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WW II plane buffs?

Bikewer said:
Though my dad had been in the navy during WWII, I was fascinated with military aircraft as a child and got involved in building scale models, while at the same time reading everything I could get my hands on.
As an adult, when we got our first computer around '98/'99, the first game I ever tried was Microsoft Combat Fllight Simulator and promptly got deeply involved in flight-sims.
Flew the excellent IL-2 Sturmovik series for some years, and got one of those motion-sensing view devices so that it became a really immersive experience.
Flying Sturmovik aircraft on full realism settings with the TrakIR device is about as close as you can get outside of full-bore simulator.


One of my favorite aircraft from the era is the little-known YAK III, a small, light, fast, maneuverable Russian fighter that could stand up to the best the Germans had in the field.
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I second that mention of IL2 Sturmovik - gives a great appreciation for some of the hardware the Soviets punched out. And just how hard surviving in WW2 air combat really was
 
Comrade Raptor said:
I could tell it was a model, but I thought it was 1/48 at the smallest. At 1/72 my mind is exploded. I thought you'd made a typo until I checked the link.
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Side note but anyone else saddened by how unpopular building models has become? It's all video games :gag: I can't even find them in anything but specialty stores now and the selection is pathetic. I recall as a kid going to dept stores and there were rows and rows of em. Sad.

dudalb said:
The B-17 remains my favorite WW2 craft for family reasons,but I always thought the B-24 Liberator never got it's due.
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It didn't. Neither did the B-25.
 
I'm one of those who goes with the Mossie. Incredible plane, and there wasn't much it couldn't do. And it was easier to maintain than the metal monsters.

Still, my belief is WWII would not have been won without the DC3, DC4, and Boeing 314. A fine thing to take the fight to the enemy, but without those planes, it would have been a short fight.
 
fuelair said:
I want a Ju87G with a laser cannon and wing miniguns. Then a transtemporal device and a hop to Germany in the late 30's/early 40s for a little flyover fun for various SS Units and their butt-buddies. Just for giggles (mine, of course).:D
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Actually, I'd like to see their faces if you could attack them with a squadron of armed to the teeth A-10s.
 
dudalb said:
The B-17 remains my favorite WW2 craft for family reasons,but I always thought the B-24 Liberator never got it's due.

My favorite individual fighters of the war were Faith,Hope,and Charity at Malta in 1940. Those Gladiator pilots gave a very good account of themselves against incredible odds.
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I'm buying you the beer my grandfather would have, should we bump into each other.
 
I volunteered with an air show for a few years and loved the WWII birds. Our group bought a TBM-3e Avenger which had been fighting forest fires in Canada. Avengers were formidable planes, and versatile; the Navy used them as dive bombers, torpedo bombers, transports (hauling 7 men), for reconnaissance, etc. This particular one was built by GM under license to Grumman. It now belongs to the Commemorative (formerly Confederate) Air Force.

Trivia: the first air-to-air kill of a cruise missile was a radar-equipped British Avenger's shoot down of a V-1 over the Channel. And, ironically, the last Avengers in military service were flown in the '60s by the Japanese Self-Defense forces.
 
MG1962 said:
I second that mention of IL2 Sturmovik - gives a great appreciation for some of the hardware the Soviets punched out. And just how hard surviving in WW2 air combat really was
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Also a fondly remembered game :)
IL-2_Sturmovik_Coverart.png
 
dasmiller said:
A few years ago I stumbled across http://www.luft46.com/, which has information about a huge number of German WWII experimental aircraft concepts. They range from the mundane to the bizarre; it's a great site to browse if you're interested in such things. And I'm guessing that anyone following this thread is probably interested in such things.
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IL 46- Sturmovik got me into napkinwaffe.
 
Got a soft spot for the UHU and the Arado Ar 234. Honourable mention to the Heinkel He_177. Hitler insisted on trying to turn a heavy bomber into a dive bomber.

Have to thank Hitler for ensuring the Me262 didn't enter the war earlier.

The Mustang is interesting. Take a mediocre ground attack aircraft, try an English engine on it that was not designed with with it in mind at all. Bingo. A marriage made in heaven. The mediocre ground attack aircraft now has developed into a fighter with superlative speed, height and range.

[shemp mode]

What did a single seat, long range fighter pilot do when he had to take a dump?

[/shemp mode]
 
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I'm a big-time warbird fan! I have been ever since I was a kid. Many years ago, as a mechanic, I worked on the Douglas CC-129 Dakota (AKA 'C-47') and that's about as close as I ever got to anything from that era.

For those with similar interest, you might want to check out the many YouTube training videos posted by "AIRBOYD.TV". There are all sorts of films dealing with flying aircraft like the B-17, B-29, B-26, P-38, P-39 and the like.

By watching the video "How To Fly The B-17", I actually learned how to do a proper T.O. with the B-17 on my Microsoft FSX!!!
 
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Alex Cured said:
Eye of the beholder of course, but I always thought that one was rather ugly.

There was no doubt it was a potent machine though. D-Day ground attack aircraft fitted with twin rocket racks if I'm remembering correctly.

(I recall building an Airfix model of it in my teens.
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Potent machine no doubt, but not a 'great' aircraft. The H24 Napier engines were temperamental and complicated to work on (unlike the RR Merlin) and there were structural integrity issues with the rear fuselage (just forward of the empennage)...
 
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Autolite said:
I'm a big-time warbird fan! I have been ever since I was a kid. Many years ago, as a mechanic, I worked on the Douglas CC-129 Dakota (AKA 'C-47') and that's about as close as I ever got to anything from that era.

For those with similar interest, you might want to check out the many YouTube training videos posted by "AIRBOYD.TV". There are all sorts of films dealing with flying aircraft like the B-17, B-29, B-26, P-38, P-39 and the like.

By watching the video "How To Fly The B-17", I actually learned how to do a proper T.O. with the B-17 on my Microsoft FSX!!!
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There goes my afternoon :)
many thanks
 
Roadtoad said:
I'm one of those who goes with the Mossie. Incredible plane, and there wasn't much it couldn't do. And it was easier to maintain than the metal monsters.

Still, my belief is WWII would not have been won without the DC3, DC4, and Boeing 314. A fine thing to take the fight to the enemy, but without those planes, it would have been a short fight.
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.
There was the front end of a Mossie.. back to behind the wings, with motors, moldering into junk at Whiteman Airport in Sylmar CA, in the late '60s.
And I worked with an ex-RAF guy who said when they got rid of their Mossies, they had a fun time chopping them up into kindling, at the Hong Kong station.
Like most twins of the times, they could easily kill their crews.
 
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