Derk

Hey Paolo, this is GREAT, almost gets me into 2nd gen... Know some guys (old men in the mean time) who flew the Seahawks from the Karel Doorman. My brother in law finished his initial jet training at Magisters in Belgium and just missed the Seahawks as the were WFU when the carrier was re-tasked for pure ASW work. ( he got aboard after all after retraining on Trackers) One small remark: tailcode" D" (from "Doorman") when the Seahawks were based on the carrier......,

THE trainer of the Luftwaffe, 5 of them active at Hoogeveen over here in a fine demoteam called "the Seagulls" [

Looking forward for this one Michael !!!!

Guess he stopped it anyway now that CA is back...

B-17 in 1943 A mid-air collision on February 1, 1943, between a B-17 and a German fighter over the Tunis dock area, became the subject of one of the most famous photographs of World War II. An enemy fighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot then continued its crashing descent into the rear of the fuselage of a Fortress named All American, piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg, of the 414th Bomb Squadron. When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left some pieces in the B-17. The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress and left elevator were completely torn away. The two right engines were out and one on the left had a serious oil pump leak. The vertical fin and the rudder had been damaged, the fuselage had been cut almost completely through connected only at two small parts of the frame and the radios, electrical and oxygen systems were damaged. There was also a hole in the top that was over 16 feet long and 4 feet wide at its widest and the split in the fuselage went all the way to the top gunners turret. Although the tail actually bounced and swayed in the wind and twisted when the plane turned and all the control cables were severed, except one single elevator cable still worked, and the aircraft still flew - miraculously! The tail gunner was trapped because there was no floor connecting the tail to the rest of the plane. The waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter and their own parachute harnesses in an attempt to keep the tail from ripping off and the two sides of the fuselage from splitting apart. While the crew was trying to keep the bomber from coming apart, the pilot continued on his bomb run and released his bombs over the target. When the bomb bay doors were opened, the wind turbulence was so great that it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section. It took several minutes and four crew members to pass him ropes from parachutes and haul him back into the forward part of the plane. When they tried to do the same for the tail gunner, the tail began flapping so hard that it began to break off. The weight of the gunner was adding some stability to the tail section, so he went back to his position. The turn back toward England had to be very slow to keep the tail from twisting off. They actually covered almost 70 miles to make the turn home. The bomber was so badly damaged that it was losing altitude and speed and was soon alone in the sky. For a brief time, two more Me-109 German fighters attacked the All American. Despite the extensive damage, all of the machine gunners were able to respond to these attacks and soon drove off the fighters. The two waist gunners stood up with their heads sticking out through the hole in the top of the fuselage to aim and fire their machine guns. The tail gunner had to shoot in short bursts because the recoil was actually causing the plane to turn. Allied P-51 fighters intercepted the All American as it crossed over the Channel and took one of the pictures shown. They also radioed to the base describing that the empennage was waving like a fish tail and that the plane would not make it and to send out boats to rescue the crew when they bailed out. The fighters stayed with the Fortress taking hand signals from Lt. Bragg and relaying them to the base. Lt. Bragg signaled that 5 parachutes and the spare had been "used" so five of the crew could not bail out. He made the decision that if they could not bail out safely, then he would stay with the plane and land it. Two and a half hours after being hit, the aircraft made its final turn to line up with the runway while it was still over 40 miles away. It descended into an emergency landing and a normal roll-out on its landing gear. When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because not a single member of the crew had been injured. No one could believe that the aircraft could still fly in such a condition. The Fortress sat placidly until the crew all exited through the door in the fuselage and the tail gunner had climbed down a ladder, at which time the entire rear section of the aircraft collapsed onto the ground. The rugged old bird had done its job. .

Thanks Lloyd for a couple of nice additions, interesting planes from an interesting episode in WW II

Thanks for both packs Geo, nice job....

Hi, hi, Stary, rather a lot for one day, imagine you mixed it up a bit after taking one good glass too much to boost your courage and proposed to Combat Ace, SHQ went up and you got banned by Aga..... Anyway: congrats with all three items in their original form

They sure make 'em pretty

I'm not that old but if I had lived 72 years ago, I would have been woken up this morning by the sound of anti aircraft guns, artillery firing from a wood nearby, if I would have looked to the sky it would have been full of 3 engined transport planes, parachutes and modern fighters and bombers. Groups of enemy soldiers roamed through the fields around our village. A few miles down the road, the bridge at Haagsche Schouw would have been blocked by paratroopers and the Hague could not be reached . A full scale battle raged over Valkenburg airfield. Soldiers were being killed and wounded and the nearby University Hospital was fully occupied in taking care of them. A mile or so to the north at the Postbrug on the motorway a bus full of soldiers was hit by a Stuka and 26 were killed..... WW II had come to our country and history was being written right on our doorstep.... In four days it was all over and the next 5 years terror reigned ........

The end of a period full of horror.....

Ha, can it be hired for some flyby's during Gaypride ? They will absolutely adore it here in Amsterdam, such a cutiepie little aeroplanie and maybe it can dump some litlle flowers and spray some perfume, and can we have some pinky smoke too ?? Pink camouflage was use during WWII for operations over desert areas, saw a pink P 40 (original colour) during an airshow some years ago. so a pink colour is not as stupid as it looks ..... Will have free coffee next time I am in Sweden by stating I deserted from NATO...

Wouldn't do this with my newfoundlanders......

Put it through to a girl I've known for more than 30 years (I was best man at her wedding) who has always had bordercollies. She 'll love it !!! (and if you ever plan to start something on Newfoundlanders ... :grin: ) Thanks for posting and + one more like !!

Are they yawning ????

Merci beaucoup mon Capitaine, recht vielen Dank Herr Kapitän

I am the happy owner of "The Complete Book of Fighters" by Green & Swanboruogh, containing a couple of hunderds of biplanes looking VERY much like another couple of hundreds of other biplanes..... Same timeframe, same tasks always produces look alikes......

Congrats team , and NO, I will NOT ask for it....... Houdoe, Derk

Hi, hi, hi, funny that no one ever noticed,,,,,

Glad to have it in the game !!!

I guess a lot of tax people and the office that collects the parking & speed tickets (fiscalised in this country, they occupy the "Fine Palace" at Leeuwarden, horrible institution) would love to be able to phone Leeuwarden or Volkel Airbase and order an airstrike at someones place who has a dispute on taxes or parking tickets...... ....... (on the other hand quite a proportion of the people would applaude an airstrike at the aforementioned office )

Bridge at Mostar isn't it? Looks like they did a good job on it ... Enjoy yourself Iwan !!!!

Lots of fun, lots of luck, lots of love , congratulations !!!!! :good:

Peace broke out !!!!!! Happend lots of times to me, always have a weapondata.ini backed up and regularly refresh it. You probably hit the button "save as..." in the weaponeditor insteaqd of "save" First find yourself a new weapondata.ini. and sart backing it up, then come back for the next moves....