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I believe there are a few of us who like military aircraft. MDH and I have had some good conversations.

Here is a good article comparing the WWII heavy bombers B-17 and B-24.

http://www.taphilo.com/Photo/Pictures/b ... ison.shtml

B-17 all the way!

B-29.
No contest

B-52

Dont care if its not WW2. Its still my fav!

B-17.....didn't really know the history with the 24 and it seems that by the time it had entered the war, most reporters were some familiar with the 17 and had moved on with other story interests--like the aforementioned P-51.

I like the way the B-25 looks with 2 engines compared to the 24 with 4 engines with the similar look with the split tail section--just seems more proportiant with the design. That photo with the story shows just how similar it (24) and the Catalina were in looks with the nose and body--to me anyways........

B24's did the "down and dirty work" of the war, you couldn't beat 'em for maneuverability at any altitude. Not knocking the 17's and what they did in the war, one bit, but they were worthless at low altitudes (not built for it). When the 24's took out the oil refineries in Ploesti, Romania they flew so low over the sea, and land to get under German radar it was scary,30 to 50 feet altitude, those crews had b*lls! I've got a tape I picked up of some of the 24's missions, talk about a versitile bomber! Oh, if the "Yankee Air Force" brings their 17 & 24 to town, Take the inside the plane tour, or better yet for right $, an actual ride on one, you'd be stunned, and a camera is a must!!!!!

I'm partial to the B1 myself...

GTWFRED wrote: Oh, if the "Yankee Air Force" brings their 17 & 24 to town....

Hey Fred, they own a B-25 Mitchell. Not a B-24 Lib. Although word I have is they are kitbashing one from scratch.

Favorite: B-24. Why? The majority were made here at Willow Run Airport by FoMoCo. It turned what was a vary large farm "Willow Run" into one of the largest producers of aircraft during WWII. The old GM Hydromatic plant today is rumored to still have the machines on stand-by incase she was ever needed again to produce war materials. Ugly as sin? Perhaps, but compared to the Boeing B-17 she's in a league all her own.

J T wrote:I'm partial to the B1 myself...

Ditto! A devastating weapons platform. Problem is these new aircraft cost so much to build that it's more economical to upgrade older aircraft. In fact, they are still upgrading the old C130 prop planes rather than replace them with newer versions of jet planes.

J T wrote:Hey Fred, they own a B-25 Mitchell. Not a B-24 Lib. Although word I have is they are kitbashing one from scratch.

Trainwatcher: Boy I swear it was a 24, I'll have to get the pics & the hat out. It was many moons ago, me & my better half, paid to go through both, the 24 was named the "All American", maybe "Yankee Air Force" is the wrong group, it's that darn age/memory thing with us.

THANK YOU for bringing up the best point I missed, almost all were made right here in MICHIGAN!!!!! You have a great way of saying it, she was butt ugly wasn't she, but she was a working man's bomber! She was in a league all her own!

When you go through both you realize, they look big on TV, but inside of 'em, there was so little room it fealt like being in a flying coffin, which too many ended up being.

GTWFRED wrote:

J T wrote:Hey Fred, they own a B-25 Mitchell. Not a B-24 Lib. Although word I have is they are kitbashing one from scratch.

Trainwatcher: Boy I swear it was a 24, I'll have to get the pics & the hat out. It was many moons ago, me & my better half, paid to go through both, the 24 was named the "All American", maybe "Yankee Air Force" is the wrong group, it's that darn age/memory thing with us.

Not a problem Fred. They have a C-47 "Yankee Doodle Dandy", B-17 "Yankee Lady" and B-25 "Yankee Warrior".

Website: http://yankeeairmuseum.org/index.php

TrainWatcher wrote:Not a problem Fred. They have a C-47 "Yankee Doodle Dandy", B-17 "Yankee Lady" and B-25 "Yankee Warrior".

Thank you sir! I'd love to see the c-47! I spent the better part of 4 years as a crewman on one of the Air Forces "butt ugly planes" the C-130. Besides trains, I love old military planes.
Take care.

GTWFRED wrote:

TrainWatcher wrote:Not a problem Fred. They have a C-47 "Yankee Doodle Dandy", B-17 "Yankee Lady" and B-25 "Yankee Warrior".

Thank you sir! I'd love to see the c-47! I spent the better part of 4 years as a crewman on one of the Air Forces "butt ugly planes" the C-130. Besides trains, I love old military planes.
Take care.

They also have the static B52.

Crow T Robot wrote:They also have the static B52.

Thanks for the info, I'll remember that! I love the B1 & the stealth bombers, but I swear the Air Force will milk those past the year 2050 (B52) Those old boys can still pack a punch, especially with a couple of "daisy cutters" in the payload

I used to help restore Lancaster FM 212....so I'm a bit partial
As far as payloads go, the only two top of the class were the Lanc and the 29 as far as I'm concerned. I think only the 29 beat her out for a standard load of 20,000 (versus 14,000)pounds, but the Lanc used to carry ONE 20,000 bomb with the bay doors removed.
The Lanc was also beat out in range by the 29 at 3,250 miles versus 2,700 miles.

I'm not knockin' those other beauties either, don't get me wrong, they just had minimal payloads. They did all their fighting in the daytime however, which is balzy.

As far a ruggedness.......The 17 and the Lanc get my vote.

I'd also like to metion the Mosquito....fastest machine in the European theater until the 262 came out.


Have any of you ever seen the story of the 29 that was found...in northern Canada I think. She was emergency landed there and the US Gov just forgot about it. Years later a group of guys asked if they could have it and the gov said yup....if you can fly it out go ahead.
So long story short......these guys go up, have brand new props, engines, tires...whatever they needed made ($$$$$)
They spend months putting her together, one guy dies. So the day comes when she's ready to fly home. They plow out a nice long runway on a frozen lake, it's a beautiful day. She taxies around, everything is great and she lines up for take off. A final instument check..ok. Apply some brakes and throttle up! Wait...what's that smoke? Smoke! FIRE!! There's a fire in the fuselauge near the navigator position!!!! It's out of control, abandoning the plane is the only option. So these guys are forced to watch this bird burn out there on the runway, burned clean in half at the spars. Will it be possible to at least save the new engines or come back and rebuild?
Not likely friends........summer arrived.


Oh....want to know what caught fire? The brand new.....GPS.

And here I thought this was a thread about dueling NS locals

Great story ETR#101. I may be one of the few that knew the light-weight Mosquito was the fastest machine in the European theater until the 262 came out.

THEY ARE ALL GREAT PLANES THAT WERE FLOWN BY GREAT PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW IT'S TIME TO DIG OUT A CERTAIN OLD MOVIE...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041996/

FREEDOM IS NOT FREE--- THANK A VET.!!!!!!!!!

AND GOD BLESS AMERICA.

willardgarrett wrote:B-29.
No contest

Best bomber of the war although not an "option" in the original question. Myself, I'm a sucker for the B-17 although both planes undoubtedly contributed significantly to victory.

Thinking of bombers tends to make me think of Slim Pickens and I went to link an image from that classic movie and found an "improved version"

Boy Michael, I heard the "smart bombs" had a new external guidance system, just not that nice of a "set"-up!!!!!