Nice photos from an airshow at edwards afb.

A10 w/ chromed barrel tip: fantastic. Nothing like taking pride in your work.

I knew a guy whose job it was to change the targets for the A10 practice runs. He would hide in a bunker under the target. The plane would come by and do its BRRRRRRAAAAAAAAP! and he would have to run out and change the target. Not sure I have the balls to hide under the target when one of those fly by.

Those were all great shots. Looks like NASA was a heavy contributor.

Holy crap. That is great.

Thanks, B.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy

What chuck said.

Bornyo, these photos are great. Your post made me look up information about most of these craft. XPT posts sometimes make me want to learn about new things. It worked.

Check this out. It was restored in a town about 5 miles from me. The museum was open for a good time until they finally sold the plane.
By the way, it's initial post restoration flight was piloted by the same man in the earlier post, Steve Hinton.

very awesome stuff.

I liked the chromed cannons too. My favorite photo is the P-40 Warhawk.

It's a shame how few of the WWII fighters survive- especially considering how many were made. If looking at a Mustang, Warhawk or Spitfire doesn't stir your blood something is wrong with you.

I saw the Glacier Girl's initial restoration flight. It was fucking awesome. Faster than I expected.

Any Corsairs? I love that plane.

I cant resist....i havent posted in weeks, but military history, right after whores, drugs, marketing and cooking is one of my passions. I often dream my wheelchair is a P-38 Lightning and I go shooting fat fucks in the mall.

Burgs' Top Aircraft of World war II (Fighters & F/Bs)

** I base this on number built, combat record and historical impact, and how effective the plane was in the hands of a veteran "Ace" pilot. **

-- British Hawker Hurricane : This plane is greatly inferior to the British Spitfire, but for the first 2 years of war, 1939-1941 and especially during the battle of Britain, the Hurricane bore the brunt of the fighting against the Luftwaffe. There were Spitfires then, just not in decisive numbers. That would change as the war progressed...

-- British Supermarine Spitfire: Arguably one of the top 3 planes of the war, it was EVERYTHING you could want in a Fighter...Speed, climb rate, maneuverability, armamment, ability to carry ground ordinance, etc etc.

German Messrschmitt ME-109 (versions E,F & G): The backbone of the luftwaffe almost through the entire war, it was the most numerous fighter built by any belligerent. Germany's huge problem in the war was not lack of planes or arms, but PILOTS, GOOD PILOTS, to fly them. The Allied strategic bombing campaign produced mixed results on the ground, but one of its major side benefits was bleeding the luftwaffe dry in Air defence.

German Focke-Wulf 190 : An awesome fucking plane by any standard, it was germany's answer to the Spitfire and the American Fighters showing up in 1943-1944. The FW-190 was great at air defence and could also bomb ground targets, but never really was used in that role. If this plane had come out a year earlier than it did, the battle of Britain may have turned out differently.

American P-38 Lightning : Nicknamed "the fork tailed devil" by Germans AND Japs, the plane is one of the most UNDERRATED planes in military history. It had 2 engines and the pilot sat in a Bubble canopy with complete PANORAMIC vision which made it hard to sneak up on. 2 Engines meant more speed, power, Survuvability since it could fly on 1 engine, it could carry a huge fucking bomb load for a fast fighter bomber, and its armament for air-to-air combat was incredible! If you see a picture of one you will know what I mean, it had 2 (TWO) 20mm cannons and up to four 50-cal machine guns in its huge nose array, and it could also have wing mounted guns and rockets too. In 1943, just before the P-47 and P-51 showed up in Europe, and the F4U Corsair in the Pacific, the P-38 wrested control of the skies from the enemies of the US. Any Pilot who flew a p-38, even if he flew p-51s later, said he'd rather fight in a p-38, just something about the plane. It was P-38 who flew the long range assasination mission against Admiral Yammamoto in the South Pacific in 1943, thus depriving Japan of the one military mind it had that wasnt a total fucking crackpot. Yammamoto might have dragged the war out at least another year if he had been allowed to continue to command and plan.

American P-47 : Nicknamed "The Jug" it was a huge plane by fighter standards, with an equally HUGE and powerful engine, that made this aircraft one of the most Indestructible ever to take flight. Like the p-38, it was extremely well armed and diverse, and its ability to carry huge drop tanks of extra fuel allowed it to first escort the US bombers into Germany on Day Raids.

P-51 Mustang: Probably the best overall plane of the war, fast maneuvarable, long range, decent armament and dual prupose roles. If the US and RUssia had fought each other in Europe after WWII, this plane would have borne a heavy burden to knock the numerous good Russian planes out of the sky.

F4U corsair: Much like the P-47 in size, power, armament and diversity, this plane could operate on land AND on carriers. Not many made it to Europe, but when the Germans saw this airplane, they and their engineers and scientists KNEW they were totally fucked unless they could develop the Jet in time. For the USA to produce so MANY top line air supremacy fighters, p-38, p-47, p-51, F4U and the F6F Hellcat (carrier fighter) in SUCH huge fucking numbers and train so many pilots to fly them, they be fucked.

Japanese A6M "Zero" fighter: One of the top 3 fighters of the war when taken into overall consideration, Japan was Unrivaled in the PAcific in air-to-air combat from 1941-pearl harbor, to early 1943 when the Navy started getting F6F Hellcats and the P-38s were present in force on forward airbases. The Zero was incredibly light and maneuverable and easy to fly and produce (even for Japan's economy) in large numbers. It worked well on land and on carriers. Its major drawbacks were its lack of protection and relatively light armament, but it was SOOO maneuverable and sleek that, even in the end against p-51s and other allied planes, the Zero could hold its own if in the hands of a capable pilot. But that was Japan's problem....all its good pilots croaked in the carrier battles of 1942 and were never replaced, only kamikaze krazies came forth.

There are many Russian Planes which bear mention, but the air war in Russia and the Eastern Front was a unique and strange situation.

I thought this thread was going to be about this Airplane.