February 2021 Articles

• May 5, 1945. Flying at 8,000 feet and at just over 200 mph in his personal Spitfire Mk XVI TD240, Group Captain Aleksander Gabszewicz, the Commanding Officer of No. 131 (Polish) Wing, led 11 heavily laden, bomb-carrying Spitfires of 302 Squadron towards their target, an enemy troop concentration in a German village. Navigating by a […]

  

  Spitfire with a Punch – Royal Air Force fighter in Polish colors

  May 5, 1945. Flying at 8,000 feet and at just over 200 mph in his personal Spitfire Mk XVI TD240, Group Captain Aleksander Gabszewicz, the Commanding Officer of No. 131 (Polish) Wing, led 11 heavily laden, bomb-carrying Spitfires of 302 Squadron towards their target, an enemy troop concentration in a German village. Navigating by a handheld map to the map reference he had been given, he identified the target some distance out and ordered the other Spitfires into close echelon starboard formation.

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• Like all Mk XVI Spitfires, Spitfire Mk L.F. XVIe TE311 was manufactured at the Castle Bromwich Aeroplane Factory near Birmingham, England. It was built during 1945 as a low-back, clipped-wing Packard Merlin 266-powered L.F. XVIe and delivered on June 8, 1945, exactly one month after VE Day.With the war in Europe at an end, TE311 […]

  

  Spitfire TE311: From Gate Guardian to Airshow Favorite

  Like all Mk XVI Spitfires, Spitfire Mk L.F. XVIe TE311 was manufactured at the Castle Bromwich Aeroplane Factory near Birmingham, England. It was built during 1945 as a low-back, clipped-wing Packard Merlin 266-powered L.F. XVIe and delivered on June 8, 1945, exactly one month after VE Day.

  With the war in Europe at an end, TE311 was placed in storage until October 5, 1945. Over the next nine years, the Spitfire flew intermittently with various different second-line RAF units, with long periods of storage in between. On December 13 ,1954, having flown only some 30 hours in total, TE311 was transferred to non-effective stock; grounded but still in RAF hands.

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• Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was in rare form, his eyes full of fire as he faced one of the better known of Germany’s aces, Oberst Walther Dahl. “Göring’s reply astonished even me,” Dahl remembered. “In the presence of pilots with heads, arms and legs in plaster, he yelled: ‘You cowards! Now I know why your Geschwader […]

  

  Defender of the Reich: WW II as seen by a Luftwaffe Ace

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was in rare form, his eyes full of fire as he faced one of the better known of Germany’s aces, Oberst Walther Dahl. “Göring’s reply astonished even me,” Dahl remembered. “In the presence of pilots with heads, arms and legs in plaster, he yelled: ‘You cowards! Now I know why your Geschwader holds the record for parachute jumps: you jump so as not to fight.’

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• The JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program is synonymous with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which ultimately won the competition against Boeing and its X-32. The JSF plan was to have a similar new fighter for the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy and U.S. allies: Build a bunch and keep the price tag […]

  

  F-35B Lightning II

  The JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program is synonymous with the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, which ultimately won the competition against Boeing and its X-32. The JSF plan was to have a similar new fighter for the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force, and Navy and U.S. allies: Build a bunch and keep the price tag down. It has been a success story since then.

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• It could be argued that a major factor in the birth of civilian aviation was the Curtiss OX-5, 90hp, liquid-cooled V-8 engine. That wasn’t because it was such a wonderful engine. In fact, it was heavy for its power and crude in every design detail, and it took some tinkering to keep it running. Reliability […]

  

  Still Flying after All These Years – OX-5 Powered WACO 9

  It could be argued that a major factor in the birth of civilian aviation was the Curtiss OX-5, 90hp, liquid-cooled V-8 engine. That wasn’t because it was such a wonderful engine. In fact, it was heavy for its power and crude in every design detail, and it took some tinkering to keep it running. Reliability wasn’t its strong suit. Pilots of the day, many of whom were barnstorming from farm fields, said that they flew OX-5s from emergency landing to emergency landing. It was the seed of 1920s’ aviation simply because thousands were available on the military-surplus market for next to nothing at a time when aircraft manufacturing was in its infancy.

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• In this photo from the Eighth Air Force’s famous 4th Fighter Group Debden Eagles, a parade of armorers prepare to install .50-caliber machine guns and armor-piercing ammo in the Group’s Mustangs. Note the pierced-steel planking that is being used as hardstand to improve makeshift battle runways. This image was most likely staged that day for […]

  

  Pass the Armor-Piercing Rounds

  In this photo from the Eighth Air Force’s famous 4th Fighter Group Debden Eagles, a parade of armorers prepare to install .50-caliber machine guns and armor-piercing ammo in the Group’s Mustangs. Note the pierced-steel planking that is being used as hardstand to improve makeshift battle runways. This image was most likely staged that day for press purposes.

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• The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) Focke-Wulf (based in Everett, Washington) is a Fw 190A-5 built in April 1943 as part of a batch of 981 aircraft at the F-W factory in Bremen. The FHC aircraft left the factory with the Stammkennzeichen (factory code) of DG+HO. It was probably test-flown at the factory and assigned to […]

  

  Saga of a Survivor: The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum’s Collection’s Fw 190A-5

  The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) Focke-Wulf (based in Everett, Washington) is a Fw 190A-5 built in April 1943 as part of a batch of 981 aircraft at the F-W factory in Bremen. The FHC aircraft left the factory with the Stammkennzeichen (factory code) of DG+HO. It was probably test-flown at the factory and assigned to the reserve pool before being flown to the Eastern front via Jesau in mid-May 1943. It was assigned to 4./JG 54—Jagdgeschwader 54 (fighter wing 54) , Staffel 4 (squadron 4) at Siverskiy just to the south-southwest of Leningrad in June or early July.

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• PICTURE, IF YOU WILL, a Mach-2-capable, all-weather fighter-bomber that flies 1,000 feet above the ground on autopilot, while a Doppler navigation system steers it to a target 300 to 500 nautical miles distant. Then, at 550 knots, it runs in toward the target on radar. At the proper time, using inputs from the integrated air […]

  

  Thunderchief at War – The F-105’s down-and-dirty war in Vietnam

  PICTURE, IF YOU WILL, a Mach-2-capable, all-weather fighter-bomber that flies 1,000 feet above the ground on autopilot, while a Doppler navigation system steers it to a target 300 to 500 nautical miles distant. Then, at 550 knots, it runs in toward the target on radar. At the proper time, using inputs from the integrated air data computer and toss bomb computer (TBC), the ship’s autopilot pulls it into a flawless 4G half-loop, whereupon the TBC tosses a nuclear weapon nine miles and which hits within 700 yards of the designated target.

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• The generic land-based and primary variant, with an internal gun. The majority of foreign operators fly the A model (and a few a mix of As and Bs). The Israelis have a specially modified A model with their own gear which was assigned as an I model. The F-35A has the highest G-rating (9.0+) coupled […]

  

  F-35B Lightning II – Variants

  The generic land-based and primary variant, with an internal gun. The majority of foreign operators fly the A model (and a few a mix of As and Bs). The Israelis have a specially modified A model with their own gear which was assigned as an I model. The F-35A has the highest G-rating (9.0+) coupled with the best thrust-to-weight performance (1.07) of the three models.

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• Using Chinese airfields, the 311th Fighter Group was the first to take World War II to the Japanese. The 311th’s 530th Fighter Squadron, which became known as the “Yellow Scorpions,” was the first squadron based in China. During their combat tour, they flew A-36 dive bombers along with all versions of the P-51 (A, B, […]

  

  Yellow Scorpions – P-51 Mustangs rule the skies in China

  Using Chinese airfields, the 311th Fighter Group was the first to take World War II to the Japanese. The 311th’s 530th Fighter Squadron, which became known as the “Yellow Scorpions,” was the first squadron based in China. During their combat tour, they flew A-36 dive bombers along with all versions of the P-51 (A, B, C and D). However, it was their expertise with P-51 B and C models that earned them the respect of Japanese pilots.

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