Recent content by Macchi

The Macchi 205.

A little off topic, and I know the engine wasn't ready in WWII, but one of my warplane fantasies would be a Beaufighter with two Pratt Whitney R-4360 engines.

I would have liked to have seen that too, just out of curiosity, but I understand why they didn't spend too much energy reworking older craft. I have all kinds of "what if" thoughts about hardware... I'd love to see a Beaufighter or Me-410 wearing R-2800 engines... would love to see a Black...

----- "The RAF wasn't too excited either when, shortly before Pearl Harbor, it started receiving its (delayed) Mustangs. The plane had a top speed of 380 mph, and without a supercharger wasn't much good above 12,000 feet. It was a low-altitude fighter. The British sent it to the Western Desert...

P-51 Mustang Variants "On April 30, 1942 Rolls Royce senior test pilot Ron Harker was invited to fly the Mustang I. He was delighted with the aircraft's handling but felt its performance was held back by its engine. He stated that the Mustang would be a natural for the Merlin 61 series."...

I didn't read all 12 pages, so if I'm repeating something then ignore me. The Mustang was a disappointment until a Merlin was dropped into it. If a Merlin or equal was ever put into a P40 I'd love to hear how it performed. No matter how good an airframe is, a lesser engine choice can spoil the...

If this hasn't already been posted.... View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKU0uQki5Dc

The PBY Catalina and PBM Mariner deserve mention.

As I said, I didn't want this to be sidetracked into a discussion about kill totals (or percentage points of kill totals). I wasn't around during the war, I wasn't in charge of tracking kills or keeping historical count. I'm going by what's out there, and whether some pilots should have their...

Thanks for posting the interview, appreciated. Here's a list of American fighter aces from WWII, with 20 or more kills to their credit (there are slight tally differences on different sites, I don't mean for this to become a disagreement of personal kill totals, I just picked one source). I...

B-25H maybe ...

Not intending to hijack, but the old Martin Mars.... Martin JRM-3 Mars Airtankers

Personally I don't think Japan stood a chance, even if they'd sunk the entire U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl, carriers and all. Every mistake they made after that was just another grain of sand falling in the hourglass of their eventual failure. Germany on the other hand, could have pulled off...