Sommaire pour January/February 2025 de Flight Journal

The Fi 156 was designed to do one thing exceptionally well: operate from confined spaces close to front lines, at the expense of speed. The Storch is a high-wing monoplane of mixed but simple construction with the fuselage having a welded steel-tube frame with a fabric covering. The extensively glazed cabin gives the pilot, and up to two further occupants, generous external views all around and downwards. The braced wings and tail are wooden structures with, respectively, fabric and plywood covering. The tailplane has variable incidence for pitch trim. With a wingspan of 46 feet 9 inches, the high-aspect ratio wings incorporate the company’s high-lift devices, which are key to the aircraft’s remarkable capabilities. Full-span, fixed, aluminum, leading-edge slats run the full length of the wings. The slats have a…

There were a number of power turret protections, but the flexible guns (waist, cheek, etc.) did not have interrupters. B-17 and B-24 ball turrets had a button switch sometimes visible from the outside at the top dead center of the circular window. This switch would engage a cam plate fixed to the fuselage that would cut out the firing of the guns if the ball gunner swept forward and endangered the propeller arcs. Predictably, the cam for a B-24 looked different than the cam for a low-wing B-17. Also, top turrets like the Martin 250 (B-24, B-26 Marauder, others) had fire interrupters to halt firing in proximity to prop arcs and tail surfaces. I have a Martin 250 manual that features drawings that show how to set the interrupters for…

In the past, when someone within the aviation world heard the nickname “Rhino,” it meant you were discussing the robust, stalwart, and tenacious F-4 Phantom II. With the demise of the tired and old-technology, third-generation Phantoms that sunsetted years ago, the Mach 1.6-capable 7.5-G-rated F/A-18E/F Super Hornet has since adopted the unofficial “Rhino” nickname. The older F/A-18A-D Hornets (which first flew in 1978) are now called “Legacy Hornets.” They have older technology, less range, and have exhibited signs of age. Thus in 1992, the U.S. Navy ordered E and F-model Super Hornets as a replacement. The Super Hornet made its first flight on November 29, 1995, followed by its first carrier landing in 1997. The 1997 batch were Low Rate of Initial Production aircraft, with full production Block I Super…

The B-26 is a dangerous aircraft in a number of ways … The takeoff is long and the landing fast. A motor failure on takeoff would be extremely serious. But once in the air, the B-26 is the best handling multiengined [sic] plane I have ever flown.—Charles A. Lindbergh, “The Wartime Journals of Charles A. Lindbergh” Journey to the sky I was born in Long Branch, New Jersey and grew up in Lakewood, New Jersey, which is not too far from the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. In my youth, I saw the dirigibles Akron and Macon and also the great German-built Hindenburg. I always stopped and looked up in awe when those ships or an airplane passed overhead. It was always my dream to fly someday. The first airplane that…

HIGH IN THE CLEAR AZURE SKIES over Europe, parallel lines of white contrails were raked in lacy streams behind hundreds of bombers as they flew towards their assigned targets. Aboard each plane were 10 young men. Six of them were charged with protecting their plane, their squadron, their group, and most of all, each other from the savage attacks of German fighters. They were the air gunners of the United States Army Air Forces. The bombers were stacked in tight formations of 54 planes in three groups. The formation was developed to maximize the effectiveness of bombing and gunnery. Every group covered 1,000 feet in width and 600 feet from the lead to the rear. At least 234 guns covered the sky around the group. They used the reliable and…

With a top speed of just 109 mph (95 kts), the Fieseler Fi 156 Storch was one of the slowest aircraft of World War II, but it was also one of the Germans’ best. With the advanced aerodynamic design of its wing specifically suited to the tasks for which it was intended, the Storch could land and take off almost anywhere, be it an urban road, rock-strewn desert, a clearing in a wood or a mountain peak. The lightweight Fieseler Fi 156 Storch is perhaps the only German aircraft type not matched by the Allies throughout WW II. During a period when there were quantum jumps in aircraft performance and the mantra of most aircraft designers and their customers was “higher, faster, further,” this odd-looking and characterful little aircraft was…

In the six years of World War II, Allied airmen flew against a huge variety of Axis air-craft: from biplanes to rocket fighters and everything in between. A quick check of front-line Luftwaffe aircraft shows 35 types, from Arado floatplanes to Ta-152s derived from the Fw 190. Japan was even more varied: the Allies assigned 120 aircraft code names, from Adam (a Nakajima seaplane fighter) to Zeke (the Mitsubishi Zero). GERMANY: THE MEGA-PRODUCER Nazi Germany’s best fighter contenders are easily identified: the workhorse Messerschmitt Bf 109; the spectacular Me 262 jet; and the versatile Focke-Wulf 190. And the winner is… Professor Kurt Tank to the podium, please! The 109 was built in staggering numbers: nearly 34,000 from 1936-1945, while the Fw 190 series ran to 20,000, all wartime construction. The…

Early in WW II, gunners on American heavy bombers typically manned five stations: top turret, belly (ball) turret, left and right waist, and tail. The B-17G and B-24H (and later Liberators) had nose turrets. Originally waist and tail guns were manually aimed, as gunners manhandled single or twin Browning M2 .50 calibers. The optics varied, including ring and bead “iron” sights and reflector sights with a reticle projected on glass. Whether glass or metal sights, the rule was, “A fighter’s not a duck—aim between the fighter and your tail.” The counter-intuitive wisdom was due to the bomber’s forward motion. Aiming ahead of an interceptor resulted in over-deflection, placing a burst well in front of the enemy. Think of the string of bullets as a fire hose combined with the bomber’s…