February 2025 Articles

• The B-26 is a dangerous aircraft in a number of ways … The takeoff is long and the landing fast. A motor failure on takeoff would be extremely serious. But once in the air, the B-26 is the best handling multiengined [sic] plane I have ever flown. —Charles A. Lindbergh, “The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh” Journey to the sky I was born in Long Branch, New Jersey and grew up in Lakewood, New Jersey, which is not too far from the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. In my youth, I saw the dirigibles Akron and Macon and also the […]

  

  Bombs Away! – B-26 Marauder memories

  The B-26 is a dangerous aircraft in a number of ways … The takeoff is long and the landing fast. A motor failure on takeoff would be extremely serious. But once in the air, the B-26 is the best handling multiengined [sic] plane I have ever flown. —Charles A. Lindbergh, “The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh” Journey to the sky I was born in Long Branch, New Jersey and grew up in Lakewood, New Jersey, which is not too far from the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. In my youth, I saw the dirigibles Akron and Macon and also the […]
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• In the six years of World War II, Allied airmen flew against a huge variety of Axis aircraft: from biplanes to rocket fighters and everything in between. A quick check of front-line Luftwaffe aircraft shows 35 types, from Arado floatplanes to Ta-152s derived from the Fw 190. Japan was even more varied: the Allies assigned 120 aircraft code names, from Adam (a Nakajima seaplane fighter) to Zeke (the Mitsubishi Zero). The criteria The Axis powers included more than Germany and Japan. The third partner was Fascist Italy, and other nations aligned themselves with the Tripartite Pact after September 1940, including […]

  

  The Best Axis Fighter – Flight Journal goes out on a limb

  In the six years of World War II, Allied airmen flew against a huge variety of Axis aircraft: from biplanes to rocket fighters and everything in between. A quick check of front-line Luftwaffe aircraft shows 35 types, from Arado floatplanes to Ta-152s derived from the Fw 190. Japan was even more varied: the Allies assigned 120 aircraft code names, from Adam (a Nakajima seaplane fighter) to Zeke (the Mitsubishi Zero). The criteria The Axis powers included more than Germany and Japan. The third partner was Fascist Italy, and other nations aligned themselves with the Tripartite Pact after September 1940, including […]
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• During World War II, the Luftwaffe’s top 10 aces were credited with 2,555 aerial victories: an average of 255 per pilot. The next five aces were credited with 1,027, all more than “double centurions.” Perhaps most remarkably, seven of the top 10 survived the war. Any discussion of aerial victory credits should begin with acknowledging that everybody overclaimed—absolutely everybody. Usually it was the result of honest error, though glory hunters in every air force padded their scores. But if Erich Hartmann only downed half the 352 planes credited to him, that’s still 176 smoking holes in the ground. Depending on […]

  

  10 Fighter Aces: 2,500 Kills!

  During World War II, the Luftwaffe’s top 10 aces were credited with 2,555 aerial victories: an average of 255 per pilot. The next five aces were credited with 1,027, all more than “double centurions.” Perhaps most remarkably, seven of the top 10 survived the war. Any discussion of aerial victory credits should begin with acknowledging that everybody overclaimed—absolutely everybody. Usually it was the result of honest error, though glory hunters in every air force padded their scores. But if Erich Hartmann only downed half the 352 planes credited to him, that’s still 176 smoking holes in the ground. Depending on […]
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• High in the clear azure skies over Europe, parallel lines of white contrails were raked in lacy streams behind hundreds of bombers as they flew towards their assigned targets. Aboard each plane were 10 young men. Six of them were charged with protecting their plane, their squadron, their group, and most of all, each other from the savage attacks of German fighters. They were the air gunners of the United States Army Air Forces. The bombers were stacked in tight formations of 54 planes in three groups. The formation was developed to maximize the effectiveness of bombing and gunnery. Every […]

  

  Behind the Brownings – Bomber gunner tales

  High in the clear azure skies over Europe, parallel lines of white contrails were raked in lacy streams behind hundreds of bombers as they flew towards their assigned targets. Aboard each plane were 10 young men. Six of them were charged with protecting their plane, their squadron, their group, and most of all, each other from the savage attacks of German fighters. They were the air gunners of the United States Army Air Forces. The bombers were stacked in tight formations of 54 planes in three groups. The formation was developed to maximize the effectiveness of bombing and gunnery. Every […]
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• On the morning of April 7, 1943, American fighter pilots on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands responded to a red alert. More than 100 Japanese aircraft were inbound, sending Wildcats and P-40s scrambling to intercept. In a prolonged combat, the defenders claimed 39 victories and actually got 29—a better than normal ratio of actual kills versus claims. The belle of the brawl was 1st Lt. James E. Swett, a 22-year-old Marine entering his first combat. Fifteen minutes later, he was fished out of the bay, having ditched his shot-up F4F-4 perforated by Japanese and American gunfire. When the scores were […]

  

  Ace in a Day – The kills and claims of the top shooters

  On the morning of April 7, 1943, American fighter pilots on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands responded to a red alert. More than 100 Japanese aircraft were inbound, sending Wildcats and P-40s scrambling to intercept. In a prolonged combat, the defenders claimed 39 victories and actually got 29—a better than normal ratio of actual kills versus claims. The belle of the brawl was 1st Lt. James E. Swett, a 22-year-old Marine entering his first combat. Fifteen minutes later, he was fished out of the bay, having ditched his shot-up F4F-4 perforated by Japanese and American gunfire. When the scores were […]
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• With a top speed of just 109 mph (95 kts), the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was one of the slowest aircraft of World War II, but it was also one of the Germans’ best. With the advanced aerodynamic design of its wing specifically suited to the tasks for which it was intended, the Storch could land and take off almost anywhere, be it an urban road, rock-strewn desert, a clearing in a wood or a mountain peak. The lightweight Fieseler Fi 156 Storch is perhaps the only German aircraft type not matched by the Allies throughout WW II. During a […]

  

  STORCH by Name STOL by Nature – The all-terrain, go-anywhere, Fieseler Storch

  With a top speed of just 109 mph (95 kts), the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was one of the slowest aircraft of World War II, but it was also one of the Germans’ best. With the advanced aerodynamic design of its wing specifically suited to the tasks for which it was intended, the Storch could land and take off almost anywhere, be it an urban road, rock-strewn desert, a clearing in a wood or a mountain peak. The lightweight Fieseler Fi 156 Storch is perhaps the only German aircraft type not matched by the Allies throughout WW II. During a […]
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