# History of ww2aircraft.net



## Marcel (Feb 26, 2009)

Found this while googling. A little nostalgia for the "older ones among us"


2002 (no user count):
Aircraft of World War II

2003 (67 users, 40 posts)
Aircraft of World War II Note the user count, says 67 

Jan 2004 (127 users, 269)
Aircraft of World War II

Dec 2004 (439 users, 40436 posts (!)
http://web.archive.org/web/20050101034240/http://www.ww2aircraft.net/ 

Jan 2006: 2114 users, 132848 posts
Aircraft of World War II - WWII Aircraft, WWII Aviation, and More

Jan 2007: no user count
http://web.archive.org/web/20070101214102/http://ww2aircraft.net/


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## Lucky13 (Feb 26, 2009)

Cool stuff Marcel...!


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## Wurger (Feb 26, 2009)

With Jan here.


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## Thorlifter (Feb 26, 2009)

Ah, cool stuff


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## seesul (Feb 26, 2009)

THX for the links Marcel!
The family is groving up


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## ccheese (Feb 26, 2009)

Good Info, Marcel.... Thanks for posting...

Charles


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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Feb 26, 2009)

Very interesting. I didn't realize the site is this old.


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## Bill G. (Feb 26, 2009)

Thanks Marcel!!

I guess for January 2007 there was no count because this board broke the counter. And could it be that that is why no data since then???

Bill G.


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## Screaming Eagle (Feb 27, 2009)

How far we have come.


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## lesofprimus (Feb 27, 2009)

We still have a couple of old hares from 2004 with us, kinda cool watchin the board progress and mature into what it is now....

Good stuff Marcel...


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## Lucky13 (Feb 27, 2009)

If only some would mature with the forum....


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## Gnomey (Feb 27, 2009)

Cool stuff Marcel!



Lucky13 said:


> If only some would mature with the forum....



Like that is ever going to happen...



lesofprimus said:


> We still have a couple of old hares from 2004 with us, kinda cool watchin the board progress and mature into what it is now....



Yeah it is. Certainly makes me realise how long I have been here - remembering the old board structure/layout...


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Feb 27, 2009)

Yeap I joined back in 2004. This site helped me get through the end of a deployment to Iraq. I discovered it while surfing the net on my spare time. 3 months later I got to come home!


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## ToughOmbre (Feb 27, 2009)

Nice history lesson Marcel! 8) 

Thanks!

TO


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## Watanbe (Mar 1, 2009)

wow, what a newbie I am!!


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## syscom3 (Mar 1, 2009)

I came aboard in 2005, But I cant remember how I found the website.

Hey, I even remember my first post ..... a pic of five P47's flying in formation at Chino 2005. 

I also remember my first argument with Les. LOL!!!!!!


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## Freebird (Mar 1, 2009)

syscom3 said:


> I came aboard in 2005, But I cant remember how I found the website.
> 
> Hey, I even remember my first post ..... a pic of five P47's flying in formation at Chino 2005.
> 
> I also remember my first argument with Les. LOL!!!!!!



That would be a topic for another thread - your first ww2aircraft argument!


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## Marcel (Mar 1, 2009)

Anyone still here who remembers the blue layout of 2002?


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## Henk (Mar 1, 2009)

Thanks for the info mate. I remember the day I joined the site back in 2006... I also remember my first confrontation with Les.


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## Watanbe (Mar 1, 2009)

I joined this site to get some aid with a history project I was doing for my last year of school! I'm in 2nd year uni now and I still use the site haha!


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## Lucky13 (Mar 2, 2009)

Would be fun to see everyones first posts...


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## Njaco (Mar 2, 2009)

There are some good ones! Becca's is one of the best!


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## Crunch (Mar 2, 2009)

I feel like a baby 

I found the site looking for Noseart images. For no reason in particular actually, just for something to do....

Glad I did


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## fly boy (Mar 2, 2009)

Watanbe said:


> wow, what a newbie I am!!



i know what you mean


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## Freebird (Mar 2, 2009)

Lucky13 said:


> Would be fun to see everyones first posts...



The noob thread.

Hard to imagine Les or DerAdler as a noob....


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## Henk (Mar 2, 2009)

Lucky13 said:


> Would be fun to see everyones first posts...



I could not find my first post, would be great to find it though, and some of the first was when I learned why they called Les the minister of kickass.


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## Njaco (Mar 3, 2009)

or the Cape Buffalo. Thats a good one.


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## drgondog (Mar 4, 2009)

Njaco said:


> or the Cape Buffalo. Thats a good one.



That would be my contribution <grin>


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## Henk (Mar 4, 2009)

He he he...


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## lesofprimus (Mar 4, 2009)

Cant trace my posts back past February 2009.... I joined up while looking for info on the Ju87G....


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## lesofprimus (Mar 4, 2009)

I still love that pic Bill...

And its MINISTER OF WHOOPASS..... Give Eric credit for that one....


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## Henk (Mar 5, 2009)

lesofprimus said:


> I still love that pic Bill...
> 
> And its MINISTER OF WHOOPASS..... Give Eric credit for that one....



   What will the site be without such a Minister?


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## Njaco (Mar 5, 2009)

A poor, lonely desolate place...............................


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## fly boy (Mar 6, 2009)

why do they call you that les?

and do you guys change the look of the site every year or two years?


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## Henk (Mar 6, 2009)

fly boy they call Les/Dan that because he earned it.

I think it is nice that they do change things now and again or else it would have this old look to it.


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## Njaco (Mar 6, 2009)

'nuff said.


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## Freebird (Mar 6, 2009)

fly boy said:


> why do they call you that les?




*Because Les doesn't put up with BS from anyone*, especially new folks that don't know how to be civil {polite}


Every once in awhile someone shows up who thinks they know everything, and they like to write insulting posts. {eg. "You are an idiot if you think that..}

When someone like that shows up and starts flaming or insulting everyone, Les comes down on him like a ton of bricks.

I've been on other forums where the Mods are AWOL, things just keep getting nastier because nobody is there to say "OK, that's enough, quit the insults or you are gone"


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## Henk (Mar 6, 2009)

Amen, I have seen that a lot or the mods on those forums are a bunch of @ssholes them self.


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## lesofprimus (Mar 6, 2009)

Well, I am an as*hole as well, so it all comes out in the wash....


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## Lucky13 (Mar 7, 2009)

Dan and Chris as newbies.... I don't think that I'd like to see those posts...would lose all my respect! lmao!  Kidding!


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## Wayne Little (Mar 8, 2009)

lesofprimus said:


> Well, I am an as*hole as well, so it all comes out in the wash....



Er......Dan is that Mr. as*hole or Sir As*hole just want to get it right....you know.... respect and all that...


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## Lucky13 (Mar 8, 2009)

Maybe Lord A*rshole, Fifth Earl Of Whoopass?

Do we all have to bow and walk backwards out the doors now, to show our respect and insignificance to you and your pure, unadulterated, out of control whoopassness?


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## Wayne Little (Mar 8, 2009)




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## lesofprimus (Mar 8, 2009)

None of that silliness is required Gents, just the typical "small" monthly deposits into my Paypal account that u've all been gracious enough to endow me with will suffice....


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## Lucky13 (Mar 8, 2009)

Is that on top of the usual 1/32-1/35 kit and liquid of your choice?


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## Wayne Little (Mar 8, 2009)

Sh!t....cats outta the bag now....


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## Njaco (Mar 8, 2009)

No wonder I get the short end of the stick. I've been sending fruity juice boxes!


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## Marcel (Mar 8, 2009)

Okay, here's Les' first post:
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/old-threads/best-tank-killer-aircraft-ww2-part-i-243-16.html#post16099


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## Marcel (Mar 8, 2009)

Adler's first post (I think)
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/polls/greatest-fighter-pilot-ww-ii-310-15.html#post23935


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## Marcel (Mar 8, 2009)

Erich's first:
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aircraft-picture-requests/german-jets-172.html#post10549

Syscom's first:
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/aviation/better-p-47-fw-190-a-1467-3.html#post72517

Anymore you guys want to know?


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## lesofprimus (Mar 8, 2009)

Heres my actual first post, thanks Marcel for diggin the thread up... How the hell did u find it....

07-27-2004, 01:27 AM #237 
lesofprimus 
Minister of Whoopass
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Long Island Native in Mississippi
Posts: 14,823 
Country: OK... 
Just found this site, and i think its great... i have some info on Rudel that might clear up some opinions and misinformation on the Stuka as a tank-buster...

Oberst Hans-Ulrich Rudel was actively involved in the developement of the Ju-87G-1 "flying tank destroyer" and participated in trials at Rechlin and Tarnewitz in early 1943... The first operational trials took place on 16 March, 1943... By 5 July 1943, which was the start of Operation "Zitadelle", the first 2 Ju-87G-1 equipped Staffeln were operational: Pz.J.Sta/St.G 1 and St.G 2...

On the same day, Hptm Rudel, destroyed a complete company of 12 attacking Soviet T-34's... 12 of em...

Rudel was shot down 30 times by Anti-Aircraft fire, never by a fighter...

He did in fact sink the Soviet Battleship Marat at Kronshtadt, on 21 Sept 1941... He scored a direct hit on Marat with an ordinary 1,102 lb bomb on 16 Sept, but the 2,205 lb armour piercing bomb dropped 5 days later split the ship in half... Kronshtadt was defended by more than 1,000 AA guns... 

And he shot down 9 enemy aircraft, including 7 fighters, while flying the 87G...

He was so despised by the Soviet Regime, that a price of 100,000 rubels was put on his head, dead or alive...

The 87G-1 was basically a conversion of the 87D-3 with attachment points to carry the 2x 37mm Flak 18 cannons... Often had improved ground vision panel in the cockpit floor...

The D-3 was a basic "Dora" airframe with added armour protection for the crew, radiators, and engine... Deleted those sickening dive sirens... 

The Ju-87G-2 was a conversion of the 87D-5 airframe, which had tapered and extended wings, mass-balanced ailerons, reinforced ground observation panel, and deleted the wing dive brakes and fixed wing armament (2x 20mm MG 151/20 cannon)... Occasionally used 8.8 lb. SD4/HL hollow charge bombs, fitted with rocket boosters, against Soviet tank concentrations...

The 37mm BK 3.7 Flak 18 anti-tank cannon weighed 600lbs, was 11 ft 10 inches long with a 6 ft 11 inche long barrel... Muzzle velocity was 2,610-2,820 ft/second... Rtae of fire was 140 rds/min... Effective range was 2,000 meters (6,600 ft)... Fired 2 kinds of rounds... Tungsten-carbide core armour peircing tracer and high explosive tracer... Tungsten round weighed in at 1.37 lbs.... Carried 2x 6 round magazines per gun...

Enough for now.. I'm beat... More later...


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## lesofprimus (Mar 8, 2009)

And my second post.....

If I'm not mistaken, we are talking about the tank busting capabilities of the different aircraft available during WW2... The Stuka had been around since 1938 in a dive bomber role... Not a tank busting role...

When the Stuka finally started blasting away russian tanks, their philosphy had changed... They flew low to the ground, albeit not very fast... They removed dive brakes and associated hardware that made it famous during the earlier part of the war...

Keep in mind how the battlefield operated during these latter parts of the war... Furious armoured attacks and counterattacks... There really was no clear owner of the skies in a air-superiority role... The 87G-1 2 flew off dirt roads and such, and were called upon in decisive breakouts and on the spot emergencies... 

Air superiority was NOT a factor in the tank busting role of the Stuka 87G during the western assault... There really was no such thing as air superiority on this type of fast moving, move and countermove, battlefield...

The records are sorta sketchy concerning the # of tank busting 87G's that were lost to groundfire vs. enemy air action... Obviously, the # lost to AA was very , very high... 

But... Remeber how they operated these machines... Fly in low, and either a rear on attack or side on... If u did get shot down by AA, and alot of them did, u usually ended up in ur own lines.. And because the Suka was such a well designed, study aircraft, the pilots usually survived, walked back to their airfields, climbed into another plane, and went right back up....

Rudel was one such man... Probably the greatest pilot that has everflown in the skies...


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## lesofprimus (Mar 8, 2009)

I was big knowitall when I joined it seemed.... I get kinda assholish in that thread as well.....


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## BombTaxi (Mar 8, 2009)

Marcel said:


> Found this while googling. A little nostalgia for the "older ones among us"
> 
> 
> 2002 (no user count):
> ...



I had forgotten how small the site was when I joined, compared to now. Of course, I was inactive for a long time, it was sad to see when I came back that some of the older faces (lanc, mosquitoman, Cheddar cheese etc.) were no longer active on the board


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## Lucky13 (Mar 8, 2009)

lesofprimus said:


> I was big knowitall when I joined it seemed.... I get kinda assholish in that thread as well.....



...and it has never changed!     



BombTaxi said:


> I had forgotten how small the site was when I joined, compared to now. Of course, I was inactive for a long time, it was sad to see when I came back that some of the older faces (lanc, mosquitoman, Cheddar cheese etc.) were no longer active on the board


Wonder if any of those of the old guard stop by and snoop around today, without logging on.....


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## Marcel (Mar 8, 2009)

lesofprimus said:


> Heres my actual first post, thanks Marcel for diggin the thread up... How the hell did u find it....


It's a kind of Magic


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