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Your top three second world war planes.



smeariestbat

New member
May 5, 2012
1,731
Lancaster
Spitfire
B-17
 
















Ludensian Gull

Well-known member
Apr 18, 2009
3,926
Mistley Essex
Lancaster
Hurricane
Spitfire

All seen fairly frequently flying over our village . :salute:
 


Spun Cuppa

Thanks Greens :(
Enjoy. Not even at Max REVS. Wonderful sound.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yprfH5ZsAHk

No. 3 exhaust valve spring sounds a bit weak :ohmy:

Joking aside, it sounds like a sewing machine. To think the pilots could tell how it was running just by the sound...

I saw a great picture on the web once, of an aircraft mechanic pouring oil into a crashed Hurricane's engine, with the story being it had been passed as fit to fly coming out of the workshop, but was in fact very short of oil. It had seized up in flight and crashed, and the topping up of the oil when in the field was to stop whoever was responsible for the gaffe from getting reprimanded :)
 
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Seagull on the wing

New member
Sep 22, 2010
7,458
Hailsham
My late Uncle was a member of RAF groundcrew during the war. All the fighters had cameras that would operate when the pilot's pulled the trigger so that the intelligence people could see if an enemy was, hit, damaged or shot down. He had the job of riding a motorcycle across the airbase to fighters as they landed in order to retrieve the films from the planes and rush them back for developing.
He was 17 when he enlisted and said it was the best of times and the worst of times but he always said a Hurry did most of the work as opposed to the fancy dan's in the Spits. so, for me,

Hurricane

Spitfire

Beaufighter

ps, God rest you Uncle Geoff, you are not forgotten.
Recognition for the 'Hurricane....there were far more of them than the Spitfire,though the Spit was faster the Hurricane was the workhorse...it depends how you grade an aircraft....speed....manoeuvrability...punching power....overall I think the Mosquito takes some beating.....wooden framed as the Hurricane...cheap and powerful.
 


Triggaaar

Well-known member
Oct 24, 2005
53,153
Goldstone
Spitfire
Focke-Wulf FW190 A
Zero
 




My Grandad was a Hurricane pilot at Tangmere. Nothing makes a noise like a Hurricane or a Spitfire. Absolutely majestic.

Which squadron was your Granddad in?
 


Seagull over Canaryland

Well-known member
Feb 8, 2011
3,557
Norfolk
Interesting thread, important not to forget the planes and their brave crews. Here in Norfolk we are surrounded by old WWII airfields and in spite of their derelict state you can sense the history. Several are now having commemorative information boards erected so punters can understand what went on. The scary thing was the number of planes and crews lost other than to enemy action, mainly in training but also a horrendous number when on final approach at night the airfield landing lights were suddenly extinguished because of the fear of intruders on their tail. A plane and crew returning from a mission was sacrificed so the airfields could remain safe. What a decision to make.

One of the local parish churches has an RAF graveyard which is beautifully maintained. It strikes you how many of those interred there were from the Commonwealth. Also off to one side is a line of smart gravestones for Luftwaffe crews. Seeing the graves of friend and foe almost side by side does make you wonder what it was all about.

One of these airfields (RAF Langham) was subject to an enemy bombing attack very late in the war something like March 1945 yet history claims we had enjoyed air superiority over mainland Europe. Funny how that was kept quiet, but then probably not good PR if the public believe you are about to win the war.
 








banjo

GOSBTS
Oct 25, 2011
13,428
Deep south
Hurricane
Spitfire
Lancaster
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 








Gritt23

New member
Jul 7, 2003
14,902
Meopham, Kent.
1. de Havilland Mosquito

Definitely that little lovely as my number 1 ... but I'm biased as my uncle flew them them for Bomber Command, until he was shot down over German occupied land, by the Americans!! #FriendlyFire
 


daveinprague

New member
Oct 1, 2009
12,572
Prague, Czech Republic
Worked with an old bloke in Saudi in the late 70s who had been a Mosquito pilot during the war...didnt talk much about it though....
Always facinated by the film of the Mosquito raid on the Shell building in Copenhagen. Some serious flying/navigation there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5WGkBf0uLE
My step father #2 was at the Normandy landings, and said, when the British came over, the Germans took cover, when the Germans came over, the British took cover, when the Americans came over, everybody took cover.
They have made friendly fire their own.
Even here in Prague, the only damage from the air, was an American bomber that mistook Prague for Dresden. Pretty impressive hitting the wrong country....the dancing house building, if you know Prague, was built on the damaged area.
 
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