Recent content by glennasher

IIRC, 18 April, 1943, was the date that Yamamoto met his demise, just one year after the Doolittle raid.

The Typhoon WAS pretty bad. I think Clostermann mentioned it in his book, about a pilot who went down the Channel and it took him all the way to the bottom before he got out. Luckily, it was pretty shallow where he was, about 30 feet down, IIRC (I read about it nearly 50 years ago). About the...

I confess I hadn't even thought about the Corsair, in any of it's variants. it would be a better choice than the T-bolt or the Tempest. I think of the Corsair as a naval aircraft, and I dismissed it. Shame on me for that. On second thought, it probably IS a better choice than my other two...

I think, due to having to use it for ground attack, and as an interceptor, I'd have to go with either the P-47 or Tempest. The range of a P-51 isn't needed, due to the size of the country, so I think the others would probably be the most suitable, for the many needs outlined. There is no...

The Defiant comes to mind. Great engine, of course, but that didn't make up for the rest of it.,, Ooops, single seat, never mind...............

Chiang Kai-Shek used the THREAT of pulling out of the war to get those supplies, That was his whole thing, he never wanted to fight the Japanese, he was thinking of the upcoming civil war with the Communists. He only fought the IJA because he didn't want to get too far behind in armaments and...

Disrupting the materiel coming over the Hump would make it a lot harder to keep the Chinese in the war, the Japanese DID raid some of those fields several times. It was tough enough getting the goods to India, and then the problems transporting those goods all the way to China were multiplied...

China comes to mind, if they get China out of the war, that frees up millions of men to fight in the island war. That was the reason Roosevelt wanted the Hump opened up, to keep China in the war, so they could have it "somewhat easier" in the island campaigns. Flying from Saigon or other...

Does any of this really matter now? We all know it was a solid workhorse aircraft that soldiered on throughout the war, doing a fair-to-middling job from '42 on. No one DISliked it like they did the P-39, or some of the other aircraft then in use. It had "good enough" performance in most...

I'm a diehard 1911 guy, I shot one particular gun probably to 100000 rounds myself, although I did rebarrel it a time or two. It was still pretty tight when I sold it due to financial needs. I've since rebuilt my 1911 collection to 13 various 1911 pistols, and I shoot them 3-5 times a week...

Radcliff, Kentucky

Cheap and easy to build and service, is my take on it. It kinda threw me at first, too, but I got it figured out. Sorta like today's Glock pistols versus a more complicated to build 1911 (I'm a solid, hardcore 1911 guy, personally).

Look at the timing, the D/K was all that was really needed, as they were going to be replaced by jets soon enough anyway. While NAA stretched the 51 as far as they could, they knew writing was on the wall.

I'm pretty sure the Germans used Renault tanks after France capitulated, too.

Jumping was fun. when you're still young enough to rebound from the work involved, plus, it goes with the job of being an 11C-1P. Hard to be an Airborne Mortar Maggot if you don't jump out of aircraft. My FIRST jump was out of a C-123, perhaps the last one in USAF inventory at the time, and that...