You are a WW2 pilot and you get to pick your plane.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Ah good old Germany in the 80's. Loved seeing the tanks rolling down cobblestone German roads. Lived only a few ours from the Fulda Gap.

Also still have my passport with my Checkpoint Charlie stamps in it, and my families orders in Russian, German, French and English allowing us to ride the duty train from Frankfurt, Germany to West Berlin through East Germany.

The cold war was an exciting time for a military brat.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Oh and to revisit the plane, Joe will agree with me. I would be a Catalina pilot on Anti-U-Boot duty in the Caribbean.

 

[GrauGeist]

Imagine how the guy who owned the VW Beetle felt. It was either going to get flattened or get a anti tank shell through it.

There were actually three there at the time the photo was taken, including a Type 1 Polezei (which I would REALLY love to have)...

And yes, I still laugh at Joe's pick for ASW duties - especially with the accompanying photo showing how rough it could get!

 

[bobbysocks]

always loved a beetle...unless I was driving when it was frigid cold. those heater boxes just couldn't defrost the windshield and warm the car enough. they did have a gas heater but from what I heard it was too hot. the best bet was a 12v hair dryer....

back on topic....I know I already said 51 B....but it would also depend on what air force I was in and what time of the conflict. of the planes I would love to fly...if RAF spit IX, if us 51 A ( apache ), B, and D, if LW 109 F-4 ( more aces said that was their favorite ), me 262 and he 162, if VVS a yak 3, La5....if Japanese ki-61 and ki 84...

 

[tyrodtom]

Several of my friends had beetles, I can remember riding in them in really cold weather. The gas heater might have been optional, but I don't recall seeing one.
Your feet would be baking from the floor vents, but you'd still be able to see your breath. You could close the floor vents and it would supposedly send the heat to the defrost vents, it didn't work too well.
Beetle drivers always drove with a friend in the winter, to scrape the frost off the insides of the windows.

 

[soulezoo]

Ok, I'll change mine a little bit.

I'd like to fly high cap for Joe and DerAdler... in a P-47M.

 

[Ascent]

I think a PR spitfire for me. You get to fly that beautiful aircraft but if trouble comes you just turn and run. I'm not sure I'd have the skills to actually get into a fight.

 

[pinehilljoe]

In the real world I was a m-60a3 tanker in the early 80's in Germany. Had the T-64s come through Fulda, I'd have been just as dead only faster. If I could I'd rather roll dice with Azrael in the air than on the ground.

I try and describe to my teenagers about the Cold War and both side armed to the teeth at The Fulda Gap and its like talking about ancient history.

 

[pinehilljoe]

I'd pick being an Instructor Pilot on the USS Sable or Wolverine, on the Great Lakes.

 

[pbehn]

I would be in a Mosquito shooting down V1s, about the nearest thing I can imagine to flying a SIM war. lots of noise, chasing a flame in the dark then a massive flash and bang ...job done no one hurt, and back to the Pub. for a beer.

 

[Hickam Field]

I'd snort cocaine off the hind quarters of one of FLYBOYJ's PBY "guests" and hijack a V-2 to Endor.

But on a hypothetical note, I'd love to be proficient in piloting a P-47N over Formosa. Maybe even flying a Beaufighter on anti-shipping sorties in the Mediterranean.

 

[VALENGO]

I´d pick up a Komet, my favorite one, just to say "kids, I flew the one and only operative rocket fighter ever".

 

[Old Wizard]

I remember when my buddy a I would steer his Beetle on the highway using the side vent windows.

 

[Balljoint]

I remember when my buddy a I would steer his Beetle on the highway using the side vent windows.

Similarly, I was cruising a little north of 90 mph in my Alfa GTV south of Albuquerque when a Harley passed me at maybe 115 mph. The single rider was sitting on the rear fender passenger layback from which he deftly changed lanes by very slightly extending first one and then the other hand into the slipstream. I was never tempted to replicate this act.

 

[aurora-7]

I may be stretching the rules a bit since it was in development through most of the war and when it was finally deployed to the US Marines in the Pacific, the war ended before it flew combat missions. Four 20mm cannon in the wing roots and 4 .50 machine guns in the nose -she could scratch hard! It was developed for the new 'Midway' carrier class but it's weight and structure issues prevented it from being carrier qualified until it's very last variant but by then the future was jets and there just wasn't the need for her anymore. She did serve in the North Korean War and saw a bit of combat as a night fighter.

I give you my choice, the Grumman F7F Tigercat!

God, she's beautiful..........

 

[Thorlifter]

Med. Bomber, Allied: A-26, Axis: Ar-234
Heavy Bomber, Allied: B-29, Axis: He-177
Transport, Allied: C-47, Axis: Ju-52
Torpedo, Allied: Grumman Avenger, Axis: Aichi B7A
Fighter, Allied: Corsair, Axis: Ki-84
Dive Bomber, Allied: Dauntless, Axis: D4Y Judy
Recon, Allied: PBY Catalina, Axis: Fw-200

 

[swampyankee]

Nitpick: it's "your aircraft," not "you're aircraft"; "you're" is short for "you are."

As for the aircraft? A -4 Corsair in Europe.

 

[Glider]

I never did put my choice in this thread.
UK - Tempest very fast at low to medium
Germany - Fw190 the very best when it entered service and it looks deadly
USAAF - B26 always had a soft spot for it
USN - Hellcat - The plane that broke the back of the IJN
IJN - Raiden - very underated
IJA - Ki 84 - Looks and performance, what else do you need

 

[drgondog]

Definitely a fighter - specific choice depending on the mission. Considering fighters in serial production prior to VE Day For long range mission escort - P-51H-1. For bomber interception, Me 262. For base/City/Fleet protection, F8F or Spit 21 or Ta 152H. For CAS, Tempest or P-47N

 

[Peter Gunn]

Choice hasn't changed, I'd still take the B/C Mustang with Malcomb hood out of England, then on to Japan in a 51H.