Historic WW2 bombers preserved, why not many fighters?

I'm not buying your premise.

There are several combat-flown bombers around and several combat-flown fighters. Some of the bombers flew a lot of missions, some of the fighters flew a lot of missions. But nobody counts missions with fighters or makes a big deal out of it. That doesn't make the airplane less historic.

Several German and British ace-flown fighters exist, as well as restorations that contain pieces of US ace-flown aircraft.

It is not my understanding that Bong scored all 40 kills in one airframe. McGuire went through, what, 5 or 6 P-38s to reach 38?

Would you count a P-40B that survived Pearl Harbor as historic? The Spitfire that scored the first kill over the beaches on D-day? A Hawk 75 flown in combat during the Battle of France? These survive.

The XP-51 is as historic as any preserved WWII aircraft, viewed from a technical and impact-on-war perspective rather than a war-hero-worship perspective.

So there are as many, or more, historic fighters around as bombers.

August

No one's asking you "to buy" anything here, I'm just interested to hear where some of the I guess to say .. "historic combat fighters" ended up. And I'll be sure to let you know when I'm in a "war-hero-worship" mood. But you may be waiting a while for that to happen ... The only thing I "worship" is the size of my retirement savings account, and a few hot women on the internet ...

And, NO as well to the P-40B, edit, .... Yes, nameplate, not much else. So I'll change my view on this one.

Last edited by Hellcat on Sat Jun 07, 2008 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Nathan]

The P-40B is a very important peice of history. It was hangered at Wheeler field on Dec 7. The only Pearl Harbor P-40 to survive today I would consider this a very historic aircraft. Even if this one didnt get into the air. I am quite surprised by some of the remarks about it.

[DaveM2]

Nathan

Perhaps you should look into the recovery and rebuild of the aircraft ( the 'bite sized chunks' that were pulled out of the bush). What is flying today was never at Pearl Harbour!

Dave

[kenlyco]

Hellcat,I was just curious how do you get the idea's for your posts?

Too many questions, not enough answers .... But I'll get there ...

If you don't ask, you'll never know. You have one of the best, if NOT THE BEST, resource for all your answers to all your warbird questions right here. Never be afraid to ask anything here, someone here always has an answer .... It's been great fun for me.

[kenlyco]

Hellcat I wasnt trying to be smart I was just curious if you read alot of books ,talk with freinds or family.I get mine if i see a picture or remember a story from someone or had a couple beers so on. thats all.

Hellcat I wasnt trying to be smart I was just curious if you read alot of books ,talk with freinds or family.I get mine if i see a picture or remember a story from someone or had a couple beers so on. thats all.

Not a problem at all. I do the same. For many years I thought I was a "freak of nature" ... I didn't realize there were others out there that had the same "bug" for warbirds that I have. I was a very secret warbird lover for many years. I built models when I was a kid and my dad flew me to Oshkosh and we slept under his airplane's wing with just a sleeping bag many times. I flew with my dad all over the country when I was a kid and listened to some of his Navy pilot stories, (never enough though) and then I became a pilot myself. I just love warbirds and I look up to and respect all who are "like me" .... I'm proud of my passion. I have no other passion. I have learned so much in my short time here and even though I'm a very busy guy, I check into this crazy site many times a day .... that's simply called .... "PASSION" .... I would feel so sorry for anyone who never feels "passion" in their lives. .... You have passion ... "you Live life" ... you have no passion ... "you exist" .... it's that simple. .... ask ANY question here you want .... never be afraid. There's always someone here who is honored to answer your questions.

Mark

[BattleRabbit]

What combat surviving P-40B and p-36?

This P-40B survived Pearl Harbor:

P-40B 41-13297

and this P-36 survived the battle of France:


Okay, so its a Hawk 75, but we'll call that close enough for Jazz.

[jdvoss]

On Dec 22, 2008 I visited the Udvar-Hazy Museum at Dulles Airport and noted a rather scruffy P-38 on display. According to the description placard the aircraft was Bong's airplane. Was it indeed Bong's A/C or just one he had happened to fly at some point in time?

It was still in its original factory applied OD, minors dents from operational use, etc. Looked pretty authentic as an untouched warbird left over from the war.

Feedback from anyone??

[Kyleb]

One of the things that separated the bombers from the fighters was that many bombers were ferried back to the states after the war. That was a reasonably effective way to bring home a multi-engined bomber and its 10 man crew. Which is why you see all those pictures of lines and lines of B-17's, B-24's, etc.

Once those bombers came home, intelligent people set aside a few of the historic ones.

Ferrying fighters home wasn't really practical or (probably) cost effective. So they were mostly scrapped in-theater, or used by occupation forces until they wore out and were scrapped.

[old iron]

Isn't the Supermarine Mark 1A Spitfire at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry a combat veteran with kills?

The Me 262 at NASM was found to have some battle damage, including original bullets, in it wings during the restoration.

The Kawanishi "George" at the Naval Museum in Pensacola is also reported to be a combat veteran with kills.

A little off topic, but there are a number of surviving WWI fighters with known combat histories that include kills or being killed (both Albatros D.IVa survivors, in Australia and NASM, being examples of the latter).

Kevin
.

[old iron]

Richard Bong did fly the NASM P-38, on April 16, 1945. But that was at Wright Field after Bong returned stateside. So the aircraft was ace-flown, but never flown by an ace or anyone else in combat.

Kevin

[baldrick]

This Zero was flown by Japanese ace Saburo Sakai. It was recovered from Gasmata airfield, Rabaul and restored by the RAAF. It remains in the Australian War Memorial.
Please forgive the quality it`s a scan from an old Ektachrome slide taken at the Bi-Centennial airshow at RAAF Richmond 1988

[Robbie Roberts]

This Zero was flown by Japanese ace Saburo Sakai. It was recovered from Gasmata airfield, Rabaul and restored by the RAAF. It remains in the Australian War Memorial.
Please forgive the quality it`s a scan from an old Ektachrome slide taken at the Bi-Centennial airshow at RAAF Richmond 1988

That's not the one he flew to Guadalcanal and has his famous flight back with bullet holes and severe injuries, is it? I would be very interested to find that one survived! It is a he7l of a story of fortitude, despair, recovery and flight- all with the use of only one hand, one eye, and a hole in the head! He really knew his stuff about fuel conservation: on that trip he had just enough fuel for the round trip, pretty much, yet he'd still managed to keep it flying for over two hours beyond maximum fuel duration when he landed! "Samurai" has long been one of my favorite books- and he became one of my few enemy(at the time) heroes...

Robbie

That is a very fine example of a zero. The drop tank below makes that zero look complete in my view. BTW, did zero's have drop tanks? or were they fixed?