What plane do you wish had sawservice

[the lancaster kicks ass]

just one i've got.........

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Kein Problem

 

[Anonymous]

P-51H - these were available before war's end but were never deployed for logistics reasons.

P-38K - An L with a paddle prop - the USAAF declined to give up 2 weeks production of L's for the needed re-tooling for this model.

F8F - Two Essex class carriers loaded with Bearcats were 2 weeks out of Perl when the A-bomb was dropped.

F7F - Tigercat's were relocating off Gaum and in China to begin combat operations when the A-bomb was dropped.

P-47J - this cowl design was not pursued, it was figured that 480 mph (P-47M) was fast enough.

AD Skyraider - Would have been fighting against Japan by Nov. 1945. 8000 lbs normal payload and extremely durable.

Hawker Tempest II - A superior version of the Tempest, vibration and cooling problems with the Bristol Centaraus engine kept it out of WWII. These were solved near the end of the war and units were deployed for the Pacific, but never saw action.

Martin-Baker M.B.5 - not pursued as the RAF was satisfied with the Spitfire line. Despite denials, there is little question this is basically a Spitfire-Mustang Hybrid. Look at the cooling system! 8)

=S=

Lunatic

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Yeah the Bearcat and the Skyraider would have been really interesting to see in WW2. It also would have been neat to see the P-51H up against the Ta-152H.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

Despite denials, there is little question this is basically a Spitfire-Mustang Hybrid. Look at the cooling system

well the mustang was as good as british anyway.........

 

[evangilder]

Nice list, RG. The Skyraider would have been one heck of an asset in the Pacific.

 

[Mosin]

I personaly have always liked thead skyraider and the last mustang

 

[Anonymous]

Despite denials, there is little question this is basically a Spitfire-Mustang Hybrid. Look at the cooling system

well the mustang was as good as british anyway.........

Not hardly. It was designed in the USA, by North American Aviation, an American company. The design team consisted of NAA employees and Cal-Tech grad students. The original desing specified the Allison engine and performance in the same general catagory as the P-40, and at about the same cost per unit.

The only thing British about the P-51 was the Merlin engine in the P-51B and later models. If this engine had not been employed, either the Continental hyper-engine with 2 stage supercharging would have been completed and utilized, or a 2nd supercharger stage or a turbo-supercharger for the Allison would have been employed.

=S=

Lunatic

 

[delcyros]

Something very interesting. I like the Bearcat and the latest subtyps of Spitfire, Mustang and Thundebolt, too. But these planes were beyond the technology as they have been introduced, that´s why I would like more to see the jets than to see the pinnacle of piston engined planes:
1.) P-80 -a very few have been in service at the wars end 8)
2.) Ar-234 C -with over 560 mp/h top speed a new generation of bomber, however, only 14 planes build by wars end
3.) He-162 A -operational by end of april´45
4.) D.H. Vampire , it could have come earlier
5.) Me-262 B2 -this would have been THE NIGHTFIGHTER of it´s time

And because I like it´s design:
6.) J-7 Shiden

This would be my list...

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Something very interesting. I like the Bearcat and the latest subtyps of Spitfire, Mustang and Thundebolt, too. But these planes were beyond the technology as they have been introduced, that´s why I would like more to see the jets than to see the pinnacle of piston engined planes:
1.) P-80 -a very few have been in service at the wars end 8)
2.) Ar-234 C -with over 560 mp/h top speed a new generation of bomber, however, only 14 planes build by wars end
3.) He-162 A -operational by end of april´45
4.) D.H. Vampire , it could have come earlier
5.) Me-262 B2 -this would have been THE NIGHTFIGHTER of it´s time

And because I like it´s design:
6.) J-7 Shiden

This would be my list...

I agree with you on this. The Vampire and the 262B-2 could have really been interesting. The 234C however was too late, Germany needed fighters not bombers. But otherwise I agree with you completely.

Not hardly. It was designed in the USA, by North American Aviation, an American company. The design team consisted of NAA employees and Cal-Tech grad students. The original desing specified the Allison engine and performance in the same general catagory as the P-40, and at about the same cost per unit.

The only thing British about the P-51 was the Merlin engine in the P-51B and later models. If this engine had not been employed, either the Continental hyper-engine with 2 stage supercharging would have been completed and utilized, or a 2nd supercharger stage or a turbo-supercharger for the Allison would have been employed.

I think was he was trying to say is that the P-51 was as good as any British Fighter and not that it was actually British.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

no i was actually saying it was practilly brittish

 

[wmaxt]

Well you can take pride in the fact that the name was Brittish! As were the Lightning and the Catalina.

 

[lightning38]

Can anyone here tell me anything about the Gotha/Horten HO-1X? I know it was experimental and was nearly put into service but that's about it.

 

[lightning38]

That's Ho-IX. Sorry.

 

[Anonymous]

no i was actually saying it was practilly brittish

Which is of course false.

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

despite the fact it was designed to a british specification, had a british name, a british engine and i believe some british people high up in the design team..........

 

[delcyros]

The Ho- IX flying wing jet was a project of the Luftwaffenkommando IX, led by Reimar and Walter Horten. It is also known as Go-229, since the RLM ordered 20 preproduction units (Go-229 A0) to be made by the Gothaer Waggonfabrik. There have been two planes build, the protoype Ho-IX V-1 (unpowered glider) and Ho-IX V-2 (with two Jumo-004 B2 powerplants). The V-3 prototype was nearly completed and brought into the US (it can be found either in the NASM depot of Silver Hill or at restauration, I don´t know). Several other prototypes (V-4, V-5, V-6) were found at VE-day in different stages of construction.
V-1 was flown from mid 1944 on to determine the flying charackteristics, it did bear a fixed main gear and not powerplants. In early april ´45 it was brought to Brandis, were it was captured by US troops. It´s fate is unknown.
V-2 was also finished in mid 1944, but the Jumo-004 jet engines forced the designers to redesign the center wing section (the diameter of the Jumos was elliptical and not circular, as told by Junkers industies), thus delayed the completion of V-2 to end 1944. The critical Mach number was also lowered a lot (V-1: 0,84 V-2: 0,79 -estimation by R. Horten). It remains unclear whether the maiden flight was on december 1944 or february 1945 ( first flight logged in february but eyewitnesses remember that it was prior to christmas day 1944) However the prototype logged only a few hours flight as it was destroyed because of an engine failure, killing the test pilot Erwin Ziller. The logged flights include also a top speed flight of Askania-recorded 607 mp/h (977 Km/h) in level flight.
There has been a discussion if the Ho-IX was intended to be stealthy or not, Horten underlines that he used the flying wing layout and coal layer on the surface to absorb or redirect radar energy. It is not confirmed.
In the end it´s development was far away from beeing put into service. As far as I know, JG 400 (known for the Me-163) was ordered to take over Ho-IX/Go-229 A-0 in mid 1945, but this remains pure speculation. A timeframe between late 1945 and early 1946 is more realistic.

 

[cheddar cheese]

Damn you RG, I was gonna say P-38K

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

fine by me i'd just be flying higher than all you guys at 50,300ft in my lanc..........

 

[cheddar cheese]

Dying of the cold....