What kind of aircraft would you want to fly in WWII?

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

Time is World War II. Say you joined up with the Air Force. If they asked you what kind of aircraft job you would prefer, which would it be? You could be the pilot of a Bomber, Fighter, Observation, Test, Transport, or ground attack aircraft. You could also choose to be a crew member on one of the planes such as a gunner. You could even be a part of a Ground Crew. Your choice.


I tried to make the poll generic for many countries. It's not about which country you would want to fly for. (I think there is another poll out there already about that.)

Of course Japan was really the only country to fly Kamikaze missions. Though many other pilots felt like they were!

And I know WASP was only for the USA girls and not for other countries. But women flew mainly transport planes in Britian and Russia let it's women fly combat missions.

Sorry! But it's like that there are that many women on here anyway. I think.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Time is World War II. Say you joined up with the Air Force. If they asked you what kind of aircraft job you would prefer, which would it be? You could be the pilot of a Bomber, Fighter, Observation, Test, Transport, or ground attack aircraft. You could also choose to be a crew member on one of the planes such as a gunner. You could even be a simple ground personnel. Your choice.

1. A PBY Pilot in the Carribean....

2. A production test pilot at Lockheed or Douglas (Think about it - Los Angeles, WW2, 10 women to every guy WOW!)

 

[lesofprimus]

Flying a birdcage Corsair from Munda with my Grandfather and his VMF-214 brothers....

BUT....

I'd have to be a Naval Aviator, not some fu*king Jarhead....

 

[Glider]

A production test pilot at Lockheed or Douglas with an English accent couldn't fail.

 

[Gnomey]

I would probably be an RAF fighter pilot for the duration either in the ETO or the MTO. If not that it would be similar in the PTO (US/RAAF) or CBI (RAF).

Joe's ideas are tempting though...

 

[pbfoot]

A Ferry Pilot..... flies everything everywhere

 

[FLYBOYJ]

A production test pilot at Lockheed or Douglas with an English accent couldn't fail.

Yep! Remember Erroll Flynn was the main guy then!!!

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i wouldn't mind flying the beaufight out over the med for a bit, but as for the poll what the hell's an "Air Field Fighter Aircraft" do you mean a point interceptor?

 

[Wildcat]

Well I'm with Lanc, except my Beaufighter would be wearing RAAF colours and sweeping in low over the jungle to blast some Jap position OR manning the rear guns in a dive bomber, preferably a Vengeance but a Dauntless will do just nice!

 

[plan_D]

Interceptor, the Spitfire, any mark they'd give me at the time. But mostly I'ld love the Spitfire XIV or 21. Although I would love to sweep up to meet the massive German formations over Britain in my Spitfire I and smash my way through some bombers ...

 

[cheddar cheese]

Intercepting in a Fiat G.55...

 

[Soundbreaker Welch?]

i wouldn't mind flying the beaufight out over the med for a bit, but as for the poll what the hell's an "Air Field Fighter Aircraft" do you mean a point interceptor?


Sorry it does sound a bit weird in the end with the mispelling.It means land based fighter from a military airport.

Intercepter is more of the job FW's or 262's had fighting B-17's in the late stages of the war. Your main job is to intercept an oncoming enemy. Not enough of you to stick around and have some dogfighting with the escort fighters.

Of course Escort Fighters have to intercept the intercepters. I supposed I could have put in a catagory for Escort Fighters.

Intercepting is just a more specific way of voting for a dangerous job. Thats why I put it in the poll.

 

[MacArther]

Give me a Dautless or a Helldiver (the later one, not the biplane) and I would probably do pretty well, and get a good list of targets destroyed and missions completed going. That, and I would probably actually use the plane to take out other plane if they got in my way, in lieu of diving fast and leaving the enemies to the rear gunner. This is why I chose the Dautless or the Helldiver; the Dautless because it has centrally mounted guns which would be easier to aim, and the Helldiver because it had firepower in the form of the two wing mounted 20mm guns. Who knows, I might have been one of the only air-air aces that mounted up in a dive bomber.

 

[plan_D]

Intercepters often had to tangle with the escorting fighters. The Spitfire often went up to meet the opponent fighters during the Battle of Britain. And the German interceptors certainly didn't skip on the escort kills.

It depends on the tactics of the day. The Bf-109 was an interceptor but would often be used to cover the SturmFW against the Mustang escort. The only interceptors of the war really not suited to fighting the escort were the SturmFW, as they were very heavy and were solely in existance for destroying bombers.

Really, you've got air superiority, interception and escort for fighters. But, obviously, most fighters can do them all effectively.

 

[Bullockracing]

Maybe it's a death wish, but I'd take a late model 109 or 190 and bash some dickie autos (if that's not irony, I don't know what is)

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

I would want to be a Interceptor pilot. Either a Bf-109 or Fw-190.

If I could not be that I would want to be a ground maintenance person. I enjoy turning wrenches on aircraft.

 

[Smokey]

The Cierva autogiro would be interesting to fly

'Few would know or remember that it was the English Cierva Rota C.30A Autogiros that would daily calibrate the coastal radars that enabled the RAF to defeat the German Luftwaffe and win the Battle of Britain.'

http://www.groenbros.com/product/history.htm

http://meltingpot.fortunecity.com/clyde/808/twenty/cierva.jpg

http://www.michaelp.org/photos/fantasy_of_flight/cierva_c.30a_autogyro.jpg

http://avia.russian.ee/foto/cierva_c-30-s.gif

 

[102first_hussars]

1. A PBY Pilot in the Carribean....

2. A production test pilot at Lockheed or Douglas (Think about it - Los Angeles, WW2, 10 women to every guy WOW!)

I dunno about your first one, but I like no.2

could I change my vote

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Nope Hussars you will be flying dog **** in a C-46 from Hong Kong!

 

[102first_hussars]

Nope Hussars you will be flying dog **** in a C-46 from Hong Kong!

Im an Anti-Aircraft Gunner thank you very much (How do I get the old emoticons by the way, i needed the one of the smiliy crossing its arms for this post)