The ultimate put-down of the 9mm...

[Preacherman]

Actually, although they arrived just too late to see combat, I'd dearly love to fly in an F8F. Now there was a plane! IIRC, it was one of only two piston-engined fighters (the other being the English Hawker Sea Fury) to be capable of over 500 mph in level flight...

 

[Boats]

In case you hadn't seen this before, a complete pilot's evaluation of a flyable F8F: AVWEB

 

[crashresidue]

Cheers,

The B-25 "J" and "H" models were the ship-busters. I believe the "H" model also had a 75mm "ricki" rifle mounted in the nose, with a blast tube running out the tail of the a/c. There was also a mod. to fire rockets. I thought it was 12 .50's in the nose - but I've been wrong before.

I had the pleasure of seeing one abandoned on a WWII dirt runway around Aitaipe(sp?) PNG in late '97. She had the "indian head" logo on her tail - so she was from the "Air Apaches", don't remember the actual unit designation.

She was destroyed in the tsunami(sp) that hit that part of PNG in '98.

My father flew "C" model -25's in North Africa. After his 50 missions, he returned to train some of those pilots that went to the South Pacific and flew the "ship busters". Their mortality rate was incredible.

FYI: I saw a flight of three "flat black" B-25's crossing back across the border from Laos in early '68. Now, that was a sight to see. Tree top level, throttles to the fire wall, racing the sun.

B-25' vs P-38's, B25's vs P-38's? Got me - they're both beautiful aircraft.

Gentle winds,
Russ
Gentle winds,
Russ

 

[Phil Ca]

A most interesting post spanning time and weapons systems from thr 40's to the present!!!

As a young E4 working in the company arms room I had the only personal firearms in the room. I had a BHP P-35, a Remington 1911, and a 1929 nagant seven shot revolver. During alerts the captain would take his .45 and all the other officers and NCO's would take their M2 carbines (a few chose the M1) and the rest of us were assigned carbines and rifles. We did have several M3A1 SMGS also. Since I was responsible for the firearms that were left over for people on leave and coming in from a distance I carried either my personal .45 or P-35 in 9mm. Sometimes a lieutenant that wanted to carry a pistol would ask to borrow my .45 for the alerts. I would carry my Browning on those occasions. I did not ask permission but I was the only one that had live ammo on alerts. The ammo was otherwise secured in wooden cases and ammo tins that were sealed.

I enlisted in the USAF after my three years in the US Army. I worked in a support unit and provided support for F-100, F-101, F-102, B-52, C-130, C-47, C-118, SA-16, U-2, as well as some helicopters and other craft. I had my .45 and P-35 pistols with me in the PI and they were handy to have around on several occasions.

After my 4 years in the USAF I actually joined the army again and went to Korea and Vietnam. In Vetnam I was the only guy in my Ordnance Unit that had any real knowledge of the USAF. I was constantly asked to ID planes that came around our 1st Inf. Div. area. We had a B-57 that flew over and around our area and it was bothering some of the troops since they did not recognize it. Another time when the sound of explosions in the distance seemed to carry on for severl kilometers the guys were commenting about the major artillery barrage we had just heard. I let them know that was not artillery but bombs dropped from a B-52. The guys wanted to know how I knew this fact and I had to go through my air force story again. We used to see all sorts of interseting aircraft in Vietnam. The A1E, C-47s called Puff and the "Fire Fly" testing using helicopters with spotlights and mini-guns.

there is a geat musem near me near Merced at the former Castle AFB. My 5 year old grandson and I spent a couple of hours looking over the aircraft on e day last year. He liked the B-36 the best.

 

[crashresidue]

Cheers,

I believe the B-57 was called the Canbara(sp?) and she was flown by the Aussies in that "police action" - later call the "Viet Nam" war.

They also flew the A-1E's, which I first worked with under the call-sign of "Hobo" - to this day, an A-1E is a "Hobo" to me. They could carry an incredible load of ordinace and stay on station for HOURS!

I first worked with them up around Dac To, where we had a flight of three covering our gun-ships, protecting the grunts. Us "gundrivers" had one hour's worth of fuel, and to be told by the Aussies that they had SIX hours "on station" was something that we'd NEVER heard! "Fast movers" had 15 minutes "station time" and then they had to leave. These guys came to the party and had plenty of time to hang around!

We were taking fire from a couple of heavy mg's that were under a ledge, and these guys did an "up-hill" attack that HAD to be banned by every right thinking commander. First one in was the "napalm guy" followed by the other two hauling wall to wall frags! "Fire boy" spread nape "up" from just below the guns, and the "frag" boys spread it all the way to the top of the mountain. After their drops, they stayed around - because they still had "wing ordinance" that was available, if we needed it. We didn't, but after that display - who wanted them to leave?

"Pretty" is all about semantics - is it pretty visually, or is it pretty functionally? An A-1E ain't pretty to the eyes (except mine), but for being a "killing machine" - there isn't ANY prettier a/c flying! IMPO!

Plus, with that round motor - she's a H.D. times 5.

I'm the only pilot, that I know of, that carried a 1911A1 by choice. Another piece of hardware that's pretty because it's "deadly"!

Gentle winds,
crashresidue
Charlie Horse 44 67/68
Blue Max 68 P2 69/70

 

[DRZinn]

How did this go from 1911's to planes?

 

[Boats]

It was part of the original post under "coolest weapons systems." The list for aircraft was a little too Air Force and Army oriented in my view.

My coolest:

SHIPS: Los Angeles class attack submarine.

AIRCRAFT: Anything made by Grumman from the Wildcat to the Tomcat, with the A-6 Intruder gaining special mention as another tough SOB in combat.

TANKS: The M-1 Abrams is tough to not select.

RIFLES: The Garand changed the game on the battlefield by allowing effective and mobile massed suppressive fire for the first time.

VEHICLES: I like the original Jeep as another world beater in its day. No one else had anything quite like it in the numbers it was fielded.

HELICOPTERS: Since I like tough birds, I gotta give a vote for the Mi-25 Hind, which is truly a flying tank.



OTHER: Artillery counter battery systems are really cool.

 

[oneshooter]

Helochopters

Boats,
Bet my 25 could whip your Hind!!!

 

[Little Loudmouth]

Woot F6Fs! Tough, deadly, tough, deadly...

 

[tex_n_cal]

Boats said:

HELICOPTERS: Since I like tough birds, I gotta give a vote for the Mi-25 Hind, which is truly a flying tank.

I recall a story in the pre-Taliban days during the Soviet occupation the Afghan rebels made good use of old Martini-Henry rifles. The story was that the big fat lead bullet, when striking the tail rotor, would leave enough smear of lead to throw the big rotor off balance, and create such a severe vibration that the copter had to land soon or else just shake apart. True? Beats me, anyone else hear that story?

 

[Preacherman]

Tex, all I can say is that if I had to go up against an Mi-25 with a single-shot, black-powder rifle one-and-a-half centuries (or so) old, I'd feel seriously undergunned...

 

[tex_n_cal]

True, but does that even matter to a would-be martyr?

 

[smokemaker]

The A-1 aircraft are legendary, but where I come from they're called sandies. The Jolly Greens best friends.

 

[Sean85746]

Amen...preach on!

BTW...how could you forget the MkV Spitfire?
Browning Hi Power?

 

[outofbattery]

Actually, although they arrived just too late to see combat, I'd dearly love to fly in an F8F.

They saw plenty of it in Indochina though .

The last of the piston engined fighters are some beauties ; I'll have to add the deHaviland Sea Hornet to that list and I for one like the late mark Spitfires and Spitefuls with the counter-rotating props and bubble canopies . One plane that I wish had made it into wider production was the FG-2 Corsair ; the best looking of the breed if you ask me . You have to properly give Kurt Tank his due with the FW-190/Ta-152 : even American and Brit engineers admit that the Bearcat and Sea Fury were inspired by it . I think the Germans had among the most graceful warships too , the Bismark for example was sleek compared to the clunkiness of Brit design but the same could be said for tanks too . A Sherman is almost bordering on pathetic looking compared to a Panzer IV , Panther or Tiger . I kind of have a preference to the M60-A1/A3 as being the most tank looking tank the US has made ; the Abrams just doesn't do it for me visually . The UK's Chally II , the Germans' Leo II and the Israeli Merkava OTOH are just mean looking . Russian/Soviet hardware often has an appeal to me that goes beyond the aesthetic ; many of the designs which are not particularly good looking are nonetheless just cool : MiG fighters , just about any tank other than the KV's , ships with more "stuff" sprouting up from them than a neglected garden ...