National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, Part II

WWII: Back then it was the U.S. Army Air Corps

Laister-Kauffmann TG-4A training glider
Vultee BT-13B Valiant Trainer in background

Bell P-39Q Airacobra

Curtiss P-40E Warhawk, painted to resemble the Flying Tigers

Overhead is the intriguing Focke-Achgelis FA 330 Sandpiper,

designed to be deployed by a submarine for observation purposes

Mitsubishi A6M2 "Zero" in foreground
Douglas B-18 Bolo in background
Sweizer TG-3A training glider overhead

Douglas A-24 Dauntless dive bomber

Beech AT-10 Wichita mult-engine trainer
Depicted here with a WASP ready to take the controls
(Women Airforce Service Pilots)

North American B-25B Mitchell bomber/Doolittle Raid

Presentations made to Doolittle Raiders

Goblets for the Doolittle Raiders' toast

Display on difficulties of aerial bombing
Beech AT-11 Kansan bombing trainer
Curtiss AT-9 in distance

Piper Grasshopper suspended above a Bristol Beaufighter.
The U.S. used British Beaus for night fighters early in the war

Supermarine Spitfire Mk. 5c, as flown by some Americans in Europe

Spitfire PR XI reconnaissance plane,
basically a Mk. IX refitted for recon

De Haviland DH 98 Mosquito...one of my favorite planes!
This one is painted and rigged for weather reconnaissance

Consolidated B-24D Liberator
That's a radio-control Culver PQ-14B overhead

Over 18,000 Liberators were produced!

The "Strawberry Bitch" in all her glory
German Fieseler Fi-156C-1 Storch overhead

North American A-36A Apache dive bomber

The versatile Stinson L-5, useful for forward observation
In the background is the Canadian manufactured
Noorduyn UC-64A Norseman. Sadly, the great bandleader
Glenn Miller was lost when a Norseman went missing over the Channel

Lockheed P-38L Lightning

Republic P-47D Thunderbolt

Martin B-26G Marauder
Beech UC-43 Traveler overhead

Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress

The "Shoo Shoo Baby"

North American P-51D Mustang with "Merlin" engine

And drop tanks for extra fuel

Douglas A-20 Havoc

Consolidated OA-10 Catalina flying boat

Those of you familiar with Private Snafu will find this most amusing!

Northrop P-61C Black Widow night fighter

This plane was donated by the Boy Scouts of Springfield, OH!

Waco CG-4A Hadrian Glider, 

Douglas C-47D transport, and parachutist in background,

a la "Band of Brothers"

The ferocious "Acht-Acht": 8.8cm model Flak 36 anti-aircraft artillery,
which could also be used as a lethal anti-tank weapon

Highly portable U.S. M116 75mm Pack Howitzer
Look closely in the background for the
Republic/Ford JB-2 Loon, an American copy of the
German V-1 Buzz Bomb!

Messerschmidt Bf-109G-10

Focke Wulf 190D-9...great plane

In the background is the Curtiss C-46D Commando transport

V-2 rocket on its Meillerwagen

Messerschmidt 163B "Komet" rocket plane
Junkers JU-88D (Romanian markings) in background

Messerschmidt 262A jet interceptor

(that's the barrel of the 50mm cannon the ME 262 sported!)

Cessna UC-78B Bobcat overhead, ready to pounce, lol!

Beautiful and deadly, the ME 262 was called "Schwalbe":

the Swallow

P-47D "Fiery Ginger" in background

Captured Allied airmen

Escape paraphernalia for Allied airmen in German POW camps

Story of Captain Jack Ilfrey, who escaped twice from the Germans

Yokosuka training glider for "Ohka" kamikaze pilots

Very rare Kawanishi N1K2-Ja "Violet Lightning" fighter,

introduced in 1945 as the replacement for the outdated Zero

Sikorsky R6-A Hoverfly II overhead

"Demilitarized" but real "Little Boy"...the type of atomic bomb the 

Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay dropped on Hiroshima

Boeing B-29...the "Bockscar" that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki

Replica of "Fat Man"...the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki

My wife's great-grandmother Hilton sent seven sons to war...

All images taken by me at: http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/