We have a winner!
Flying a SBD off the USS Enterpirse ( hull numberCV-6, by the way....) the morning of 4 June, 1942 is my other aviation wannabe moment.

"Those five minutes were to constitute one of the truly crucial 'moments of decision' which can be isolated in the whole course or warfare."

John Keegan

Out at Otis there was a gallery wall of Bears being escorted by F-106s of the 102 FIW.

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You can thank one man for that decision. C.Wade McCluskey. He made the decision to turn and that decision lead them to sighting a Japanese destroyer which lead them to the Kido Butai. A technicality here...Hornet's dive bombers did not reach the carriers. In one of the mysteries of the battle, they were lead off to nowhere and ended up dropping their bombs in the ocean. With the exception of Waldron's VT-8, the Hornet air group performed miserably in the battle. If you want an interesting analysis of the battle which debunks some of the "accepted truths", read Shattered Sword by Parshal and Tully.

Another tidbit...Richard Best of VB-6 sank Akagi with one bomb. He was one of only three SBD pilots to attack that ship and only his bomb hit. He also scored a hit on Hiryu later in the day. So he had a single handedly sank one carrier and contributed one of four hits on another. Unfortunately he inhaled some caustic fumes while testing an oxygen bottle earlier in the day. That ended up grounding him after Midway and he retired in 1944.

Hmmm...a little late for Midway, a little early for Philippine Sea.

Don't you hate fat fingers.

Now everyone probably knows the story behind my forum name....

I thought the Enterprise's hull number was NCC-1701

I live fairly close to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, home to one of only two airworthy Lancaster bombers left in the world, and occasionally we see it fly by along the lakeshore.
Actually, we usually hear it first. Those four Merlin engines make it sound like there's 10 of them in the sky. It's the most awesome sounding machine on earth.
I can only imagine what those poor German citizens felt when they heard a whole squadron of them overhead.

I assume you mean 1942.
Everyone in the US ought to know about USS Enterprise CV-6, just as we learn about "Old Ironsides."
It was no accident that they picked that name.

Oh yes, Spitfire, FW-190, Mustang D, Sabre; some fighter types just look so "right". And, according to pilot reports, flew "right".

I hate to burst your bubble, but I doubt any B-52 ever got close to the sound barrier. They made lots of noise, though.

Quite right, except maybe in a death-plunge.

Yeah,yeah, yeah, Been doing the D-day thing so long 1944 automatically follows June. Edit made, and I still stand by my statement.
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Fighter escort, maybe ?

But they all took a lot of improving to get there!

Spitfires improved with age (more range, more power, bigger tail).
The Fw190 became really potent when the 'Dora' with the long nose came in.
Mustangs were a bit asthmatic until the Merlin was installed.
The later re-engined 'Avon' Sabre was the best of them all (not US service).

The max airspeed for the B-52 is 390 knots or .82 mach. No sonic boom there. Are you thinking B-58? Those are a lot pointier than a BUFF and could do about mach 2 I think. Don't know if Wright Patterson ever had any though.

I met a guy about a month ago who was aboard the Hornet during the Doolittle raid. He also spent some time in the water after it sank at (I think) Santa Cruz. Someone needs to interview him before he passes-he has prostate cancer.

No doubt each of these types became faster and thereby more potent weapons as their powerplants increased in output. I specifically singled out the P-51D Mustang as it had the Merlin engine and improved fuselage design (bubble canopy and cutdown rear fuselage) that were instrumental in making it look right as well as fly right.
My understanding from pilot accounts is that each of these types was a delight to fly, from their earliest versions. So I stand by my original remarks.