Warbirds

B24

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, built by Consolidated Aircraft. It was produced in greater numbers than any other American combat aircraft of World War II and still holds the record as the most produced U.S. military aircraft. It was used by many Allied air forces and every U.S. branch of service during the war, attaining a distinguished war record with its operations in the northern European, Pacific and Mediterranean theaters.

Often compared to the better known B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 was a more modern design with a higher top speed and greater range yet it had a similar bombload and defensive armament. Nevertheless, popular opinion among aircrews and general staff tended to favor the B-17's rugged qualities above all other considerations. The B-24 was notorious among American air crews for its tendency to catch fire. The placement of the B-24's fuel tanks throughout the upper fuselage and its lightweight construction, designed both to increase range and optimize assembly line production, made the aircraft vulnerable to battle damage. The B-24 was more difficult to fly as well, with heavy control forces and poor formation flying characteristics. The B-24 nevertheless provided excellent service in a variety of roles thanks to its large payload and long range.

B25

The North American B-25 Mitchell (NA-62) was an American twin-engined medium bomber manufactured by North American Aviation. It was used by many Allied air forces, in every theater of World War II, as well as many other air forces after the war ended, and saw service across four decades.

The B-25 was named in honor of General Billy Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. The B-25 is the only American military aircraft named after a specific person. By the end of its production, nearly 10,000 B-25s in numerous models had been built. These included a few limited variations, such as the US Navy's PBJ-1 patrol bomber and the Army Air Forces' F-10 photo reconnaissance aircraft.

B17

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed for the U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC). Competing against Douglas and Martin for a contract to build 200 bombers, the Boeing entry outperformed both the other competitors and more than met the Air Corps' expectations. Although Boeing lost the contract due to the prototype's crash, the Air Corps was so impressed with Boeing's design that they ordered 13 B-17s. The B-17 Flying Fortress went on to enter full-scale production and was considered the first truly mass-produced large aircraft, eventually evolving through numerous design advancements, from B-17A to G.

The B-17 was primarily employed in the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of World War II against German industrial and civilian targets. The United States Eighth Air Force based in England and the Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy complemented the RAF Bomber Command's nighttime area bombing in Operation Pointblank, to help secure air superiority over the cities, factories and battlefields of Western Europe in preparation for Operation Overlord. The B-17 also participated, to a lesser extent, in the War in the Pacific, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping.

From its pre-war inception, the USAAC touted the aircraft as a strategic weapon; it was a potent, high-flying, long-ranging bomber capable of unleashing great destruction yet able to defend itself. With the ability to return home despite extensive battle damage, its durability, especially in belly-landings and ditchings, quickly took on mythic proportions. Stories and photos of B-17s surviving battle damage widely circulated, boosting its iconic status. Despite an inferior range and bombload compared to the more numerous B-24 Liberator, a survey of Eighth Air Force crews showed a much higher rate of satisfaction in the B-17. With a service ceiling greater than any of its Allied contemporaries, the B-17 established itself as a superb weapons system, dropping more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II. Of the 1.5 million tonnes of bombs dropped on Germany, 500,000 were dropped from B-17s.

F6F Hellcat

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was a fighter aircraft descended from the earlier F4F Wildcat, but was a completely new design sharing only a familial resemblance to the Wildcat. Some tagged it as "Wildcat's big brother" [1]. The Hellcat and the Vought F4U Corsair were the primary United States Navy carrier fighters in the second half of World War II.

he Hellcat proved to be the most successful aircraft in naval history, destroying 5,171 aircraft in service with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps (5,163 in the Pacific and eight more during the invasion of Southern France), plus 52 with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during World War II. Postwar, the Hellcat aircraft was rapidly phased out of front line service, finally retiring in 1954 as a night-fighter in composite squadrons.

Zero

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero ("A" for fighter, 6th model, "M" for Mitsubishi) was a lightweight, carrier-based fighter aircraft employed by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service from 1940 to 1945. Its history mirrored the fortunes of Imperial Japan in World War II. At the time it was introduced, the Mitsubishi A6M was the best carrier-based fighter plane in the world and was greatly feared by Allied pilots. [1] [2] [3] By 1942, thanks to the evolution of new tactics and techniques, Allied pilots were able to engage the Zero on more equal terms. By 1943, American and British manufacturers were producing fighters with greater firepower, armor, and speed and approaching the Zero's maneuverability. By 1944, the Mitsubishi A6M was outdated but remained in production. In shifting priorities during the final years of the War in the Pacific, the Zero was utilized in kamikaze operations.

A combination of excellent maneuverability and very long range made it one of the finest fighters of its era. In early combat operations, the Zero gained a legendary reputation, outclassing its contemporaries. Later, design weaknesses and the increasing scarcity of more powerful aircraft engines meant that the Zero became less effective against newer fighters.

SNJ

The North American T-6 Texan was known as "the pilot maker" because of its important role in preparing pilots for combat. Derived from the 1935 North American NA-16 prototype, a cantilever low-wing monoplane, the Texan filled the need for a basic combat trainer during WW II and beyond. The original order of 94 AT-6 Texans differed little from subsequent versions such as the AT-6A (1,847) which revised the fuel tanks or the AT-6D (4,388) and AT-6F (956) that strengthened as well as lightened the frame with the use of light alloys. In all, more than 17,000 airframes were designed to the Texan standards.

North American's rapid production of the T-6 Texan coincided with the wartime expansion of the United States air war commitment. As of 1940, the required flights hours for combat pilots earning their wings had been cut to just 200 during a shortened training period of seven months. Of those hours, 75 were logged in the AT-6.

T33

The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star is an American-built jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948, piloted by Tony LeVier. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then designated T-33A. It was used by the USN as the initially as TO-2 then TV-2 and after 1962, T-33B. Despite its vintage, the venerable T-33 still remains in service worldwide.

Originally designated the TF-80C, the T-33 made its first flight on 22 March 1948 with US production taking place from 1948 to 1959. The US Navy used the T-33 as a land-based trainer starting in 1949. It was designated the TV-2, but was redesignated the T-33B in 1962. The Navy operated some ex-USAF P-80Cs as the TO-1, changed to the TV-1 about a year later. A carrier capable version of the P-80/T-33 family was subsequently developed by Lockheed, eventually leading to the late 1950s to 1970s T2V-1/T-1A SeaStar. A total of 6,557 Shooting Stars were produced, 5,691 by Lockheed.

T34

The Beechcraft T-34 Mentor is a propeller-driven, single-engined, military trainer aircraft derived from the Beechcraft Model 35 Bonanza. The earlier versions of the T-34, dating from around the late 1940s to the 1950s, were piston-engined. These were eventually succeeded by the upgraded T-34C Turbo Mentor, powered by a turboprop engine. The T-34 remains in service almost six decades after it was first designed.

The first flight of the Model 45 was on 2 December 1948, by Beechcraft test pilot Vern Carstens. In 1950 the USAF ordered three Model A45T test aircraft, which were given the military designation YT-34. A long competition followed to determine a new trainer, and in 1953 the Air Force put the Model 45 into service as the T-34A Mentor, while the USN followed in May 1955 with the T-34B. The US Air Force began to replace the T-34A at the beginning of the 1960s, while the U.S. Navy kept the T-34B operational until the early 1970s. As of 2007, Mentors are still used in several air forces and navies.

T41

The T-41 Mescalero is a military version of the popular Cessna 172 used by the United States Air Force and the United States Army as a pilot training aircraft.

In 1964, the Air Force decided to use the off-the-shelf Cessna 172 as a preliminary flight screener for pilot candidates and ordered 237 T-41As from Cessna. The T-41B was the US Army version, with a 210 hp Lycoming IO-360 and constant-speed propeller in place of the 145 hp Lycoming O-300 and 7654 fixed-pitch propeller used in the 172 and the T-41A. In 1968, the Air Force acquired 52 more powerful T-41Cs, which used 210 hp Continental IO-360 and constant-speed propeller, for use at the Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs.

In 1996, the aircraft were further upgraded to the T-41D, which included an upgrade in avionics. Beginning in 1993, the United States Air Force replaced much of the T-41 fleet with the Slingsby T-3A Firefly for the flight screening role, and for aerobatic training, which was outside the design capabilities of the T-41. The T-3A fleet was indefinitely grounded in 1997 and scrapped in 2006 following a series of fatal accidents at the United States Air Force Academy. The Air Force now trains through a civilian contract with DOSS Aviation known as Initial Military Flight Screening which makes use of the Diamond DA20.[citation needed] Three T-41s remain at the Air Force Academy in order to support certain academic classes as well as the USAFA Flying Team.

AT6 Texan

The T-6 originated from the North American NA-16 prototype (first flown on April 1, 1935) which, modified as the NA-26, was submitted as an entry for a USAAC "Basic Combat" aircraft competition in March, 1937. The first model went in to production and 180 were supplied to the USAAC as the BC-1 and 400 to the RAF as the Harvard I. The US Navy received 16 modified aircraft, designated the SNJ-1, and a further 61 as the SNJ-2 with a different engine.

The T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft designed by North American Aviation, used to train fighter pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II. The T-6 is known by a variety of designations depending on the model and operating air force. The USAAC called it the "AT-6", the US Navy, the "SNJ", and British Commonwealth air forces, the Harvard. It remains a popular warbird aircraft.

L3

The Aeronca L-3 group of observation and liaison aircraft were used by the United States Army Air Corps in World War II. The L-3 series were adapted from Aeronca's pre-war Tandem Trainer and Chief models. The L-3 was initially designated the O-58 at the time it was first ordered by the Air Corps. The airplane was given its service tests in the summer of 1941 during maneuvers in Louisiana and Texas where it was used for various support purposes such as a light transport and courier.

At the time American ground forces went into combat around the world during World War II, the Army Air Force began using the L-3 in much the same manner as the observation balloon was used in France during World War I - spotting enemy troop and supply concentrations and directing artillery fire on them. It was also used for other types of liaison and transport duties and short-range reconnaissance which required airplanes that could land and take off in short distances from unprepared landing strips. Unfortunately, by the time that the United States entered the war, the Aeronca L-3 (and sister ship Taylorcraft L-2) were declared Operationally Obsolete, and never formally left for a foreign front; this was partially due to a nasty tendency for it to stall and spin in a left-hand turn, partially because newer and more capable aircraft were already being pressed into service. Instead they were relegated to training fields to serve as trainers and hacks. Liaison pilots would train in an L-3 and then be moved on to larger aircraft like the Piper L-4 or, in the case of the Army Air Corps, the Stinson L-5.

There are reports that some L-3s were accidentally shipped to the African front, and subsequently given to the Free French Forces operating within the area at the time. It is not known how many were received by the French, nor how many survived the war.

Queen Air

The Beechcraft Queen Air is a twin engined light aircraft produced by Beechcraft in several different versions from the 1960 to 1978. Based upon the Twin Bonanza, with which it shared key components such as wings, engines, and tail surfaces, but featuring a larger fuselage, it served as the basis for the highly successful King Air series of turboprop aircraft. It is often used as a private aircraft, a utility, or a small commuter airliner. Production would run for the best part of two decades.

P40

The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used in great numbers in World War II. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous P-36; this reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. When production of the P-40 ceased in November 1944, 13,738 had been built. They were used by the air forces of 28 nations and remained in front line service until the end of the war.

The P-40's lack of a two-stage supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe. Between 1941 and 1944, however, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China. It also had a significant role in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. The P-40's high altitude performance was not as critical in those theaters, where it served as an air supremacy fighter, bomber escort and fighter bomber.

In theaters where high-altitude performance was less important, the P-40 proved an effective fighter. Though it gained a postwar reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support, more recent research including close scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons indicates that the P-40 performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses, but also taking a very heavy toll on enemy aircraft. The P-40 offered the additional advantage of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground attack fighter long after it was obsolete in air superiority.

Only 19 P-40s remain airworthy.

Fleet 2

In the 1930s, Fleet Aircraft manufactured a series of single-engined, two-seat training aircraft, based on US designs. The Fleet Model 7B and Model 7C, known respectively as Fawn I and Fawn II were purchased by the RCAF as primary trainers. After years of reliable service, many were available for use in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the Second World War while others remained as station "hacks."

A total of 31 Model 7Cs were built between 1931 and 1938 at the Fleet Aircraft of Canada's plant at Fort Erie, Ontario, with the first deliveries made in 1936. Due to the smoother, quieter and more powerful engine, the Model 7C was considered the definitive variant.

Forty three Fleet Model 7B and C trainers were operational with the Royal Canadian Air Force when war was declared in 1939. In service during the Second World War, the RCAF adopted the name "Fawn" for both variants. Along with the more modern follow-up design, the Fleet Finch, Fleet Fawns helped train thousands of pilots under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan during the war. The Fawn remained in service with the RCAF until 1947.

PT 17 Stearman

The Stearman (Boeing) Model 75 is a biplane, of which 8584 were built in the United States during the 1930s and 1940s as a military trainer aircraft. Stearman became a subsidiary of Boeing in 1934. Widely known as the Stearman, Boeing Stearman or Kaydet, it served as a Primary trainer for the USAAF, as a basic trainer for the USN (as the NS1 & N2S), and with the RCAF as the Kaydet throughout World War II. After the conflict was over, thousands of surplus aircraft were sold on the civil market. In the immediate post-war years they became popular as crop dusters and as sports planes.

The Kaydet was of rugged construction, and conventional biplane design with large, fixed tailwheel undercarriage, and accommodation for the student and instructor in open cockpits in tandem. The radial engine was usually uncowled, although some Stearman operators choose to cowl the engine, most notably the Red Baron Stearman Squadron.

T28 Trojan

The North American T-28 Trojan was a piston-engined military trainer aircraft used by the United States armed forces in the 1950s and into the early 1980s. The largest single concentration of this aircraft was employed by the U.S. Navy at NAS Whiting Field in Milton, Florida in the training of student naval aviators. The last U.S. Navy training squadron to fly the T-28 was VT-27, based at NAS Corpus Cristi, Texas, flying the last T-28 training flight in early 1984. Many T-28s were subsequently sold to private civil operators, and due to their reasonable operating costs are often found flying as warbirds today.

In the COIN role, T-28s saw extensive service during the Vietnam War in VNAF hands, as well as the Secret War in Laos. They were also supplied to Congo by the CIA to support Moise Tshombe's regime. France used locally remanufactured T-28s in close-support and patrol roles in Algeria. In the Philippines, T-28s, known locally as "Tora-toras", figured prominently in a series of coup de etats in the 1980s and were employed as dive bombers by rebel military forces. The T-28 Trojan was the first US attack fixed wing aircraft (non-transport type) lost in SOUTH Vietnam, during the Vietnam War. Capt. Robert L. Simpson, USAF, Detachment 2A, lst Air Commando Group, and Lt. Hoa, SVNAF, were shot down by ground fire on 28 August 1962 while flying Close Air Support (CAS). Neither crewman survived. The USAF lost 23 T-28s to all causes during the war, with the last two losses occurring in 1968.

Bird-Dog

The Cessna L-19/O-1 Bird Dog is an American liaison and observation aircraft, it was the first all metal fixed wing aircraft ordered for and by the U.S. Army, since the US Army Air Force separated from the army in 1947, becoming its own branch of service, the United States Air Force. The Bird Dog had a lengthy career in the U.S. military as well as in other countries.

As USAF phased out the O-1 in favor of the O-2, many O-1s in the United States were sold as surplus, while a number of them were turned over to the Civil Air Patrol for such duties as aerial search. Many of these were damaged in groundloops and other accidents, and eventually all were replaced by tricycle-gear Cessnas. The only O-1 remaining in CAP inventory is a static display on a post in front of CAP headquarters at Maxwell Air Force Base.

Waco

Weaver Aircraft Company of Ohio (WACO) was an aircraft company located in Troy, Ohio, USA. Between 1919 and 1946, the company produced a wide range of civilian biplanes.

WACO's history started in 1919 when businessmen Clayton J. Brukner and Elwood Junkin met barnstorming pilots Charley Meyers and George Weaver. Although their initial floatplane design was a failure, they went on to found the WACO company in 1920 and established themselves as producers of reliable, rugged planes that were popular with travelling businessmen, postal services and explorers, especially after the company switched to producing closed-cabin biplanes after 1924.

During World War 2, WACO produced large numbers of gliders for the RAF and US Air Force for airborne operations, especially during the Normandy Invasion and Operation Market Garden. The CG-4 Hadrian was the most numerous version produced.

The WACO company ceased operations in 1946, having suffered the fate of a number of general aviation companies when an anticipated boom in aviation following World War II failed to develop.[1] The WACO Classic Aircraft company began in 1986 building its WACO Classic YMF, an upgraded version based on WACO's type certificated design.

P51

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that entered service with Allied air forces in the middle years of World War II. The P-51 became one of the conflict's most successful and recognizable aircraft.

The P-51 flew most of its wartime missions as a bomber escort in raids over Germany, helping ensure Allied air superiority from early 1944. It also saw limited service against the Japanese in the Pacific War. The Mustang began the Korean War as the United Nations' main fighter, but was relegated to a ground attack role when superseded by jet fighters early in the conflict. Nevertheless, it remained in service with some air forces until the early-1980s.

After World War II and the Korean conflict, many Mustangs were converted for civilian use, especially air racing. The Mustang's reputation was such that, in the mid-1960s, Ford Motor Company's Designer John Najjar proposed the name for a new youth-oriented coup after the fighter.

Ford TriMotor

The Ford Trimotor, nicknamed The Tin Goose, was an American three engine civil transport aircraft first produced in 1925 by Henry Ford and continued until June 7, 1933. Throughout its lifespan a total of about 200 aircraft were produced. It was popular with the military and was sold all over the world. Unlike his famous cars, trucks and farm tractors, Ford did not make the engines for these airplanes.

Like his cars and tractors, these Ford aircraft were well designed, relatively inexpensive, and reliable (for the era). The rapid development of aircraft at this time (the vastly superior Douglas DC-2 was first conceived in 1932), helped Henry Ford to lose interest in aircraft production. While Ford did not make a profit on its aviation business, Ford's reputation leant credibility to the infant aviation industry, and Ford helped introduce many aspects of the modern aviation infrastructure, including paved runways, passenger terminals, hangars, airmail, and radio navigation.