Recent content by Zeke_Freak

Uhm... I think your understimating the sheer manpower China could field, not to mention the US had Japan in a resource 'choke hold'. All things considered, China was a much tougher proposition than you are suggesting. Meanwhile the USSR was relatively weak and recovering from Stalin's purges...

Apparently some IJN pilots that were training specifically for the Pearl Harbor attack were under the impression that they would be attacking the Soviets instead. With their experience in China they were primed for action. Overall, I think a Japanese invasion of the USSR at that time would have...

Agreed. However, the biggest factor IMO, is the skill of the pilots. As an example of this, I recall reading that some Midway Dauntless' in marine hands were not used as dive bombers at all, simply because the pilots didn't have verticle dive bomb training. Instead they used glide bombing...

Well, most of a year later and I'm getting ready for our visit to Oahu in December. We booked out tickets for the Pacific Aviation Museum, as they have a 50% off deal on their premium tour. $15 per adult, instead of the usual $30. Just thought I would mention it here in case anyone else is...

Yea, that's right. There's some neat pictures and videos on the www from some of the various fire fighting stints they've done. YouTube has some great vids of the Mars in fire fighting action. Here's a few interesting vids I noticed: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrjINENyGaQ...

There's two of them left. Both are owned by the same outfit, Coulson Flying Tankers. We've got a big beautiful lake nearby, where they are based. You can even go on tours through one of them in the summer months, when they are around. I think one of them (Phillipines) is parked right now for...

We had a local newspaper article on one of the Martin Mars aircraft based here, and I thought some folks here might appreciate a heads up about this... Aircraft To Be Featured On 'Mighty Planes' Leif Edit: Fixed scan.

Interesting. I'm always amazed by these sorts of events where someone falls an extraordinary distance without a chute and survives. There was a similar account about a WWII Russian pilot falling 20,000 feet without a chute, and landing in a snow bank. Don't recall much more about that one. Think...

Question about the tropical Stuka photo. Does anyone know if this tropical paint job is anything close to authentic? The reason I ask is that it seems like a sprayed mixture of green and beige (tan), or maybe even green sprayed over beige (tan). I think the original paint scheme would have had...

Fantastic! Thanks so much. That's a great shot of the trop air filter. That site's great too. It's kind of odd how the rear gunner's ammo mags were stored in the back area. I haven't quite figured that out yet. I'm torn between doing a tropicalised Stuka, a standard colors version, or a...

Would love to see both of those. We have some airshows locally, and a tiny museum locally. They were restoring a Spitfire at one point, but the last I heard they had sold the project. Which kind of ticks me off, because people donated money for the project. Other than that, we don't get too many...

I'm looking for some good pictures of the interior of a JU87-B2 (entire interior, but instrument panel as well). I'm also looking for some pictures of tropicalised Stukas that show both the paint scheme markings, and the specialized desert air filter. Leif

Thanks all! Thank you. Yes, fibre optics. The Tantive IV model I completed was really just a 'proof of concept'; a trial run. Originally I was planning to follow it up with a second same build, implimenting improvements. The overall plan was to eventually build a diorama using the ERTL Star...

Oh boy! I'm going to Oahu next December, and I definately plan to spend some time at this museum. Will be there for the 70th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. ooOOooo...."Ranked #8 aviation attraction in the nation." Leif

Interesting thread. There's obviously some very knowledgable people here, well versed in aircraft specifications and performance. I doubt I could design a 'better' aircraft (in quotes because 'better' could be defined different ways). But I do like the canard style designs that appeared later...