P51-D Mustang

[HongKongTommy]

I think the only time I have ever cried out of sheer emotion was when I saw a spitfire fly over whitby in north yorkshire england. It was un expected I was just walking around an heard that amazing engine sound. Plus it was from my grandads squadron!. Its based down south now, just an amazing sight.

I love the P51 as well, but my all time American WW2 fighter has to be the Grumman Hellcat

[Nibody]

Spoke to my Grandad who served with 99, 303 and 229 squadrons RAF as a SAC Instrument Mechanic in the UK and the western desert. He was seconded to Wales during the BoB as part of a team salvaging downed aircraft to make serviceable ones before going to Egypt with 229. He agreed that the Spit looked better - curves like a woman, but Pilots and crew often prefered the Hurri's - as he said they could take a bigger pounding than the spits,you could get a beat-up Hurri Airworthy with a roll of locking wire due to its wooden and doped canvas construction whereas the build of the spits meant it was easy to "break their backs".

[Darren Lillington]

My fav war bird is the A6m zero-

She was beautiful, sleek, powerfull and fast and could not be beaten in a dog fight.

The down sides to the zero are its lack of any armor as japanese pilots refused to have any armor installed as a matter of honor. Because of that she was much lighter and faster but also went up in a fireball when shot up as the fuel tank was also not armored and because of the planes lightness she could not dive well. It was only once a zero was capered by US forces that she was flown to bits ,tested again and again for any possible weakness. No plane could catch it or outmaneuver it but american planes were much heavier and could dive at great speeds. That was the secret to eventually taking back air superiority.

guns.

[zwerge]

The Zero was probably the best fighter at the beginning of the war but was badly outclassed in early 1943 by the new American fighters.The Ki-84 Hayate which came along later was a match for the P-51D and the Hellcat.

[big ned]

Hi Chaps,

Here's another nice shot i used to have as my avatar.

Regards, Ned.

[John Brandon]

Well I'm in 2 minds, I cannot dispute that the Spitfire for many epitomises the Battle of Britain, even though it was all down to the Hurricane, and I love the sound of the Merlin engine BUT.................................... A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to see "Black 6" fly, and believe me, when that Fuel injected Mercedes Benz engine screamed, it sent shivers down my back, and that's no lie

Incidently, did you know that it was the Luftwaffe that first used "Nitros" ?

They injected it into the cylinders at high altitude, because nitros actually creates oxygen! and at high altitudes the air is thinner.

So the boy racers think its all new stuff eh?

Excuse the photograph, it was taken before digital cameras and has been enlarged

[big ned]

Hi John,

I agree about the roar of "Black 6", it sure used to get the hairs on the back of my neck's attention when i was lucky enough to see it flying twice at Duxford a few years back.

But for me, the 109 could never be described as beautiful, like the spitfire is.It has a certain malevonance, yet it also looks purposeful and efficient. I guess thats down to German design! It's a crying shame what happened to "Black 6" after the years of hard work put in by Guy Black and his faithful little band to get the wind under her wings again. The pilot inadvertantly left the rad shutter closed, and when the glycol started boiling off, he thought the engine had caught fire whilst halfway across the airfied and had no room to get her down.He therefore glided her over the motorway to a wheels up landing in a potato field, breaking her back. The pilot was fortunate to walk away relatively unhurt when they eventually got him out, but the aircraft could only be rebuilt to static condition.What a shame.

Regards, Ned.

[motorpuma]

I will have to agree that the mustang(D version) probably is the best all-round ww2 figther.Is not my favorite, but the mustang did more things right than any other fighter(specially when the americans put the merlin engine in it).The spitfire was a beautiful fighter but lacked the long range for escort duties.
The me-109 was a good figther a the beginning of the war, but was outclassed by 1942, when the first fw-190 appear.It remainned in production not because it was stiil good, but because it was easy to built.
The best german figther is the fw-190.The me-262 also was an amazing fighter, but there were to late and to few,and the do-335 the fastest piston engine fighter of the war, if only it had went to production.

[John Brandon]

Ned
I was going to write all about her, but I couldn't write down that as well as you did. It was a crying shame that she will never fly, a bit like the last Mosquito that crashed in the woods. And to think 633 squadron had loads of real ones!

[big ned]

[QUOTE=John Brandon;59832]Ned
I was going to write all about her, but I couldn't write down that as well as you did. It was a crying shame that she will never fly, a bit like the last Mosquito that crashed in the woods. And to think 633 squadron had loads of real ones![/QUOTE

Thanks John, that's very kind,

Yeah, the mossie was the last one flying in the u.k. If memory serves me right, she came down in the summer of '96.She was RR299, originally, i think a TT.35.She was owned by Rolls-Royce, and was lost due to a very rare combination of a carburettor failure during a manoveure at a level where she could not have made a successful recovery. She went straight in with the loss of the pilot and engineer, a triple tradgedy.Rest in Peace lads.

Regards, ned.