Favorite interwar military aircraft?

[MarkinTex]

Here are mine (I'm partial to the Americans)

Martin B-10 - I have an unassembled model of this in my garage, one of the reasons I haven't gotten around to building it (besides laziness) is I can't decide what color scheme to paint it. I know blue fuselage/yellow flight surfaces is most iconic, but I like the bare aluminum fuselage/yellow flight surfaces scheme best, but not sure which squardrons would be most historically accurate for that.

Curtiss A-8 Shrike - I have an unassembled model of this, too, but the reason I haven't done this one is lack of skill, when I ordered it, I didn't realize it wasn't the usual Revel/Monogram type model kit where the pieces are lightly attached by thin sprues, you have to cut each piece out of a sheet of plastic. I also like the upgraded Shrike with the radial engine, the A-12

Boeing P-12

Curtiss P-6 Hawk

Consolidated P-30

Hawker Hart / Hind

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Well being that interwar is anything that first flew from 1919 to 1938, I gotta go with the following:

1. Bf 109
2. DC-3/C-47
3. Dornier Do 24
4. Ju 88
5. Spitfire
6. B-17

 

[MarkinTex]

Yeah, absolutely, aircraft introduced in the interwar period that went on to serve in WW2 qualify, at least their early versions. I think of the B-17 A through E variants as interwar aircraft (even though I think some Es served in the early years, and maybe even a few Ds). I especially think of the B-17B as an interesting transitional design between the B-10 and state of the art operational models of WW2 bombers like the B-17 F and G.

 

[tomo pauk]

Probably the I-16.

 

[Airframes]

B-17D and E wouldn't qualify as 'interwar' - first flights 1941.

 

[GrauGeist]

For me, it would be:
P-36
XB-15
He100
Ar196
LeO 451

In regards to the B-17 variants, the B-17B made it's first test flight early summer 1939.

 

[Wurger]

PZL P-24
I-15Bis
Avia B.534

 

[MarkinTex]

Well, "interwar" for a US aircraft can go all the way up to late 1941, since we dragged our feet about getting into it until December of that year. Most of the aircraft we had at the start of our involvement in the war were "interwar" in technology because we hadn't been doing that great a job of keeping up with what was going on in the skies over Europe. We had to play catchup before our aircraft were up to snuff.

I do know of one sharkfin D that served in the Phillipines, because it was already there when the Japanese attacked our installations there the day after they attacked Pearl Harbor. It served as a bomber for a couple months after while they waited for Es to be ferried in from the US, then it moved to Australia in early 42, and served as a general's transport through 1944. The name of this D was the "Swoose", and it was piloted by an officer who named his daughter after it. His daughter is the actress Swoosie Kurtz, who is most famous for being on a TV show in the 90s some may remember, called "Sisters". The Swoose is now at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton.

 

[special ed]

I choose Avia B.534 srs IV

 

[GrauGeist]

The RAF had 20 B-17Cs, designated Fortress Mk I, operating in early 1941.

It should be pointed out that WWII in Europe started in September 1939 and when someone stays pre-war or the start of the war, that's the date we go by, even though War in SE Asia had been going for several years before that.

 

[Dimlee]

I assume "interwar" means introduction not later August 1939.
SB (late variants with M-103 engines)
Fokker G.1
R-5
Ar 196
PBY Catalina
G3M
P-35
A5M

 

[Glider]

Bristol Bulldog for the simple reason that I like how it looks

 

[MarkinTex]

There are probably many more I could add to my list, but for now I'll add another I just thought of, the Westland PV-3 , pretty much just because one was the first plane to fly over Mount Everest (along with a PV-6, or Westland Wallace), back in 1933. Quite a feat for the time, and quite an aircraft to be able to accomplish it.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Bomber: Martin 146 (barely lost to the Boeing 299 during the 1935 competition).
Fighter: Tie between the Brewster Buffalo and the PZL-24
Dive Bomber: Ju-87
Flying Boat: Tie between Dornier Do X and the Martin 130 Clipper)
Cargo: Ford Tri-Motor
Amphibian: PBY

 

[Dana Bell]

I've got a soft spot for Vought's biplane spotting aircraft, particularly the UO, the O2U Corsair, and the O3U Corsair. Cutiss' SOC Seagull always gets my attention too. I'd love to see 1/48th scale models of them all one day...

Cheers,


Dana

 

[swampyankee]

F4B, from Boeing.

 

[wlewisiii]

Om, my...
B17D
B18
P6E
P12/F4B
P26
P36
DC3
Boeing 307
Boeing 314

That's just the American ones. Supermarine, Heinkel, Nakajima, Mitsubishi, Fiat etc all made beautiful aircraft as well.

 

[DBII]

P26, B18, HE100, and maybe P400. And the light bombers, Maryland and Baltimore.

 

[rob23]

I like some of the racers from this era like the Wedell-Williams, Travel Air Mystery Ship and Laird Super Solution. I also like Schneider Cup racers like the Curtis RC3 and equivalent Supermarine's. Those designs, engines and fuel technology contributed much to WWII aviation.

Then there's the P-26, F4B/P-12 and P-6. The F9C, F3F, O2U, ALL of the Consolidated flying boats, the Martin M-130 Clipper and ALL of the Sikorsky flying boats. For some reason I'm not that crazy about the Boeing 314. The longer I sit here the more that come floating into my brain. I have a definate bias towards the US designs, the Navy, and the flying boats. And I'll take Glen Curtis over Orville and Wilbur any day.

 

[Bernhart]

Gladiator for me