This book and it's sequel have been out for many years: Strangers in a Strange Land, Vol. 1: U.S. Aircraft in German Hands during WW II http://amzn.com/0897471989
Great photos . One can imagine at combat closing speeds it would be terribly difficult to instantly recognize a fighter but if you did not fire you would miss an opportunity or become a victim I agree the early Mustang-Me109 is scarily similar, the most of the lot to me. I am curious, if a fighter group was attacking a bomber formation what degree would the defending fighters go to in their role. Some must have strayed in the bomber's range. I know they had rather break up an attacking group be fore iot was underway but that is ideal. Sure there must have been some real tangles once underway. BTW, That Hind 24 on the link is one ominous looking beast. almost startling when you first see it. Gaines
I just made a new topic also pointing out that England had an operational jet in the summer of 1944, the Meteor, and work began on it in England in the mid-30s, so the British were right on par with Germany.
The P-61 Black Widow was used to test a number of American ramjet powered missiles and engines. The Navy borrowed two P-61Cs (43-8336 and 43-8347) from the USAAF and used them for air-launches of the experimental Martin PTV-N-2U Gorgon IV ramjet-powered missile, A P-61B (42-39754) was used by NACA's Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio for tests of airfoil-type ramjets in 1947. The following link, shows some photos of Black Widow test aircrafts: http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/p-61-black-widow-em-testes-especiais.html Hope you enjoy and thanks for visiting!!!
During WW2, several B-17 Flying Fortress were captured by German and Japanese forces. The first B-17 to come under Japanese control was an B-17D which was pieced together from the remnants of other destroyed B-17Ds on Clark Field in the Philippines. The same thing was done to two B-17Es on Bandung Field on Java. The Luftwaffe captured several dozen of Fortress and they could use as many as seven Fortress. Five of them were B-17F version and two others were B-17G planes. The following link presents a small compilation of photos of the some these planes captured in Japanese and German markings: http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/fortalezas-voadoras-capturadas.html Hope you enjoy and I count on your visit!
Some nice photos here. I never considered that many B-17's were captured. Do you know if Allied pilots were aware of this? How were they treated? I'm curious about the response.
Very interesting. I've never seen photos of a B-17 in Japanese markings. The three-ship formation over Mount Fuji is quite a contrast to photos like these;
If I recall, the aircraft the Japanese captured had either been abandoned in retreat or pieced together crashes. I doubt the crews had any idea, or even if they were captured.
The early Essex-class carriers had been built with a hangar-level catapult. It was called the HIVA catapult and shot planes out of the starboard forward hangar deck. The Essex's were designed to have 3 catapults (two on the flight deck bow and one in the hangar bay). The hangar catapult was for launching scout planes (pre-radar) without disturbing the deck park. It was deemed so important that when it became known that it threw off the weight distribution, the port side bow deck catapult was left off. Due to delays, only six ships were actually fitted with this catapult and by then radar was in use and the need for scout planes was eliminated. Begininning with Ticonderoga the hangar cat was omitted and both bow cats installed. Eventually all Essex's lost the hangar cat and regained the port side cat. The only carrier to keep the hangar catapult through the end of the war was USS Hornet (CV 12). See below some photos of hangar deck catapult operations: http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/decolagens-do-hangar.html Hope you enjoy!
Earlier carriers, Wasp and the Yorktown class, also had the hangar deck catapult; it could not be fitted on ships like Lexington or British or Japanese carriers with fully enclosed hangars. Even on carriers with flight deck catapults, rolling deck takeoffs were the norm; for example Enterprise reported using her catapults only 18 times in the entire fiscal year 1941. As late as her 1943 refit, Big E's captain recommended removing the flight deck cats. Does anyone know if catapult usage increased later in the war?
I believe by design, planes could fly out of the open front of the two hangar decks on the Akagi. I don't think there was a catapult used though.
The original configuration of Akagi and Kaga had flying-off decks at the forward end of both hangars, with the upper flight deck for landing - an early solution to the problem which plagued straight-deck carriers, the inability to simultaneously launch, land, or spot aircraft on deck. At that time, planes were small enough and takeoff speeds low enough to use the forward flying-off decks - on the upper one this involved taking off between the two twin 8" gun turrets - and this was without catapults. In the 1930s reconstructions, the hangars were extended forward, eliminating the flying-off decks (and 8" turrets) and providing full-length flight decks used in the same manner as other carriers, also without catapults.
Anecdotally, I have an original of a report to the Admiralty from the RN liaison officer with the 2d Fast Carrier Task Force dealing with the operations of July and August 1945, the late Commander Charles Edward Ansell Owen, RN (Ret) DSC. Amongst many topics: On operations just from the flagship, USS Shangri La, he reported that between 10 July 1945 and 15 August 1945, 1559 aircraft were flown off and another 1139 were "accelerated" (this the RN parlance for catapulted). Total 2738. So, about 41.5% of launches were by catapult. He goes on to write specifically on catapult use on the CVs: "Catapulting A/C. As can be seen above, [ed. referring to the Shangri La numbers] a large portion of aircraft taking off are catapulted, the average interval being 64 seconds for each catapult, or 2 aircraft being airborne in just over a minute using 2 catapults. USS Randolph who has one of the smartest deck teams in the Task Force has managed to get off up to 8 A/C with a 50 second interval and also 8 A/C during a 180 degree turn into the wind. All above figures are for fighter aircraft, the most common type to be accelerated. The catapults require readjustment every 800 shots, but this figure has often been exceeded." Just a tidbit of history. From his obituary, Owen died in October 2001 at the age of 92. His DSC award was for actions during the loss of HMS Ark Royal, "for 'courage, resolution and devotion to duty' though he himself claimed that all he did was save the money that was on board." My source on the scene of TF-38 staff reported that the comment was typical of Owen, described as "very, very bright, but very low key." Owen was also awarded the US Bronze Star. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obit...rles-Owen.html
A couple of clarifications/ corrections. The Catapult was a Type H, Mk IV A, so "HIVA" reflects a roman numeral in the center and was not an acronym. "H" in this case stood for Hydralic, the other main type were powder-charge driven (and given the "P" designation). The earlier Yorktown class, for example, used the Type H Mk II. Hornet lost her catapult before the end of the war. She was in overhaul at the time, so it's perhaps a quibble.
In September 1944, Mustin Field played host to trials for a very unusual aircraft, an P-51 Mustang which had been modified to evaluate its use from Navy carriers. The program was given the name “Project Seahorse”. An early-series P-51D, serial # 44-14017, was selected.A tailhook was fitted, which required an extended keel line on which to fix the tailhook attachment point. A catapult hook was fitted on the fuselage centerline, just forward of the wing. To cope with hard carrier landings, the tires were replaced with special high-pressure ones. The main undercarriage shock absorbers received increased air pressure to reduce bouncing upon landing. The airframe was also reinforced in various points to withstand the extra stress. By early 1945, the islands of Okinawa and Iwo Jima were conquered. Their airfields were immediately taken over by US forces, providing fighter units with bases from which they could escort bombers to mainland Japan. The navalized P-51 was no longer needed and the program never went any further. The link below shows some photos this unusual Mustang version: http://aviacaoemfloripa.blogspot.com.br/2011/02/um-p-51-mustang-navalizado.html Hope you enjoy!!!
What an aircraft. It's amazing to see them grouped together on the carrier like that. What a force! :ac_p51b:
Nice find! Were any of them lost on operations? Korea? Did any survive / get sold or were they all scrapped?
Actually, only the first 4 photos are of the "navalized" version, the last four are just typical land-based P-51s being shipped aboard carriers to transport them to wherever they were needed - which was quite a common practice during World War II.