Aircraft Trivia Quiz

Another two, the first one I think is it though. YB-11 or YB-12

David

ww2modeler wrote:

Just a guess, the B-23 Dragon. David

No, still cooler.  This one came before.

Just a guess, the B-23 Dragon.

David

telsono wrote:

A wild guess - Douglas B-18 Bolo, the bomber conversion of the DC-2 (C-33) Mike T.

No....and getting a little cooler, even.

A wild guess - Douglas B-18 Bolo, the bomber conversion of the DC-2 (C-33)

Mike T.

espins1 wrote:

hmmm... I'm guessing the Martin B-10?

No.....

OK, next question:

This twin engine bomber flew only one wartime mission, and the last flight of the type was only a little more than 8 years after its first flight.  It was faster and could carry a heavier bomb load than the standard bomber of the time.

Concise Models did a resin conversion in 1/48, it's a little rough but doable.  Hard to find since it is old.

Rats.  Now the hardest part, coming up with a good question..

Gotta give it to John.  Although the XF-15A Reporter did not actually fly until 03Jul45, it was nothing more than a P-61E with permanantly installed camera equipment and no armament.  They are essentially the same airplane.

There have been a couple of conversion kits for the P-61E/F-15 out there for the R/M kit and there have ben a couple of limited run kits in smaller scales for those of you who may be so inclined.

Mac

Screaminhelo wrote:

ollie wrote: 27th July 1972. Actually the FIRST F-15 flew some years before that. Mac

Then it must be the Northrop F-15(A), which first flew as the prototype XP-61E on November 20, 1944.

ollie wrote:

27th July 1972.

Actually the FIRST F-15 flew some years before that.

Mac

O.K.  This should be an easy one.  On what date did the first F-15 fly?

Mac

Screaminhelo wrote:

Hey! I think I finally got one! English Electric Canberra May 01, B-52 Jan 05, C-130 Dec 06. Mac

Right you are, Mac, so you get to ask the next question..

Hey! I think I finally got one!

English Electric Canberra May 01, B-52 Jan 05, C-130 Dec 06.

Mac

New question.

How many aircraft have been in service with their original military service more than 50 years, and on what dates did they each reach this mark?

jeaton01 wrote:

OK, it was the F-89.  Not sure if the crew had to pass an intelligence test first, though.  Ah, the innocence of the 50's.  So far as I know no cows were involved in this one, but there was a Genie in the story.

You are correct jeaton01!

The F-89J (the final variant) was based on the F-89D with a couple of changes.

The J substituted 600 gallon fuel tanks in the place of the wingtip missile pod/fuel tanks and added a pylon under each wing for a single MB-1 Genie nuclear tipped rocket.  They sometimes carried up to 4 additional Falcon air-to-air missiles in addition to the Genie.  The F-89J was the first and only aircraft to fire a live Genie rocket during Operation Plumbbob July 19, 1957. 

It is interesting to note that the F-89J wasn't actually built new as an F-89J, they were all converted F-89D models (350 of them).  They served with the Air Defense Command until 1959, and after that with the Air National Guard through 1969.

jeaton01 wrote:

OK, it was the F-89.  Not sure if the crew had to pass an intelligence test first, though.  Ah, the innocence of the 50's.  So far as I know no cows were involved in this one, but there was a Genie in the story.

My

Well, during the Cold War era, military personnel generally assumed a fatalistic "doomsday" posture, meaning the knew using a nuke generally meant that they were on a "one way ticket". Friends of mine who served aboard "boomers" (ballistic missle submarines) generally felt that once a missle was fired, they themselves were a ripe target for retaliation, since that essentially revealed their top secret location.

The two movies that portrayed that most graphically were "Fail Safe" and "Dr. Strangelove".

With that in mind, the Genie was also kind of a "last resort" doomsday weapon that if a formation of Soviet bombers could not otherwise be stopped, it was to be fired into and detonated within the enemy's formation with the understanding that the EMF pulse would termanally damage any aircraft not downed by the explosion itself, essentially neutralizing them all. The mentality that any environmental/"collateral" damage was justified in terms of major population areas essential to the economy would be saved from general destruction.

Just in case you were wondering

Tom

espins1 wrote:

I know!  I know!!!  The Grumman F3F-3!

Obviously you read your instruction sheets as I do espens

You go next

Tom

I know!  I know!!! 

The Grumman F3F-3!

OK Bill.

Which aircraft was the fastest shipboard biplane fighter ever?

Hint: 264mph

Tom

Nobody exactly answered the question, but Tom was the first to mention the 445th BG and Jimmy Stewart in the same message, so I guess you're it.

 Bill

wdolson2 wrote:

The celebrity was Jimmy Stewart, but the disasterous raid was actually after D-Day.  Stewart had been promoted to a staff position in the wing at the time of the raid, but he was a pilot in that group for a while. Bill

That's interesting. That must have been one of those that they "covered up" (the U.S. Government seized and "buried" in archives the photographer John Ford's footage of the carnage at the D-Day beaches, and later "lost it" so the public would not think things still could go bad at that point of the war), not unlike the time a group of '262's attacked a formation of unescorted B-17's and literally took out half of the formation. This was told me by a gentleman who served as the radio operator for the B-17 "Ruptured Duck" in WWII, but it cannot be found in any historical accounts anywhere.

I like Stewart's statement that  essentially the shooting down of an enemy aircraft was simply a matter of putting enough lead out so the unlucky enemy fighter ran into it. He didn't have a lot of confidence in the gunner's claimed ability to pick a fast moving target and precisely hit it.

So who goes next, Bill?

Tom

The celebrity was Jimmy Stewart, but the disasterous raid was actually after D-Day.  Stewart had been promoted to a staff position in the wing at the time of the raid, but he was a pilot in that group for a while.

Bill 

wdolson2 wrote:

Little change of pace here, though from the same theater.  This 8th Air Force Group had two marks of distinction.  The first is that one of their pilots was a celebrity before the war.  The other was that this group suffered the worst single day loss of the war.   Which group was it, who was the celebrity, and a bonus if you have any details about the worst day.  Bill

I know Clark Gable served as a gunner aboard Delta Rebel No.2.

I have heard about Black Thursday, not Black Monday, the 8th Air Force mission of 14 October 1943 to Schweinfurt. In the final tally, fifty-nine Flying Fortresses were shot down over Germany, one ditched in the English Channel on the return flight, five crashed in England, and twelve more were scrapped due to battle damage or crash landings (more by AA-guns than the Luftwaffe), a total loss of seventy seven B-17s. 122 bombers were damaged to some degree and needed repairs before their next flight. Out of 2900 men in the crews, about 650 men did not return, although some survived as POW's Five were killed and forty three wounded in the damaged aircraft that made it home, and 594 were listed as Missing in Action. Only thirty three bombers landed without damage. One U.S. fighter pilot was killed in a crash landing in England; and one was wounded and bailed out over Duren. He was smuggled out by the Resistance, returning to England three and a half months later.

Very bad day-almost brought an end to the U.S. daylight bombing raids.