Picture of the day. (3 Viewers)

[syscom3]

After returning late from a strafing run near Arras on 22 May 1940, F/O Roderick MS "Roddie" Rayner (pictured) and F/O Richard Lindsay "Dick" Glyde of No 87 Squadron RAF found their base at Merville in disarray. Carrying only what could be put in the plane, they evacuated to RAF Debden.

 

[Viking1066]

Nakajima B5N2 aboard IJNS Zuikaku October 1942 BURI

 

[Viking1066]

Nakajima E8N on "Orion" ALTH

 

[MIflyer]

And how did that turn out at Midway?

The one guy known to have done that made it back to his carrier. IT DID WORK.

 

[SaparotRob]

Okay, I'm confused. Are you talking about a TBD from Torpedo Squadron 6, Torpedo 5 or the sole survivor of Torpedo 8 (2.0), a TBF that made it back to Midway?

 

[tyrodtom]

The one guy known to have done that made it back to his carrier. IT DID WORK.

How could you know that?
That one guy that tried it and survived, has he ever said no one else tried it ?
I would think he would have been pretty busy at the time.
Do you think he had the spare time to keep a close watch on the others, scattered as they were.
The others that didn't survive to return may have tried to fly out of trim and got shot down anyway, there's just no way to know.

 

[MiTasol]

Plus flying low and slow and crabbing makes you a much better target for the ships guns and for far longer.

 

[Viking1066]

Group E16A1 of the 634th Kokutai on a training mission. September 1944. ALTH

 

[Viking1066]

E13A1 on the coastal catapult of the combat training ship "Koshima" Kokutai ALTH

 

[smutny]

Dec. 7, 1941, 22 years old Cornelia Fort became the 1st American woman pilot in a combat zone while flying over Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked. While 2 other civilian planes were shot out of the sky, she made it thru' the strafing & landed her plane. She was among the first pilots recruited for the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron. In March 1943, she was killed by a midair collision while on a ferrying mission to Dallas.

Before going to Hawaii, she taught at a school in Ft. Collins in the CPTP program. My Luscombe was there at that time. Some day I hope to be able to find logs or pictures that put her in the cockpit of my plane.

 

[smutny]

The airplane was an Aeronca and it survives to this day.

Cornelia was flying an Interstate Cadet on that day.

Welcome to the Lost Aviators of Pearl Harbor - Lost Aviators of Pearl Harbor

Cornelia Fort would have been an iconic Aviation Heroine from those Golden Years of aviation during and after World War II, if not for her death in a mid-air

lostaviatorsofpearlharbor.org

 

[syscom3]

Royal Air Force men train in an American Harvard I aircraft, 23rd May 1940

 

[special ed]

I met George Gay at a CAF airshow table selling his book. He was telling us some details of the event. He said he did not remember being afraid until he was in the water between Japanese ships. He was afraid they would run him down while maneuvering. He did not remember anyone on board the Japanese ships noticing him.

 

[Gnomey]

Good shots!

 

[Viking1066]

'No.2028' Kawasaki Ki-48 are serving with the RoCAF's 5th Squadron, 6th Group INHG

 

[Viking1066]

E13A1a is lifted aboard the heavy cruiser Aoba ALTH

 

[syscom3]

Spitfire Mark.1A, P9374 on the beach of Calais sometime soon after 24 May 1940. It went down
on 24 May 1940. F/O Peter Cazenove survived the crash-landing and ultimately became a POW.
The plane was buried under the sand shortly after this shot for decades, but emerged in 1980
and has been restored. The plane is flyable and is at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.

 

[Viking1066]

Japanese Service Boeing B-17D WIKI

 

[fannum]

Royal Air Force men train in an American Harvard I aircraft, 23rd May 1940

View attachment 832894

That early Harvard is actually a North American Aviation NA-16 export variant with fabric covered steel tube fuselage ... a later model with retractable gear.
A whole lot of variations involving fuselage, engine, cockpit, control surfaces and landing gear configurations, including the moderately successful single seat Wirraway fighter were delivered world wide.
With hundreds of NA-16/BT-9/NJ-1 versions being built before the standardized T-6/SNJ, I'd suspect many maintenance/supply officers considered "North American" to be a favorite curse word.

 

[smutny]

That's actually a North American Aviation NA-16 export variant with fabric covered steel tube fuselage ... a later model with retractable gear.

It was named the Harvard Mk I in Commonwealth service.