Recent content by pinehilljoe

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or lack of. The prototype Franken-fighter P-75 makes my list.

Very True. The French Air Force fought the Battle of France like it did the Western Front during the Great War. Fighters roamed the skys looking for an opportunity. The French had nothing like the Integrated Weapon System of Fighter Command, with its Radar Network, Centralized Combat...

The most "awesome" :

The most beautiful of the War, after the Spitfire, my vote goes to:

If the Lincoln had been operational before the end of the War, I doubt Bomber Command would have released any to Coastal Command, only over Harris's dead body. Look at the majority of Coastal Command's fleet, nearly all were cast offs from Bomber Command, Wellingtons, Whitleys, Fortresses.

Paul Kennedy states the same in Rise and Fall of the Great Powers. Nazi Germany needed hard currency.

In Unbroken, Louis Zamperrini gives a first hand account of the B-24 crash landing at sea. He describes the landing as more of crash than a ditch.

I remembered there was a NOVA Episode on Flight 19 that discussed ditching characteristics of the TBF/TBM. I was pleasantly surprised to find the episode on YouTube. Its an interesting episode and account of the Flight 19 incident. Skip to the 24 minute point if you want to listen to the bit...

I think of the Fall of 1942 as the high water mark of the Axis in all Theaters. After Guadalcanal, El Alamein, Torch, and Stalingrad the Axis never had the Strategic Initiative through the end of the War. Herman Wouk called the Fall of 1942 the "Global Waterloo". IMHO that means Allied...

It might not have been as historically accurate as many hoped it could have been, but I think it was moving and entertaining. I looked forward to watching every Friday evening for the past couple months.

If I weren't on the East Coast I'd be glad to volunteer to count screws or sweep floors.

The prototype XP-75 has to be on the top 5 list. I think its an example of a big corporation lobbying to build anything for the War Department.

Awesome. How does the group chose who has the honor to fly the P-26?

when you read about the dispersed production, and how quickly production ramped up its incredible it was all done without even a fax machine. Just long distance telephone, courier and face to face meetings. Drawings all done on the board, with ammonia blue prints couriered around the Country...

Great photos. Love the vacuum tubes. APS-4 was also used for anti sub/shipping. the bottom photo looks like the Avenger also has a Light, like the Leigh Light.