WWII planes

[nowayjose]

An interesting discussion that deserves a new thread

Per http://www.metrofan.com/forum/showpost.php?p=7538044&postcount=48

The 109
http://www.hobby-lobby.com/images/fsk015.jpg

[Toon³]

My favouritest WW2 plane

http://www.world-of-arcades.com/1945/Strikers%201945%20II/plane_mosquito.jpg

[spejic]

Yeah, the Mosquito was probably the best plane of the war. It and the close American counterpart, the B-26 Marauder, were monumental designs and really heralded the future direction of Air Force power.

The B-17 got all the press because of where they were based during the war.

[Shaster]

I have a lot of those WWII plane models sit inside my garage. An old folk asked me to sell for him that he spent 50 years to accumulated. :)

[sardus_pater]

Messerschmitt Me 262

http://www.geocities.com/glupscherle/me-262.jpg

Luckily for the allies (and the world) the germans didn't really understand what impact it would have had if the project had been funded adequately and the plane mass produced.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_262

Although often viewed as a last ditch super-weapon, the Me 262 was already being developed as project P.1065 before the start of WWII. Plans were first drawn up in April 1939, and the original design was very similar to the plane that would eventually enter service.

The progression of the original design into service was delayed by a lack of funds, many high ranking officials thought that the war could easily be won with conventional aircraft, and therefore most of the available government funds were used for the production of other aircraft.

[Pilum]

Just to justify myself from the other thread...

It's the lines. The 109 flows. It is, in fact, quite similar to the Spit in that regard. The Focke-Wulf 190 falls down to me with the engine block. It gives it a certain bulldog charm, but it takes over the airframe, and makes it look rather nose-heavy compared to the rear of the plane. Consequently, I find this makes it look quite 'hunch-backed' too, a situation not helped by the 'wasp-waist' just behind the canopy.. It's effectiveness as a combat aircraft is firmly established; I'm coming at this purely aesthetically. Which I suppose by definition means argument is essentially futile, beauty being in the eye of the beholder, and all that.

I have just wondered though; both the Spit and the 109 can, I believe, trace their ancestry back to inter-war air races; perhaps that explains why they LOOK like they're built for speed - they were. :)

Incidentally, I've just seen a photo of a Ta152- it actually looks in proportion, the bulk of the engine block being eaten up by the length of the nose; though now the fuselage looks rather TOO long, and rather ungainly, certainly not as menacing as the 'original' 190 - I guess I'm never satisfied! :D

[CosmosKramer]

http://www.kids.state.ct.us/symbols/images/ChanceVoughtF4U_1.jpg

[Norsk Troll]

Two of my favourites:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/NorskTroll/577c13fd.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v698/NorskTroll/a28552c7.jpg

[MikeLastort2]

I'm a big fan of the P38 Lightning

http://www.ctrl-c.liu.se/ftp/images/aviation/military/warbirds/p38-lightning-1.jpg

[spejic]

Luckily for the allies (and the world) the germans didn't really understand what impact it would have had if the project had been funded adequately and the plane mass produced.That's the problem you get when you just arn't a big economic power. You have to make choices.

Besides, it wasn't like they were fighting in a vaccuum. If they sent out jet planes in enough numbers to be a threat, the British and Americans would have been quick to build some of their own. And unlike the Germans they would have had enough fuel to use them.

[bigredfutbol]

That's the problem you get when you just arn't a big economic power. You have to make choices.

Besides, it wasn't like they were fighting in a vaccuum. If they sent out jet planes in enough numbers to be a threat, the British and Americans would have been quick to build some of their own. And unlike the Germans they would have had enough fuel to use them.

The Germans were always trying technological advances in a mostly vain effort to counter their inferiority in manufacturing capacity and fuel production, correct? If they could have produced the Messerschmidt 109 in sufficient numbers, they wouldn't have had to pin their hopes on jet fighters and so forth, right?

By the same light, maybe if Goering had thought about the need for long-range bombers (no place for those in Blitzkrieg?), they wouldn't have been driven to develop the V-1 and V-2.

Am I wrong?

[bigredfutbol]

Oh, don't ask me why, but when I was a kid I loved the SBD Dauntless:

http://www.odyssey.dircon.co.uk/sbdz.jpg

[bigredfutbol]

http://www.kids.state.ct.us/symbols/images/ChanceVoughtF4U_1.jpg

I still think that's the coolest looking airplane ever.

[LordR]

Here's a rather bizzarre example. The Heinkel 111 "Zwilling" (twin), which is basically two medium size bombers merged to one. I never really understood the purpose, but it looks cool.

http://www.nurflugel.com/Nurflugel/n_o_d/images/airplanes/he1113v.jpg
http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/he111z-4.jpg
http://www.aviationtrivia.homestead.com/files/he111z_2.jpg

[LordR]

The "Sack AS-6"

http://www.luft46.com/misc/as6-1.jpg
http://www.luft46.com/misc/3bas6.jpg

[spejic]

The Germans were always trying technological advances in a mostly vain effort to counter their inferiority in manufacturing capacity and fuel production, correct?But because of their inferiorities, most of those technological advances either never left the drawing board or were produced in too small numbers to do anything.If they could have produced the Messerschmidt 109 in sufficient numbers, they wouldn't have had to pin their hopes on jet fighters and so forth, right?The act of designing is itself a very large money and resource using activity. The 109 was obsolete half way through the war, but they had to keep building it because all the replacement designs failed to materialize in time. The Germans were actually fell behind in lots of technlogical areas (tank design vs. the Russians, prop airplane design, radar..). They never could have done things like the proximity shell.By the same light, maybe if Goering had thought about the need for long-range bombers (no place for those in Blitzkrieg?), they wouldn't have been driven to develop the V-1 and V-2. I don't think it would have done any good. Long range bombers would have been useless against the west, and I don't think that Germany would bomb the Russian oil fields as long as they thought they had a chance to get to them.

[Claymore]

http://www.airbum.com/photos/P-47Thunderbolt4.jpeg

Not the prettiest plane, but outright lethal in the later stages of the war.

[Nanbawan]

The Ilioushine Il2 Sturmovik

http://www.histoiredumonde.net/images/20_eme_siecle/avions/il2/intro.jpg

The game is so popular, you mostly find screen shots...

Nakajima B5N Kate (Pearl Harbor)

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/1982/kate-10.jpg

No P51 Mustang yet ?

http://www.aeronautics.ru/img003/p51-mustang-01.jpg

[Matt in the Hat]

Ahhh, the pride of Long Island

http://www.acepilots.com/planes/f4f_3way.jpg

Grumman F4F Wildcat

http://www.acepilots.com/planes/gi_hellcat.jpg

Grumman F6F Hellcat

http://www.acepilots.com/planes/f8f.jpg

Grumman F8F Bearcat

[CosmosKramer]

I still think that's the coolest looking airplane ever.

I think I watched too much of this as a kid:

http://media.movieweb.com/dvd_art/full/36/57336.jpg