Spyderco Forums

My father flew on B-17's during WW2. It was a harrowing experience, but he said the tough airplane got him home.

Here is an article about one of the best fighters to come out of that war: The Corsair.
https://us.yahoo.com/news/f4u-corsair-w ... 00564.html

Anyone else interested in these war planes?

Yes, since I was a boy. My favorite is the P-47, even though there were better fighters. I've been a fan of the Corsair after I read Pappy Boyington's book and of course seeing the TV show. I met him once and shook his hand at an airshow in California. My only close encounter with fame.
Don't even get me started on WW2 tanks!

Doc Dan wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:32 am

My father flew on B-17's during WW2. It was a harrowing experience, but he said the tough airplane got him home.

Here is an article about one of the best fighters to come out of that war: The Corsair.
https://us.yahoo.com/news/f4u-corsair-w ... 00564.html

Anyone else interested in these war planes?

When I was young I met one of the Designers of the F4U, he came to the house with a family friend.

Love reading stories on the A-10 Warthog! Seeing some photos of that plane shot to pieces and still getting it's pilot home! And then there's it's Gatling gun!!

A past neighbor of mine who I knew about 8 years ago was a pilot for the US Air Force. He flew quite a few different aircraft during his tenure but he really bragged about being the pilot of one of the F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighters. He wouldn't go into detail about any of his past missions but he was sure proud of flying that one ( as I would be).

Oddly enough the last time I spoke with him recently he informed me that he is now a pilot for UPS parcel service. And from what he told me he's doing well with that endeavor. He told me of some of the other aircraft that he flew while in the Air Force but I'm no expert on military aviation at all and I would hate to get any of them wrong.

We have a very impressive Air Force base here close to where I live. It's called "Whiteman Air Force Base" and it's close to Knob Knoster, Missouri>> not too far from where I'm currently living at. I commonly see their Stealth Fighters and Bombers in the air for training missions.

Growing up where I did there was a tank, or artillery piece or aircraft in the park, town hall lot or lodge of every small town and city for people to see, climb on and wonder at. The Air Force museum was a couple hours drive away and we would go there yearly. In the 60's it seemed like every male teacher or coach, police officer etc. was a WW2 or Korean veteran and the Vietnam war was was ongoing. We could look up and see streams of B52's cruising by leaving contrails on nice summer afternoons .:) It was difficult for a kid to not grow up patriotic and infatuated with planes, tanks and most all stuff military. I was a P47 fan as a kid too.

"Whiteman Air Force Base"

That is where the B2 "Spirit" bombers live. Big time stuff there.

When it comes to the old warplanes, my favorites are the P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, A-1 Skyraider, and AC-47 Spooky (i.e., "Puff, the Magic Dragon").

For the more modern warplanes, the F-15 Eagle, F-14 Tomcat, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and the AC-130 (Spectre, Spooky, Stinger II) are favorites, especially the A-10 and AC-130... the A-10 is one tough aircraft and carries a BIG gun, while the AC-130 has A LOT of guns, especially a HUGE 105 mm howitzer. :)

And, that's what special about all of the aircraft noted above... they all carried/carry GUNS... guns for dogfighting and/or close air support... and, for ground attack, the A-10 and AC-130 do the job quite well with 30 mm and 105 mm of ****, respectively.

Love Warbirds...Spent many hours building models in my youth.

Favorites include-
P-47 Thunderbolt
A-1 Skyraider
P-61 Black Widow
Focke-Wulf FW-190
F6F Bearcat
F-4 Phantom

and a bunch more.

You may notice a small obsession with radial engine birds.

Water Bug wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:51 pm

When it comes to the old warplanes, my favorites are the P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, A-1 Skyraider, and AC-47 Spooky (i.e., "Puff, the Magic Dragon").

For the more modern warplanes, the F-15 Eagle, F-14 Tomcat, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and the AC-130 (Spectre, Spooky, Stinger II) are favorites, especially the A-10 and AC-130... the A-10 is one tough aircraft and carries a BIG gun, while the AC-130 has A LOT of guns, especially a HUGE 105 mm howitzer. :)

And, that's what special about all of the aircraft noted above... they all carried/carry GUNS... guns for dogfighting and/or close air support... and, for ground attack, the A-10 and AC-130 do the job quite well with 30 mm and 105 mm of ****, respectively.

Love the big killer birds...I was lucky to teach the M101a2 105mm howitzer support and repair to Airmen at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and later I taught the lighter weight M102a1 105mm howitzer to them when they decided to change pieces. Both of those have been replaced by the L119 105mm howitzer now according to sources in that field.

I'm a big fan of WW2 aviation. Spitfires & Hurricanes dogfighting ME-109s during the Battle of Britain. The F4U Corsairs & Mitsubishi Zeros made famous by the TV show Baa Baa Blacksheep. The Mosquito from the Dambusters movie. The Ju 87 Stuka flown by Hans-Ulrich Rudel. The unique P-38 Lightning. And I could go on.

My favorite though is the iconic P-40 Warhawk made famous by the Flying Tigers. Reading about Claire Chennault's AVG and those shark mouthed P40s made a big impression on me as a kid. I was lucky as an adult to briefly work for a gentleman who flew with the AVG until the U.S. Army Air Corp entered the war.

As you probably know, Pappy Boyington flew with the Flying Tigers as well. Quite the career.

OldHoosier62 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 5:09 pm

Love Warbirds...Spent many hours building models in my youth.

Favorites include-
P-47 Thunderbolt
A-1 Skyraider
P-61 Black Widow
Focke-Wulf FW-190
F6F Bearcat
F-4 Phantom

and a bunch more.

You may notice a small obsession with radial engine birds.

That one (P-61) lead me down a little Wikipedia trail to the twin prop F-15 that existed before the later twin jet fighter most of us know as the F-15.

I love learning about almost all warbirds from WWII to present.

Doc Dan wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:32 am

Anyone else interested in these war planes?

Well... yeah!
An easier to gauge question might be, "Is there anyone here who DOESN'T like old warbirds?" There ain't nothin' as lovely as the music of a big radial.

You said your dad was a B-17 jockey? That's pretty bad ***. A few years back, I got the opportunity to poke around a B-17G. The picture below is my aunt and wife at the helm. Despite what they tell you about the marvel of engineering, make no mistake: this is a tiny aluminum tube in the sky. Gunner positions are hard to get to and cramped. To go aft, you need to walk a plank through the bomb bay. I would suppose guys would walk that plank with the doors open, wind blowing, machinery flailing, and giant bombs falling. It all seems as if it would be a bit... disconcerting. But you can bet I'd be first in line to take a ride up and look down through the bay doors. That's got to be quite a rush.

The other picture is a B-25 in a banked turn with an F-86 in the foreground. I like Mitchells... a lot.

ugaarguy wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:25 pm

OldHoosier62 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 5:09 pm

Love Warbirds...Spent many hours building models in my youth.

Favorites include-
P-47 Thunderbolt
A-1 Skyraider
P-61 Black Widow
Focke-Wulf FW-190
F6F Bearcat
F-4 Phantom

and a bunch more.

You may notice a small obsession with radial engine birds.

That one (P-61) lead me down a little Wikipedia trail to the twin prop F-15 that existed before the later twin jet fighter most of us know as the F-15.

I love learning about almost all warbirds from WWII to present.

Want to see a serious twin engined oddity??? Check out the North American F-82 Twin Mustang.

F4 Phantom.

I’ve been fond of it since 1968, when, two weeks after I had arrived in Vietnam, my battery of six M109s was called to cover the exfiltration of a 186th Airborne Brigade LRRP team that was being trapped by the NVA against a shore of the Song Dong Nai. Also called in were a pair of F4s.

As junior Fire Direction Officer, I was tasked with coordinating our fire with their sorties through a Forward Air Controller. Their 20mm cannons and their bombs were unleashed just a half-mile from our fire base. And I had thought artillery made noise.

Not my last heated encounter with a Phantom.

https://airman.dodlive.mil/2019/03/25/b ... -fortress/

http://www.aviation-history.com/boeing/b17.html

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of- ... -42839119/

I grew up around them, and still get that feeling of pride every time I hear a radial engine flying over. My Dad was a DC3 pilot. He did right seat a B25 after the war, which was being used to test something that I can't remember. He said they buzzed a farm and the farmer came out and took a shot at them for scaring his chickens! Simpler, better times. My favorite airplane is the racing P51 Miss America.

OldHoosier62 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 5:14 pm

Water Bug wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 3:51 pm

When it comes to the old warplanes, my favorites are the P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, P-51 Mustang, F4U Corsair, A-1 Skyraider, and AC-47 Spooky (i.e., "Puff, the Magic Dragon").

For the more modern warplanes, the F-15 Eagle, F-14 Tomcat, A-10 Thunderbolt II, and the AC-130 (Spectre, Spooky, Stinger II) are favorites, especially the A-10 and AC-130... the A-10 is one tough aircraft and carries a BIG gun, while the AC-130 has A LOT of guns, especially a HUGE 105 mm howitzer. :)

And, that's what special about all of the aircraft noted above... they all carried/carry GUNS... guns for dogfighting and/or close air support... and, for ground attack, the A-10 and AC-130 do the job quite well with 30 mm and 105 mm of ****, respectively.

Love the big killer birds...I was lucky to teach the M101a2 105mm howitzer support and repair to Airmen at Aberdeen Proving Grounds and later I taught the lighter weight M102a1 105mm howitzer to them when they decided to change pieces. Both of those have been replaced by the L119 105mm howitzer now according to sources in that field.

I recall talking to a colleague who started his Air Force career as an AC-130 maintenance officer... he'd spoken to the pilots and aircrew of the variant in use at that time and was told that the 20 mm and 40 mm cannons could be fired at the same time, but the 105 mm always fired alone.

wrdwrght wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:00 pm

F4 Phantom.

I’ve been fond of it since 1968, when, two weeks after I had arrived in Vietnam, my battery of six M109s was called to cover the exfiltration of a 186th Airborne Brigade LRRP team that was being trapped by the NVA against a shore of the Song Dong Nai. Also called in were a pair of F4s.

As junior Fire Direction Officer, I was tasked with coordinating our fire with their sorties through a Forward Air Controller. Their 20mm cannons and their bombs were unleashed just a half-mile from our fire base. And I had thought artillery made noise.

Not my last heated encounter with a Phantom.

I've always been fond of the F-4 Phantom II as well... it had such a nice look to it with beautiful curves and lines. And, it had a **** of a ROAR at takeoff...

...I recall being on a TWA flight long ago and we were taxiing along toward the main runway when we stopped and the flight attendant came over the intercom. She told us there was going to be a slight delay in taxiing and how TWA was always pursuing faster ways to get its passengers to their destinations. She then said that if we looked out the left windows we'd see two of TWA's newest supersonic acquisitions for doing just that...

...When I looked out the window, I saw two Air National Guard F-4's taxiing on by. They'd apparently been given priority takeoff by the tower over all other aircraft awaiting their turn on the runway... I watched as these F-4s swung onto the main runway, stopped, and stood side by side as they did a quick check of their ailerons and rudders before going to full afterburners and charging down the runway in a full-performance takeoff... man, the THUNDER of their engines penetrated and shook the cabin as they roared off, went airborne, and executed an unrestricted climb. There was an equal roar of cheer and rounds of applause by most of the passengers as the F-4s vanished into the sky. A most impressive and thrilling sight.