Posted on 07/13/2021 11:45:17 AM PDT by sodpoodle
God Bless them all.
Guys in those days were shorter. Most military aircraft are designed for people five foot eight or less.
“Those men must have been limber to get around in that aircraft. It’s tight!”
I’m a big fan of shows that feature restoration of historical war machines. One show had a pilot who flew a Supermarine Spitfire during the Battle of Britain. When the restoration was complete the old fellow struggled into the cockpit, once in he deadpanned “I seem to remember having a bit more space back in the day.” He then explained it was even a close fit back then.
When the restoration crew asked what he thought of their work he said it looked like a Spitfire, smelt like a Spitfire, but there was something missing. They fired up the rebuilt Merlin V-12 and the old boy smiled “yes, that is a Spitfire.”
“A P-51 mustang, the most advanced fighter of its time, cost something like $50,000 per unit.”
After the war they were practically giving them away. Many flying enthusiasts bought them because of their image and cheap price. Same built for the military plane, same Merlin engine just without the guns and bomb and rocket mounts.
A retired jet jockey bought one in the late 90’s. After his first flight in it he said he would never pilot another plane, the P-51 was that good.
Incidentally, the last P-51 Mustang was retired from service in 1984 by the Dominican Air Force.
Not only did we do all that, but we FED the entire Soviet Army. (THEY loved Spam!!)
If it hadn’t been for us Russia would be a province of Germany. We supplied them with...vehicles.
The USA alone supplied the Russians with 501,660 tactical wheeled and tracked vehicles, including 77,972 Jeeps, 151,053 1.5 t trucks and 200,622 2.5 t trucks.
Airplanes
14,833 US aircraft of all types were sent to Russia between 1942 and 1944.
That includes bombers and fighters. The Russians loved the English Hurricane because it was so sturdy.
Add in food, boots, uniforms, medicines, etc.
https://www.ww2-weapons.com/lend-lease-tanks-and-aircrafts/
But what often gets me when I think of was was accomplished in those three years and realize that today it takes us three years to build a new highway off ramp!
—”Did they ever open up the bottle?”
Some events are forever pending on the internet.
A good thing for this one forever remembered.
From 2013:
https://www.militarytimes.com/2013/04/21/doolittle-raiders-gather-for-final-reunion/
From 2019:
Richard Cole, Doolittle Raiders’ last survivor, dies at 103
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/04/09/richard-cole-doolittle-raiders-dies-103/3416542002/
Anything that includes “We the people” that isn’t the Constitution is hackneyed.
“To this day, when you talk to any former carrier hand, they would have loved to have been there to see that.”
In 1992 they could have seen a recreation:
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/military-vehicle-news/b-25s-carrier-remember-the-doolittle.html
https://m.facebook.com/USNHistory/posts/10154454126533344
Doolittle was an amazing man. He is the one who pioneered flying by instrument and tested it himself in the cockpit of a biplane that was covered in a hood so he could not see out.
Martin Caidin, in his book Fork-Tailed Devil: The P-38, tells of brand-new surplus P-38s being sold for $1,250 in Kingman, AZ, January 1946.
They were giving them away! Cheaper than paying maintenance on them and better than letting them rot in a boneyard.
As a kid I loved the look of the P-38, still do. The pilots that flew them loved them. It was a flight of long ranging P-38’s that took out Yamamoto.
Eighth Air Force commander Lt. Gen. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle would later call the P-38 “the sweetest-flying plane in the sky.”
But the Lightning had problems with the Allison engines and were “too much plane for the average pilot” according to 20th Fighter Group commander Colonel Harold J. Rau.
The P-38 Lightning
https://www.historynet.com/p-38-flunked-europe.htm
That is my understanding. The pilots were ready, Øbowel and PIAPS refused to give the Go signal.
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