Hawker Hurricane



A Hurricane in formation with its sleeker cousin.

The Spitfire has to be one of the sexiest aircraft ever produced. Pity the poor Hawker Hurricane that had to live in its shadow. Not that the "Hurri" is a bad looking aircraft, just a bit plain. That didn't stop it from scoring 60% of the victories in the Battle of Britain.

While not as advanced as the Spitfire it was easier to build, which is important when you're trying to crank them out by the thousands. Performance was described as "acceptable mediocrity". In the dark days of 1940 "good enough" was good enough indeed.

Over 14,000 Hurricanes were produced and it saw service in all theaters of the war. The Royal Navy even had a carrier based version. In a trend you'll see throughout this diary, when a fighter was deemed outclassed in the air-to-air arena it was put to use as a fighter-bomber. The Hurricane served in this role all the way to the end of the war.

Almost 3,000 were sent to Russia as part of lend lease. The Soviets had mixed results with it, generally considering it to be inferior to Russian and German fighters. Still at least one Soviet ace (Boris Safonov) liked the Hurricane.

Bristol Beaufighter



This picture really shows the odd proportions. The engines actually extend forward of the fuselage.

Only the British could build something this ugly. This stubby bulldog of a fighter was developed from the Bristol Beaufort bomber. Overshadowed by the legendary De Havilland Mosquito, the "Beau" did just about everything the Mosquito did plus a other things as well.

Its stubby appearance comes from the two powerful Bristol Hercules engines. They initially caused so much vibration that the nacelles had to be extended forward. This threw the center of gravity all out of whack, so what's the solution? No worries mate, we'll just saw the nose off it!



A flight of Beaufighters. The racks under the wings would have been for carrying air-to-ground rockets.

It most excelled in the anti shipping mission. It's massive armament of four 20mm cannons and six .303 machine guns proved to be devastating against ships. Equally important in a ground-attack aircraft, its sturdy construction allowed it to soak up damage.

Many were used as night fighters, even serving with the US Army Air Forces. The US didn't have a home-grown night fighter until late 1944.

Handley Page Halifax



The Halifax had similar lines as the Lancaster, especially from the rear aspect.

If I asked you to name a British bomber you'd probably say "Lancaster". However, almost as many Halifaxes served with Bomber Command. In some ways, particularly crew survivability, the Halifax was a better aircraft. Only 15% of downed aircrews managed to make it out of a Lancaster.

The two bombers even look similar. The main difference is that the Halifax used Bristol Hercules radial engines while most Lancs were equipped with Rolls Royce Merlins.



Halifax (top) and Lancaster (bottom) for comparison.

The main disadvantage of the Halifax was that it couldn't as heavy a bomb load as the "Lanc" could. It also couldn't be modified to carry the very large "cookie" and "grand slam" bombs that the Lancaster could. As such production was gradually switched over to Lancasters as the war went on.

Bell P-39 Airacobra



The P-39's rear mounted engine allowed room for the 37 mm cannon in the nose.

The P-39 was the red-headed stepchild of WWII fighters. Shunned by the Americans and British it went on to serve with distinction in Russia.

An interesting design, the P-39 featured a 37mm cannon firing through the propeller hub. The engine was placed behind the pilot, driving the prop through a drive shaft. It also had tricycle landing gear which was ahead of its time in the 1940s.

The prototype XP-39 flew quite well, but the aircraft went into production without a turbocharger. This critical flaw greatly hurt its high altitude performance. The rear mounted engine also gave it a nasty habit of flat spins. Entering a flat spin at low altitude was usually fatal.



Don't give me a P-39

With an engine that's mounted behind

It will tumble and roll

and dig a big hole

Don't give me a P-39 - Old AAF Ditty

The Army Air Forces never warmed up to the P-39. They were quickly relegated to second line duties. The Tuskeegee Airmen actually flew them for a brief period. Likewise the British quickly turned up their nose at Airacobra. Most of them ended up being sent to the Soviets as part of Lend Lease.

The Kobrushka "little cobra" was much loved by the Russians. Contrary to myth, the Soviets did not use the P-39 as a tank-buster. First, they never had armor-piercing ammunition for the 37mm gun. Second, they had their own home grown tank-buster in the excellent IL-2. I'm sure at some point a P-39 strafed a German tank, but that's not how the Russians normally used the aircraft.

Contrary to what we used to think, the Soviets primarily used the P-39 in an air-to-air role. If that sounds odd, keep in mind that air combat on the Eastern Front took place below 15,000 feet. The turbocharger on a WWII fighter mainly was there to boost the engine at higher altitudes. Down low the lack of a turbocharger wasn't really a handicap.

A Russian P-39. Presumably this was flown by one of their aces because I count 29 kill markings on the tail.

The P-39 originally had machine guns all over the place. In addition to the nose-mounted cannon it had two machine guns in the nose plus four in the wings. The Russians actually removed the wing-mounted guns to improve the P-39's roll rate. Now that I think about it, I don't recall any of the Russian WWII fighters carrying guns in the wings.

At low altitudes the Kobrushka proved quite capable against contemporary German aircraft. The 37mm cannon could destroy a German bomber with a single hit. Several top Soviet aces scored the majority of their kills in the P-39.

Republic P-47 Thunderbolt



Early P-47s had a faired canopy and are sometimes called "razorbacks".

Later model P-47D with a bubble canopy and sporting D-Day invasion stripes.

A P-51 Mustang is a sexy looking aircraft. A P-47, on the other hand, is a hulking, barrel-chested brute of a fighter. It was so big that according to one joke, evasive action meant unstrapping and running around the cockpit.Properly flown it was a match for contemporary German fighters at high altitudes. It was surprisingly nimble despite its large size. Early models suffered from poor rate of climb but this was later fixed with an improved propeller.

Depending on who you ask, it's nickname of "Jug" either came from its distinctive shape or was short for "Juggernaut".



P-47 night gunnery exercise showing the immense firepower of eight .50 calibers.

Heavily armed and armored, it could dish it out and take it. While it held its own against enemy fighters it excelled at ground attack.

Everybody loves the Mustang but many Jug pilots wouldn't trade their P-47 for "that bullet-hole in the radiator thing".

B-24 Liberator



This is an early model B-24. Later models had a nose turret to protect against head-on attacks.

The B-17 is the iconic bomber of WWII but the B-24 was actually produced in larger numbers. The Ford plant at Willow Run cranked out 650 of these per month.. In case you're wondering how we won the war, we used to have this thing called manufacturing.

The B-24 had better speed, range and payload than its Boeing counterpart. It wasn't as sturdy as the B-17 and it was harder to fly. It also had a bad tendency to burn when hit. The Liberator's thin wing gave better performance than the B-17 but tended to fold up when hit.



A B-24 goes over on its back after taking a hit to the wing.

In addition to strategic bombing it also served the Navy as a patrol and anti-submarine aircraft. There were also cargo versions, the C-87 and C-109, although converted bombers tend to make poor cargo aircraft.

Notable B-24 crew members include Jimmy Stewart, George McGovern and director Robert Altman. Author Ernest K. Gann flew the C-87 version.

Martin B-26 Marauder



I think the B-26 was one of the better looking aircraft of the war.

If I asked you to name a medium bomber from WWII you'd probably pick the B-25 Mitchell. My favorite, however, is the much maligned B-26.

Tricky to fly, it had a reputation as a "hot ship". In the hands of a novice it could be quite dangerous to fly. Approach speed was 150 mph, quite fast for a WWII aircraft. At MacDill AFB they used to say "one a day in Tampa Bay".

It had many nicknames: "Baltimore Whore", "B-Crash", "Martin Murderer", "Widowmaker" and "Flying Prostitute". That last was due to it having "no visible means of support".



B-26s in formation. Medium bombers flew at low to medium altitudes where the flak was heaviest.

Despite all that the B-26 had the lowest combat loss rate of any US bomber. That says a lot since medium bombers flew in the thick of it at low to medium altitudes. One Army dispatch credited it as "the chief bombardment weapon on the Western Front".

They even tried attacking the Japanese fleet at Midway with torpedoes. Must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

Grumman F4F Wildcat



F4F Wildcat. If you see it referred to as an FM-1 or FM-2 that means it was built by General Motors.

While the Hellcat and Corsair chased the Japanese from the skies, it was the stubby little Wildcat that fought the crucial battles early in the war. Coral Sea and Midway were fought with Wildcats and the type served on escort carriers long after the Hellcat and Corsair showed up.

Simple, rugged and reliable, it was just about all you could ask for in a carrier plane. It was slower and less maneuverable than the Japanese Zero, but superior tactics like the "Thach Weave" more than made up for it. The Wildcat scored an impressive 6-1 kill ratio against the Zero.

It also served with the Royal Navy as the "Martlet". The Brits sure know how to name 'em. I mean really, what's going to strike fear into the heart of the enemy like Martlet? "Ach! Gott in Himmel! Das ist ein Martlet!!!" It's almost as terrifying as the "Fairey Flycatcher".



Dapper looking Royal Navy officer and his (snicker) Martlet.

If you want to see an F4F up close there's one on display in Terminal 2 at Chicago O'Hare aiport. It's a memorial to Butch O'Hare, who the airport is named for.

Lavochkin La-5



That's actually a later La-9 but they look about the same. This shows the relatively small size of the aircraft.

If I asked someone to name a Russian WWII fighter, if they could name one at all it would probably be the Yak-9. I doubt many people would come up with the La-5.

Almost 10,000 of these little fighters were built. Smaller than a Spitfire or Mustang, it was a typical "crude but effective" Soviet design. While not quite a match for the best German fighters it was pretty close. Overall it was a well balanced design with a good mix of speed, maneuverability and firepower. The type was well liked by Soviet pilots and maintainers. Keep in mind that "crude" Soviet aircraft often worked in harsh conditions that caused problems for Western equipment that was built to finer tolerances.



A group of La-5s. Almost 10,000 were produced. Quantity has its own quality.

If it had one flaw it was short range, which was (and still is) a common trait for Russian fighter aircraft. It wasn't really an issue for them since they tended to base their fighter units close to the front.

It became the basis for the outstanding La-7, which was arguably one of the best fighters of the war.

Nakajima Ki-43



No that's not a Zero. I believe this is the only KI-43 still airworthy.

When I was a kid I thought every Japanese fighter was a Mitsubishi Zero. The Zero, however, was primarily a naval aircraft. The Japanese Army mostly flew the Ki-43 "Hayabusa" which translates to Peregrine Falcon. "Martlet" was already taken. The American code name for it was "Oscar" but it was frequently called an "Army Zero" because the two looked so much alike.

What I find interesting about the Ki-43 is the design philosophy is so Japanese. Like the Zero it's small, light and incredibly maneuverable. Everything is geared towards offense. Armor? Who needs it? Just point the guns at the enemy. Self sealing fuel tanks? A Samurai does not need self sealing fuel tanks! Just point the guns at the enemy.

Like the Zero this was a great plane in 1940 and probably outclassed by 1942. Certainly it was outclassed in 1944 when production ceased. Still it shot down more American aircraft than any other Japanese fighter. Even in 1944 it could bite any Allied pilot foolish enough to try to turn with one.

Italian Series 5



Italian Stallion, the Macchi MC205

Fiat G55. Arguably as good as anything we had.

The Italians tend to get overlooked compared to their German counterparts but they produced some excellent designs during WWII. None were produced in huge numbers, so I've lumped their best three together. Even at that it's a stretch. We're talking less than a thousand aircraft combined.These were the Fiat G55 Centauro (Centaur), Macchi C.205 Veltro (Greyhound) and the Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario (Archer).

They all look pretty similar, which makes sense because they were all built around the German Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine.

Famous Legendary Royal Navy test pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown had this to say about the Veltro:

“One of the finest aircraft I ever flew was the Macchi MC. 205. Oh, beautiful. And here you had the perfect combination of Italian styling and German engineering. I believe it was powered by a Daimler Benz DB 605. It was really a delight to fly, and up to anything on the Allied program."



The Re 2005 had beautiful lines but only a few were produced.

The Germans were so impressed by the Fiat G55 that they seriously considered building it under license. They declined only because the Fiat took about three times as many man-hours to build as a Bf-109. The perfect is the enemy of the good enough.

Messerschmitt Bf-110



Bf-110s in formation. Based on the paint scheme I'm guessing this is the Mediterranean.

The much maligned Bf-110 was actually a better plane than it's given credit for. Initially intended as a "heavy fighter" or Zerstörer (destroyer) it fared poorly as a bomber escort. While actually a fairly agile aircraft, when loaded down with long range fuel tanks it didn't do well against the British single-engine fighters.

Note that the stories about Bf-110s on escort missions needing to be escorted themselves by Bf-109s have been debunked.

Where the type really excelled was as a night fighter. Once fitted with a radar, it's massive armament took a heavy toll on allied bombers. Some were even fitted with guns that fired upward (angled forwards). By pulling up under the undefended belly of a Lancaster they could shoot it down from relative safety. The top German night-fighter ace scored 121 kills flying the Bf-110.



Night fighter version with funky looking radar antennas.

The 110 proved to be a real workhorse. It served as a fighter-bomber as well as a reconnaissance aircraft. For an aircraft designed in 1936 it had a very successful run. Serving all the way to 1945 alongside aircraft that were supposed to replace it.

That's all I've got. If your favorite didn't make the cut I'm sure you'll let me know. Enjoy.

