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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2017 14:57:04 GMT -7
Alright... I don't have Photoshop (and never installed gimp on my netbook) But here is one of my favorite planes dressed up using MS PowerPoint. The Ford Flivver 2A. Henry Ford wanted to have a plane that any guy could buy and fly. The result was a little plane, powered by a 2-cyl Ford Engine. Unfortunately the pilot (a friend of Henry's) died flying the plane when it crashed into the water off of Melbourne Florida. Some guys in my home town build a replica in the 1990's. They flew it around for a few years before donating it to a Museum. When I still had FS:ACOF on my PC, the little Flivver was my favorite plane to fly.
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 27, 2017 15:48:33 GMT -7
The remaining airplane of the IJN trio that were used to attack Midway Island. It was the Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" torpedo bombers. This plane had some good success in the early war years, but it was already considered obsolete by Midway...
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 27, 2017 16:29:59 GMT -7
The primary USN fighter flying off the carriers, on June 4, 1942, were Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat aircraft. this fighter shared many of the same problems as the F2A-3 Buffalo. They were heavy and less agile then the Zero, but with combat tactics they cold best it.....improved Wildcats were just beginning to be brought into the fleet....That would he the F4F-4
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 27, 2017 21:19:02 GMT -7
Alright... I don't have Photoshop (and never installed gimp on my netbook) But here is one of my favorite planes dressed up using MS PowerPoint. The Ford Flivver 2A. View AttachmentView AttachmentView AttachmentHenry Ford wanted to have a plane that any guy could buy and fly. The result was a little plane, powered by a 2-cyl Ford Engine. Unfortunately the pilot (a friend of Henry's) died flying the plane when it crashed into the water off of Melbourne Florida. Some guys in my home town build a replica in the 1990's. They flew it around for a few years before donating it to a Museum. When I still had FS:ACOF on my PC, the little Flivver was my favorite plane to fly. Awesome aircraft and great work on dressing it up....
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 0:01:11 GMT -7
Now for a little change! Operation Downfall is on...The allies are landing on Honshu...The Japanese are responding with with everything they have...and well, jet combat becomes a reality.. Here is the IJN's special attack aircraft, the Nakajima "Kikka" or "Orange Blossom" also know as the Kōkoku Nigō Heiki (皇国二号兵器 "Imperial Weapon No.2"). These jets were designed to be massed produced by unskilled labor, and that made them a very rough aircraft compared to the American jets they would have faced. They were designed for Kamikaze use, by using their speed to fly through the US Navy's CAPs and then hitting the fleet. Again they did not share the speed that you would have found with the American jets, but they would have out ran just about any piston engine machine. The planes were scheduled to be built by both Nakajima and Yokosuka, and this has lead to erroneous designations such as J9N1 and J9Y1. Again, this is due to lack of information by most historians. These planes would not receive a designation like this, because like most other weapons designed for suicide purposes they just received a name...in this case the Orange Blossom.
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 8:01:54 GMT -7
The plane that would have defended the carriers, from the "Kikka",would have been the McDonnell FH-1 Phantom fighter, seen here for flying a close air support (CAS) mission over the beaches of Japan. Here it is carrying Napalm tanks, rockets and bombs. This plane would have been at home flying an intercept mission as well or standing the CAP with drop tanks in place of the ordinance it is carrying. The Phantom was developed to meet USN requests after the Navy had tested three borrowed Airacomet fighters. with out drag inducing ordinance or drop tanks this plane could have easily overcome and taken down the "Kikka".
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 12:17:56 GMT -7
WE shift from Japan 1946, back to 1945 over England....The Army Air Forces' new jet is being readied for war...I give you the Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star. No doubt it would have been in the skies over Japan as well.
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 15:37:35 GMT -7
You can't talk about U.S. Army jets and not mention the first... Here we have the Bell P-59B Aracomet. This bird is a very nice machine to fly...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2017 15:53:15 GMT -7
WE shift from Japan 1946, back to 1945 over England....The Army Air Forces' new jet is being readied for war...I give you the Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star. No doubt it would have been in the skies over Japan as well. There is a lot of P-38 Lighting in the P-80. Kelley Johnson was in a powerful hurry to get this one to the USAAF.
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 17:01:35 GMT -7
WE shift from Japan 1946, back to 1945 over England....The Army Air Forces' new jet is being readied for war...I give you the Lockheed P-80A Shooting Star. No doubt it would have been in the skies over Japan as well. There is a lot of P-38 Lighting in the P-80. Kelley Johnson was in a powerful hurry to get this one to the USAAF. U.S.A.A.F….that is one of my pet peeves…There was never a USAAF. There was never an independent force by that name, but it has become so prevalent that people actually believe there was a United States Army Air Force. That was never the case…in official terms it was referred to as Army Air Forces. It was a division in the US Army’s headquarters…that was divided into three forces….Army Ground Forces, Army Service Forces and Army Air Forces. Pilots, ground crew and specific aircraft technicians (personal) were assigned to the Army Air Corps; which was a branch of service, much like the infantry or artillery. This personal, equipment, stations, and aviation related schools belonged to the Army Air Forces (it was always said plural…there never was an Army Air Force). The only air force in terms was the numbered air forces like the Eighth Air Force or the Fifteenth Air Force. During this time frame it was the practice to write out the name of the AF being talked about. These size of a unit was treated like a Field Army would be Army Ground Forces; i.e. Third Army. Army Air Forces would be filled out with people from all the other “arms and services” branches. An example would be Military Police assigned to guard bases or “ordinance corps” folks responsible for keeping the bombs and bullets ready for the planes. USAAF…has become a crutch for lazy historians.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2017 17:52:05 GMT -7
Fair enough. I was lazy there. It's easier to type USAAF than U. S. Army Air Corps. I've always thought USAAF was U. S. Army Air Forces though. Not a distinct branch, but a segment of the Army.
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 18:10:42 GMT -7
Fair enough. I was lazy there. It's easier to type USAAF than U. S. Army Air Corps. I've always thought USAAF was U. S. Army Air Forces though. Not a distinct branch, but a segment of the Army. As a historian, it is just one of my pet peeves....
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2017 19:11:25 GMT -7
As much research as you have clearly done, you're totally entitled to a few peeves
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 19:44:15 GMT -7
I mentioned the Ryan Fireball earlier in this thread; it has to be one of the most interesting airplanes to enter into service of the United States Navy. It came about because the apparently inherent mistrust the conservative USN has for all thins new. In the 1943, the Borough of Aeronautics still had miss givings about jet propulsion, but they wanted to also see what could be done with jets on a carrier, so they came up with the idea of building and aircraft with mix propulsion. So the result was the FR-1 Fireball that had both a 1,350 hp Wright R-1820-72W Cyclone nine cylinder radial engine with water injection and a 1,600 lb thrust General Electric J31 (1-16) turbojet engine. Both of these engines were modified to use the same 120 octane AVGAS. This combination of power plants gave the aircraft some unique qualities. The idea was for the airplane to operate on piston power until the extra speed was needed and then thrust would be brought up on the jet, to give it that extra speed. The efficiency of the R-1820 meant the plane could loiter longer then a pure jet could. Another thing the plane could operate on either power plant alone. The plane would usually leave the carrier on piston power and land on piston power, but it could also conduct catshots and traps on jet power alone as well. The radial engine meant the plane also maintained the agility of a piston engine fighter. The plane would have been operated from escort carriers (CVE) and small deck fleet carriers like USS Ranger and the Independence class light carriers (CVL). In fact if the invasion of Japan would have happened, the USS Ranger would have operated a mixed group of F8F Bearcat and FR Fireball fighters was scheduled to provide most of the CAP (Combat Air Patrol) for the 7th Fleet's transports. Among the missions the plane would have flown also included CAS as well, it could carry rockets, bombs and napalm. By January, 1945, the USN had ordered around 1,800 of these wonderful little planes... There is a story that mentions a flight, of Fireballs, from VF-66 scared the heck of a United Airlines DC-4 crew, when they buzzed them just on jet power…the DC-4 logged it in their log of what looked to be a flight of fighters having engine trouble. You have to remember jets were still a secret to most people in 1945!
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 21:13:47 GMT -7
Some more thoughts on the Fireball...
This thing has a wide range of capablities depending on what you are doing with her...
When you have her just running on the R-1820 alone she is capable of about 300 mph IAS. This puts her at about the same conditions as the FM-2 Wildcat that she was going to replace. and when you take her to cruise (about 66 percent throttle and 2100 rpm) her cruise speed drops down to around 220 mph IAS. This keeps her roughly on par with a Wildcat. The plane also has good agility on the Cyclone.
On the J31 alone the bird achieves only about 200 mph at full throttle, and when you set her to cruise her speed drops to 150 mph IAS. So you can see why the turbo jet here is considered a booster to the radial engine. Due to being under powered on the jet she handles very sluggish. It was only advice to use the jet alone in an emergency.
When both engines are bring used the airplane in a flat out run can achieve around 410 mph IAS with a cruise of around 250 knots.
So i think you can see the advantages and disadvantages the Fireball would offer
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 28, 2017 23:34:00 GMT -7
Without all the technical help the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy received form the British Royal Air Force, their jet program probably wouldn't have born fruit until after the war. The assistance helped the Americans gain at least a year in development time and both the Bell P-59 and Ryan FR-1 were direct results of that assistance. So to give tribute to the Royal Air Force, i have to post up the Gloster Meteor F.3...These birds were a good counter the V-1 Buzz Bombs
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 29, 2017 12:39:35 GMT -7
One of the great airplanes that should have made it into the war...The Grumman F7F-3 Tigercat...it had trouble during carrier suitability trials...it was heavy, but they did work it out...but the damage to the planes reputation was done...It was passed to the Marines, but it also would have operated off the Midway class carriers during the invasion of Japan
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Post by Deleted on Jul 29, 2017 15:22:07 GMT -7
I was at a job interview and the manager of the facility had a great office with a huge window looking out over the airport. He asked me a question and before I could answer an F7F-3 took off. I was out of my chair and at teh window before I could even stop myself.
The guy just laughed and said, "Happens every damned time. Don't worry about it." They offered me a job, but I went with the commuter airline instead of the large FBO paint shop.
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 29, 2017 16:16:30 GMT -7
The last of the Grumman cat piston fighters...and one of my favorite planes to fly in the simulator is the Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat....
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 29, 2017 16:44:04 GMT -7
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 29, 2017 17:57:06 GMT -7
Back to the early 1930's and operating off the USS Ranger....A Curtiss F11C-2 Goshawk!
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 29, 2017 23:09:17 GMT -7
One of the oddities in my virtual hangers....the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender in its final form would have been a great airplane, except it was designed to meet an Army Air Forces requirement that failed to materialize from the enemy. It was designed as an interceptor to engage long range heavy bombers. It was designed to fight aircraft that were along the lines of the Boeing B-17 and the Consolidated B-24. It was designed to be able to fight these aircraft at altitudes between 20,000 to 30,000 ft. ASL, and it showed what you could do with a properly turbocharged Allison V-1710 engine. The Ascender could cruise at this altitude at 300 mph!!!!, but that said its top speed wasn't much above that at 360 mph IAS. This high speed was attributed to the combination of the engine and the aeronautical design of the air-frame. The aircraft also had an agility that was considered exceptional. Even with all its attributes as an interceptor, it failed to be able to adapt to other roles. It was thought not able to carry enough ordinance to allow it to be used in close air support and it wouldn't be able to carry enough external fuel to be a good escort. It proved to be to narrowly designed by Curtiss... Correction: the speeds talked about up here aren't indicated air speed (IAS), but should have been listed as true air speed (TAS)!
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 30, 2017 2:18:08 GMT -7
One of the Ascender's challenger for the interceptor contract was the Consolidated-Vultee XP-54 "Swoose Goose"! this plane also meet the requirements for the contract, but it wasn't as agile as the Ascender, the engineers felt this wasn't a major problem, because as an interceptor the Goose wasn't likely to find itself in dog fight. the XP-54 was a very complicated plane, with many features that set it apart from other fighters. One of them being is that the pilot's seat was on an elevator that lifted him into the pressurized cockpit of the aircraft from below. It had a very heavy armament, and it had one of the most powerful engines developed during World War II. It was powered by the Lycoming XH-2470 24 Cylinder opposed piston engine, which was in fact two 12 cylinder O-1430 engines stacked on each other and connected to a common propeller shaft. This engine came out of the Army Air Corps desire to produce what they called a Hyper engine (a liquid-cooled engine capable of producing over 2,200 hp, at a time when most radial engines and inline engines were producing only 1,200 hp) The XH-2470 produced 2,300 hp at 3,300 rpm. Another engine of this catagory was the Allison V-3420 (two V-1710 engines connected to a common shaft) that produced 2,600 hp at 3,000 rpm. It wouldn't be until the R-3350 engine was fully developed that a radial engine would fall into the hyper engine catagory. The XP-54, would suffer the same fate as the Curtiss XP-55...a plane built for a mission that didn't materialize, but like the Ascender, it was an engineering marvel...
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Post by starcruiser on Jul 30, 2017 8:30:43 GMT -7
And both were weird, cool looking birds!
Some people actually think that only the Germans made some weird late-war concepts - just about everyone did...
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Post by cowboy40 on Jul 30, 2017 10:02:13 GMT -7
The third contender for the interceptor contract was the Northrop XP-56 "Black Bullet" (irony is the airplane was never painted black). This was probably the most radical airplane submitted to meet the requirements laid out by the Army Air Forces. It was also the fastest of the contending machines. It had a top speed, at the optimal altitude of 25,000 ft ASL, of 463 mph TAS, and in cruise configuration and trim it moved at 350 mph TAS. It was almost equal to the Curtiss Ascender in agility. That said, where it excelled at high speed, it suffered major instability at low speeds. Once the aircraft's speed fell below 160 mph TAS at lower altitudes it became so unstable that was almost uncontrollable. This meant on the landing the pilot had to keep its speed to the 160 mph, or it would most likely end in flames! This also meant even though it got off the ground on a short run, it needed close to a mile long strip to land, and in 1943-44, those were hard to come by even in the US unless it was at one of the bomber fields. This plane had a reputation as a killer...of its own pilots, but there is no doubt it would have brought down bombers as well! The high performance again was the mixture of radical aeronautical engineering and a big engine. This time it was the Pratt & Whitney R-2800-29 Double Wasp 18 cylinder twin row radial engine with two counter-rotating propellers, that delivered 2,000 hp.
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