History of Sorts

One of the aspects of WWII that always fascinated me was the aerial battles and the skills of the pilots of the various air forces.

Not only did they have to be skilled in combat they also had to try to keep flying whilst being attacked,well with the exception of  the Kamikaze pilots I assume.

I panic when the ‘fasten seat belts’ sign suddenly lights up leave alone being shot at or trying to shoot.This blog is a tribute to Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines of the allied Forces.

Soviet Il-2 ground attack aircraft attacking German ground forces during the Battle of Kursk

American Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber aircraft during the bombing of oil refineries in Ploiești, Romania on 1 August 1943 during Operation Tidal Wave

Pilots of the No. 303 “Kościuszko” Polish Fighter Squadron during the Battle of Britain

British Supermarine Spitfire fighter aircraft (bottom) flying past a German Heinkel He-111 bomber aircraft (top) during the Battle of Britain (1940)

Hawker Hurricanes fly in formation.

Four 264 Squadron Defiants (PS-V was shot down on 28 August 1940 over Kent

The legendary Il-2 fighter-bomber, known among enthusiasts as the ‘flying tank’.

An American soldier waves good luck to a U.S. Army Air Force Liberator bomber

Gun camera film shows tracer ammunition from a Supermarine Spitfire Mark I of 609 Squadron, flown by Flight Lieutenant J H G McArthur, hitting a Heinkel He 111 on its starboard quarter.

P-61 Black Widow of the 548th Night Fighter Squadron,

B-17F Memphis Belle over Europe

Gloster Meteor – British WWII fighter. First operational Allied Jet Fighter.

I have to acknowledge some of the efforts of the Luftwaffe for some of the technologies they developed were used long after the War ended.

Horten Ho 229 captured by Americans

The Me 262, the first jet fighter and the most well-known of WWII

The Messerschmitt Me 264 V1 (first prototype Me 264) aka Amerika Bomber, the clue is in the name.

Italian jet fighter Caproni Campini No. 1 took off August 1940, a failed attempt by the Italian airforce.

Honorable mention.

Although it never saw battle during WWII, the first flight of the Bell X-1 was on 19 January 1946. The development did start during the war, what difference it would have made I don’t know since the development only started in late 1944, at the last stage of the war. However if this aircraft would have been operational in the early stages of WWII it more then likely would have been a game changer, it achieved a speed of nearly 1,000 miles per hour .