WWII War Birds - pics and video

Cdn303 said:
Flying a single engine fighter across long distances over the ocean (say the pacific) would have been a very risky proposition. At the time it was a lot easier to ship in a crate. Besides a lot of the reassembly points were close to a port far enough behind the lines to be safe.
Click to expand...

OK - so crated fighters get shipped across oceans to be reassembled. But a mobile workshop to do so as opposed to a fixed facility? Can be done, but .....

I believe that on a few occasions land based aircraft were flown off carrier decks to their shore bases.
 
Sharps '63 said:
So what was the point in field assembly then? If it could be truck transported disassembled and reassembled on site, then flown from the place of reassembly, it could have been be flown to that same place to begin with. Am I missing something here?

Any forward airbase you could drive to that could support landing and take off would be within range of any aircraft capable of taking off/landing from same. Then you have the fuel issue to consider as well as support for the ground crew. Sounds like a great target for an enemy to attack.
Click to expand...

It's very time consuming and expensive and also risky to make ocean crossings with the fighters. The flight crew is better off fighting than ferrying aircraft. You can get a lot of fighters on a transport ship when they are all crated and disassembled. It's all about logistics. The flight range on most of those fighters is not very far either.
There is approximately 15-20 hours flying time to cross the North Atlantic with 4-6 hour legs depending on wind. That does not include stopping for sleep, weather, maintenance, etc.

That being said they did ferry many many fighters. They lost a few as well.
 
yea, but a lot of the ferrying was done by non-combatant aircrews - ie women and second liners with not enough time to make it into ops-
 
Looking at the photos of the wingless C-130s being moved reminds me of looking at C-130 fuselages in the scrap heap at Davis-Monthan AFB and thinking that they might just make over into a pretty good summer cottage.
 
"Yup.Big,black,armed to the teeth P-61.

Same idea as Bristol Beaufighter but done 3 years later.Very easy to see how fast technology progressed and changed way aircraft were designed.

Strangely enough Beaufighter served longer than P-61 (at least according to Wiki)"

But the Beau was no Mosquito for nightfighting.
 
scott585 said:
the mosquito as a fighter flew higher, had more range and went faster, carried more bomb load, and had more firepower than the ju88, so i would say no
Click to expand...

In comparing the attributes for the task should be compared. Ju88 nightfighter didn't need extended range due to fighting over its own territory similar to the RAF fighters of the BofB. It did lack the speed and manouvrability. Firepower was close to equal with cannon in the nose and some a/c with the schrage musik upward firing cannon.

In comparing one has to keep in mind the specific environments. The Luftwaffe nightfighter force had very rich target source within the bomber streams whereas in the ADGB_(Air Defence of Great Britain) and later intruder ops when the mosquito came on strength targets were less frequent. If success is measured by numbers of enemy a/c destroyed the luftwaffe nightfighters bested the RAF units.
 
Last edited:
I recommend any WWII War Bird enthusiast on this thread to go to the 2015 Abbotsford Airshow. This year, they will be celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Battle Of Britain: http://abbotsfordairshow.com. If you went last year, you would have seen an awesome newly restored de Havilland Mosquito. And, yes, it did fly!! (I'll see if I can load a vid on here)
IMG_4221.jpg
 
dryfire said:
Mars are still flying with Coulson Aircraft. They were pulled out of mothballs for the recent summer fires
Click to expand...

Are they flying both Philippine and Hawaii Mars? I thought they'd already repainted PM in her wartime colours...

WaterbomberAerial-24july14_1817.jpg


Would they not have pulled the firefighting plumbing out of her preparatory to delivery to the Navy?
 
Not sure which flew over here a week or so ago but it was in the red/white livery of Coulson. They look massive in the air. Prov. Gov't. gave Coulson a one month contract to use it or them for the severe fire season and there were several test runs of filling and disengorging before heading to battle.

In a post some pages back they were referred to as the largest amphibious a/c. They might be if they were amphibious - as many know they are a flying boat and require beaching gear.
 
Last edited:
dryfire said:
Not sure which flew over here a week or so ago but it was in the red/white livery of Coulson. They look massive in the air.
Click to expand...

That would have been the Hawaii Mars .
It is still doing service as a water bomber at the moment.
The Philippine is back in war time colors & will be making it's final flight to a Florida museum .
The lake it is landing in Florida is not long enough for it to take off so once it lands it's done flying
 
No pictures but i did have a B-17 fly over my house last weekend. It was heading to the Springbank Airshow. Very Cool! But man would that be terrifying seeing 30-40 of those flying overhead ready to drop their cargo.
 
cfinck said:
No pictures but i did have a B-17 fly over my house last weekend. It was heading to the Springbank Airshow. Very Cool! But man would that be terrifying seeing 30-40 of those flying overhead ready to drop their cargo.
Click to expand...

There is a thread on this below about the Commemorative Air Force's restored B-17 "Sentimental Journey" being in Penticton this week. I'm booked for a ride @ 1000 tomorrow. :d
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom