Posted on 01/01/2004 2:20:50 AM PST by snippy_about_it
The Focke Wulf FW 190A-8 equipped a large number of units in Operation Bodenplatte
Jagdgeschwader 11
Jagdgeschwader 11
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
The Thunderbolt was the most famous of all the Republic aircraft in WWII. First flown on 6 May 1941, the P-47 was designed as a large, high-performance fighter/bomber, utilizing the large Pratt and Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp engine to give it excellent performance and a large load-carrying capability. The first deliveries of the P-47 took place in June 1942, when the US Army Air Corps began flying it in the European Theater.
Though it was an excellent airplane, several improvements were made as production continued. As the war progressed, the Thunderbolt gained a reputation as a reliable and extremely tough airplane. P-47s logged almost 2 million flight hours during the war, during which they were responsible for the destruction of over 7000 enemy aircraft in the air and on the ground in the European Theater alone.
Later in the war, Jugs served as escort fighters for B-29 bombers in the Pacific.Early versions, up through the P-47C, had "razorback" fuselages, but the popular P-47D featured a bubble canopy which gave the pilot increased rearward visibility.
P-47s were also used during the war by the air forces of Brazil, England, France, Mexico and the Soviet Union. Following the war, they served for nine more years in the US, flown by the Air National Guard. They continued to serve for many additional years with the air forces of over 15 nations around the world including Turkey.
The barrel-shaped Republic P-47 was the biggest, heaviest single-seat fighter produced by America during the war. This rugged airplane was well suited for ground attack missions, as their large radial engines could withstand flak damage better than the inline engines of the Mustangs.
North American P-51D Mustang
This North American P-51D Mustang N7551T, was at the 2001 Reno Air Races
Photograph taken by Roger D. Cain (NC 148)
Diagrams below from zenoswarbirdvideos.com
Me 109
This CIA Gamma Ray weapon was used to shoot down the Wellstone Beech aircraft.
Air Marshall Goering had assured Hitler there was nothing to fear from America. The Americans wouldn't fight, he was certain. And even if they did, they would be no threat, "All they're good at is making razor blades and refrigerators!"
He believed American mass production would be no match for German efficiency and craftsmanship when it came to building airplanes and tanks. Goering was mistaken.
Four years later with the Luftwaffe in tatters, Goering said he knew that the War was lost when American P-51 Mustangs appeared over Berlin escoring waves of bombers.
<====Mash This
The P-51 was designed as the NA-73 in 1940 at Britain's request. The design showed promise and AAF purchases of Allison-powered Mustangs began in 1941 primarily for photo recon and ground support use due to its limited high-altitude performance. But in 1942, tests of P-51s using the British Rolls-Royce "Merlin" engine revealed much improved speed and service ceiling, and in Dec. 1943, Merlin-powered P-51Bs first entered combat over Europe. Providing high-altitude escort to B-17s and B-24s, they scored heavily over German interceptors and by war's end, P-51s had destroyed 4,950 enemy aircraft in the air, more than any other fighter in Europe.
Mustangs served in nearly every combat zone, including the Pacific where they escorted B-29s to Japan from Iwo Jima. Between 1941-5, the AAF ordered 14,855 Mustangs (including A-36A dive bomber and F-6 photo recon versions), of which 7,956 were P-51Ds.
Packard V-1650 "Merlin" Engine
The V-1650 liquid-cooled engine was the U.S. version of the famous British Rolls-Royce "Merlin" engine which powered the "Spitfire" and "Hurricane" fighters during the Battle of Britain in 1940. In Sept. 1940, the Packard Co. agreed to build the Merlin engine for both the American and the British Governments, and adapted it for American mass-production methods. The first two Packard-built Merlins to be completed were demonstrated on test stands at a special ceremony at the Packard plant in Detroit on August 2, 1941. Full production began in 1942 and by the end of World War II, 55,873 Merlins had been produced in the U.S.A. The Army Air Forces used the engine almost exclusively in the famed P-51 "Mustang", for it provided greatly improved high-altitude performance over the Allison V-1710 engine used in earlier series of the airplane. The V-1650 Merlin also replaced the V-1710 in the "F" series of the P-40. The British also used Packard-built Merlins during the last three years of the war in their "Spitfire", "Mosquito", and "Lancaster" airplanes.
Goering was smoking crack.
And getting his intelligence reports on allied aviation from unreliable sources.
LOL! I think she was dating the British Lion at the time.
"Puff, the Angry D'A$$hole!!"
(To be sung to Peter, Paul and Mary's "Puff, the Magic Dragon")
Puff, the Lib'ral Leader, Bane of the FRee...
Tom ruled with an iron fist in Washington, DeeCee!!
Lib'ral Commie Sosh'lists loved that D'A$$hole Puff,
'Cuz Tom pulled strings fer big airlines who'd hired Missuz Puff!! Bold!!
Puff, the would-be Prez'dent, loved Tyranny...
He protected his friend Willie Slick, in a Trial fer Perjury!!
South Dakota voters said, "Oh, whatta SLEAZE!!"
And conspired to next autumn rid their State of Tommie's disease!!
Tom D'A$$hole, he would grovel fer Dem votes a cryin' shame...
Tommie preyed on weakness..."Fear" was Puffboy's middle name!!
Union thugs and bigots would bow whene'er Puff came,
Lib'ral whips bent o'er and begged fer Puff's pork, oh so lame. Woah!
Puff, RAT's Lib'ral Leader, loathed liberty...
Big Guv'ment was his Power trip and he'd tax all he could see!!
Puff held judges hostage, shameful was he...
He ruled from his Senate seat 'til he pissed off Hillary!!
The Senate loves its Power, but weakness leaves a void...
HildaBeast and her man Slick returned...Left's overjoyed!!
In '04, it happened, Johnnie Thune, he whupped li'l Puff!!
'Cuz voters in their wisdom, folks, they'd just had enuff!!
Puff's head was bent in sorrow, felled by Clinton's stain...
Puff no longer weilded Power...fell off the gravy train!!
Without his Leader's seat, Puff was just a knave...
So Puff, that tiny tyrant, sadly slipped into a cave. Oh!
Puff, EX-DemRAT Leader, loathed by the FRee...
Left dwindled down with evil Slick 'cuz DemRATs chose Hillary!!
Puff, that tragic figure, died mysteriously...
The Sheeple called it Arkancide 'cuz it's Death by Slick Willie!!
FReegards...MUD
LOL! I like this verse best
LOL and FReegards...MUD
Dog people are good ;-)
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