And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
He got out when his plane got hit, his two crewmen didn't. The island he went down next to had Japanese that were eating US aircrew for religious/cultural purposes.
Best dive bomber we had in ww2 was the A36 Apache. The pilots reported that if they did a vertical dive, with multiple targets in the area, the enemy couldn't tell which was the actual target, so they tended to hold their fire so as not to draw attention. Also, this was a Mustang with an Allison engine, not the typical Merlin. Wasn't set up for high altitude work as the Merlin was. Actually got into combat before the Mustang did, and had kills first. One ace flying the Allison "Mustang". About 500 built.
Patrolling the skies over Madras, Oregon.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ericksoncollection.com/aircraft#/douglas-sbd-dauntless/
I believe that George HW Bush flew one of those in WW2...
ReplyDeleteBush flew the TBF/TBM Avenger as a member of Torpedo Squadron 51 on the USS San Jacinto.
DeleteHe got out when his plane got hit, his two crewmen didn't. The island he went down next to had Japanese that were eating US aircrew for religious/cultural purposes.
DeleteDad flew those.
ReplyDeleteDouglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber
ReplyDeleteSBDs won fight at Midway
ReplyDeleteBest dive bomber we had in ww2 was the A36 Apache. The pilots reported that if they did a vertical dive, with multiple targets in the area, the enemy couldn't tell which was the actual target, so they tended to hold their fire so as not to draw attention.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this was a Mustang with an Allison engine, not the typical Merlin. Wasn't set up for high altitude work as the Merlin was. Actually got into combat before the Mustang did, and had kills first. One ace flying the Allison "Mustang". About 500 built.