Recent content by muskeg13

The B-24 Liberator had notoriously catastrophic ditching capabilities due to it's bomb bay design and overall lighter construction than the more robust B-17 Flying Fortress. Even under the most controlled nearly perfect conditions, the B-24 would always break it's back and rapidly sink, even if...

Definitely. Both were about as good as it gets in 1939, but I'd install Wright R-2600 Cyclones from the start and have four .50s in the nose with none in the wings and no dorsal turret. They could The NA-40/B-25 was about a year too late to fit this timeline.

Ditto on the B-35 Flying Wing, but for late war deployment in the Pacific where its range and payload would exceed that of the B-29. Initial contracts specified late 1943 delivery of the first prototype. WW2 B-35 production might have been possible if this project had a higher priority, perhaps...

I have no source but remember reading that some USAAF aces, mostly in the Pacific, omitted tracers because they believed tracers alerted their prey that they were being shot at and the U.S. pilot wanted to get as close as possible to an unsuspecting opponent. I believe Bong in particular may...

I had to look up Little Storping, aka Aldbury. This has to be one of the most filmed locations in the UK over many years and in many films and TV series. I immediately recognized the pond in the middle of town from The Avengers, The Dirty Dozen, Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders and many others...

Diana is even better in color

F-82s, SB-17Gs (aka B-17Hs), Waco Gliders, the Fulton Surface-to-Air Recovery System (or a Pre-Fulton system) and a cameo B-36 Wing fly-by all in one film! What's not to like? YeeHaw!!! Working in the garage on an antique firearm restoration project, I happened to pick an Amazon Prime aviation...

Hmmm? For (extra) special missions these CH-47s could carry M3 or modified M8 Scout Cars, jeep towed howitzers and antitank guns, and maybe even motorized heavy mortars or specially modified light tanks. A lot of firepower could be transported for "behind the lines" exploitation.

Now we're getting somewhere. How about the Italian Fiat CR.32? According the all-knowing Wiki, it seemed to be 2-Winged Death to it's opponents in Spain

I like the Hawk 75/P-36 too, but rather than just guess or promote our favorites, does anyone have statistics showing which 1930s fighter shot down the most AC before 1 Jan 40?

No and no. See Reluctant Poster's #366 above.

Right. If the Hawaiian Department (Short's Army) had maintained anywhere near the percentage of personnel on base that PAC Fleet kept onboard its ships (don't remember if it was 1/3 or 1/2), probably a lot more than eight fighters could have been employed. However, there's still the issue of...

According to Appendix B in "7 December 1941 The Airforce Story," of the P-40s and P-36s on hand, only 64 and 20 respectively were in commission at the time of the attack. That's just less than a 61% availability rate, that varied day-to-day. This makes a pool of 84 first line fighters...

Which popular WW2 aircraft and air combat "histories" are simply not true? Almost anything written by by Martin Caidin. I grew up reading all the WW2 aviation "history" authored or edited by Caidin that I could find. He's undoubtedly a "colorful" storyteller who spun tales that rivaled the...

"The Red Tails never lost a bomber." https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/AFD-141118-047.pdf