KoNickon
Nick Merritt
How many of those Stearmans are still flying, I wonder, 40 years on?
Vintage Aircraft
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dexdog
Veteran
I don't know, but the 50th National Stearman Fly-in is scheduled for September 2021 in Galesburg. I remember the one that I attended, it was a lot of fun. Wow, I am getting so old.
KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Bell P-63E King Cobra
Despite appearances, the P-63 was still inferior to other fighters in production for the Army Air Force, mostly due to a shortage of suitably powerful engines, and very few Kingcobras entered US service and none saw combat. First delivery to the US Army was in 1943, but 72% of production went to successful use by Russia in the lend-lease program. US pilots, mostly WAC (Womens Army Corps) ferried the planes from upstate NY to Alaska whence Soviet women pilots ferried them westward. Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ.
Pentax K-1, 1.8/77mm Pentax SMC
The Airacobra was totally sabotaged by the decision to not manufacture it with a supercharged engine. I understand the reason was that the US would not export supercharged aircraft, so the plane was thoroughly unsuitable for the high altitudes at which combat took place in Western Europe. However, the Soviets loved them -- air warfare took place at lower altitudes there.
The King Cobra was saddled with the same engine, and by the time it was in production, it was outclassed by the Mustang, Thunderbolt and Lightning (the Lightning had the same engines as the 'Cobras, but those were supercharged). What might have been. The only King Cobras in actual service were used by the Soviet Air Force in very small numbers, against the Japanese at the very end of the war.
Sorry, I felt like geeking out! Thanks for this picture.
dexdog
Veteran
P39 Airacobra at the USAF museum, Dayton OH
dexdog
Veteran
P-40, Smithsonian Air and Space Annex, near Dulles Airport, Virginia.
f.hayek
Well-known
Weren't they nicknamed, the "Widowmaker"? Your father was lucky to make it home in one piece.
70 years on and that P51, along with the Supermarine Spitfire, remain objects of unequaled winged beauty.
Speed, grace, brutal lethality and aesthetic masterpieces.
Darthfeeble
But you can call me Steve
Like the idiot I am, I took no notes of the aircraft so I have no idea what this is but I thought it was interesting.
20170516-_MG_8285.jpg by Steve Gumbiner, on Flickr
20170516-_MG_8285.jpg by Steve Gumbiner, on Flickr
dexdog
Veteran
P47 Thunderbolt, with B29 in the background. Smithsonian Air and Space Annex.
dexdog
Veteran
de Havilland Mosquito, USAF museum in Dayton OH
dexdog
Veteran
Consolidated B-24D Liberator, USAF museum Dayton OH
David Hughes
David Hughes
Interesting how some aircraft are just functional machines and others are things of beauty; thinking of the Avro Vulcan as I type...
Regards, David
Dralowid
Michael
...and the Super Constellation.
Muggins
Junk magnet
Like the idiot I am, I took no notes of the aircraft so I have no idea what this is but I thought it was interesting.
It's an A26 Invader - or it was at the end of WW2. By the start of the Korean War it had been re-classified, the A-for Attack class giving way to B-for Bomber, as the B26 Invader leading to much confusion amongst unwary later writers!
Darthfeeble
But you can call me Steve
Thank you.
wolves3012
Veteran
I seem to recall the starfighter was also known as the flying coffin.
Muggins
Junk magnet
The early Starfighters had an ejection seat that fired *downwards* - not (quite) as crazy as it seems as the seats of the day were low-powered, and at high speed were considered unlikely to be able to get the pilot over the tail. Though as soon as more powerful seats were available, upward-firing ones were fitted - the original seats were implicated in the loss of a number of pilots.
The Luftwaffe bought the Starfighter when it was still very much in the teething stage, and had an appalling loss rate - something like one in 5 ended up as smoking holes in the scenery, and it was joked that if you bought a field it would come with a free Starfighter, you just had to wait. Ironically Germany is the only place I ever saw one in the air, in 1994, so it may not even have been a Luftwaffe aircraft!
There's one flying in Norway - see here: https://vintageaviationecho.com/starfighter-test-flight/
OK, back to the photos!
The Luftwaffe bought the Starfighter when it was still very much in the teething stage, and had an appalling loss rate - something like one in 5 ended up as smoking holes in the scenery, and it was joked that if you bought a field it would come with a free Starfighter, you just had to wait. Ironically Germany is the only place I ever saw one in the air, in 1994, so it may not even have been a Luftwaffe aircraft!
There's one flying in Norway - see here: https://vintageaviationecho.com/starfighter-test-flight/
OK, back to the photos!
Robert.M
Well-known
Loockeed Shooting Star
Robert.M
Well-known
Sepecat Jaguar
stoutstuff
Established
Ford Tri-Motor designed by William Stout
chris91387
Well-known
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