Most Beautiful Aircraft of WW2?

[Elvis]

I seem to prefer Razorbacks to bubble tops....

 

[GregP]

Never saw that shot of a P-43 before. Nice find.

 

[CORSNING]

There is the racy looks of the MiG-3

 

[CORSNING]

I always thought the racy looks of the MC.205V were pretty cool too.

 

[CORSNING]

The La-7 was also a very good looking bird.

FlightlinerC

KeyPublishingForums.

 

[Elvis]

Never saw that shot of a P-43 before. Nice find.

Thanks. Should've linked the page I found that on, cuz I can't find it now.
It is from a Life magazine article.

Elvis

 

[CORSNING]

Greg,
How are you doing man? The close of Warbirdsforum was a great loss.
P-40 flying with a P-43:
www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org - Warbirds Resource Group - Error
or you can go to Google and type in P-40 and P-43 flying like I did.

 

[GregP]

Post #223 MiG-3 is flying on a Joe Yancey Allison V-1710. They seem to have a hard time closing up the gear doors. It might be corrected by now.

Pretty airplane, isn't it? So are the La-5 / 7 / 9 / 11.

Always loved the Macchi 202 and 205, Fiat G-55/6, and Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario. Great-looking birds, along with the SAI Super 7 and 403.

Super 7:

Aviation Photo #1038583: SAI Ambrosini S-7 Super - Italy - Air Force

403 Dardo:

Pretty birds, one and all.

 

[fastmongrel]

My favourite version of the P51 Mustang is the P51-B/MkIII with Malcolm Hood and tail fillet. My Father was an Instrument Artificer and his 1st operational squadron flew the MkIII he loved the Mustang.

 

[Navalwarrior]

My favourite version of the P51 Mustang is the P51-B/MkIII with Malcolm Hood and tail fillet. My Father was an Instrument Artificer and his 1st operational squadron flew the MkIII he loved the Mustang.
View attachment 500367

Resp:
Mine as well. I have a print of Sqd Ldr Horbacewski's MkIII on the wall of my work room. I hope to get Maj Howard's P-51B print as well. I also think the F-6B w Malcolm hood looks good. As an aside, the British made the request for a similar sliding hood for the F4U-1A, which made it easier on the 'neck' in searching the sky.

 

[fastmongrel]

Resp:
Mine as well. I have a print of Sqd Ldr Horbacewski's MkIII on the wall of my work room. I hope to get Maj Howard's P-51B print as well. I also think the F-6B w Malcolm hood looks good. As an aside, the British made the request for a similar sliding hood for the F4U-1A, which made it easier on the 'neck' in searching the sky.

I understood the Mustang and Corsair were refitted with bubble hoods by the British R Malcolm & Co company for the RAF and FAA did they become factory fitted at a later date.

 

[grampi]

The Spitfire was a pretty bird in the air, but its narrow undercarriage made it look spindly on the ground. Same with the ME-109...if they had had the wide spread gear like the P-47 or P-51, they would've looked much better on the ground...

 

[Navalwarrior]

I understood the Mustang and Corsair were refitted with bubble hoods by the British R Malcolm & Co company for the RAF and FAA did they become factory fitted at a later date.[/QUOTE
REsp:
I do not know how many the Malcolm Co actually provided, as I've read that with all the canopies required . . . they had to have some help. As for the F4U Corsairs, they were made and fitted in the U.S.. It is likely that the USAAF may have retro fitted more of their Mustangs with the Malcolm hood than those furnished to the RAF. I have seen no documentation of an Allison engined RAF Mustang was ever fitted (except for testing) with the sliding hood, while the USAAF retro fitted their F-6B (still looking for F-6A so fitted), P-51B/C and F-6Cs.

 

[Navalwarrior]

Resp:
If you read enough about the Fleet Air Arm, the carrier version of the Spitfire, the Seafire, your will see how poor their record was at sea. The Seafire almost always suffered with damaged landing gear upon its return to the carrier. I just finished reading about British carrier ops in the Pacific in 1945. The American Corsair and Hellcat saved them, as Seafires could not fly but one mission. Tthe damaged sustained just from a routine landing, put them out of service for several days. What also alarmed me, is that Seafire pilots were not qualified to fly other types, so remained shipboard as Corsairs/Hellcats continued the fight. You certainly didn't hear about flight fatigue from Seafire pilots. The Fleet Air Armed learned the hard lessons fast in the Pacific. The Atlantic fleet was rarely at sea more than a wk, so often had R&R in their home country. The Pacific was a different animal.

 

[swampyankee]

Resp:
If you read enough about the Fleet Air Arm, the carrier version of the Spitfire, the Seafire, your will see how poor their record was at sea. The Seafire almost always suffered with damaged landing gear upon its return to the carrier. I just finished reading about British carrier ops in the Pacific in 1945. The American Corsair and Hellcat saved them, as Seafires could not fly but one mission. Tthe damaged sustained just from a routine landing, put them out of service for several days. What also alarmed me, is that Seafire pilots were not qualified to fly other types, so remained shipboard as Corsairs/Hellcats continued the fight. You certainly didn't hear about flight fatigue from Seafire pilots. The Fleet Air Armed learned the hard lessons fast in the Pacific. The Atlantic fleet was rarely at sea more than a wk, so often had R&R in their home country. The Pacific was a different animal.

Was it common practice to have military aviators cross-trained to fly different types in combat, while deployed?

 

[Navalwarrior]

Was it common practice to have military aviators cross-trained to fly different types in combat, while deployed?

Probably not, but it was a pure waste inre to Seafire pilots. The Corsair guys were flying repeated missions with little time in between. They got the brunt of combat. Just think if the carrier fighter compliment had only been Seafires; who would been available for bomber escort on Island targets? The Japanese were fierce adversaries.

 

[fastmongrel]

Resp:
If you read enough about the Fleet Air Arm, the carrier version of the Spitfire, the Seafire, your will see how poor their record was at sea. The Seafire almost always suffered with damaged landing gear upon its return to the carrier. I just finished reading about British carrier ops in the Pacific in 1945. The American Corsair and Hellcat saved them, as Seafires could not fly but one mission. Tthe damaged sustained just from a routine landing, put them out of service for several days. What also alarmed me, is that Seafire pilots were not qualified to fly other types, so remained shipboard as Corsairs/Hellcats continued the fight. You certainly didn't hear about flight fatigue from Seafire pilots. The Fleet Air Armed learned the hard lessons fast in the Pacific. The Atlantic fleet was rarely at sea more than a wk, so often had R&R in their home country. The Pacific was a different animal.

re The bolded section. Exactly which books or articles did you read because I have also read about the British Pacific Fleet and Seafires flew hundreds if not thousands of CAP sorties. The most Seafires ever carried was iirc HMS Implacable which had 2 squadrons if as you claim they could only do 1 landing that would mean Implacables 330 Seafire sorties over 5 days would need 300 plus Seafires when she only carried at maximum 48.

 

[Navalwarrior]

re The bolded section. Exactly which books or articles did you read because I have also read about the British Pacific Fleet and Seafires flew hundreds if not thousands of CAP sorties. The most Seafires ever carried was iirc HMS Implacable which had 2 squadrons if as you claim they could only do 1 landing that would mean Implacables 330 Seafire sorties over 5 days would need 300 plus Seafires when she only carried at maximum 48.

Resp:
'The Kamikaze Hunters,' by Will Iredale, 2017, page 104; "More Seafires would be written off in deck landing accidents than against enemy fire, with the main culprit being an undercarriage that would crumple in rough put-downs. Indeed the Seafire gained such a reputation for accidents, it was given its very own verse in the pilot's unofficial song." TheA25 was a form filled out when his plane was damaged.
"When the batsman gives 'Lower' I Always go higher,
I drift to starboard and prang my Seafire,
The boys in the goofers all think I'm green,
But I get my commission from Supermarine,
Cracking show, I'm alive, but I still had to render my A25."

 

[fastmongrel]

The Kamikaze Hunters,' by Will Iredale, 2017, page 104;

Never read the book so cant comment on it but the numbers you give go against official RN records.

More Seafires would be written off in deck landing accidents than against enemy fire

That statement holds true of all and I mean all naval aeroplanes even todays F18s and F35s

the main culprit being an undercarriage that would crumple in rough put-downs.

Not true or even close to true. Most Seafire landing accidents were caused by the inherent float of the Seafire as it flew at its landing speed most Seafires missed the wires and ended up in the crash barrier with intact undercarriage you can see this if you
google images of Seafire accidents the typical pose after a prang is the plane on its nose with U/C notably not bent.

Probably not, but it was a pure waste inre to Seafire pilots. The Corsair guys were flying repeated missions with little time in between. They got the brunt of combat. Just think if the carrier fighter compliment had only been Seafires; who would been available for bomber escort on Island targets? The Japanese were fierce adversaries.

Corsairs usually flew TARCAP (TARgetCombatAirPatrol) whilst Avengers Hellcats and Fireflies attacked with bombs and rockets but the Corsairs also flew RAMROD missions strafing targets of opportunity. They would only fly Fleet Defence missions when the TaskForce Radar reported bogeys.

It would be very rare for a Corsair pilot to fly more than 2 sorties per day. CAP Seafire pilots regularly flew 3 or even 4 sorties per day as usually at least 12 CAP planes (a high flight, a medium and a low flight of 4 planes per flight) would be aloft at all times when within range of the enemy.

The high CAP flight was often of Corsairs as the high altitude versions of the Seafire were in short supply but these were not the Corsairs used on Strikes and Ramrods they had no racks for ordnance or fuel.

Seafires had their faults only an idiot would claim otherwise but the 1945 MkIII was a totally different bird to the first Seafires converted from 2nd hand RAF planes taken from Maintenance Units.

I would reccomend anyone to read the following linked articles.
Task Force 57: The British Pacific Fleet
Task Force 57: Iceberg I
Task Force 57: Iceberg Oolong
Task Force 57: Iceberg I Redux
Task Force 57: Iceberg II

edited to add links

 

[fastmongrel]

Sorry to everyone for diverting the thread if we are talking Naval birds I would go for Grummans Ironclad she might not be the most elegant bird but she was arguably the best Naval aeroplane of WWII

https://www.cafsocal.com/our-aircrafts/our-aircraft-and-history/gruman-f6f-hellcat/