Recent content by steve51

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    Recommended books for the library?

    Lucky13, I can recommend "Day Fighters". It's a good day by day record of the campaign over Germany. Lots of things like loss and claims by Gruppe for most engagements, maps and some photos. A good quick reference source.
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    Best 50s/60s fighter?

    FLYBOYJ, Thanks for the reply. I agree that the cannon were definitely an improvement as I assume the afterburner was as well.
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    Best 50s/60s fighter?

    FLYBOYJ, Do you know if the Sabre D/K/L was comparable in dogfighting with the other Sabres. I realize it was designed as a bomber interceptor, but I've not come across anything about it's handling or maneuverability.
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    PVAF MiGs vs USAF and USN

    Great stuff FLYBOYJ. It is certainly intriguing to consider that the Vietnamese created a fictitious pilot to cover up the operations of the Koreans. I love mysteries like this!
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    PVAF MiGs vs USAF and USN

    Thanks for the reply FLYBOYJ. The info in that article is apparently all there is out there. It would be nice to find some more data that could confirm it. If its accurate, it would indicate that some US losses that are attributed to NV pilots belong to NK pilots. The only admitted Soviet loss I...
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    PVAF MiGs vs USAF and USN

    Kettbo, You're quite right about that. A regiment of NK Mig 21's flew with the Egyptians for a period of time during the War of Attrition. Very little detail is known about their activities in Egypt, but even less is know about what they did in North Vietnam.
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    PVAF MiGs vs USAF and USN

    Has anyone seen any new information about the North Korean pilots that flew with the PVAF in the mid 60's?
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    "Soviet Airwoman of the Great Patriotic War" by Gian Piero Milanetti

    I would like to recommend, "Wings, Women War" by Reina Pennington. It covers all the Soviet women in the day and night bomber regiments and the fighter regiments. There is a chapter on women aviators before the war and after. Another chapter covers recruitment and training of the women. There...
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    Pair of 'geeks' sifts through history for aviation ruins

    Merlin and Moore wrote an excellent book about their activities called "X-Plane Crashes". It's a fun read.
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    Total kills of all Phantom II

    The source mentioned by FlyboyJ is your best bet, but it's doubtful that any list for Iranian victories will ever be definitive. For what it's worth, the Iranians claim around 80 kills for their F4s. But even they give out different numbers.
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    Best German fighter for the Eastern Front

    Parsifal, Thanks for the link. I think we're getting away from the subject of the tread, but there's no question that the Lae Wing was a remarkable collection of excellent pilots.
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    Best German fighter for the Eastern Front

    Parsifal, I'm curious on what you base your assertion about the Lae Wing. I know that the average number of flight hours of the pilots was quite high. Do you have other relevant statistics?
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    Buccs in combat

    As Glider pointed out, South Africa used Buccaneers in combat. They were mainly used in long range interdictions strikes into Angola. Dive bombing and toss bombing from low altitude were used. Defensive SAMs were frequently incountered as the war went on, in addition to AAA, but no Buccaneer was...
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    Sopwith Camel vs. Fokker Dr. I

    FLYBOYJ, You're absolutely right, other factors besides aircraft performance affect exchange ratio. The tactical environment of each engagement is very important. IMO the aircraft were pretty well matched regarding combat performance.
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    Sopwith Camel vs. Fokker Dr. I

    The WW1 author John Guttman did a study on Camel/Dr1 engagements during March through May 1918, and found that during this period, 32 Camel pilots were casualties ( 19 Kia, 5 wia, 8 pow ), while 13 Dr1 pilots were casualties ( 4 Kia, 5 wia, 4 pow ). The German records are not complete, so they...
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