Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2021 i Flight Journal

When the Second World War ended in Europe on May 8, 1945, Group Captain Aleksander Gabszewicz, the Commanding Officer of No. 131 (Polish) Wing, had been flying combat missions since the beginning of the war when Germany first invaded his home country on September 1, 1939. Shortly after Poland was overrun by the Germans, he and his remaining fellow airmen served with the reorganized Polish Air Force under RAF Command. Logging five years of battles was rare for an Allied pilot, and equally unique was the last airplane he flew: Spitfire TD240, the first low back bubble-canopy Mk XVI to be delivered to the Wing. Other features that set it apart were its clipped wings and the latest Packard Merlin 266 engine that was optimized for low-level ground-attack and fighter-bomber…

A Model The generic land-based and primary variant, with an internal gun. The majority of foreign operators fly the A model (and a few a mix of As and Bs). The Israelis have a specially modified A model with their own gear which was assigned as an I model. The F-35A has the highest G-rating (9.0+) coupled with the best thrust-to-weight performance (1.07) of the three models. B Model The vertical takeoff and landing model with a large fan located mid-fuselage. It is not equipped with a tail hook. It does not have an internal gun and relies on an external gun pod when needed for particular air-toground missions. The easiest way to tell a B model is by the large wide fuselage fairing just aft of the canopy. The…

The validity of the high scores reported by German Fighter pilots is often questioned, so an explanation is in order. Each German claim for the destruction of an enemy aircraft in aerial combat (Abschuss) had to be confirmed by the Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force). In this process, confirmation of each Abschuss had to be given by one aerial or ground witness, unless the destroyed aircraft was recovered or members of its crew taken prisoner. The Abschuss was then either endorsed or rejected by the claimant’s supervisor. If successful, the report was passed to the Geschwader staff and finally to the appropriate Air Ministry department. Then, after all the submitted paperwork was checked, an official confirmation was issued to the unit. This lengthy bureaucratic procedure could last…

May 5, 1945. Flying at 8,000 feet and at just over 200 mph in his personal Spitfire Mk XVI TD240, Group Captain Aleksander Gabszewicz, the Commanding Officer of No. 131 (Polish) Wing, led 11 heavily laden, bomb-carrying Spitfires of 302 Squadron towards their target, an enemy troop concentration in a German village. Navigating by a handheld map to the map reference he had been given, he identified the target some distance out and ordered the other Spitfires into close echelon starboard formation. Squadron Leader Clive Rowley, MBE RAF (Ret.), a former officer commanding the Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, tells the story behind the latest color scheme for the Flight’s Spitfire Mk XVI TE311. He judged the best direction of approach so that the final dive would…

The Royal Air Force Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (RAF BBMF), known at first as the Historic Aircraft Flight, was founded at RAF Biggin Hill, the famous Battle of Britain airfield in Kent. When it began on July 11, 1957, it only had three PR Mk XIX Spitfires and the RAF’s last airworthy Hurricane, LF363. (Three of these aircraft still serve with the BBMF today.) In the years since, the BBMF has seen many changes and the Flight has evolved from being a small, entirely volunteer unit without any official funding into a regular, supported RAF unit, funded by the Ministry of Defence and manned by established, full-time Service personnel to maintain its remarkable collection of 12 historic aircraft. With a team of two full-time RAF pilots (the Commanding Officer…

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was in rare form, his eyes full of fire as he faced one of the better known of Germany’s aces, Oberst Walther Dahl. “Göring’s reply astonished even me,” Dahl remembered. “In the presence of pilots with heads, arms and legs in plaster, he yelled: ‘You cowards! Now I know why your Geschwader holds the record for parachute jumps: you jump so as not to fight.’ “Göring continued, his face reddened and streaked with protruding veins. “‘Hold your tongue, you rebel. You and your rotten fighter pilots are at last going to feel my hand. Before the sun sets tonight, I shall have you shot.’ He was raving like a madman. Everyone fell silent as, turning to me once again, he said ominously: ‘I came here today to…

The WACO “Super Sport” S3HD is often referred to as the “King of the WACO biplanes.” Built as only one example, it is the stuff of legends. The Super Sport is, in fact, a warbird camouflaged as a sport plane. Previous WACO incursions in military sales were commercial models modified to suit customers’ needs. In the Model D, WACO, at last, had a high-performance biplane designed from the start as a fighter for export. Especially built for Miles Vernon, the S3HD (certified on June 29, 1934, under ATC no. 543) was a version stripped of any military equipment. NC14048 was completed in July 25, 1934, delivered two days later to WACO Aircraft Sales of New York, and then sold to Vernon for $ 18,500. The plane could usually be found…

The three primary F-35 models are the A, B, and C (Israel also has an “I” model). We will be focusing on the Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) B model, which is the Marine Corps primary variant. The Marines are also procuring some aircraft-carrier-capable C models, but these will be significantly fewer. The Marines also currently operate the VTOL AV-8B Harrier II, but this successful icon of Marine Corps aviation is now in its golden years; relatively soon, the aging Jump Jet will be completely put out to pasture and stood down. So what’s the latest on the Semper Fi JSF? The Marines have been working diligently, now utilizing the F-35B Lightning II in action within theaters of operation. The program is a spiral development system, so aircraft upgrades and…

The Flying Heritage Collection (FHC) Focke-Wulf (based in Everett, Washington) is a Fw 190A-5 built in April 1943 as part of a batch of 981 aircraft at the F-W factory in Bremen. The FHC aircraft left the factory with the Stammkennzeichen (factory code) of DG+HO. It was probably test-flown at the factory and assigned to the reserve pool before being flown to the Eastern front via Jesau in mid-May 1943. It was assigned to 4./JG 54—Jagdgeschwader 54 (fighter wing 54), Staffel 4 (squadron 4) at Siverskiy just to the south-southwest of Leningrad in June or early July. It is not clear when the FHC aircraft first saw action in the period from late May to early July 1943. However, Feldwebel (Fw., or sergeant) Paul Ratz joined 4./JG 54 on July…

PICTURE, IF YOU WILL, a Mach-2-capable, all-weather fighterbomber that flies 1,000 feet above the ground on autopilot, while a Doppler navigation system steers it to a target 300 to 500 nautical miles distant. Then, at 550 knots, it runs in toward the target on radar. At the proper time, using inputs from the integrated air data computer and toss bomb computer (TBC), the ship’s autopilot pulls it into a flawless 4G half-loop, whereupon the TBC tosses a nuclear weapon nine miles and which hits within 700 yards of the designated target. Once the weapon releases, a silver-coated hood snaps automatically over the canopy to protect the pilot’s eyes and face from the flash of the nuclear blast that’s to follow. The autopilot then rolls the aircraft upright completing an Immelmann,…

Using Chinese airfields, the 311th Fighter Group was the first to take World War II to the Japanese. The 311th’s 530th Fighter Squadron, which became known as the “Yellow Scorpions,” was the first squadron based in China. During their combat tour, they flew A-36 dive bombers along with all versions of the P-51 (A, B, C and D). However, it was their expertise with P-51 B and C models that earned them the respect of Japanese pilots. The pilots of the 530th were formidable. They flew long distances to engage enemy forces and handed out more than the Japanese could handle, with huge victories over enemy airmen who were only a few minutes from their home base. During one early mission, gunners on the bombers had trouble identifying the Mustangs…