WWII Fighters

[Subdeacon Joe]

[Wallaby Jack, SASS #44062]

 

   ... say what you like about wooden war planes in an aluminium era, but the Mosquito is mentioned a lot  

[Duffield, SASS #23454]

In 1978 the Enterprise made a port call to Fremantle.   I met a teacher in Perth who had flown Beaufighters. I didn't  get to tell him how impressed I was, let alone ask about how it handled.

That aircraft was used for everything and yet it gets ignored by all these surveys.

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

Looks like the Corsair earned its' reputation as one of the premier planes of the War.

 

If you'll look, you will notice that the Corsair (F4U) finished very well in every category except near stall speed performance. 

[Cypress Sun]

My old friend Jerry flew the Jug in the ETO during WWII. He showed me numerous pictures of battle damage both to his plane(s) and other pilots' planes. The damage on some of the planes was incredible and it was amazing that they was able to return to base. It was indeed a flying tank. 

 

RIP Jerry

[Chantry]

The P-47 doesn't get nearly enough credit for what it did in WWII.  Like most of the pre-war designs, long range was never one of the design requirements because the Army Air Corps believed that the B-17 could protect itself.  The purpose built long range version P-47N (2190 mile range) could fly farther than the P-51D (1650 mile range) could and the P-47N remained a far better ground support fighter.

 

As to air to air combat, a P-47 flown by a pilot who knew its strengths and weaknesses, was a match for just about any enemy (non jet) fighter.  A lot of the top aces in Europe flew the P-47.

 

One just has to look at what happened to P-47 pilot Robert Johnson who got the living excrement shot out of his plane on a mission.  The plane was hit 21 times by 20mm cannon fire setting it on fire and causing Johnson to lose altitude.  With the fire out Johnson headed back to England by himself, wounded, partially blinded due to hydraulic fluid when he was jumped by a single FW-190 who made several passes firing and hitting Johnson's P-47.  The FW-190 finally broke off its  attacks when the German pilot ran out of ammo.  Johnson landed the plane in England and gave up counting the holes in his plane, stopping at  more than 200, without ever moving around the plane.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_S._Johnson#Near-fatal_engagement

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

I had a cousin who flew Corsairs at the end of WWII and  early in Korea.  He loved that plane and said it was like a spirited horse: you had to be in control and stay in control, but wasn't hard to stay in control and there were no surprises.  

 

His second favorite fighter was an F-86 Sabrejet  (FJ Fury he called it).

[Phantom Falcon, SASS # 46139]

6 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I had a cousin who flew Corsairs at the end of WWII and  early in Korea.  He loved that plane and said it was like a spirited horse: you had to be in control and stay in control, but wasn't hard to stay in control and there were no surprises.  

 

His second favorite fighter was an F-86 Sabrejet  (FJ Fury he called it).

 

Forty, your cousin must have been a Marine or Navy pilot. FJ was the Naval designation for the F-86. 

 

PF

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

He was a Marine.  Started out enlisted, a day or two after Pearl Harbor, went to flight school and was promoted to Second Lieutenant and retired 32 years  later as a Brigadier General.  Told me me he stared out in Hellcats, went to  Corsairs, then Panthers and Sabrejets, and ended up in A-4 Skyhawks.

 

Had another cousin who went into the Army at about the same time, was sent to flight school and went up through the ranks.  He flew B-25 Mitchells in the Pacific and stayed in the reserves until Korea, went back active and flew B-25s there.  He went back to the reserves and was taught to fly B-47s (the most beautiful bomber ever built) and eventually was put into a whole number of instructional roles. He also stayed in for 32 years and retired as a Colonel.