What is your favorite WW2 plane? (WW2 discussion)

I vote for P51.

For those who haven't been out yet, definitely make your way to the Collings Foundation museum that recently opened in Stow, MA.

The collection there is just unbelievable, they have a SCUD launcher, V3 "Doodlebug" Rockets a Highins boat that made it to the beaches of Normandy and back, and everything in between a modern M1A1 tank to a French Renault FT. They also do a WWII re-enactment in the fall, with Allied and German tanks and half tracks.

Plus they do the Wings of Freedom tour, to get back on the aircraft topic...

The Collings Foundation - Preserving Living Aviation History
 
My son's favorite is the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, as you could guess by seeing his pinewood derby entry this past year...
p40warhawk.jpg
 
Skysoldier said:
The B-17 Flying Fortress, because my Father was a Navigator with the 100th Bomb Group (Heavy).

I had a lot of respect for his service, and was amazed when I saw a B-17 for the first time, and realized how small they were.

My Dad had to bail out on 3 occasions, and I still have his white scarf made from a panel of his parachute. The were required to destroy the chutes
if they landed in enemy territory, and often traded the silk to the locals for food and help getting back to England. They also would keep a piece for a scarf,
and was worn like a badge.

Dad was lucky, his first two bailouts were in France and Holland, and he made it back without being captured. And on his third bailout, we had already taken back France.

After the war, Dad hated flying, and avoided it like the plague.

View attachment 282021
Click to expand...
a while back i saw a b-17 in the air. never seen one outside of photos, but it was taking off from spending the weekend at an air show a few miles from where we were shooting and flew over us as it took up its course. couldn't believe it was such a huge aircraft for its time...and how slow it traveled. as it headed away from us and probably an estimated good mile away, the silhouette was still quite large and made an impressive sight in the sky. you get a healthy respect for the crew who flew in war time in one of these bombers. i've forgotten most of what i've seen in my lifetime but that image of it in the air stays with me. it's been close to 25 years now.
 
There is a plane not yet mentioned: the Grumman TBF Avenger, a three man torpedo bomber.
Avenger-640x300.jpg


The Battle of Midway took place from 4-7 June 1942. News of the battle was reported from June 5th on. It was the first significant combat use of the Avenger, and 5 of 6 of the first flight were shot down, as well as most of the Devastators it replaced, making Torpedo Bomber pilot arguably the most dangerous job in the war at that time.

There was a young man who like many others his age, decided he wanted to enlist, and was willing to train to be a torpedo bomber pilot because that's what the nation needed. His girl friend of a year and his parents both wanted him to go to college and his parents wouldn't sign the enlistment paperwork.

Conveniently, he graduated HS on his birthday and enlisted the same day - 6/12/41 - and eventually (due to rolling reductions in age and experience requirements) became the youngest Navy pilot of the war. His Avenger was shot down and he was rescued by USS Finback and you can find the video of the rescue on YouTube: just look up the rescue of George HW Bush.....
 
I always knew the TBF had a crew of three but often flew with just two, and I'd always wondered where the third guy sat; all the other WWII planes I'd ever seen are way too small to cram a third person into the fuselage, and there's no extra seat in the middle part of the canopy for the RTO.

So I went out to Collings, and their TBF was on static display. I could walk right up to it and stand up in the open hatch for the RTO and see his little workstation at the bottom of the bird, behind the wings. I was really struck by how huge the TBF was for being a single-engined plane.
 
I like the razorback P-47 and the P-51D... And spitfires and black sheep squadron F-4s and the P-40... Guess I am a fighter guy. I did, however, interview a B-17 radio operator when I was in the sixth grade that said he trained on the Memphis Bell before it went overseas.... so I have a soft spot for those and the Doolittle B-25 raiders... I highly recommend the giant scale R/C fly-in at Wright Patterson to see scale warbirds with real radial engines (and the museum of course).
 
shig said:
I don't think this is from WW2...probably closer to late 70's or early 80's?
Click to expand...

You could be right!
So, I'll update my choice of favorite WWII plane...

003-1.jpg

V-1 Flying Bomb with Pulse-Jet propulsion...
 
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B 17, when I was in high school I had to do a presentation In history class I went all out with a poster board and a model of the Memphis bell

P47 thunderbolt, I would watch dogfights on the history channel there was this one episode titled against all odds one of the stories was a p47 which hot shot to hell and still made it back to base
 
Growing up in the 70's and 80's, if we watched Bah Bah Blacksheep, we were corsair fans. That wing shape is so distinctive.

I too was a modeler, and had 'em all.

British Spitfire had a beautiful shape. Like a p47, but smaller and sexier.

P38 was just cool.
P51 D was a classic.
What about seaplanes? I would have loved flying a PBY
 
#1 - Hellcat. No contest. Badass beast!

Couple of others I’ve always loved (as much as I can love something that wasn't ours anyway)...

Me-163 - You had to be crazy to get anywhere near one of these things, let alone fly it.

Me-262 - Just plain pretty.

Thank god our enemies were led by morons...
 
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teaser452 said:
The B-17. As a kid I was enthralled with it. The Flying Fortress. My dad built a model of it when I was a little kid. Just a beautiful plane.

I read all I could about it. It amazed me that there were men that would fly these into the teeth of German fighters, often with no fighter support of their own.

The ball turret guy had to be the bravest guy in the whole war! Braver than the German submariners.

The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner - Wikipedia
Click to expand...

Was the ball turret more dangerous than the rest of the plane? Can't imagine anywhere was safe from flak or German fighter cannons & machine guns.
 
garandman said:
There is a plane not yet mentioned: the Grumman TBF Avenger, a three man torpedo bomber.
Avenger-640x300.jpg


The Battle of Midway took place from 4-7 June 1942. News of the battle was reported from June 5th on. It was the first significant combat use of the Avenger, and 5 of 6 of the first flight were shot down, as well as most of the Devastators it replaced, making Torpedo Bomber pilot arguably the most dangerous job in the war at that time.

There was a young man who like many others his age, decided he wanted to enlist, and was willing to train to be a torpedo bomber pilot because that's what the nation needed. His girl friend of a year and his parents both wanted him to go to college and his parents wouldn't sign the enlistment paperwork.

Conveniently, he graduated HS on his birthday and enlisted the same day - 6/12/41 - and eventually (due to rolling reductions in age and experience requirements) became the youngest Navy pilot of the war. His Avenger was shot down and he was rescued by USS Finback and you can find the video of the rescue on YouTube: just look up the rescue of George HW Bush.....
Click to expand...

I loved the Avenger cause as a kid I built a model of one, with bomb bay doors that opened, landing gear that extended etc.

There are people who say Bush bailed out of his plane and left his buddy in it while it was still flyable. We'll never know I guess, and I don't want to judge anyone in combat, but it is a bit disturbing.
 
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SERE said:
I have always had a soft spot for rescue aircraft

Post WWII I fell for prop driven FAC/SAR aircraft, O-1 Bird Dog, and the A-10.
Click to expand...

The Cat was an amazing design. Kinda like an American Mosquito. She served in many roles and was always an unsung hero in the background. Long range patrols, torpedos and depth charges, bombs, rescue and resupply she was still very actively flying decades after the war.
 
At a military meet in Texas, WWII aircraft flew in from all over. A Japanese Zero radioed in for landing instructions and was told the the field was dirty and to take one turn around and then request landing instructions. The Zero took a lazy loop around the airfield and requested and received authorization to land. As the Zero was coming in on final, the tower radioed the zero with, "Check your six!" The pilot of the Zero did so and discovered two Corsairs behind him.
 
P51, in highschool we had a BS class because we could not have 2 study periods. So they made up a class called continuing technology or some shit.
The teacher was a WWII P51 pilot and often talked about all rhings technical with flying and dog fighting ect. Liked his demos with little planes on long dowels , approach angles turn speeds climbing and diving tactics
 
Varmint said:
//There are people who say Bush bailed out of his plane and left his buddy in it while it was still flyable. We'll never know I guess, and I don't want to judge anyone in combat, but it is a bit disturbing.
Click to expand...
That does not in any way square with what happened, which is reported in detail many places. It strikes me as a shameful and politicized armchair quarterback opinion.

Keep in mind he was a 20 year old volunteer pilot who was not particularly skilled, and volunteered for torpedo bomber duty when it was known that was one of the most dangerous occupations in the military.

How George H.W. Bush survived a harrowing brush with death in World War II

“A Navy animation shows his plane was hit as he began his run into the target. But he stayed with it until he dropped his bombs, before trying to get back over water.

Cox explained fliers who parachuted down onto the island were executed [And there were reports of Cannibalism - Which turned out to be true] . So out over the water, Mr. Bush told his crew to bail out.

"Two parachutes came out of the aircraft. One opened, which was presumably Lt. j.g. Bush. The other, what's called a streamer — the parachute didn't open," Cox said.

Neither of the other two crewmen were seen again. Mr. Bush landed in the water and swam to a life raft.”

The mission is detailed starting at 1:45.
 

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