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Posted: 4/22/2022 10:33:43 PM EDT
[#1]
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Posted: 4/22/2022 10:36:20 PM EDT
[#2]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The Hellcat, Corsair, and Thunderbolt all used the same engine - air-cooled Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engine Magnificent engine. |
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Posted: 4/22/2022 10:38:53 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Want to see something impressive? Step up to a Grumman TBF Avenger. It’s a flying box truck that could sink a ship. Huge plane. Appropriate that it shares its nickname with the Tomcat. Both huge.  Attached File Attached File Attached File |
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Posted: 4/22/2022 10:44:43 PM EDT
[#4]
Some Cool "fact-toids"
* The P-47 Thunderbolt, the F6F Hellcat & the F4U Corsair all shared the SAME Engine (the P&W R-2800 Double Wasp) It was Turbosupercharged on the P-47 Thunderbolt (which is a big reason why the Jug has such a HUGE fuselage to hold to the Turbo, Intercoolers, Waste Gate & the duct work coming from the exhaust & going back to the intake along other necessities ...  * The F6F Hellcat has the largest wing area of any WWII single engined fighter. (low wing loading was a reason it was so forgiving and able to follow the nimble Zero & Oscar in combat) All that wing area reduced top speed due to drag (compared to the P-47 & F4U), but it made the Hellcat the easiest WWII fighter to land and launch. * The F4U Corsair was considered "too hot" to fly from carriers shortly after it was introduced. The first carrier fighter to exceed 400mph, the Corsair suffered a number of serious problems. From sudden stall with unexpected drop of the left wing, the huge Horsepower & prop could torque roll a slow & low Corsair straight into the ocean inverted if the pilot added a lot of power at low speed, the landing gear had too much bounce, and the long nose (due to a fuel tank ahead of the pilot) made seeing over the nose impossible when flying low & slow with the plane was at high angles of attack as in flying slowly to land on a carrier. The US Navy gave the Corsair to the British Royal Navy and contacted Vought about the problems. Vought affixed a stall tab on the left wing to prevent the sudden & unexpected drop that has been so dangerous at low speeds & low altitudes, along with recalibrating the oelos to dampen the bounce for better landings. The Royal navy worked out the "Continuous Curve" approach, that allowed the pilot to keep his eyes on the carrier flight deck while bringing his Corsair around to land. The Corsair then was used successfully by the USN as one of the outstanding fighters of WWII (even serving into Korea as a "strike" aircraft for ground support of the Marines) BIGGER_HAMMER  |
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Posted: 4/22/2022 11:00:03 PM EDT
[#5]
Didn’t many Japanese pilots fatally mistake the Hellcat for Wildcats?
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Posted: 4/22/2022 11:02:20 PM EDT
[#6]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I mean they were great planes, why do you call 50 cals cannon? Usually cannons had shells that exploded. No need to exaggerate. But my original point was most US fighters were armed with what most countries would call "cannons" in sets of 4 6 or sometimes 8 making them very powerful in comparison and that is no "exaggeration". Usually one short burst would set a zero or 109 off. But in comparison there are accounts of zeros shooting their whole ammo load into hellcats and not splashing them so there is the difference to me cannon or not. |
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Posted: 4/22/2022 11:03:18 PM EDT
[#7]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Didn’t many Japanese pilots fatally mistake the Hellcat for Wildcats? At least one did. The Zero would go into a zoom climb. If a Wildcat tried to follow it would run out of energy, stall and the Zero would come back around and blow it out of the sky. The Hellcat could keep up in a climb. When Japanese pilots would try this move the Hellcat driver would just line up the gunsights and... |
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Posted: 4/22/2022 11:08:00 PM EDT
[#8]
Quote HistoryQuoted: At least one did. The Zero would go into a zoom climb. If a Wildcat tried to follow it would run out of energy, stall and the Zero would come back around and blow it out of the sky. The Hellcat could keep up in a climb. When Japanese pilots would try this move the Hellcat driver would just line up the gunsights and... …..brrrrrrttttt. Splash one Zero |
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Posted: 4/22/2022 11:40:43 PM EDT
[#9]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The humble Hellcat had more kills than any other US fighter plane! You sure about that? |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 12:24:32 AM EDT
[#10]
Quote HistoryQuoted: You sure about that? No doubt some of the numbers of U.S. WWII fighter kills need clarification. The P51 usually gets a small lead in enemy aircraft destroyed over the Hellcat. However, there is a gray area about how many of those planes were destroyed on the ground vs. air-to-air combat. Both fighters destroyed aircraft on the ground, but a lot of WWII historians claim the Hellcat had many more air-to-air kills. That kind of fits the nature of the theater the Hellcat fought in. Sure, the island hopping scenarios presented grounded aircraft being destroyed, but carrier/fleet protection probably yielded more air-to-air kills vs. bomber escorting. And yes, there's the argument that the Japanese threw planes and aircrews at the fleet and land based airfields, and a fair amount of those Japanese planes and pilots were subpar. Arguments like these have pros and cons about the "best fighter" of the war. When the dust settles, there are probably about 5 U.S. fighters that just flat kicked ass for various reasons and situations. I always liked the term used for Grumman Aircraft Engineering back in the day..."Iron Works". |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 12:30:12 AM EDT
[#11]
Tag
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Posted: 4/23/2022 12:43:52 AM EDT
[#12]
Quote HistoryQuoted: ... And yes, there's the argument that the Japanese threw planes and aircrews at the fleet and land based airfields, and a fair amount of those Japanese planes and pilots were subpar. ... The Quality of late war German pilots was total & complete Scheisse ... The Germans literally didn't have any "safe space" to practice flying without risk of being attacked, either in the air or on the ground, combined with the severe shortage of Aviation fuel meant that the Pilots of 1944 - 1945 were nothing like the elite of the Luftwaffe of 1940-1942. Contrast that with the British Pilots training in Canada, and American Pilots who could practice in safety and accumulate many air hours with qualified instructors. BIGGER_HAMMER |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 12:51:07 AM EDT
[#13]
The sheer number of aircraft designs that went from drawing board to battle in a 5 year period never ceases to amaze me.
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Posted: 4/23/2022 12:56:03 AM EDT
[#14]
Also many of the Hellcats kills came at the expense of dive and torpedo bombers of the IJN. And late war pilot quality.
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Posted: 4/23/2022 12:59:44 AM EDT
[#15]
Hellcat FTW
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Posted: 4/23/2022 1:15:38 AM EDT
[#16]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I think it was a vision issue. The nose was too long to see around when landing. I believe that was the main issue. It's pretty tough to Hook the wire on a ship that's moving when you can't see it. It was also found that the Corsair's left wing could stall and drop rapidly and without warning during slow carrier landings. and tall landing gear in order to accommodate its oversized propeller. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 1:19:26 AM EDT
[#17]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I believe that was the main issue. It's pretty tough to Hook the wire on a ship that's moving when you can't see it. It was also found that the Corsair's left wing could stall and drop rapidly and without warning during slow carrier landings. and tall landing gear in order to accommodate its oversized propeller. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: I think it was a vision issue. The nose was too long to see around when landing. I believe that was the main issue. It's pretty tough to Hook the wire on a ship that's moving when you can't see it. It was also found that the Corsair's left wing could stall and drop rapidly and without warning during slow carrier landings. and tall landing gear in order to accommodate its oversized propeller. Big prop meant tall gear. And a fast landing speed. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 1:21:27 AM EDT
[#18]
My mom's uncle (my great uncle? Grand uncle? I dunno) flew hellcats in WWII. He didn't like talking about it so I don't know if he had any kills. He died in a car crash when I was in my teens so I never asked him about it I was just always told he doesn't like to talk about it and never got on another airplane after the war.
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Posted: 4/23/2022 1:25:33 AM EDT
[#19]
Dick Bong, smoke on that!!!
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Posted: 4/23/2022 1:28:30 AM EDT
[#20]
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Posted: 4/23/2022 1:45:57 AM EDT
[#21]
Quote HistoryQuoted: No doubt some of the numbers of U.S. WWII fighter kills need clarification. The P51 usually gets a small lead in enemy aircraft destroyed over the Hellcat. However, there is a gray area about how many of those planes were destroyed on the ground vs. air-to-air combat. Both fighters destroyed aircraft on the ground, but a lot of WWII historians claim the Hellcat had many more air-to-air kills. That kind of fits the nature of the theater the Hellcat fought in. Sure, the island hopping scenarios presented grounded aircraft being destroyed, but carrier/fleet protection probably yielded more air-to-air kills vs. bomber escorting. And yes, there's the argument that the Japanese threw planes and aircrews at the fleet and land based airfields, and a fair amount of those Japanese planes and pilots were subpar. Arguments like these have pros and cons about the "best fighter" of the war. When the dust settles, there are probably about 5 U.S. fighters that just flat kicked ass for various reasons and situations. I always liked the term used for Grumman Aircraft Engineering back in the day..."Iron Works". The f6f could take a hell of a lot of punishment and keep flying. Self-sealing rubber gas tanks, armor to protect the pilot, even some of the first bulletproof glass I believe. The air cooled radial engine could take direct hits and still make it back to the boat. The Hellcat and most Grummans were tough to bring down. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 3:59:16 AM EDT
[#22]
 Corsair and Hellcat Vs. Bf 109 and Fw 190 |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 4:39:39 AM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Mainly referring to size as most other countries used rifle caliber MG's in fighters and even most bombers. Those bigger were usually referred to as "cannons". .50 is 12.7mm or in the case of German 151 was 15mm and were called cannons as opposed to rifle calibers. Japanese sometimes had larger "cannons" as well but not as many on one wing in comparison. But I know by our definition the .50 cal is an MG but just sayin' there is a huge difference between the two. As in the penetration of an armored seat from behind vs's the two. But my original point was most US fighters were armed with what most countries would call "cannons" in sets of 4 6 or sometimes 8 making them very powerful in comparison and that is no "exaggeration". Usually one short burst would set a zero or 109 off. But in comparison there are accounts of zeros shooting their whole ammo load into hellcats and not splashing them so there is the difference to me cannon or not. 12.7, 14.5 and 15mm are heavy machine guns not cannons. Yes, the are larger then rifle caliber of .30, .303 , 7.7 or 7.9mm. Cannons are classified as above 17.5mm and are capable of carrying a explosive warhead. Heavy MGs don't but still rely on kinetic energy for penetration. Most common aircraft cannon was 20mm. CD |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 4:43:49 AM EDT
[#24]
Quote HistoryQuoted: I believe that was the main issue. It's pretty tough to Hook the wire on a ship that's moving when you can't see it. It was also found that the Corsair's left wing could stall and drop rapidly and without warning during slow carrier landings. and tall landing gear in order to accommodate its oversized propeller. Prop on the F4U was 11 feet. The P47, same engine increased that to 12 feet! CD |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 4:52:35 AM EDT
[#25]
Remember the North American Mustang built in 1942 had a rocky start also. As originally built with the Allison engine wasn't a high altitude performer. USAAF designated it the A36 Apache ground attack. Brits added the Rolls Royce Merlin engine from the Spitfire (USAAF also used).
The P40F/L models used the US produced Packard built Merlin V-1650. P40 was the third most produced US fighter during the war. Another medium bomber that don't get credit but used mainly our allies thru lead lease was the A20 Havoc/Boston CD |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 6:55:41 AM EDT
[#26]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The humble Hellcat had more kills than any other US fighter plane! I used to be a P-51 Mustang fan in my youth, then I did more reading now consider the Hellcat the best fighter of WWII. By "best," I mean "carried the most weight in a contest of carrying weight." |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 7:25:38 AM EDT
[#27]
The hellcat was one of the sexiest, powerful, and graceful planes of all time.
Hell it was so successful it soldiered in into the joy age in Korea. Here are pics of one being worked on in Colorado Springs.  Attached File Attached File |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 7:35:54 AM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryYe Olde Flying Beer Keg. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 8:11:12 AM EDT
[#29]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Big prop meant tall gear. And a fast landing speed. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: I think it was a vision issue. The nose was too long to see around when landing. I believe that was the main issue. It's pretty tough to Hook the wire on a ship that's moving when you can't see it. It was also found that the Corsair's left wing could stall and drop rapidly and without warning during slow carrier landings. and tall landing gear in order to accommodate its oversized propeller. Big prop meant tall gear. And a fast landing speed. Big Prop is the reason for the district reverse Gull Wing. To shorten the length of the landing gear legs while still providing clearance for the big Prop to harness the power of the P&W R2800 double wasp engine. Bigger_Hammer
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Posted: 4/23/2022 8:14:26 AM EDT
[#30]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Mainly referring to size as most other countries used rifle caliber MG's in fighters and even most bombers. Those bigger were usually referred to as "cannons". .50 is 12.7mm or in the case of German 151 was 15mm and were called cannons as opposed to rifle calibers. Japanese sometimes had larger "cannons" as well but not as many on one wing in comparison. But I know by our definition the .50 cal is an MG but just sayin' there is a huge difference between the two. As in the penetration of an armored seat from behind vs's the two. But my original point was most US fighters were armed with what most countries would call "cannons" in sets of 4 6 or sometimes 8 making them very powerful in comparison and that is no "exaggeration". Usually one short burst would set a zero or 109 off. But in comparison there are accounts of zeros shooting their whole ammo load into hellcats and not splashing them so there is the difference to me cannon or not. The p47's 8 .50 cal machine guns together had a rate of fire about equal to that of a minigun. You have to wonder if that influenced the design criteria when they developed the minigun. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 8:16:23 AM EDT
[#31]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Always been sorta partial to the helldiver myself https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/62477/08DC9ED8-9777-4C2C-96DB-5E01851EF9DE_jpe-2358690.JPG  Attached FileSB2C Son of a Bitch, 2nd Class...  It was not nearly as loved as the SBD-5 Dauntless and had LOTS of flaws that needed attention to bring it to the fleet. It had low speed handling issues (big problem on a carrier aircraft). Lone Star Flight Museum in Houston has what I think is the only airworthy one still flying. Bigger_Hammer |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 8:25:56 AM EDT
[#32]
Quote HistoryQuoted: There weren't any Brits around. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: Quoted: As the poster before you stated - those P51 fighters got some good kills....! https://www.gijobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Screen-Shot-2018-05-04-at-9.06.35-AM.png Why did he shoot down an American? There weren't any Brits around. ?????? |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 8:26:38 AM EDT
[#33]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The same can be said of Germany really. Relying on the 109 the entire war as a main fighter Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: The P-51 and 47 were better fighters and facing better competition. The F-6 was a great carrier plane and did an amazing job in the Pacific theater, but it’s competition largely stayed stagnant from a technology standpoint and the pilots degraded rapidly The same can be said of Germany really. Relying on the 109 the entire war as a main fighter A Bf-109K was over 100 mph faster than an E and 150 mph faster than those flown in the Spanish Civil War. It wasn’t exactly the same plane and still a plenty viable fighter,lack of fuel and pilots not withstanding. It is untrue that Japanese fighter technology remained stagnant,it was a matter of production ability and running out of experienced pilots. The N1K was a quite good aircraft,the Japanese just had very few and even fewer pilots. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 8:32:30 AM EDT
[#34]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The hellcat was one of the sexiest, powerful, and graceful planes of all time. Hell it was so successful it soldiered in into the joy age in Korea. Here are pics of one being worked on in Colorado Springs. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/231252/20201010_150522_jpg-2358769.JPGhttps://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/231252/20201010_150911_jpg-2358770.JPG They have quite a way to go on their work on that...they still need to straighten the wings back out. You do realize that's a Corsair and not a Hellcat, right?
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Posted: 4/23/2022 8:44:53 AM EDT
[#35]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Yeah, didn't the Navy pretty much give away the Corsair to the Marines because they didn't work with their carriers as well? I recall the Brits were given Corsairs too and could not make them work well on carriers. Sucks cause the Corsairs were awesome fighters but sucked for carrier use. I think they just plain bounced to much making them very hard to land on such a short a strip. But used by Marines on a long island runway they were great. The Brits were the first to successfully employ the F4U on carriers. The characteristics of the F4U, particularly the long nose and resulting poor downward visibility, necessitated a different approach to the carrier. Rather than straight in, they used a curving approach which allowed the pilot to keep the landing area in sight during the approach. IIRC, the landing gear required some minor modifications to reduce bounce on landing. Once that was done, the F4U successfully operated from US carriers, and were used on carriers by the Navy during both WWII and Korea. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 9:20:48 AM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The hellcat was one of the sexiest, powerful, and graceful planes of all time. Hell it was so successful it soldiered in into the joy age in Korea. Here are pics of one being worked on in Colorado Springs. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/231252/20201010_150522_jpg-2358769.JPGhttps://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/231252/20201010_150911_jpg-2358770.JPG  That is a Corsair. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 9:36:58 AM EDT
[#37]
Quote HistoryEven kinda looks like one. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 9:37:03 AM EDT
[#38]
Quote HistoryQuoted: That is a Corsair. Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: The hellcat was one of the sexiest, powerful, and graceful planes of all time. Hell it was so successful it soldiered in into the joy age in Korea. Here are pics of one being worked on in Colorado Springs. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/231252/20201010_150522_jpg-2358769.JPGhttps://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/231252/20201010_150911_jpg-2358770.JPG That is a Corsair. Look man, it's too early in the day to be sober! |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 9:40:29 AM EDT
[#39]
Quote HistoryQuoted: the Wildcat is by far my favorite naval fighter of the war... probably because the movie "Midway" sparked a lifelong interest in history when I was a kid. I think it's a great lookin' All-American aircraft. https://3snpkrcw0w-flywheel.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Wildcat-Plane.jpg http://ww2fighters.e-monsite.com/medias/images/fm-2-wildcats-vc-80-uss-manila-bay-cve-61-1944.jpg?fx=r_900_723 https://sep.yimg.com/ay/airplanepictures/when-you-see-zeros-fight-em-by-william-s-phillips-f4f-wildcat-2.jpg https://editorial01.shutterstock.com/preview-440/7404732a/3391a1fa/Shutterstock_7404732a.jpg Joe Foss had kind of an amazing life story.. |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 9:49:17 AM EDT
[#40]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Prop on the F4U was 11 feet. The P47, same engine increased that to 12 feet! CD |
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Posted: 4/23/2022 9:58:28 AM EDT
[#41]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The p47's 8 .50 cal machine guns together had a rate of fire about equal to that of a minigun. You have to wonder if that influenced the design criteria when they developed the minigun. Issue is weight of those AN/M2 at 800rpm or AN/M3 (1200 rpm) .50 cal machine guns was 61 lbs each. Problem is that a .50 cal is kinetic energy weapon IE further away less energy. A cannon has an exploding warhead that does more damage to an aircraft. During Korea the P-80, F84 and F86 had 6 .50s and engagement windows opened up a bit. Someone remembered that Richard Gatling but an electric motor on his Gatling gun back in 1896 and the M61 Vulcan cannon was born. M61 was used on the F4 first in pods in Vietnam and later internally on US aircraft. US Army used it as towed or tracked ADA. Navy still uses it as the Phalanx CWIS and Army now as C-RAM. Later during Vietnam it was scaled down to 7.62mm. Hence the name "minigun" CD |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 9:07:21 AM EDT
[#42]
I meant to reply to this last week. I just happened to see either a Wildcat or Hellcat on final to COS last week. Just a little to far to distinguish between the 2. I'd swear it was painted light gray or silver. Wish I could have gotten a better view.
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Posted: 4/30/2022 9:22:11 AM EDT
[#43]
don't know how to fly, couldn't afford to buy one even if i did
so i just collect their gear                  
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Posted: 4/30/2022 11:43:17 AM EDT
[#45]
Quote HistoryQuoted: Some Cool "fact-toids" * The P-47 Thunderbolt, the F6F Hellcat & the F4U Corsair all shared the SAME Engine (the P&W R-2800 Double Wasp) It was Turbosupercharged on the P-47 Thunderbolt (which is a big reason why the Jug has such a HUGE fuselage to hold to the Turbo, Intercoolers, Waste Gate & the duct work coming from the exhaust & going back to the intake along other necessities ... https://s1.cdn.autoevolution.com/images/news/gallery/how-turbochargers-helped-the-allies-win-world-war-ii_3.jpg * The F6F Hellcat has the largest wing area of any WWII single engined fighter. (low wing loading was a reason it was so forgiving and able to follow the nimble Zero & Oscar in combat) All that wing area reduced top speed due to drag (compared to the P-47 & F4U), but it made the Hellcat the easiest WWII fighter to land and launch. * The F4U Corsair was considered "too hot" to fly from carriers shortly after it was introduced. The first carrier fighter to exceed 400mph, the Corsair suffered a number of serious problems. From sudden stall with unexpected drop of the left wing, the huge Horsepower & prop could torque roll a slow & low Corsair straight into the ocean inverted if the pilot added a lot of power at low speed, the landing gear had too much bounce, and the long nose (due to a fuel tank ahead of the pilot) made seeing over the nose impossible when flying low & slow with the plane was at high angles of attack as in flying slowly to land on a carrier. The US Navy gave the Corsair to the British Royal Navy and contacted Vought about the problems. Vought affixed a stall tab on the left wing to prevent the sudden & unexpected drop that has been so dangerous at low speeds & low altitudes, along with recalibrating the oelos to dampen the bounce for better landings. The Royal navy worked out the "Continuous Curve" approach, that allowed the pilot to keep his eyes on the carrier flight deck while bringing his Corsair around to land. The Corsair then was used successfully by the USN as one of the outstanding fighters of WWII (even serving into Korea as a "strike" aircraft for ground support of the Marines) BIGGER_HAMMER https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/spoiler-alert-1-180977803/ |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 11:44:45 AM EDT
[#46]
Quote HistoryQuoted: The Quality of late war German pilots was total & complete Scheisse ... The Germans literally didn't have any "safe space" to practice flying without risk of being attacked, either in the air or on the ground, combined with the severe shortage of Aviation fuel meant that the Pilots of 1944 - 1945 were nothing like the elite of the Luftwaffe of 1940-1942. Contrast that with the British Pilots training in Canada, and American Pilots who could practice in safety and accumulate many air hours with qualified instructors. BIGGER_HAMMER Quote HistoryQuoted: Quoted: ... And yes, there's the argument that the Japanese threw planes and aircrews at the fleet and land based airfields, and a fair amount of those Japanese planes and pilots were subpar. ... The Quality of late war German pilots was total & complete Scheisse ... The Germans literally didn't have any "safe space" to practice flying without risk of being attacked, either in the air or on the ground, combined with the severe shortage of Aviation fuel meant that the Pilots of 1944 - 1945 were nothing like the elite of the Luftwaffe of 1940-1942. Contrast that with the British Pilots training in Canada, and American Pilots who could practice in safety and accumulate many air hours with qualified instructors. BIGGER_HAMMER |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 12:13:25 PM EDT
[#48]
The F6F Hellcat, P-47 Jug, A-26 Invader, and F4U Corsair all used the same engine....the damn near bulletproof Pratt and Whitney R2800 Double Wasp radial engine
There's stories of these having cylinders shot out of them and still running The Jug,. specifically the long range P-47N is probably one of my favorite WWII fighters. What's not to love about eight .50 cals and that wonderful engine N model Jug  Attached File |
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Posted: 4/30/2022 1:45:40 PM EDT
[#50]
Local Navy Hellcat Pilot I get to talk to every week or so. It's an honor to just know the man. He turns 102 years old tomorrow.
 World War II Fighter Pilot Talks Fighting Japanese Zeros, Shooting Gunboats, and Life on The Pacific |
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