944.
My Great grandfather was a Captain in the Luftwaffe stationed in Holland.
We have a pile of photo's of my Grandfathers uncle from WWI, who was a pilot under Ernst Udet then reassigned to Jasta 20, flew a Rumpler C-IV, then assigned to Jasta 71, flew a Fokker D.VII with custom skin design named "OttO". he was issued an Albatros, but flew "OttO" until the Armistice.
Wingnut Wings made a 1/32 scale model of his Fokker D.VII "OttO" apparently Otto's plane "OttO" was the only plane that incorporated a pilots name into the skin design. There were 3 D.VII sporting words in Jasta 71. #1 was named "Lude"(nickname), the next was "Ede"(nickname) and then "OttO" (pilots name) and remained in that flying formation and at the aerodrome. His D.VII machine is also in the video game Rise of Flight.

h ttp://www.msc-hansgrade-berlin.de/image_zoom.php?show=N2QxOGUyNDkxMmNhY2ZjMzEzYjQ1MTM1ZTdiNTk4NjEuanBnP3dpZHRoPSI4MDAiIGhlaWdodD0iNTMxIg%3D%3D

Since this is a WWII thread, I'll stick to posting this. Prewar but still Luftwaffe...

Very neat family history, I had a cousin on my dad's side that flew Me109's. I wish I knew more about him, according to my dad he survived the battle of Britian but was shot down and killed near the end of ww2. Have a pic of him with his uniform on somewhere I'm pretty sure, aviation history has always interested me. On my moms side, my grandfather helped build Mosquito fighter/bombers. Not quite sure what he did on them though.

 

[Sharps '63]

The hairy-lookin' Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket:

No examples left, sadly. Neat idea, and a real performer for its time.

Looks like a dog with a bone in it's teeth ..... ;>)

 

[nugunner]

There's a long history of "twinning" aircraft to make them more powerful or add a second crewman for long duration missions. Probably the coolest was the XP-82 Twin Mustang variant of the P-51.

 

[nugunner]

The Nazis never managed to build a strategic bomber on the lines of the Lancaster or B-17, let along a B-29. They attempted it with a twin Heinkel He-111 "Zwilling". You can see they put a 5th engine in the middle to get more performance.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Yes indeed. The HE 111Z was a possible solution to the problem of getting a fully laden ME323 off the ground:

 

[Sharps '63]

There's a long history of "twinning" aircraft to make them more powerful or add a second crewman for long duration missions. Probably the coolest was the XP-82 Twin Mustang variant of the P-51.

There's not as much parts compatibility between the 'Twin Mustang' and the single seater as you might think ....

A while back one of the War Birds magazines did an article on the Twin. The whole experiment didn't pan out as well as expected overall.