Test Your Imagination

[Barrett]

Hoo-boy. I sent a similar query to a lot of my military aviation pals this summer, thinking there might be an article in it. Most folks wanted 109Fs because of the attendant target-rich environment. A Mustang ace who preferred the P-38 said "An armor-plated Zero might be fun."
WW I: two RFC choices are BrisFit and SE-5. Camel's a mean machine but lost about as many pilots in training as in combat. That is NOT good, especially by the standards of those days. I'd prefer to step from my time machine knowing what I do about aerodynamics and flying technique as I do now--a big advantage in survivng.
Fighting other folks who never did me any wrong simply doesn't matter. They're volunteers as much as I am, and I'd just as happily sign up with the Luftstreikrafte (maybe Jeni would be my squadronmate in Jasta Studmuffin!) Anyway, the whole war was a pointless exercise in futility so the challenge is reason enough to play the game. Let's get it on!
WW II: gimme a radial engine every time. Carrier-based Hellcats fershure: easy to fly and lots of opportunity if you're in the right time and place. For Brand X, FW-190, east or west. However, for an individual's maximum influence on the outcome of the war, there's only one choice--Douglas Dauntless. An SBD pilot could do more to effect the course of history in 30 seconds than boards of admirals and generals in 3 years.
My anytime/anyplace dream machine: Northrop F-20 in a mercenary air force fighting anybody, anytime, anyplace, baby. (See "Warriors", Bantam Books, 1990)

After being called nuts for flying small aircraft today, I think that I would have wanted to fly with Jasta 11 and you-know -who. On April 21 I would have sabotaged his plane so that he could not have taken off!

[Barrett]

Mike: cheer up! You might get time-warped to Helsinki in time to fly Buffalos with the Finnish Air Force. I'd do that in a NY minute. Flying Buffalos, the Finns kicked the commies' empennages for 3 years, produced 35 aces in type, with top scores over 30. The Brewster pilots claimed a 15-1 kill-loss ratio.
Reason for the F2A's poor rep in US service was the tactical situation that VMF-221 found at Midway: committed piecemeal to an interception against superior numbers of enemy aircraft that enjoyed an altitude and performance advantage. That fight only could have ended one way.
The Brits claimed 3 Buffalo aces in Burma; I met one, a New Zealander, in 1993. He absolutely LOVED the airplane, though his squadron was wiped out. My friend Marion Carl, who survived Midway in a Wildcat, said he'd have done just as well in an F2A--a type in which he had far more flight time.
Now THAT takes respect!

[Rittm]

This might be a little off topic, but I loved to watch Baa Baa Black Sheep when I was young. I loved that show. Was there any truth to any of the personalities portrayed there? Someone once told me that Pappy Boyington was unatractive and had a gut! Is that true?

Rittm

Hehe, not surprising about the Finns..

Man for man they seemed to kick off on everyone else in WWII.

[Barrett]

First Things First
Rittm: Hook 99 is c. 19 August 99 at the Nugget.
Baa Baa Black Sheep was an APPALLINGLY bad series, but what I've come to expect of Stephen (A-Team) Cannell. The only saving grace was the Corsairs, few of which were the correct model, but WTH, right? The most egregious feature was "Pappy's Lambs," the "nurses" in form-fitting jumpsuits that failed to save the series in the 2nd and last season. Real nurses at a Fresno hospital looked up Greg Boyington's phone number (amazingly, it was listed) and told him what they thought of his representation of their profession, at about 0300 one morning.
One of the pilots who flew in the series said that Robt Conrad (who played GB) was learning to fly and demanded to be checked out in a Corsair one weekend. You may guess the pilot's response.
I last saw Boyington in '86, not long before he died. He looked 200 years old then!
BTW: a well-regarded writer, Bruce Gamble, has just had a history of VMF-214 published by Presidio Press. He's working on a Boyington bio right now.

[Ed]

While I don't know the ages of those contributing out there, I'd hazard a guess. At the age I am now, I'd opt for being a mechanic! But when I was in my late teens and early twenties, I'd have given anything to have been able to make that time trip and become a pilot.

In the era before the Great War, a young man's view of war was based largely on carefully crafted paintings of heroic action and tales of glory. Today we should know better--there had been nothing like WW1 then. But, you know what? Youth cannot conceive of its own mortality. That's the reason soldiers are young and there's still no problem getting them to fight wars today. At that age, you just can't conceive of your own death until it's too late. The biggest difference today seems to be that it's movies and tv that create the lure of glory and adventure. It doesn't matter that they should know better...they still start smoking, too.

As for the aeroplane, I would also go for the Brisfit, with the S.E. a second choice. I don't think I would have made a good "rotary" pilot, and there's no way I'd choose Camels even if I were. A superb fighter, but those ground attack missions--not for me!

I'd probably try to join the air force of WWII the second I heard about Pearl Harbor. However, taking a que from my previous experiences on flight sims, I'd probably tear my plane up with loops and twirls before I even caught sight of a Zero. The COs would notice this, and transfer me to a bombing group. Of course, I wouldn't qualify until the time of about Hiroshima, and after that little raid I'd end up glowing in the dark for the rest of my life. Well, that's war for ya...

-Eric

All,
WW1 94th Aero Squadron, or Les Cignones flying a Spad XIII.
WW2 Flying a P-51 mustang during the first flights over the 'Vaterland'. P-51 A PURE DOGFIGHTING MACHINE. HOO-WAH!
VBR,
Jim

[Richard_Schrader]

I would have like to have flown with No 46 squardron. They all seemed like a great bunch of guys. I also would have like flying the Pup and the Camel.
As for any fighter, P-51 hand down. I was very lucky to get to flying a P-51, P-40, and a P-47 several years ago. I loved the Mustang!