If you were a pilot in WW2 you would be flying a.......?

[Peter Gunn]

On a trip to Polk City to see Kermit's collection, there was a room with five F4U cockpit sections setup as flight simulators. My wife insisted I try the sim but I wanted to see the other exhibits before dark. An employee/volunteer on hand in the room also insisted, so I sat in the seat. Since it was obvious I wasn't being serious about flying the sim, the man insisted that I use the seatbelt and the controls properly. Although I still was thinking about the rest of the displays, I actually tried to fly the Corsair and found a pair of A6Ms about my 11o'clock low and dove on them. There was at least one other A6M out of sight and I was shot down after only 55 seconds.

"A man's got to know his limitations" - Dirty Harry (Magnum Force)

 

[Peter Gunn]

Considering my smart assery and snarky attitude, and the fact that if you've paid attention to my older posts, where I confess that I never got the 3 dimensional thing down (Cessna meet ground), I'm figuring Leavenworth.

However, in the old thread, myself and our dear (now departed) friend Bill Runnels were part of the Caribbean action downing Martini's and chasing FLYBOYJ s haram.

In a perfect world however, and to no ones surprise, Mustangs.

 

[wlewisiii]

I'd hope to be assigned to one of the attack squadrons flying A-20's in the south Pacific.

 

[special ed]

I, of course was not using situational awareness, in the sim. I should have asked how to view behind. Fifty five seconds is not too bad considering transitioning from Aeronca Tri-Traveler/Cessna 150 in 1961.

 

[Spindash64]

Bedridden due to a lack of insulin.


Failing that, probably some kind of bomber. Never been great with crazy flips, and kind of a "by the book" type of guy with bad situational awareness. Bob Hoover I am not

Plus, I'm also the sort of guy who tends to "double down" in fight or flight mode. "Uncle Sam paid for the whole bombload, and we're gonna USE the whole bombload!".

 

[herman1rg]

I'd want to fly with Coastal Command from the Azores in a Wellington

 

[JCH]

A-20 driver in the Med.

 

[PAT303]

A MkXIV Spitfire just so I could haul the stick back pulling 25 lb boost and climb like a rocket.

 

[chris ballance]

I think I would like to see the world in a BOAC Hudson or Ventura or if I'm felling frisky sign up for the Swedish route, preferably in a Mosquito.

As far as the best Catalina patrol location, you guys missed Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. You could live in true Rodgers & Hammerstein fashion in the South Pacific (but not really)

My grandfather was part of a PBY crew at Pensacola when the war started. He had lots of pre Pearl Harbor stories of flying up and down the Gulf Coast and east to Jacksonville, landing, drinking, and having more fun than regulations allowed. However, once real ASW patrols started things were pretty serious. Long patrols and his crew witnessed burning tankers going down in the Gulf. They had no opportunities to attack a U-boat. From1943 on he would spend the rest of the War in the Pacific in a PB4Y-1, and I can't even imagine what those 10+ hour missions were like. His life in the Pacific was nothing like the musical.

 

[Chas]

SBD But I just finished reading 'Never Call Me a Hero', by Jack "Dusty" Kleiss about the battle of Midway. A worthwhile WWII book.
Another worthwhile book is The Silver Waterfall by Simms & McGregor

 

[eljefe]

I have to confess I hadn't thought of this.

If I was my father's age when he joined up, I'd have a couple of years of college as an engineer behind me, but my eyesight was just shy of 20/20. I don't think I'd end up with a yoke in hand but would like to know just what the military would want to do with someone like me. He didn't have half the education I did but ended up being yanked out of the 101st just before the deployed to Europe. We don't know exactly what he did during the war, but I'd bet a large sum of money that he ended up training people how to jump out of airplanes. He got a pilot's license and flew for the CAP after the war and did just that...train people how to jump out of his airplane.

If it was a few years later, my eyesight wouldn't have improved, but I would be a civilian pilot working for NACA. (No kidding, I ended up at NASA and actually had the privilege of meeting some NACA guys, all retirees by the time I came along.) Not sure if they would have left me there or tried to make me a test pilot or what.

 

[Barrett]

I'm gonna cheat.
If I could set the Great Celestial Time Machine I'd want SBDs in '42 and F6Fs in '44 or '45.
Which of course is a separate issue not only from the AAF question, but my physical condition for starters!

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Company Clerk.

My favorite character on M*A*S*H:

 

[special ed]

 

[Just Schmidt]

My ears are absurdly pressure sensitive, nessessitating constant yawning when climbing, and holding my nose and blowing on descent. Even while sitting in a car driwing uphill or downhill. So I'm probably stuck in a Breda 88 on raise the dust in the desert operations.

 

[Big Jake]

Flying a PBY on patrol from Panama or the Galapagos Islands (there is enough water for all of us...)

 

[FW190]

Maybe I'd have been a tad late to the battle, but for me it would have to be a Hawker Sea Fury.

 

[rwhiting]

I did a search to see if this question has been asked before, but not finding it here you go. Reflecting on how the USAAC determined a pilots "qualities" for the type of pilot they would be such as bomber vs fighter, I thought I would ask the forum what assignment do you think you would have, if you were a pilot in WW2?

Personally, I'm pretty sure I would have been assigned to anti-submarine patrol in the Gulf of Mexico/Caribbean, flying something like a Douglas B-18 for the Coast Guard.

I think I would enjoy PBY driver duty, pulling fliers out of the drink and turning enemy subs into oil slicks.

 

[BiffF15]

Mustang, 8th AF, late 43 early 44 report date. The ETO fighter flying, along with landing back in the UK, London a short drive... Read Citizens of London, great book!

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

My ears are absurdly pressure sensitive, nessessitating constant yawning when climbing, and holding my nose and blowing on descent. Even while sitting in a car driwing uphill or downhill. So I'm probably stuck in a Breda 88 on raise the dust in the desert operations.

I pop the valves about every 1500 foot or so on some days.