Geatest designs of WWII

[warbird]

It is remarkable that WW II and the late 30s produced so many recognizable aircraft. The P-51 is, to me, a better Spitfire in design beauty. The Spit is unique and never mistaken for anything else though. The P-38 is pretty universal in recognition too. The B-17 says "bomber." The Flying Tigers' shark-mouthed P-40 is well known.

The forward-thinking German aircraft designs fueled the designers in post-war times right up to today. Everything they envisioned came to pass and were fascinating.

The Jeep is known by the whole world. The Sherman tank is too. The Tommy gun, the M-1 Garand and the Colt M-1911 .45 are universally known. Who doesn't recognize the ubiquitous German helmet design?

The P-47 is often recognized by Aircraft Engineers as the finest all round fighter plane of the war. The Corsair is my favorite and the P-51 is a beautiful flying bird, though it wasn't a tough as some of the others. The Folkwulf 190 was a great fighter as well.

The B-17 had to be one of the great designs of all time. And it was tough as nails, in fact it was known to keep flying even with huge holes in the wings.

The Tommy gun was developed in WWI and the 1911 .45 was developed in ....1911.

The Jeep was a terrific design as well. We owned four Willy's Jeeps while I was growing up, we used it on our property. I learned to drive on an old military jeep. Tough, simple and reliable.

 

[drafttek]

The DC-3

This plane supplied the forces all over the globe, revolutionized the air travel/transport industry and are still flying today. Currently many are being outfitted with modern turboprop engines. Solid design, outstanding utility, and classic looks.

The Jeep is a close second. Although the modern ones are a far cry from the originals (I own both) the basic styling cues are still very evident.

 

[warbird]

This plane supplied the forces all over the globe, revolutionized the air travel/transport industry and are still flying today. Currently many are being outfitted with modern turboprop engines. Solid design, outstanding utility, and classic looks.

The Jeep is a close second. Although the modern ones are a far cry from the originals (I own both) the basic styling cues are still very evident.

The DC-3 is a great design, but again if the object is about those things designed during the war it doesn't qualify. Maybe we should say in the decade leading up to the war and including the war years. Or like the Corsair, 1938, was designed for what was seen as an impending and unavoidable war.

 

[The Wingnut]

Turbocompounds really represented a pinnacle of aviation technology and the design theory could have been explored much further were it not for the gas turbine engine making piston propulsion 'obsolete'.

The P-38 is a good example of this technology, as is the B-17 and B-29, but I'm most impressed by the implementation of the design theory in the P-47 Thunderbolt. Nearly the entire aircraft acted as a turbocompound system, and pushed the known limits of the technology.

The airframe acted as a testbed for Chrysler's first hemisperical combustion chamber engine, and later was developed into the XP-72, which even in the test stages without all of its design features implemented(a six-blade counterrotating prop was never fully performance tested) pushed the known limits of performance by propeller driven aircraft.

 

[Spitfire]

The DC-3 is a great design, but again if the object is about those things designed during the war it doesn't qualify. Maybe we should say in the decade leading up to the war and including the war years. Or like the Corsair, 1938, was designed for what was seen as an impending and unavoidable war.

I agree to that, since many things were designed or prototyped before the war.
But we have so much interesting input here, and since we can only have 10 items in a poll, we will never know, which is the top 5.
And maybe thats how it is. We all have our favourits, from many different standpoints. Be it technical, style and beauty, killingabillity etc.
(Looking back on my last succes with polls, I will NOT do this one )

 

[MrBern]

M1Helmet

introduced in `41, but not really distrubuted til `42, the M1 steel pot served for over 40 years.

Unlike the current kevlar helmets, soldiers used it for multiple applications: Cooking pot, shovel, bucket, washbasin, seat, ...latrine....

 

[priestyboy]

How about the inverted "gull wings" of the F4U Corsair? Great design, nothing else like it!

 

[Spitfire]

How about the inverted "gull wings" of the F4U Corsair? Great design, nothing else like it!

Except this one. Inverted "gull wings" were nothing new.

Great divebomber - but on everything else, a bummer of an aeroplane.

 

[deanglen]

Except this one. Inverted "gull wings" were nothing new.

Great divebomber - but on everything else, a bummer of an aeroplane.

Is there something funny looking about the propeller, and/or nose section of that Stuka? Something doesn't look right about it. But I can't say. Probably nothing.

dean

 

[Baggers]

Is there something funny looking about the propeller, and/or nose section of that Stuka? Something doesn't look right about it. But I can't say. Probably nothing.

dean

You're not seeing things. The greenhouse looks out of proportion as well. I think it's a modern construction 3/4 (?) scale flying repro of the Stuka. There are several of that type around these days, the last one I saw was an outfit down in Australia that was producing a Spitfire. Because of the slightly smaller airframe, it can throw the look of the machine slightly out of kilter to those of us who have the eye.

I can think of one or two really tasteless practical jokes I could pull with one of those, but thankfully I have neither the plane nor the pilots license in order act on them. That, and a lot more common sense. lol

It's probably the only shot Spitfire could find quickly, but it makes his point well.

Cheers!

 

[deanglen]

Baggers,
Thanks! I believe you're right, it isn't just the nose and propeller, After further examination the cockpit canopy is too large for the rest of the plane as well. Boy, am I relieved. Built way too many styrene kits, I guess.

dean

 

[Spitfire]

Stuka

You are right Baggers, i was in a hurry. But since everybody knows what a Stuka looks like, here is a nice picture of 3

 

[Haversack]

"A crooked wing, a square-cut tail,
Fat legs below and a bomb to trail,
Deep-jowled before a glass-house hump,
The Stuka is an unshapely lump."

Haversack.

 

[cneil]

The Hawker SeaFury

The Hawker SeaFury

A most beautiful and wonderful plan, unfortunately it came too late for very many to have been built or used in WWII.

http://www.warbirdalley.com/seafury.htm


Specifications (Sea Fury FB.Mk 11):
Engine: One 2,480-hp Bristol Centaurus 18, 18-cylinder radial piston engine.
Weight: Empty 9,240 lbs., Max Takeoff 12,500 lbs.
Wing Span: 38ft. 4.75in.
Length: 34ft. 8in.
Height: 15ft. 10.5in.
Performance:
Maximum Speed: 435 mph
Ceiling: 34,300 ft.
Range: 680 miles
Armament:
Four 20-mm cannon in wings
Underwing racks for eight 60-pound rockets or two bombs

Number Built: 860

Number Still Airworthy: ~15

 

[The Wingnut]

..and only two still flying with their original Bristol Centaurus engines! Parts are so scarce that wrecks have been dug up to keep them running.

 

[boomerchop]

Speaking of brutes...

Let's talk a bit about design. Which are the greatest designs that came out of WWII?

My favourits are:
1. The Spitfire *)
2. The Zippo Lighter
3. The Jeep

*) I have always had an eye for the P51 Mustang too. Great plane. Great mileage. But designervise compared to the beauty of the Spitfire?
The Mustang is a brute mashine compared to the elegant lines of the Spitfire.

Which are you favourits?

I'm rather fond of the Hawker Hurricane myself. I consider it to be a beautiful and very functional design, in a slightly menacing sort of way.

Of course, for elegant lines and design, look no further than a Fletcher class destroyer or an Elco PT Boat.

Thinking further how about German tank designs like the Panther? Certainly better looking than the Tiger.

Interesting topic.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Sterling silver US pilot wings.

The CBI insignia.

Chinese pilot wings.

The 14th airforce logo. The definitive flying tiger in my book,...bad to the bone.

And of course the shark's mouth on the P-40

 

[bingolittle]

1. corsair
2. p38
3.bell aircobra

 

[Fletch]

I'm most impressed by the implementation of the design theory in the P-47 Thunderbolt. Nearly the entire aircraft acted as a turbocompound system, and pushed the known limits of the technology.

The T-Bolt was, of course, a beefed-up mutant of one of the more elegant aircraft of the late thirties: the Seversky monoplane, produced in several configurations and adopted by the U.S. Army Air Corps as the P-35.

The SEV-DS, a P-35 racing variant built for Shell Oil and Jimmy Doolittle


The Republic P-43 Lancer, a transitional aircraft with some elements of the P-47 design (click to enlarge)

The P-35 saw combat only in the hopeless air defense of the Philippines, where it was a complete failure up against the Zero. The P-43 never fired a shot in anger. But they were beautiful planes, and the state of the art for their day.

 

[The Wingnut]

Most P-43s ended up in China(where some did see combat, actually), where Robert L. Scott once took one up for a joyride just to see what it was capable of. He got it up high, high, high over Everest thanks to that turbocompound...what might have been an altitude record for the time and type if it had been an official flight.

The Army asked for the Lancer to be further developed into the P-44, and when war broke out, that was canceled and it was redesigned into the P-47 prototype.