Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought-provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

WW2 category: Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2  -- See latest WWII news here. See also 'D-Day tours', 'RC planes', 'WW2 scale models', 'German Pilots, Aces', 'Bomber pilots', 'WW2 Warbirds', 'Aviation', 'Female Pilots'.

Polish World War II ace Jozef Jeka's memorabilia to be auctioned     telegraph.co.uk :: 2009-11-30
Jozef Jeka, a Polish airman who fled to UK after Third Reich invaded Poland, was a WW2 pilot who won the Distinguished Flying. He was twice shot down and credited with 8 kills and 1 V1 flying bomb. After the war he tied the knot with a British woman and they had a daughter who he never met as he died in a Cold War CIA operation in 1958. After his death his logbook, photos, military uniform, and medals were packed into a suitcase. Only recently opened, it also contains pictures of the French resistance family who Jeka stayed with after one of his crashes and 2 silk US cold war escape maps. His daughter has decided to sell the collection, which is expected to fetch 15,000 pounds.     [WW2 Militaria]

Flying with the P-47 Thunderbolt fighters in World War II     cleveland.com :: 2009-10-12
Dave Hutton flew through the cloud and flak-filled skies over Italy, gunning for "flamers" - military vehicles that exploded in a gush of fire when hit by the eight .50-caliber machine guns. P-47s were tanks of the air, and pilots loved the thick armor plating and the heavy structure that absorbed bullets and AA shrapnel. The biggest threat came from anti-aircraft fire, the "black flowers" of smoke and death. Dave quickly learned the art of survival: rapidly changing altitude and making turns. He faced the grim realities of war when learning how to fly the P-47s in Corsica in 1944, his close friend stalled out on landing: "Poor Bob never even got to fly one mission."     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

Marine Col. Kenneth Reusser flew 253 combat missions in 3 wars (WWII, Korea, Vietnam)     latimes.com :: 2009-07-04
Kenneth Reusser, who flew 253 combat missions in 3 wars and was downed 5 times, died at 89. He came from an era when aerial combat meant low-level bombing and dogfighting in which enemies could see each other. He got two Navy Cross medals, one for combat during the battle for Okinawa and another for leading a raid over Korea. In Vietnam, he flew helicopters and he was shot down while on a rescue mission, suffering burns over a third of his body. During WW2 he was part of the Black Sheep Squadron led by the legendary Medal of Honor winner Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. Like Boyington, Reusser believed in taking the fight to the enemy, regardless of rules, procedures or safety.    

A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald [book review]     seattletimes :: 2009-05-24
Joe Moser bailed out of a flaming fighter plane over France in World War Two and survived 60 days in a brutal Nazi concentration camp before being saved by Luftwaffe officers. He tells his story in "A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald." Moser's adventures date to Aug. 13, 1944, when he flew his 44th mission in the cockpit of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Moser spotted a convoy of trucks in the open on a road. "I didn't stop to think that it might be too obvious. It was a trap and I had fallen right into it." As he descended toward the convoy, anti-aircraft fire burst from both sides of the road, hitting his left engine. Soon Moser knew he needed to bail out... [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE, FR]    

Stalin's British heroes: The RAF aces of the 151 Wing who fought for the Soviet Union     dailymail.co.uk :: 2009-05-15
The Messerschmitt was coming towards him, but Micky Rook calmly pressed the firing button of his Hurricane and the Me-109 blew up in mid-air. Another kill for the RAF in the early years of WW2, but this was no part of the famous Few's dogfight over Kent. The waters beneath Rook's plane were the icy Barents Sea off Murmansk. Rook was part of 151 Wing, a RAF group who fought against the Nazis Side by side with the Russian pilots, for 4 vital months in the winter of 1941. Code-named Force Benedict, it has been mostly forgotten - until the chance discovery of a medal (Order of Lenin) granted to Wing Commander Henry Neville Gynes Ramsbottom-Isherwood, who led 151 Wing.    

World War II fighter pilot recalls dogfights over China     newschief.com :: 2009-05-04
Colonel Robert Liles recalls the episode 67 years ago. The Army Air Corps pilot considered his options as he tried to shoot the wingman of a group of Japanese planes flying in a V formation over China when he was surprised by a fighter plane who hit both wings of his aircraft. "I managed to get away but my plane was shot up pretty good," he said, describing details of the ordeal to a roomful of aviation and military enthusiasts. Liles was one of 3 fighter ace pilots sharing their WW2 adventures during the "Victory in the Sky" symposium, an installment of the Living History Series at Fantasy of Flight.    

WWII Marine pilot was granted Medal of Honor for knocking 7 dive bombers in 15 minutes     washingtonpost.com :: 2009-01-23
James E. Swett was a Marine Corps ace who got the Medal of Honor for knocking seven Japanese dive bombers out of the air in 15 minutes. He was a first lieutenant and division leader in the Solomon Islands area of the South Pacific during World War Two when he was granted the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military's highest award for heroism. As part of the Guadalcanal campaign, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had ordered a daylight offensive with 150 Japanese aircraft. The Allies had about half that number of planes. Leading his division of 4 Wildcat planes April 7, 1943, Swett saw 20 lightly armored Japanese Val (Aichi D3A) dive bombers trying to target Allied ships.     [Medal of Honor - Stories of the most decorated Heroes]

Pete Brothers: fighter pilot who destroyed 16 enemy aircraft, earning a DSO and two DFCs     telegraph.co.uk :: 2009-01-09
Air Commodore Pete Brothers was one of the RAF's best fighter pilots, taking down 16 enemy aircraft. He was a flight commander on No 32 Squadron and had been blooded in May 1940 during the chaotic air combat during the Battle of France, when he downed two German fighters. As the Battle of Britain opened in July 1940, the squadron was operating Hurricanes from Biggin Hill and was soon involved in fierce fighting. Flying 3-4 times a day, Brothers shot down 7 fighters and a bomber before the end of August. After an exhausting day in August, he woke up to discover bomb craters a few yards from his bedroom. He had heard nothing.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

Lee Kendall downed the last enemy plane in the Pacific Theater - 24 hours after the war     lompocrecord.com :: 2009-01-03
Lee Kendall is credited as the pilot who brought down the last enemy plane in the Pacific Theater - 24 hours after the war was over. For his actions, he later was granted the Distinguished Flying Cross. Through the war, Kendall flew B-25 Mitchell medium bombers, until he saw a new Northrop P-61 twin-engine "night fighter" - "It was the most beautiful airplane I had ever seen" - and he requested a transfer to a unit that flew these big, 66-foot wingspan fighters. The shiny black paint job enabled the aircraft to be almost invisible when hit by searchlights - the first use of "stealth" techniques.    

WWII fighter pilot Quentin C. Aanenson shared haunting story with the world     washingtonpost.com :: 2009-01-02
As a fighter pilot in World War Two, Quentin C. Aanenson fought a very dangerous war. He first saw combat on D-Day, and in the following year, he dive-bombed and strafed tanks, bridges and German infantry at low altitude. He took hits from antiaircraft shells and flak on over 20 missions and pulled through 2 crash landings. He watched so many of his fellow pilots in the 366th Fighter Group die that he stopped making friends with the replacements. He had rarely spoken of his military service until his children suggested that he document what he'd gone through. The result became a popular movie, "A Fighter Pilot's Story."    

The life of B-17 pilot Charlie Brown was saved by Nazi ace Franz Stigler     militaryphotos.net :: 2008-12-12
Dec 1943, Charlie Brown was piloting a B-17 over Nazi Germany when the plane took heavy fire: nose was shot off, engines damaged. Spiraling toward earth with a dead tail gunner and 9 other crew members, Brown (shot in the shoulder) regained control of the craft, broke formation and continued to take on German fighters. Then a Nazi pilot, flying a Messerschmitt Bf-109, motioned for Brown to land his badly damaged plane. Brown shook his head. Instead of shooting down the bomber, the Nazi pilot escorted Brown to the North Sea, saluted, rolled his plane in tribute and flew off. In 1986 Brown finally identified the Nazi pilot: Franz Stigler (487 flights, 28 kills).     [German Pilots and Flying Aces]

"Blondie" Walker did low-level to attack ships with rockets     telegraph.co.uk :: 2008-12-11
Flight Lieutenant "Blondie" Walker (two DFCs) was a fighter pilot who excelled at very low-level flying to attack ships with rockets. Many of his attacks were carried out at night in his single-engine Hurricane. When Walker joined No 6 Squadron in Sept 1943, it had turned its attention from Erwin Rommel's tanks to attacking shipping. In recognition for the squadron's tank-busting actions during the North African campaign, each aircraft was decorated with a flying can-opener. Walker - who pioneered night attacks - flew at 20ft to attack enemy shipping, holding the fire of his 4 rockets until he was 200 yards from the target.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

Tail gunner Babe Broyhill set records for downed German ME-262 jet fighters     denverpost.com :: 2008-11-29
On a March day in 1945, Babe Broyhill was the tail gunner on "Big Yank," a B-17 Flying Fortress over Berlin. He saw Luftwaffe ME-262 jet fighters swarm toward Big Yank's tail. "They were 1,000 yards away when I started cutting loose with my guns... my tracers were going right into its fuselage. Suddenly it went down in flames. The second came into my sights... I kept shooting away... Suddenly it also spiraled down." The Big Yank crew set a record for the number of ME-262 jets destroyed by one crew on one mission (3) and Broyhill set two records: most German jets destroyed by a gunner in one mission (2) and most German jets destroyed by a gunner during the war (2).     [Me262 - The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe]

Colonel Don Blakeslee: Fighter pilot who was one of the finest American combat leaders     telegraph.co.uk :: 2008-10-07
Colonel Don Blakeslee served in the Royal Canadian Air Force and the RAF before shifting to the USAAF, where he was one of the finest WWII combat fighter leaders. On Jan. 1 1944 he was appointed to command the 4th Fighter Group. The role of the Group was to escort the 8th Air Force's long-range bomber force deep into Nazi territory. His Group had the P-47 Thunderbolt, and he worked hard to be re-equipped with the P-51 Mustang, and when this was approved he was told that his pilots had to be operational within 24 hours of receiving P-51s. He agreed, informing his pilots: "learn how to fly them on the way to the target".     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

Jimmy Corbin - Spitfire ace who is among the last of the few     kentnews.co.uk :: 2008-09-18
The sound of a Supermarine Spitfire engine stirs mixed memories for Jimmy Corbin because it reminds him of when he lived life on the edge. He is one of the pilots Winston Churchill called the 'Few' - the men who won the Battle of Britain. The former Sergeant pilot is unique as he's the last survivor of 10 young men who put down their impressions of those days. When "Ten Fighter Boys" came out in 1942 it was a success, but by that time 5 of the authors were dead. Recently Jimmy wrote his own autobiography and when that was a success the original book was reprinted with Jimmy penning the foreword.    

World War II pilot pens memories of Hiroshima - The Hostile Sky     venturacountystar.com :: 2008-08-07
James Vernon had seen Hiroshima before and after the A-bomb, from the cockpit of his Navy fighter-bomber. In 1945, he was serving in the Navy as a pilot in VBF 87, a fighter-bomber squadron operating aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga. "Our flight path took us over the Kure Naval Base and then south of Hiroshima. I remember how beautiful, green and lush it was." Later he was flying south of Hiroshima: "There were maybe 2 or 3 structures standing... There was nothing there." His comrade Raymond Porter was shot down and held at Hiroshima. Porter was killed in the blast, but his crewman Normand Brissette was one of two American POWs to survive the bomb.    

Tribute to fighter pilot who died to save lives of innocent boys     thisisderbyshire.co.uk :: 2008-07-26
As the crowd stood in silence, the sound of a lone bugle echoed across a Derby park in memory of a fighter pilot who almost went unrecognised. With military standards lowered, and the hands of RAF officers raised in salute, The Last Post was sounded for Aston Maurice Cooper-Key. In 1940 he was flying a Hurricane fighter when its engine broke down and he attempted to land in a Normanton park. But after he spotted a group of boys playing there, he changed course, crashed into a railway embankment and died. One of those boys was Dennis Tunnicliffe, who called for a ceremony, after reading a history book that id'd the pilot.    

Hamilton McWhorter III - The first aviator to become a WWII Hellcat Ace pilot     onlineathens :: 2008-05-19
Hamilton McWhorter III was the first aviator to become a World War II Hellcat Ace pilot. His large frame filled up an airplane's cockpit as easily as his personality filled up a room. McWhorter already had a pilot's license when he enlisted in the Navy. His squadron was the first to fly a new plane, the Grumman F6F Hellcat. Before the end of WWII, he had shot down 12 planes in his Hellcat, becoming the first pilot to be designated as a Hellcat Ace. Many years later he wrote "The First Hellcat Ace" about his experiences in the Pacific. And in 1989 he was placed into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame.    

Four World War II aces spin tales     sacbee :: 2008-05-05
4 WWII fighter pilot aces recalled dogfights at the Aerospace Museum of California. Col. Bud Anderson, Lt. Col. Don Bryan, Col. Barrie Davis and Col. Art Fiedler were seated before a P-51 Mustang restored to a high polish. Fiedler recalled his days escorting B-24 bombers. On one mission he saw 2 German Messerschmitt 109s. He followed one Me-109 down as it went into a vertical dive, hitting it with machine-gun fire, then watching it crash. Pulling out of the dive, he found himself flying side by side with another German fighter: He could see the the enemy's red helmet and his oxygen mask.    

P-47 pilot James Finnegan shot down Nazi Ace Adolf Gallant     sfgate :: 2008-04-26
James Finnegan, a young fighter pilot flying his P-47, found himself in a dogfight - And at the end of it he downed the top German ace Adolf Galland flying Messerschmitt Me 262 jet. Finnegan was escorting Allied bombers when he "saw two objects come zipping through the formation, and 2 bombers blew up immediately. I watched the two objects go through the bomber formation, and thought, 'That can't be a prop job... it's got to be one of the 262 jets.'" Galland managed to land his crippled Me-262 jet, and years later the two pilots became friends, visiting each other to swap WWII stories.     [German Pilots and Flying Aces]

P-51 Mustang fighter ace Lt. Gen. Gordon M. Graham     military.com :: 2008-03-29
Lt. Gen. Gordon M. Graham logged over 9,000 flying hours and got 55 decorations and service awards during his career in the Air Force. His first flying experience came while he was working at an airport in the 1930s. Told one payday there wasn't enough money to pay him, he took an offer of a flying lesson instead. That first experience piloting an aircraft became a passion for Graham, who shoot down at least 16 enemy planes during World War II. By the end of the war, he had flown 73 combat missions in P-51 Mustang fighter planes.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

£115,000 for collection of memorabilia of Spitfire fighter ace Douglas Bader     express :: 2008-02-21
An admirer of the legless fighter ace Douglas Bader had to reach for the sky to get a keepsake of his hero. The anonymous buyer paid £115,000 for an artificial leg and 40 other memorabilia and militaria artefacts belonging to the legendary WW2 Spitfire pilot. As well as the leg, he also got Bader's tunics, coats and flasks, plus parts of aircraft which he flew. The heroic pilot lost both his legs in a flying mishap in 1931 and was discharged from the RAF. He rejoined after the outbreak of war in August 1941. After shooting down 22 Luftwaffe aircrafts, he came down in flames and was taken prisoner and sent to the Colditz castle.     [WW2 Militaria]

Eric Barwell: Downing Messerschmitt Bf 109s, Stukas and a V1 flying bomb     telegraph.co.uk :: 2007-12-23
Wing Commander Eric Barwell saw action during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk and in the Battle of Britain; and later as a night fighter pilot. In Feb 1940 he joined No 264 Squadron, equipped with the Defiant, a fighter fitted with a rear-facing gun turret but no forward-firing guns. This surprised the Luftwaffe and the Defiant squadrons accomplished some successes. Over Dunkirk Barwell and his gunner accounted for a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and, on a second patrol, they shot down 2 Stuka dive-bombers. 2 days later they destroyed another Bf 109. His final success came in 1944 when he shot down a V-1 flying bomb.    

RAF ace Bunny Currant hitchhiked out of enemy territory     dailymail.co.uk :: 2007-12-19
Wing Commander Christopher Frederick "Bunny" Currant -- DSO, DFC and Bar, Croix de Guerre -- was not a man to give up easily. On May 22, 1940 he was standing in a field in France in his RAF uniform, with his Hurricane burning behind him. After an unlucky interlude with a Heinkel bomber, he had shown nerves of steel by climbing out of his Hurricane to bale out. But at an altitude of 6,000ft, he changed his mind. He climbed Back into the cockpit, took the controls again, and glided down into a field. Then, with the storm of German armour that would culminate in the retreat from Dunkirk gathering pace, the ace fell in with a group of French farmers near Arras.    

Argentine pilots break silence over World War 2     reuters :: 2007-12-12
In October 1942, Flight Lieutenant Donald McLarty was shot down over Libya on his 199th WW2 mission. Even though he was flying for RAF, his uniform was emblazoned with a word 'Argentina'. Many foreigners fought for the Allied, but historians have mostly focused on pilots from countries occupied by Nazi Germany. Few realize that 800 young men from neutral Argentina hurried to sign up as pilots. When McLarty climbed into his Hurricane fighter-bomber for a low-level attack on a German base, he needed to do just 2 more missions to earn a long break. It was not to be... He was persuaded to speak by historian Claudio Meunier, who spent a decade unearthing hidden stories.    

Jefferson DeBlanc, World War II fighter pilot with Medal of Honor     washingtonpost :: 2007-12-05
Jefferson J. DeBlanc, a WWII ace who was awarded the Medal of Honor for shooting down 5 Japanese planes on a single day while running out of fuel, passed away at 86. On Jan. 31, 1943, he took off from Guadalcanal in Wildcat fighter, leading a 6-plane section of Marine Fighting Squadron 112. They were tasked to protect dive bombers attacking Japanese ships near Kolombangara. He became dragged in a fierce air battle, and his fighter was using fuel at a rapid rate and he could have returned to his base, but he continued his attacks: "We needed all the guns we could get up there to escort those dive bombers... I figured I could survive a bailout."     [Medal of Honor - Stories of the most decorated Heroes]

Battle of Britain fighter pilots badly trained, had poor kill/loss ratio     telegraph.co.uk :: 2007-10-31
Most Battle of Britain pilots were so badly trained they could not shoot straight, says historian Andrew Cumming. Some went into combat after 10 hours of solo flying and without ever having fired their guns. Lack of training facilities, time and recruits hampered Fighter Command's efforts. Documents show the "kill/loss ratio" for the key air battle (24 Aug - Sept 6, 1940) was "unimpressive". The Battle of Britain pilots (The Few) have become legendary figures, not because of reality but because they helped form a heroic national identity. The RAF's performance against Luftwaffe in 1940 was "ineffectual" and we owe much more to the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy.     [The Blitz - Battle of Britain]

World War II flying ace Abner Aust Jr. - National treasure or menace?     heraldtribune :: 2007-10-28
Abner Aust Jr. is a genuine war hero, a flying ace who shot down Japanese Zeros over Tokyo near the end of WWII and then piloted jets in 300 more combat missions in Vietnam. A U.S. Air Force officer organizing a reunion of fighter pilots wants Aust, whom he calls a "legendary American", to attend as a special guest. The 86-year-old Aust also is a felon: convicted of trying to hire somebody to kill one of his ex-wives and burn down her house. He's spent the past 7 years behind bars and likely will die there unless his supporters can persuade a judge that the retired colonel should be regarded as a national treasure instead of an ill-tempered menace.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

Air Commodore Paul Webb - Shooting down the first Junkers 88     telegraph.co.uk :: 2007-07-28
Air Commodore Paul Webb was one of the 3 Spitfire pilots who took part in the shooting down of the first German aircraft attacking a target on British soil. Webb was scrambled just after 2 pm on October 16 1939 from Drem as a force of 9 Junkers 88s approached the Firth of Forth. The enemy aircraft were led by Helmut Pohle - commander of the first unit to be equipped with the "wonder bombers". The Spitfires of No 602 Squadron intercepted the enemy aircraft as they attacked the two cruisers in Rosyth dockyard. 3 fighter pilots chased one of the bombers as it pulled out of its attack and headed out to sea at low level...     [Junkers 87, 88 - Stuka dive bombers]

Last Post for Spitfire flying ace Desmond Ibbotson who fell to earth     guardian.co.uk :: 2007-06-09
In Nov 1942, plane of Flight Lieutenant Desmond Ibbotson was hit and he crash landed at an airstrip - just captured by the Germans. He was seized by the Afrika Korps and taken to see the Desert Fox Erwin Rommel. But he then escaped and was returned to his squadron by Bedouins. He climbed into the cockpit of Spitfire on Nov 19 1944. "He was about to go back to his squadron and then have a spell of leave. He'd been given the task of testing planes over Italy." When his Spitfire hurtled to earth south of Assisi, it hit the ground with such force that parts were buried 8 metres below the surface. His remains were found in 2005 by the Romagna Air Finders.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

The Battle of Britain Spitfire ace Iain Hutchinson was shot down 5 times     dailymail.co.uk :: 2007-05-05
The battling spirit of Spitfire ace Iain Hutchinson, who survived combat and a German POW camp, has passed away at 88. He was shot down 5 times and destroyed a string of Luftwaffe planes. It was the actions of pilots such as him during the Battle of Britain that inspired Winston Churchill to proclaim: "Never in the field of human conflict had so much been owed by so many to so few." There are now 70 Battle of Britain pilots left. Most flew the Hurricane but Hutchinson was given the dashing Spitfire. His tally was 3 Messerschmitt 109 fighters confirmed, a Heinkel 111 bomber and a Me 110 fighter-bomber probably destroyed, and a 109 damaged.     [The Blitz - Battle of Britain]

Fighter legend Neville Duke shot down 7 aircraft in 7 days     bbc :: 2007-04-14
Aviation historians have paid tribute to one of Britain's most decorated World War 2 fighter pilots: Sqn Ldr Neville Duke. He flew 485 sorties achieving 28 air combat victories, including 7 aircraft shot down in 7 days. As a fighter pilot, he was also shot down twice, including once by the German ace Otto Schulz. After the war he became a celebrated test pilot for Hawker. In 2005 he auctioned his medals and military memorabilia - including his Distinguished Flying Cross with two bars, his OBE, his wartime diaries - for 138,000 pounds because of security and insurance fears.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

Robert Smith shot down Nazi Germany's flying ace Gerhard Vogt     cleveland :: 2007-03-31
Robert Smith was a World War II fighter pilot who shot down one of Nazi Germany's flying aces during an aerial battle. It was 62 years ago that Smith, as an Army Air Forces lieutenant, shot down the German FW-190 plane. But it wasn't until 2001 that he learned the identity of the downed pilot through a WWII researcher. The pilot was Lt. Gerhard Vogt, who had been credited with 48 destroyed American planes in 174 combat flights. Smith had to chase the Luftwaffe pilot low through a fog bank over Cologne. "We were bouncing in and out of the fog bank and my wingman was giving me directions from 1,000 feet above me, where he could see the shadows of both planes..."    

Spitfire pilot Ian Keltie saw action over Normandy D-Day 1944, Dunkirk 1940     thestar :: 2007-02-06
The cockpit cover flew off. Ian Keltie felt like he'd been "hit with a hammer." Keltie, a pilot fighting for Canada in World War II, struggled to assess the damage to his aircraft during B-17 bombers escort mission on Aug. 24, 1942. "I took violent evasive action and climbed hard and fast," he wrote in Spitfire II, a book about Canadian fighter pilots. He is believed to have been one of the few surviving Canadians to have flown a Spitfire. Keltie flew in support of the Dunkirk evacuations in 1940, and he was the second pilot to land in Normandy on D-Day. King George VI awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.    

Fighter pilot Syd Shulemson was Canada's most highly decorated WW2 Jewish soldier     ctv :: 2007-02-04
Syd Shulemson helped pioneer techniques for low-level rocket attacks on Axis powers' shipping. The tactics were used for decades until long-range missiles supplanted unguided rockets. He was sent to RCAF 404 Squadron as part of a Royal Air Force Coastal Command wing whose role was to attack German World War II shipping along the Norwegian and Dutch coasts. The squadron was equipped with Bristol Beaufighters. Though heavily armed with four 20-mm cannon and 6 machine guns, they suffered heavy losses when attacking ships with torpedoes because they had to fly straight and slow.    

World War II pilots faced many hazards in addition to attacks     rexburgstandardjournal :: 2007-01-30
"If you couldn't recover from a spin, you were a dead pigeon," said Brigadier General Roland Wright. And no one remembered to tell him that in a P-51 a pilot first had to burn off the fuel in the 85 gallon tank behind the seat: "...the airplane absolutely swapped ends with me. I recovered just a few feet above the English channel." Wright had unique experiences with advanced German weapons, like locating the launching sites for the V2 rockets: "I was sitting over Holland at about 30,000 feet and I saw one pass by; it looked like a telephone pole." While he was serving the Germans developed the ME 262, the first jet aircraft that became operational in combat.    

The Yanks who fought just for the fun of it - Knights of the Air     timesdispatch :: 2006-12-12
In 1940, Eugene "Red" Tobin left a job at MGM to follow his dream of piloting a British Spitfire, even though he knew that he would be taking on Adolf Hitler and Luftwaffe, and flaunting neutrality laws of U.S.. Other Americans, such as wealthy, two-time Olympic gold-medalist William Fiske III and White Russian immigrant Andy Mamedoff, also refused to wait for America to enter the war. The Battle of Britain was fought in the air: Spitfires and Hurricanes against Messerschmitts and Stukas. Alex Kershaw goes to great lengths to place his tiny squadron within the larger context of the war.    

Exploits of a World War II fighter pilot     lompocrecord :: 2006-09-28
In June 1944, I was on my way to Europe on a Liberty ship. Soon we were in a truck with a young driver working our way east, in the dark, when he admitted he was lost. We had begun to hear artillery fire so we stopped. At the crack of dawn, we noticed a runway. By shear luck, we had found the 370th Fighter Group. On my second mission, I noticed "things" falling through our formation. They were 500-pound bombs, released by a formation of B-17 bombers flying high above us. Although Luftwaffe fighters had suffered large losses to P-51s, they continued to attack us in superior numbers forcing us to drop our bombs.    

World War II fighter ace Herschel Green : 1 attack 6 kills     latimes.com :: 2006-08-19
Fighter pilot Col. Herschel "Herky" Green, one of the sharpest shooters in World War II, has passed away. A fighter pilot in Europe and Africa from 1943-1944, he was the leading ace of the 15th Air Force. He destroyed 18 enemy aircraft and 10 more on the ground. During one attack on German bombers, he destroyed 6 aircraft. Green convinced himself he couldn't be killed after returning from numerous aerial combats unscathed. "Many times after that, I would tear into large gaggles of Luftwaffe fighters with just a wingman, and my only thought was how many we could get before they got away," he wrote in his memoir, Herky! The memoirs of a Checkertail Ace.    

WWII Spitfire hero who shot a V1 flying bomb honoured     bbc :: 2006-08-05
An "astonishing act of heroism" is being remembered with a plaque and display in a Kent town in honour of a World War II Spitfire pilot Bill Marshall. Royal Air Force pilot shot and destroyed a V1 flying bomb which was about to fall on Lydd. He was lucky to survive when he fired on the bomb from close range and stopped it from hitting Lydd in July 1944. The town suffered only a few broken windows.    

WWII ace who helped kill commander of Japan's Pacific fleet     sfgate :: 2006-07-28
Besby Frank Holmes, a decorated combat ace, helped kill the Japanese admiral who planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. U.S. forces got a message showing that Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto would be within 400 miles of Guadalcanal for an inspection of combat units. It was too far for any U.S. fighter aircraft at the time. But the newly arrived P-38s had a long range that could be extended by external fuel tanks. 18 pilots took off the morning of April 18. Two planes turned back, but other 16 flew, until they reached their destination. The risk paid off, and they ran into 6 Japanese fighters and 2 bombers, one of which was carrying Yamamoto.    

Pilot missed battle not the thrills in 32 feet long "runway"     sooeveningnews :: 2006-05-26
Web Morrison is one of the very few naval airmen to fly the rarest of warbirds of World War II. He had all the thrills he needed flying the then-new Curtis C-1 Sea Hawk. Flying from the aft catapult of the Works War I-era Pennsylvania, the heavily-built Curtis came equipped with a serious punch for a smallish spotter aircraft. Curtis had a "runway" just 32 feet long - swung out over the battleship's stern quarter. Mounted on a short steel truss that pivoted outward, battleship spotter planes were literally shot into the air with engines screaming by powerful steam catapults.    

Pilot Charley Fox recalls how he wounded the Desert Fox     chathamthisweek :: 2006-04-26
This is the story of how a quiet, unassuming Canadian air force pilot named Charley Fox wounded Germany's greatest field marshal, the Desert Fox. Fox, who flew over Normandy three times during D-Day, told his story. The Guelph native, who is 86, was 'looking for targets' on July 17, 1944 in Normandy, when he spotted a car carrying Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and a number of his aides. Fox described how he fired from his Spitfire and struck the car carrying one of Nazi Germany's top military men.     [Desert Fox Erwin Rommel]

WWII air ace Johnny Checketts shot down two V-1 flying bombs     aap :: 2006-04-24
Johnny Checketts, one of New Zealand's greatest fighter pilots of WWII, has passed away at the age 94. During the war he flew at least 418 sorties, many of them over Nazi occupied Europe. He shot down 14 and a half German aircraft (one shared), two V1 flying bombs, and destroyed two German E boats. On top of this tally were four probable "kills" and at least 11 damaged German aircraft. Twice he was shot down in hair-raising brushes with the Luftwaffe fighters, both times bailing out. He won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and US Silver Star and Polish Cross of Valour.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

World War II ace Fred J. Christensen flew with black cat, downed 6 planes in 2 minutes     boston :: 2006-04-12
To make a point to fellow fighter pilots in WWII, Col. Fred J. Christensen always flew with Sinbad, a stray black cat he had found. Seeing him return safe from combat missions - black cat and all - helped motivate the other pilots. And counter to traditional superstitions, Sinbad was very good luck for her father, who shot down 22 Nazi planes during the war, including 6 in a 2-minute span of one air battle. Though he flew 107 combat missions against the German Luftwaffe, he was a very humble man, who didn't want to be known as a war hero.    

P-51 Mustang ace: Shooting down Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter     columbian :: 2006-04-05
WWII fighter ace Clayton Kelly Gross has published a memoir about his adventures shooting down six German airplanes as a P-51 Mustang pilot. His flight leader assigned Gross to fly low, luring German attackers so the rest of his outfit could shoot down the enemy fighters. On April 14, 1945, flying at 12,000 feet, Gross plunged his P-51 into a dive so he could boost his speed enough to catch a 100 mph faster Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter cruising below. The plummeting P-51 was shaking so badly that Gross almost couldn't control it. Nearly colliding with the 262, Gross squeezed the trigger in his control stick and shot it down.     [Me262 - The Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe]

World War 2 ace, author Robert L. Scott     ww2aircraft :: 2006-02-28
Brig. Gen. Robert L. Scott, the WWII flying ace who told of his exploits in his book "God is My Co-Pilot," passed away. He rose to nationwide prominence during WWII as a fighter ace in the China-Burma-India theater, then with his best-selling 1943 book, made into a 1945 movie. He shot down 22 enemy planes with his P-40 Warhawk, though some were listed as "probable" kills. "You had to have two witnesses in the formation, or you needed a gun camera to take a picture. Only we didn't have gun cameras in China. I had 22 aerial victims, but I only had proof of 13." He worked with the Flying Tigers, General Claire Chennault's famed volunteer force of pilots.     [World War II Burma]

Pilot who saved Buckingham Palace during World War II to be honored     telegraph :: 2005-11-02
A Royal Air Force fighter pilot who rammed a German bomber to prevent it attacking Buckingham Palace during World War II is to be posthumously honored for his valor. Sergeant Ray Holmes, who died earlier this year at the age of 90, used his Hurricane to bring down the German Dornier before it reached the palace, London home of the British monarch.     [Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2]

See also:
'D-Day tours'
'RC planes'
'WW2 scale models'
'German Pilots, Aces'
'Bomber pilots'
'WW2 Warbirds'
'Aviation'
'Female Pilots'.

Although the articles linked from Adolf Hitler's Third Reich 1933-1945 and World War II in the News are reviewed and specially selected, they do not necessarily represent the views of the editor, who is not responsible for the content of any external sites. This service is © Joni Nuutinen 2005-2010. All rights reserved.