Your top three second world war planes.

[smeariestbat]

Lancaster
Spitfire
B-17

 

[grummitts gloves]

My Grandad was a Hurricane pilot at Tangmere. Nothing makes a noise like a Hurricane or a Spitfire. Absolutely majestic.

 

[pastafarian]

My Grandad was a Hurricane pilot at Tangmere. Nothing makes a noise like a Hurricane or a Spitfire. Absolutely majestic.

it is a real shame the anonymity that surrounds posting on NSC prevents us from hearing about people like your grandad

 

[Northstander]

1. Spitfire
2. Lancaster bomber
3. Mosquito.

Pretty much this, mustang needs to be in aroud there but the mosquito was formidable

 

[m20gull]

Tough.

Mosquito
ME262
spitfire

But could easily have come up with a different list on a different day.

 

[Spun Cuppa]

This sounds more like it. http://shortfinals.wordpress.com/20...factory-system-ford-built-merlin-engine-mosi/

Thanks for that. Interesting read. Now that was a grunty lump

 

[Ludensian Gull]

Lancaster
Hurricane
Spitfire

All seen fairly frequently flying over our village .

 

[Spun Cuppa]

Enjoy. Not even at Max REVS. Wonderful sound.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yprfH5ZsAHk

No. 3 exhaust valve spring sounds a bit weak

Joking aside, it sounds like a sewing machine. To think the pilots could tell how it was running just by the sound...

I saw a great picture on the web once, of an aircraft mechanic pouring oil into a crashed Hurricane's engine, with the story being it had been passed as fit to fly coming out of the workshop, but was in fact very short of oil. It had seized up in flight and crashed, and the topping up of the oil when in the field was to stop whoever was responsible for the gaffe from getting reprimanded

 

[We Won't Be Druv]

Mosquito
ME 262
Arado 234

 

[Seagull on the wing]

My late Uncle was a member of RAF groundcrew during the war. All the fighters had cameras that would operate when the pilot's pulled the trigger so that the intelligence people could see if an enemy was, hit, damaged or shot down. He had the job of riding a motorcycle across the airbase to fighters as they landed in order to retrieve the films from the planes and rush them back for developing.
He was 17 when he enlisted and said it was the best of times and the worst of times but he always said a Hurry did most of the work as opposed to the fancy dan's in the Spits. so, for me,

Hurricane

Spitfire

Beaufighter

ps, God rest you Uncle Geoff, you are not forgotten.

Recognition for the 'Hurricane....there were far more of them than the Spitfire,though the Spit was faster the Hurricane was the workhorse...it depends how you grade an aircraft....speed....manoeuvrability...punching power....overall I think the Mosquito takes some beating.....wooden framed as the Hurricane...cheap and powerful.

 

[Triggaaar]

Spitfire
Focke-Wulf FW190 A
Zero

 

[Surrey Seagull]

My Grandad was a Hurricane pilot at Tangmere. Nothing makes a noise like a Hurricane or a Spitfire. Absolutely majestic.

Which squadron was your Granddad in?

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Interesting thread, important not to forget the planes and their brave crews. Here in Norfolk we are surrounded by old WWII airfields and in spite of their derelict state you can sense the history. Several are now having commemorative information boards erected so punters can understand what went on. The scary thing was the number of planes and crews lost other than to enemy action, mainly in training but also a horrendous number when on final approach at night the airfield landing lights were suddenly extinguished because of the fear of intruders on their tail. A plane and crew returning from a mission was sacrificed so the airfields could remain safe. What a decision to make.

One of the local parish churches has an RAF graveyard which is beautifully maintained. It strikes you how many of those interred there were from the Commonwealth. Also off to one side is a line of smart gravestones for Luftwaffe crews. Seeing the graves of friend and foe almost side by side does make you wonder what it was all about.

One of these airfields (RAF Langham) was subject to an enemy bombing attack very late in the war something like March 1945 yet history claims we had enjoyed air superiority over mainland Europe. Funny how that was kept quiet, but then probably not good PR if the public believe you are about to win the war.

 

[grummitts gloves]

it is a real shame the anonymity that surrounds posting on NSC prevents us from hearing about people like your grandad

Flt Lt Joseph Ambrose MOORE. Flew Spits as well. My hero. Survived the war but died in his 50's of a heart attack. Loved his Brandy and King Edward cigars.

 

[grummitts gloves]

Which squadron was your Granddad in?

I can't remember with out looking it up. I've got his dog tags at home as well. His wife, my Nan, is still alive and still has his uniform cap.

 

[banjo]

Hurricane
Spitfire
Lancaster

 

[itszamora]

Spitfire
Mosquito
B-17 - could take a ridiculous amount of punishment and still somehow stay in the air.

 

[rcf0712]

Spitfire
Bishop's Finger
Master Brew

 

[Gritt23]

1. de Havilland Mosquito

Definitely that little lovely as my number 1 ... but I'm biased as my uncle flew them them for Bomber Command, until he was shot down over German occupied land, by the Americans!! #FriendlyFire

 

[daveinprague]

Worked with an old bloke in Saudi in the late 70s who had been a Mosquito pilot during the war...didnt talk much about it though....
Always facinated by the film of the Mosquito raid on the Shell building in Copenhagen. Some serious flying/navigation there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5WGkBf0uLE
My step father #2 was at the Normandy landings, and said, when the British came over, the Germans took cover, when the Germans came over, the British took cover, when the Americans came over, everybody took cover.
They have made friendly fire their own.
Even here in Prague, the only damage from the air, was an American bomber that mistook Prague for Dresden. Pretty impressive hitting the wrong country....the dancing house building, if you know Prague, was built on the damaged area.