Recent content by baclightning

The Soviets used the P-39 Airacobra primarily as a ground attack aircraft. The Luftwaffe detroyed the Polish Air Force on the ground in September 1939. Erich Hartmann fattened his total of 352 victories by shooting down many biplanes and other obsolete Soviet aircraft. The Mitsubishi A6M Zero...

Looking for different countries that used Lysanders? Ireland Turkey Finland France Portugal Egypt USAAF All used the Lysander. Were you looking for info on a specific color scheme? I have a decent amount of info on Lysanders; if you give me a specific scheme you'd like info on, I may be able...

Amusing that the photo in the article captioned "Wartime Nazi bomber: The Heinkel He-115 flying boat, pictured during World War Two..." actually shows a Finnish He 115, and as noted in the comments, it's a seaplane, not a flying boat! Great find, though. I love it when seemingly "extinct"...

No argument there. It's a gorgeous looking aircraft!

Commander Charles Lamb, in his book To War in a Stringbag, has an excellent description of the type of attacks used in the Taranto raid, and he should know - he flew in it. He says that eleven of the 20 Swordfish were armed with torpedos, and that the remainder each had six 250-lb bombs (except...

Barracudas were used by the RN Fleet carriers in the Pacific only though October 1944; after that date, they were replaced in the TBR Wings by Avengers, and didn't return until the four Light Fleet Carriers were employed in the last few weeks of the war. After the operation against the Nicobar...

As I commented, post #36, "It was the Jamie Moyer of WW2 aircraft..." :-)

Actually, I respect Eric Brown's opinions about aircraft more than anyone else who has ever written about them. I simply can't ignore the amount of experience he has. I don't know if I'd agree with his opinion in this particular case, but I certainly respect what he has to say.

I don't think there's a better example of a disparity between an aircraft's "paper" performance, and actual accomplichments than you get with the Swordfish. Was it obsolete? Yes. Did it have a fantastic war record? Certainly. It was the Jamie Moyer of WW2 aircraft - old, slow, and with...

As others have said, the Swordfish was the biplane that impacted the war the most, but for looks, I have to go with the Beech C-43 as my favorite. Even in Olive Drab, it's beautiful.

The Zero was all metal. It had fabric-covered control surfaces, but aside from that was metal. It should be noted that much of the metal structure was made of Extra Super Duralumin, an advanced alloy that was lighter and stronger than other alloys, and top secret at the time. The designer of...

I know it didn't see combat, but considering that 771 were built, the Brewster Buccaneer/Bermuda deserves consideration...

Believe it or not, the Fulmar had the most kills of any FAA fighter in WW2.

To quote from Yefim Gordon's Soviet Air Power in World War Two, "It can be confidently stated that no other aircraft type has ever been so greatly affected by problems with the initiation of production as the creation of Lavochkin, Gorbunov, and Gudkov...In the early war period no other combat...

If Gerg is still looking for us to give our own lists, five I'd nominate would be: Blackburn Roc Lavochkin LaGG-3 PZL P.7 (which pains me to say, because it was such an advanced aircraft when it was introduced, but long past its sell-by date in 1939) Bloch 152 Curtiss-Wright CW-21 I don't...