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Strange Birds of WW II: - 8/17/2002 10:38:32 AM

AbsntMndedProf

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What military aircraft do you feel deserves to be considered the strangest of WW II? Certainly the following recon plane of the Luftwaffe should be in the running:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/bv141.html

Eric Maietta

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- 8/17/2002 11:03:37 AM

Warrior

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Good grief! That's about the weirdest plane I've ever seen! Like something out of "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the LSD Factory!" :D :D

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- 8/17/2002 11:06:55 AM

AbsntMndedProf

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REMF posted:

"That's about the weirdest plane I've ever seen!"

Despite its strange and ungainly appearance, I've read in several sources that this plane was very airworthy and, due to the almost all-around view given to the crew by its off-set cockpit, was very usefull in its roll as a recon aircraft. Go figure!

Eric Maietta

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- 8/17/2002 1:18:56 PM

Hades

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What a cool looking plane! But I think I have found an odder plane.
From Bombers of World War II, "A experiment involing the He 111 resulted in the extraordinary five-engined He 111Z (Z denoting Zwilling, or twin), achievd by joining together two He 111 by means of a new wing center-section carrying a fifth engine. The resulting aircraft, with a span of 35.20m(115.6ft), was intended to tow the huge Messerschimt Me 321 Gigant glider or three Gotha Go 242 gliders at 225km/h(140mph) at 4000m(13,125ft). Trails proved fairly successful, and the He 111Z served with the Grossraumlastenseglerkommando 2(phew:D) based at Obertraubling in 1943 for supply missions on the Eastern Front. The He 111Z-2, which is not thought to be flown opperationally, was equipped to carry four Hensechel Hs 293A rocket bombs over long distances, and the projected He 111Z-3 was to have been a long range reconnaissance version. The He 111Z had a crew of seven, of which four members(including the pilot) were located in the port fuselage, and the others in the starboard fuselage.

I wish I had a pic of it.

Ha!!! Beat that!:D

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- 8/17/2002 2:21:02 PM

AbsntMndedProf

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Ask and ye shall receive! :D :D ;)

[IMG]http://users.cybercity.dk/~dko4098/He111z.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/he111z-1.jpg[/IMG]

Eric Maietta

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- 8/17/2002 4:47:22 PM

Hades

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Haha Now that is a cool looking airplane.

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- 8/17/2002 6:04:11 PM

Ivan

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**** that plane is huuuuuge :eek: 1

man it must have been a sigh to see that gigantic thing get shot down, especally the recon version with extra fuel

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- 8/17/2002 6:27:16 PM

Kaakao

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I would like to see that plane in air to air combat with fighters :)

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- 8/17/2002 9:54:26 PM

Bing

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For me, the strangest aircraft of WW2 is the plain old "String Bag", the British Swordfish. Straight out of World War ONE, it seems to be something left over from that conflict and apparently useless in modern warfare.

Yet, the String Bag crippled the Italian fleet at Taranto and was the direct cause of damamging the Bismarck to the extent pursuing British warships could catch and sink her. I have seen movie footage of the Sttring Bag taking off from Brit carriers, granted always steaming into the wind at probably ~25 knots and a head wind added in. Even aso, it looks like the String Bag is a kite on a string. The observer/gunner often wore a scarf, streaming behind him in the wind in the manner of the "Red Baron" WW1 pilot.

Proves it isn't always the weapon, it is the way in which it is used ... often it is the enemy with "obsolete" weapons who achieves surprsie and is fired with determination that wins.

Horray for the String Bag - the free world owes it a lot.

Bing

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- 8/17/2002 10:18:48 PM

CCB

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Have any of you seen pics of those 'pusher' planes (engine mounted in the rear of the fuselage) that were being developed by the US and Japan during WW2? The Germans had that one that had an engine both in the front and rear, but the US and Japanese versions just had the one engine in the rear.

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- 8/18/2002 1:43:17 AM

AbsntMndedProf

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CCB posted:

"Have any of you seen pics of those 'pusher' planes (engine mounted in the rear of the fuselage) that were being developed by the US and Japan during WW2? The Germans had that one that had an engine both in the front and rear, . . ."

Ah, yes! The Dornier DO 335. Here is a site with pics and info on it:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/do335.html

Eric Maietta

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- 8/18/2002 1:49:02 AM

AbsntMndedProf

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Bing posted:

"For me, the strangest aircraft of WW2 is the plain old "String Bag", the British Swordfish."

I recall reading a novel about the Swordfish and her crews. I think it was called 'Stringbag', but don't quote me. :D Well worth reading if you can find it. Also here is a site with some good pics of Swordfish:

http://www.flynavyheritage.org.uk/photo.htm

Eric Maietta

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- 8/18/2002 1:54:50 AM

AbsntMndedProf

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Another plane that deserves a place here must be the one that gained the nickname from its Luftwaffe adversaries the 'fork-tailed devil', or the P-38 Lightning.

http://p-38online.com/

Eric Maietta

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- 8/18/2002 2:36:35 AM

Bing

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Nice pix of the Swordfish, one of them ought to be captioned "Do Not Fold, Staple or Mutilate". Or is that the standard carrier folded posit8on? Hard to tell because photo is small and there are no captions at all.

Yes, I think it should be "Stringbag" one word and not two.

Strangely, there are no photos of the Stringbag lifting off a carrier deck - do the site managers understand what she did for a living??

Speaking of oddities: Do we all know that the P-40 saw carrier service? Limited, granted, but P-40's did fly off carrier decks.

Bing

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- 8/18/2002 2:50:05 AM

AbsntMndedProf

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Here is a site with a picture of a group of Fairey Swordfish flying over a carrier:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/BARC/swordfish.html

Eric Maietta

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- 8/18/2002 3:06:53 AM

msaario

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[QUOTE]Originally posted by AbsntMndedProf
[B]Here is a site with a picture of a group of Fairey Swordfish flying over a carrier:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/BARC/swordfish.html

Eric Maietta [/B][/QUOTE]

...They sank THREE battleships at Taranto! I'd like to see that in UV!

--Mikko

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- 8/18/2002 9:23:39 AM

antarctic

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Interesting Thread.... I'll have to cast my vote for the Gotha 229.... a German version of a jet flying wing...... pictures of this plane are soooo rare... the only good one I've found is a screenshot from CFS3!....
Check it out here:

http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/interviews/cfs3/Gotha229_5.shtml

And as for the "pusher" planes....well, a few come to mind.... the Japanese Shinden, and the German Pfizel (Spelling?).
It is interesting how the countries that were losing the war were pumping so much money into wierd and strange new weapons....

Antarctic

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Post #: 17

One to add - 8/18/2002 11:29:23 AM

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