The Skyraider is an example of 'obsolete' technology being put to use in a way that out performs the 'new' technology at the job. The Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bomber is another great example of this.

Two years ago my best friend and I convinced our wives that we NEEDED to spend $400 to ride on a B-17F. It was awesome, and the experience of a lifetime:



I'm on the right. We're at about 1500 feet about to commence a bomb run on an unsuspecting cow barn in Berks County, PA.

'92-'95 I spent a lot of time on the airshow circuit doing WW II living history with a Parachute Infantry outfit, including a mass tactical jump from a C-47. 18 trooper stick, T-10 chute, full Normandy kit, the works. We'd be there early to set up and watch the big birds come in, and then leave as we were packing camp.
It's thrilling enough to see/hear two or three four-engine bombers in formation, but imagine what it was like to be an East Anglia farmer in 1943 watching/hearing squadrons and wings form up into divisions and head east.

Tiop

Google Kee Bird for an ugly story. In a nutshell, it's a tale of how greed & ego ended in the destruction of a B-29.

I think they have some warbirds down at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. I have to get down there - or at least to the Intrepid. I've been lucky enough to see a B-25 fly over NYC. The sound... wow. And I'd really like to see a Dauntless in flight. I've always been fascinated by that one.

I am not sure if it has been procured or shot down yet but the Navy was trying to get a plane like the Skyraider for Afghanstan to support the seal teams.

The Swordfish was instrumental in sinking the Bismark.


Thanks to Flying Merkel for starting this thread. beautiful pics!

Very interesting Italuminium. What was the occasion/reason of the interviews, may I ask?
Had a very interesting discussion a few years ago with a neighbor down the street, no longer with us, sadly, who did work behind the lines. He was ferried by P-61 Black Widow pilots. His accounts of being "let out" of the plane was hair raising. He would open the rear canopy, un-do his harness and the pilot would flip the plane over on its back, and out old Jim would go.
And also sitting and listening to another old neighbor, who I sometimes still fish with, whose Flying Fortress was shot down over Germany. Spent almost 4 un-real years in a POW camp.
The accomplishments and experiences of some of these men gives one valuable perspectives today.

Off course! It was for the University paper, both men were law students when the war broke out, and both were member of the same fraternity. Resistance against the Germans broke out after all jewish students and professors were expelled. In the war, the fraternity and other "chapters" of the same kind in other cities like Amsterdam or Delft served as channels for covert actions against the occupying Nazi's.

If someone would like it I could try to translate the articles (I have done another article on a third member of the resistance, that went MIA in the final days of the war.

^ I would love to read it. If it's not too much trouble. Thx.

I'd be glad to of service, and it's a good work-out for my English!

That was money well spent. For my 50th, my wife and in-laws got me an hour in the front seat of an SNJ. Got to handle the stick, but no touchy rudder pedals, please. Funny thing is my father-in-law had more hours in the SNJ than my pilot. He taught at Pensacola during the war, later qualed on the R4D (that's C-47 to you AF types) and went to the Philippines right at the end of the war. Some 20 years later, he was again flying a DC-3 shuttling Gen. Sverdrup around the country.

You must have felt very privileged to have met with and interviewed these men. What an incredible experience they must have had.

I was in Amsterdam on April 30, 1995, when that morning there was a low fly-by of what seemed like dozens of WW2 vintage allied fighters and bombers for Koninginnedag and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Amsterdam. The whole city reverberated from the throaty roar of big round radial engines and liquid-cooled Merlin V-12s. I watched in awe through the window of my hotel room.

Yes, at the Deutsches Museum. I enjoy WWII history and they had fewer items than I would have expected. I made sure we went to all the aero museums and the Odeonsplatz while we were there. The boys loved it. My wife was less than impressed.

According to 1st person interviews, one usually never heard or saw a pursuing plane. They say the first thing that makes you aware of an attack from the rear is the tracers flying by your canopy..... assuming you aren't in flames already and spinning out of control from the first burst.

I was lucky enough to get a ride on a B-25 years ago, my dad bought me the last seat on the plane for the huge sum of $35.00 back in the early 80s

We used to have a world class air museum here, Planes of Fame at Flying cloud airport but I believe the owner died and his collection was sold off.

My absolute favorite is the P-38 Lightning followed closely by the F4U Corsair.

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I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the SAC Museum outside of Omaha. Three enormous warehouses with planes from WWII on including, from memory, among others:

SR71
U2
Gremlin (google that one)
Dolittle B25
B52
B36
British Vulcan
the list goes on and on.

BTW, my father flew 29 missions (yes, Catch 22) as a lead B24 bombardier during WWII in the Eighth Air Force. I grew up on the stories and a few years ago, found his flight logs online.

Been there, fantastic place!!

Almost forgot, there's another small local museum that owns a B-25 and about 15 years ago I was lucky enough to stop by and find them getting ready to do full power engine testing on the ground.

Watching and listening to that thing with the engines at max power, straining to break free of the blocks and tethers with the grass behind the plane blown flat, simply amazing!



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I own a F8F Bearcat. Mine only has a 60" wingspan. The original had 2,800 cubic inch motor mine is .61Cubic in.
ED

Correction -- It is a Goblin, not Gremlin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin

This military fairly new aircraft cargo plan has allot of lines an size comparisons to the old B-25 and B-27...

https://www.military-today.com/aircraft/c27j_spartan.htm

Yes, of course. Too noisy in a Spitfire or Messerschmitt cockpit to "hear" any of the other planes.
I was being rhetorical. You just might have been able to hear an FW 190 bearing down on you from the tail gun of a B-17, however. Maybe not. It must have been an adrenaline producing, scary sight, regardless.

When I was a kid I loved Baa Baa Black Sheep:

This thread has some legs. I note the preponderance of allied aircraft mentioned here. It is a B-25 thread after all. But I thought I'd throw in a vote for the Luftwaffe's machinery. They had some great planes too.

My youngest son is a huge fan of the History Channel show Dogfights. They combined CGI recreations of historic dogfights with narrative, and, when possible, interviews with the actual pilots. Folks have since posted many of these videos on YouTube.

If you have not seen them, they are pretty good:

There were fantastic aircraft in every theater and on all sides, Here are a few of my Axis favorites.









But they still don't top this, And yes I picked this particular P-38 for a reason.