Which WWII aircraft would you choose?

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If I really had such a choice I'd probably be driven to muttering madness and be put in a rubber room.o_O Probably my two favorite aircraft fall just outside the confines of WWII the LZ-129 (of course destroyed before the war) and the Ho-229 a super elegant aircraft that didn't quite make it into existence at all.
 
Wow, a question I've asked myself when I was fantasizing winning a very large lottery or a long forgotten fabulously rich great uncle left me the bulk of his will(worth at least 15 figures. Hey, if you're gonna dream of riches, dream of very big riches, but never filthy rich, because those riches might be attainable by wading in a nose-deep cesspool in need of extensive cleaning), and I could any piece of flying hardware from WW2? Easy and at the same time difficult, as there is so much to choose from, but this is dreaming, where anything is possible, here goes:
For fun flying, it's a toss up between a T6 and a Storch. As far as multi-engine, for twins, the P67 Moonbat and the DO217(to me, this was a rather impressively mean and powerful machine, although the He111 looks equally impressive). For more than a pair of engines, the Dominator and the Lanc, although I do have a soft spot in me (head) heart for an underdog, the Stirling. For sheer novelty, not only a Komet, but also the Ohka as well as the Caproni-Campini N1. And for personal use, nothing will ever beat the Mitsubishi K3M. But, don't forget lovely Emily, as the H8K would make for a wonderful flying fishing boat for me and my friends and the Do26 for commuting to any job I wish to do.
 
tommayer said:
Zero. Fun to fly. Great acro. Don't have to be a billionaire to operate it, assuming, since we're in fantasy land, and there is an ample supply of parts.
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Remember, you're loaded with money, so you can afford to have an A6M built from scratch as well as having your assistant (because every tycoon has an assistant) order any part you might need.

So now it must be asked, which model A6M are you going with - A6M2, A6M5 or maybe the A6M7?
 
Alright, I'm going back to my original choice the P-51h. Why? Why not something cooler and more exotic? Simple, this will be a brand new never flown aircraft and I could fly the ever lovin' pants off it and not worry about over boosting a rare engine or high time airframe. Fly it the way it was meant to be flown back in the day.
 
Excellent thread, lads! For me it's a tough choice, but I think I'd want an early short-wing B-26 Marauder. Put in a modern autopilot and some of the unnecessary equipment and you could have yourself one extremely fast, light and maneuverable aircraft with looks that nothing else can really match. Only thing that concerns me is single engine failure. Doolittle and Burnett could do aileron rolls and steep turns into a failed engine with it, but I'm nowhere near as good a pilot as they were! :D But yeah, it's got the looks, the performance and it can be operated by a single pilot.

Now, if I had an entire crew helping me fly? Well then I'm getting myself a B-32. From everything I've read it flies like a Mitchell despite being twice its size, and it's one of the very few planes that can match the Marauder in both performance and looks. Add to that reversing propellers and you can basically land it anywhere that can take its weight. Hell, probably anywhere you could take a Marauder into, since the B-26 famously needed a huge runway.

I'd definitely need the infinite money because both planes were notoriously huge maintenance hogs
 
Maty12 said:
Excellent thread, lads! For me it's a tough choice, but I think I'd want an early short-wing B-26 Marauder. Put in a modern autopilot and some of the unnecessary equipment and you could have yourself one extremely fast, light and maneuverable aircraft with looks that nothing else can really match. Only thing that concerns me is single engine failure. Doolittle and Burnett could do aileron rolls and steep turns into a failed engine with it, but I'm nowhere near as good a pilot as they were! :D But yeah, it's got the looks, the performance and it can be operated by a single pilot.

Now, if I had an entire crew helping me fly? Well then I'm getting myself a B-32. From everything I've read it flies like a Mitchell despite being twice its size, and it's one of the very few planes that can match the Marauder in both performance and looks. Add to that reversing propellers and you can basically land it anywhere that can take its weight. Hell, probably anywhere you could take a Marauder into, since the B-26 famously needed a huge runway.

I'd definitely need the infinite money because both planes were notoriously huge maintenance hogs
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Resp:
Did you give the A-26 Invader consideration? I do like the Marauder. It has been nearly 20 yrs since I saw a Marauder at an Airshow.
 
Navalwarrior said:
Resp:
Did you give the A-26 Invader consideration? I do like the Marauder. It has been nearly 20 yrs since I saw a Marauder at an Airshow.
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The Marauder is pretty cool. I'm not sure I've ever seen one flying. The only place I might have would have been the USAF 50th Anniversary Air Show at Nellis AFB in 1997. Literally the greatest military based air show ever.
 
NevadaK said:
The Marauder is pretty cool. I'm not sure I've ever seen one flying. The only place I might have would have been the USAF 50th Anniversary Air Show at Nellis AFB in 1997. Literally the greatest military based air show ever.
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Resp:
The most that the Marauder did was to taxi in front of the crowd, as it was not airworthy.
 
Navalwarrior said:
Resp:
Did you give the A-26 Invader consideration? I do like the Marauder. It has been nearly 20 yrs since I saw a Marauder at an Airshow.
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Not particularly, just personal preference I suppose. The Invader does certainly have better performance (especially single engine-wise) and is much easier to handle, but it's just not as striking to me, looks a bit too boxy. I guess I just have a soft spot for the Marauder (plus it's rarer!). Of course, if anyone offers to let me fly an Invader I'm not going to refuse ;)

NevadaK said:
The Marauder is pretty cool. I'm not sure I've ever seen one flying. The only place I might have would have been the USAF 50th Anniversary Air Show at Nellis AFB in 1997. Literally the greatest military based air show ever.
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I think Kermit Weeks was flying his up until around 2002, there's some great footage of it dropping watermelons up on youtube, as well as some of his other aircraft. Recent "Kermie Cam" videos on his channel seem to show it in a new coat of paint, and with the flaps fully extended (it was usually stored with the flaps up), which leads me to think it might be flying again soon, if not already.
 
Maty12 said:
Not particularly, just personal preference I suppose. The Invader does certainly have better performance (especially single engine-wise) and is much easier to handle, but it's just not as striking to me, looks a bit too boxy. I guess I just have a soft spot for the Marauder (plus it's rarer!). Of course, if anyone offers to let me fly an Invader I'm not going to refuse ;)



I think Kermit Weeks was flying his up until around 2002, there's some great footage of it dropping watermelons up on youtube, as well as some of his other aircraft. Recent "Kermie Cam" videos on his channel seem to show it in a new coat of paint, and with the flaps fully extended (it was usually stored with the flaps up), which leads me to think it might be flying again soon, if not already.
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Resp:
If I remember correctly, one B-26 flew down the deck of a Japanese aircraft carrier. It was pretty shot up.
 
Maty12 said:
Not particularly, just personal preference I suppose. The Invader does certainly have better performance (especially single engine-wise) and is much easier to handle, but it's just not as striking to me, looks a bit too boxy. I guess I just have a soft spot for the Marauder (plus it's rarer!). Of course, if anyone offers to let me fly an Invader I'm not going to refuse ;)



I think Kermit Weeks was flying his up until around 2002, there's some great footage of it dropping watermelons up on youtube, as well as some of his other aircraft. Recent "Kermie Cam" videos on his channel seem to show it in a new coat of paint, and with the flaps fully extended (it was usually stored with the flaps up), which leads me to think it might be flying again soon, if not already.
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I've been trying to find the flying line up from that air show, but have come up short. From the photos it appears that there wasn't a B-26. It was also retired from service prior to 1947 and the air show was focused on air craft that had been in use from 1947 on.

The Air Force has also waived normal air show flight requirements which led to some amazing aerial displays including an f-15 demo that was just ridiculous.
 
Okay, I gave a wrong non-answer before with burned airship and a plane that wasn't quite finished. It would be a hard choice for me between a 109F4 and a Ta-152H. I'd settle on the Ta-152H because it was equally sinister looking and I like high aspect ratios better. I just wish that I could replace the Mk-108 with a Mk-103 and I'd even be willing to dispense with the MG151/20s to get this special order. What a wicked looking plane. I am no where near being a pilot equal to the task of handling this plane but I assume I would get intensive training as part of the whole wish process.
 
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