• Bell P-39(Airacobra)
• Boulton Paul P-82 Defiant
• Bristol Type 156 (Beaufighter)
• Brewster Buffalo B-339E
• CAC Boomerang
• Bristol Type 142M (Blenheim)
• Douglas Boston
• Hawker Hurricane
• Curtiss 87A(Kittyhawk)
• de Havilland DH-98(Mosquito)
• Supermarine Spitfire
• Curtiss Model 81A P-40(Tomahawk)

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The Bell P-39 Airacobra was one of the principal American fighter aircraft in service at the start of World War II. Although its mid-engine placement was innovative, the P-39 design was handicapped by the lack of an efficient turbo-supercharger, limiting it to low-altitude work, although the type was used with great success by the Soviet Air Force. In the P-39, Soviet pilots scored the highest number of individual kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type. Together with the derivative P-63 Kingcobra, these aircraft would be the most successful mass-produced, fixed-wing aircraft manufactured by Bell.

The P-39 was an all-metal, low-wing, single-engine fighter, with tricycle undercarriage incorporating a very streamlined and aerodynamically efficient design.

The Airacobra was conceived as a "weapons system" design with the T9 cannon in mind. This weapon fired a 1.3 lb. (610 g) projectile capable of piercing .8" (2 cm) of armor at 500 yards (450 m) with armor piercing rounds. The complete armament fit as designed consisted of the T9 with a pair of Browning M2 .50" (12.7 mm) machineguns mounted in the nose. This would change to two .50s and two .30s in the XP-39B (P-39C, Model 13, the first 20 delivered) and 2x0.50 and 4x0.30 (all four in the wings) in the P-39D (Model 15), which also introduced self-sealing tanks and shackles (and piping) for a 500 lb. (227 kg) bomb or drop tank. The engine was placed behind the cockpit, so pilots often referred to this as "Allison armor." A long transmission tunnel passed through the fuselage, under the cockpit, and was linked to the three-bladed propeller. The radiator was located in the fuselage.

In September 1940, Britain ordered 386 P-39Ds (Model 14), with a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 and six .303 (7.7 mm), instead of a 37 mm and six 0.30 calibers. The RAF eventually ordered a total of 675 P-39s. However, after the first Airacobras arrived at 601 Squadron RAF in September 1941, they were promptly recognized as having an inadequate rate of climb and performance at altitude for Western European conditions. Only 80 were adopted, all of them with 601 Squadron. Britain transferred about 200 P-39s to the Soviet Union.

Another 200 examples intended for the RAF were taken up by the USAAF after the attack on Pearl Harbor as the P-400, and were sent to the Fifth Air Force in Australia, for service in the South West Pacific Theatre.

Because of the unconventional layout, there was no space in the fuselage to place a fuel tank. Although drop tanks were implemented to extend its range, the standard fuel load was carried in the wings, with the result that the P-39 was limited to short range tactical strikes.

United Kingdom

In 1940, the British Direct Purchase Commission in the US was looking for combat aircraft; they ordered 675 of the export version Bell Model 14 as the "Caribou" on the strength of the company's representations on 13 April 1940. The performance of the Bell P-39 prototype and 13 test aircraft which were able to achieve a speed of 390 mph (630 km/h) at altitude was due to the installation of turbo-supercharging. The British armament was 0.50-inch machine guns in the fuselage, and four 0.30-inch machine guns in the wings, the 37 mm gun was replaced by a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza.

The British export models were renamed "Airacobra" in 1941. A further 150 were specified for delivery under Lend-lease in 1941 but these were not supplied. The Royal Air Force (RAF) took delivery in mid 1941 and found that actual performance of the non-turbo-supercharged production aircraft differed markedly from what they were expecting. In some areas, the Airacobra was inferior to existing aircraft such as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire and its performance at altitude suffered drastically. On the other hand it was considered effective for low level fighter and ground attack work. Problems with gun and exhaust flash suppression and compass were fixable.

No. 601 Squadron RAF was the only British unit to use the Airacobra operationally, receiving their first two examples on 6 August 1941. On 9 October, four Airacobras attacked enemy barges near Dunkirk, in the type's only operational action with the RAF. The squadron continued to train with the Airacobra during the winter, but in March 1942, it re-equipped with Spitfires.

The Airacobras already in the UK, along with the remainder of the first batch being built in the US, were sent to the Soviet Air force, the sole exception being AH574, which was passed to the Royal Navy and used for experimental work, including the first carrier landing by a tricycle undercarriage aircraft on HMS Pretoria Castle, until it was scrapped on the recommendation of a visiting Bell test pilot in March 1946.

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The Boulton Paul Defiant was a British fighter aircraft and bomber interceptor used early in the Second World War. The Defiant was designed and built by Boulton Paul Aircraft as a "turret fighter " and served with the Royal Air Force (RAF). Contemporary with the Royal Navy's Blackburn Roc, the concept of a turret fighter was somewhat similar to the World War I-era Bristol Fighter. In practice, the Defiant was found to be vulnerable to the Luftwaffe's more agile, single-seat Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters; crucially, the Defiant did not have any forward-firing guns. It was later used successfully in the night fighter role, before it was phased out of combat service in favour of the Bristol Beaufighter and de Havilland Mosquito. The Defiant finally found use in gunnery training, target towing, ECM and air sea rescue. Among RAF pilots it had the irreverent nickname "Daffy."

In December 1939, No. 264 Squadron at RAF Manston was the first to be equipped with the Defiant Mk I. The first operational sortie came on 12 May 1940 during the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. The Defiant was initially successful against enemy aircraft. Its high-water mark was on 29 May 1940, when No. 264 Sqn claimed 65 kills, mostly Ju 87 Stukas and Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engined heavy fighters.

Initially, Luftwaffe fighters suffered losses when "bouncing" flights of Defiants from the rear, apparently mistaking them for Hurricane fighters. The German pilots were unaware of the Defiant's rear-firing armament and encountered concentrated defensive fire. However with a change in Luftwaffe tactics, opposing fighters were able to out-manoeuvre the Defiant and attack it from below or dead ahead, where the turret offered no defence. Defiant losses quickly mounted, particularly among the gunners, who were often unable to leave stricken aircraft. The additional weight of the turret and the second crewman plus the aerodynamic drag, gave the Defiant lower performance than conventional fighter aircraft. On 13 May, a flight of six Defiants was attacked by Bf 109Es; five of the Defiants were shot down from a frontal attack.

According to the book The Turret Fighters by aviation historian Alec Brew, 264 Sqn. developed effective countermeasures against single-seat aircraft such as the Bf 109. By flying in an ever-descending "Lufberry" circle, Defiant crews sacrificed the advantage of height but eliminated the possibility of attack from underneath, while giving 360° of defensive fire. This tactic was used successfully by 264 Sqn. but when the Defiants of 141 Sqn. were committed to combat a few months later during the Battle of Britain, 141 Sqn. chose to ignore their advice, with devastating consequences. On 19 July 1940, six out of nine Defiants of 141 Sqn. were shot down and the remaining three only survived due to the intervention of Hurricanes of 111 Sqn. Although 264 Sqn. claimed an astonishing 48 kills in eight days over Dunkirk (recent research suggests no more than 12 to 15 enemy aircraft were actually destroyed; the turret's wide angle of fire meant that several Defiants could engage the same target at one time), the cost was high at 14 Defiants lost.

264 Squadron lost two aircraft on 26 August, then another five on 28 August with the deaths of nine crew members. With these prevailing losses, the Defiant was quickly transferred from daylight operations to night fighting duties and, as a night fighter, the Defiant achieved some success. Defiant night fighters typically attacked enemy bombers from below, in a similar manoeuvre to the later successful German Schräge Musik methods. Defiants attacked more often from slightly ahead or to one side, rather than from directly under the tail. During the winter Blitz on London of 1940–41, the Defiant equipped four squadrons, shooting down more enemy aircraft than any other type. The turret-fighter concept was not immediately discarded and the fitting of Defiant-style turrets to Beaufighter and Mosquito night fighters was trialled to enable these aircraft to duplicate these methods, but the effect on performance proved drastic, and the idea was abandoned. The Defiant Mk II model was fitted with the AI Mk IV airborne interception radar and a Merlin XX engine. A total of 207 Mk II Defiants were built.

After trials in 1940 with the School of Army Co-operation to assess its capabilities in that role, the Defiant was re-evaluated as a high-speed gunnery trainer with the Air Ministry agreeing to keep the production lines open. The Defiant was removed from combat duties in 1942 and, thereafter, used for training, target towing, ECM and air sea rescue. The Defiant was used to carry the Mandrel noise jammer to combat the German Freya early warning radar. In the air-sea rescue role, the Defiant was equipped with a pair of under-wing pods that contained dinghies. A further 140 Defiant Mk III aircraft were built; this model lacked the dorsal turret and was used as a target tug. Many of the surviving Mk I and Mk II Defiants also had their turrets removed.

General characteristics

• Crew: 2: pilot, gunner
• Length: 35 ft 4 in (10.77 m)
• Wingspan: 39 ft 4 in (11.99 m)
• Height: 12 ft 2 in (3.71 m)
• Wing area: 250 ft² (23 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,078 lb (2,755 kg)
• Loaded weight: 8,318 lb (3,773 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Merlin III liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1,030 hp (780 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 304 mph (264 knots, 489 km/h)
• Range: 465 mi (404 nm, 748 km)
• Service ceiling 30,350 ft (9,250 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,900 ft/min (9.65 m/s)
• Power/mass: 0.124 hp/lb (204 W/kg)

Armament

• Guns: 4 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in hydraulically-powered dorsal turret (600 rounds per gun, 2,400 rounds total)

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The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter, often referred to as simply the Beau, was a British long-range heavy fighter modification of the Bristol Aeroplane Company's earlier Beaufort torpedo bomber design. The name Beaufighter is a portmanteau of "Beaufort" and "fighter".

Unlike the Beaufort, the Beaufighter had a long career and served in almost all theatres of war in the Second World War, first as a night fighter, then as a fighter bomber and eventually replacing the Beaufort as a torpedo bomber. A unique variant was built in Australia by the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) and was known in Australia as the DAP Beaufighter.

The idea of a fighter development of the Beaufort was suggested to the Air Ministry by Bristol. The suggestion coincided with the delays in the development and production of the Westland Whirlwind cannon-armed twin-engined fighter. By converting an existing design the "Beaufort Cannon Fighter" could be expected to be developed and produced far quicker than starting a completely fresh design from scratch. Accordingly the Air Ministry produced specification F.11/37 written around Bristol's suggestion for an "interim" aircraft pending proper introduction of the Whirlwind. Bristol started building a prototype by taking a part-built Beaufort out of the production line. This prototype first flew on 17 July 1939, a little more than eight months after the design had started and possible due to the use of as many of the Beaufort's design and parts. A production contract for 300 machines had already been placed two weeks before the prototype flew, as F.17/39.

In general, the differences between the Beaufort and Beaufighter were minor. The wings, control surfaces, retractable landing gear and aft section of the fuselage were identical to those of the Beaufort, while the wing centre section was similar apart from certain fittings. The bomb-bay was dispensed with, and a forward-firing armament of four Hispano 20 mm cannons was mounted in the lower fuselage area. These initially were fed from 60-round drums, necessitating the radar operator having to manually change the ammunition drums — an arduous and unpopular task, especially at night and in the midst of a chase with a bomber target. As a result, they were soon replaced by a belt-feed system. The cannons were supplemented by six 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning guns in the wings; four in the starboard wing and two to port. The areas for the rear gunner and bomb-aimer were removed, leaving only the pilot in a fighter-type cockpit. The navigator / radar operator sat to the rear under a small perspex bubble where the Beaufort's dorsal turret had been located.

The Bristol Taurus engines of the Beaufort would not be sufficient for a fighter and were replaced by the more powerful Bristol Hercules. This extra power presented problems with vibration. In the end they were mounted on longer, more flexible struts, which stuck out from the front of the wings. This had the side effect of moving the centre of gravity (CoG) forward, generally a bad thing for an aircraft design. It was then moved back into place by cutting back the nose area, which was no longer needed for the bombardier in the fighter role. This put most of the fuselage behind the wing and moved the CoG back to where it should be, with the engine cowlings and propellers now further forward than the tip of the nose, the Beaufighter had a characteristically stubby appearance.

Production of the Beaufort in Australia, and the highly successful use of British-made Beaufighters by the Royal Australian Air Force, led to Beaufighters being built by the Australian Department of Aircraft Production (DAP), from 1944 onwards. The DAP's variant was an attack/torpedo bomber, known as the Mark 21: design changes included Hercules CVII engines, dihedral to the tailplane and enhanced armament.

By the time British production lines shut down in September 1945, 5,564 Beaufighters had been built in England, by a number of manufacturers as well as Bristol: Fairey Aviation Company, (498) Ministry of Aircraft Production (3336) and Rootes Securities (260).

When Australian production ceased in 1946, 365 Mk.21s had been built.

By fighter standards, the Beaufighter Mk.I was rather heavy and slow. It had an all-up weight of 16,000 lb (7,000 kg) and a maximum speed of only 335 mph (540 km/h) at 16,800 ft (5,000 m). Nevertheless this was all that was available at the time, as the otherwise excellent Westland Whirlwind had already been cancelled due to production problems with its Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines.

The Beaufighter found itself coming off the production line at almost exactly the same time as the first British Airborne Intercept (AI) radar sets. With the four 20 mm cannons mounted in the lower fuselage, the nose could accommodate the radar antennas, and the general roominess of the fuselage enabled the AI equipment to be fitted easily. Even loaded down to an even heavier 20,000 lb (9 t), the plane was still fast enough to catch German bombers. By early 1941, it was an effective counter to Luftwaffe night raids. The various early models of the Beaufighter soon commenced service overseas, where its rugged build and reliability soon made the aircraft popular with its crews.

A night-fighter Mk VIF was supplied to squadrons in March 1942, equipped with AI Mark VIII radar. As the faster de Havilland Mosquito took over in the night fighter role in mid to late 1942, the heavier Beaufighters made sterling contributions in other areas, such as anti-shipping, ground attack and long-range interdiction in every major theatre of operations.

Pacific war

The Beaufighter arrived at squadrons in Asia and the Pacific in mid-1942. It has often been said — although it was most probably a propaganda invention — that Japanese soldiers referred to the Beaufighter as "whispering death", supposedly because attacking aircraft often were unheard (or seen) until it was too late. (The Beaufighter's Hercules engines featured sleeve valves which lacked the noisy valve gear common to poppet valve engines. This was most apparent in a reduced noise level at the front of the engine.)

South east Asia

In the South-East Asian Theatre, the Beaufighter Mk VIF operated from India on night missions against Japanese lines of communication in Burma and Thailand. The high-speed, low-level attacks were highly effective, despite often atrocious weather conditions and the makeshift repair and maintenance facilities.

South west Pacific

Before DAP Beaufighters arrived at Royal Australian Air Force units in the South West Pacific theatre, the Bristol Beaufighter Mk IC was employed in anti-shipping missions.

The most famous of these was the Battle of the Bismarck Sea in which they co-operated with USAAF A-20 Bostons and B-25 Mitchells. No. 30 Squadron RAAF Beaufighters flew in at mast height to provide heavy suppressive fire for the waves of attacking bombers. The Japanese convoy, under the impression that they were under torpedo attack, made the fatal tactical error of turning their ships towards the Beaufighters, leaving them exposed to skip bombing attacks by the US medium bombers. The Beaufighters inflicted maximum damage on the ships' anti-aircraft guns, bridges and crews, during strafing runs with their four 20 mm (0.787 in) nose cannons and six wing-mounted .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns. Eight transports and four destroyers were sunk for the loss of five aircraft, including one Beaufighter.

General characteristics

• Crew: 2: pilot, observer
• Length: 41 ft 4 in (12.6 m)
• Wingspan: 57 ft 10 in (17.65 m)
• Height: 15 ft 10 in (4.84 m)
• Wing area: 503 ft²^[4] (46,73 m²)
• Empty weight: 15,592 lb (7,072 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 25,400 lb (11,521 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× Bristol Hercules 14-cylinder radial engines, 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 320 mph (280 knots, 515 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
• Range: 1,750 mi (1,520 nm, 2,816 km)
• Service ceiling 19,000 ft (5,795 m) without torpedo
• Rate of climb: 1,600 ft/min (8.2 m/s) without torpedo

Armament

• 4× Hispano 20 mm cannon (60 rounds per cannon, 240 rounds total) in nose
• Fighter Command only
  • 4× .303 in (7.7 mm) machine gun (outer starboard wing)
  • 2× .303 in machine gun (outer port wing)
  • 8× RP-3 "60lb" rockets or 2× 1000 lb bombs
• Coastal Command only
  • 1× manually-operated Vickers GO or .303 Browning for observer
  • 1× 18 in (457 mm) torpedo

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Facing a shortage in combat aircraft in January 1940, the British government established the British Purchasing Commission to acquire U.S. aircraft that would help supplement domestic production. Among the U.S. fighter aircraft that caught the Commission's attention was the Brewster. The remaining 32 B-339 aircraft ordered by the French, suspended at the fall of France, were passed on to the United Kingdom. Appraisal by Royal Air Force acceptance personnel criticised it on numerous points including lack of armament and pilot armour, poor high-altitude performance, engine overheating, maintenance issues, and cockpit controls, while it was praised for its handling, roomy cockpit, and visibility. With a top speed of about 323 mph at 21,000 feet, but with fuel starvation issues over 15,000 feet, it was considered unfit for duty in western Europe. Still desperately in need of fighter aircraft in the Pacific and Asia for British and Commonwealth air forces, the UK ordered an additional 170 planes under the type specification B-339E.

The B-339E, or Brewster Mk I as it was designated in British service, was initially intended to be fitted with an export-approved Wright R-1820-G-105 Cyclone engine with a 1,000 hp (peak takeoff) engine. The Brewster aircraft delivered to British and Commonwealth air forces were significantly altered from the B-339 type sold to the Belgium and French forces in accordance with their purchase order. The Brewster factory removed the Navy life raft container and arrestor hook, while adding many new items of equipment, including a British Mk III reflector gun sight, a gun camera, a larger fixed pneumatic-tire tail wheel, fire extinguisher, engine shutters, a larger battery, and reinforced armor plating and armored glass behind the canopy windshield.

The aircraft were sent to Royal Australian Air Force, RAF and Royal New Zealand Air Force fighter squadrons in Singapore, Malaya and Burma, shortly before the outbreak of war with Japan.

The Brewster Model B-339E, as modified and supplied to Great Britain was distinctly inferior in performance to the F2A-2 (Model B-339) from the original order. It had a less powerful (1,000 hp) engine compared to the F2A-2's 1,200 hp Cyclone, yet was substantially heavier due to all of the additional modifications (some 900 pounds). The semi-retractable tail wheel had been exchanged for a larger fixed model, which was also less bamic. Top speed was reduced from 323 mph to 313 mph at combat altitudes, manoeuvrability was severely impaired (the aircraft was unable to perform loops), and initial rate of climb was reduced to 2,300 feet per minute. The Wright Cyclone 1890-G-105 engine designated for use in the Brewster Mk I was in short supply; many aircraft were fitted with secondhand Wright engines sourced from Douglas DC-3 airliners and rebuilt to G105 or G102A specifications by Wright. In service, some effort was made by at least one Brewster squadron to improve the plane's sluggish performance; a few aircraft were lightened by some 1000 pounds by removing armor plate, armored windshields, radios, gun camera, and all other unnecessary equipment, and by replacing all .50-inch machine guns with two .303-inch cowling guns. The fuselage tanks were filled with a minimum of fuel, and run on high-octane aviation petrol where available.

General characteristics

• Crew: One, pilot
• Length: 26 ft (7.9 m)
• Wingspan: 35 ft (10.7 m)
• Height: 11 ft 11 in (3.63 m)
• Wing area: 208.9 ft² (19.408 m²)
• Empty weight: 3,785 lb (1,717 kg)
• Loaded weight: 5,040 lb (2,286 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Wright R-1820-34 Cyclone 9, 940 hp ()

Performance

• Maximum speed: 301 mph at 17,000 ft (484 km/h at 5,200 m)
• Cruise speed: 258 mph (415 km/h)
• Range: 1,000 miles (1,600 km)
• Service ceiling 33,000 ft (10,100 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,600 ft/min (789 m/min)

Armament

• 1 x 0.30 cal Browning AN machine gun and 1 x 0.50 cal Browning M2 machine gun in the fuselage, with additional 2 x 0.50 cal M2 wing-mounted machine guns for combat operations
• In Finnish service: 4 x 0.50 in (12.7 mm) Browning M2 machine guns

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The Bristol Blenheim was a British light bomber aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company that was used extensively in the early days of the Second World War. It was later adapted into a successful long-range fighter and night fighter. A australian-made variant named the Bolingbroke was used as an anti-submarine and training aircraft. It was one of the first British aircraft to have all-metal stressed skin construction, to utilise retractable landing gear, flaps, powered gun turret and variable-pitch propellers.

In 1934 Lord Rothermere, owner of the Daily Mail newspaper, issued a challenge to the British aviation industry to build a high-speed aircraft capable of carrying six passengers and two crew members. At the time German firms were producing a variety of high-speed designs that were breaking records, and Rothermere wanted to recapture the title of fastest civilian aircraft in Europe. Bristol had been working on a suitable design as the Type 135 since July 1933, and further adapted it to produce the Type 142 to meet Rothermere's requirements.

When it first flew as Britain First at Filton on 12 April 1935, it proved to be faster than any fighter in service with the Royal Air Force at the time. The Air Ministry was obviously interested in such an aircraft and quickly sent out Specification B.28/35 for prototypes of a bomber version; the Type 142M (M for military). The main changes were to move the wing from a low-wing to a mid-wing position, allowing room under the main spar for a bomb bay. The aircraft was all-metal with two Bristol Mercury VIII air-cooled radial engines, each of 860 hp (640 kW). It carried a crew of three – pilot, navigator/bombardier and telegraphist / air gunner. Armament comprised a single forward-firing 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine gun outboard of the port engine and a 0.303-inch (7.7 mm) Lewis gun in a semi-retracting Bristol Type B Mk.I dorsal turret firing to the rear. From 1939 onwards, the Lewis gun was replaced by the more modern Vickers VGO machine gun of the same calibre. A 1,000 lb (454 kg) bomb load could be carried in the internal bay.

To achieve its relatively high speed, the Blenheim had a very small fuselage cross-section. Pilot's quarters on the left side of the nose were so cramped that the control yoke obscured all flight instruments while engine instruments eliminated the forward view on landings. Most secondary instruments were arranged along the left side of the cockpit with essential items like propeller pitch control actually placed behind the pilot where they had to be operated by feel alone. Like most contemporary British aircraft, the bomb bay doors were kept closed with bungee cords and opened under the weight of the released bombs. Because there was no way to predict how long it would take for the bombs to force the doors open, bombing accuracy was consequently poor.

The aircraft was ordered directly from the drawing board with the first production model, known at the time as the Bolingbroke (pronounced Bolling-brook), serving as the only prototype. The name then became Blenheim Mk I with subsequent deliveries started in March 1937, with 114 Squadron being the first squadron to receive the Blenheim. The aircraft would prove to be so successful that it was licensed by a number of countries, including Finland and Yugoslavia. Other countries bought it outright, including Romania, Greece and Turkey. Total production of the Blenheim Mk I in England amounted to 1,351 aircraft.

Operational history

The Blenheim was regarded as a pleasant aircraft to fly, although it did have some characteristics which could catch even experienced pilots by surprise. Unfortunately, with the rapid advances in technology which had taken place in the late 1930s by the start of the Second World War the Blenheim was obsolescent. The aircraft had become heavier as extra service equipment was installed; much of this was found to be needed through operational experience. This, coupled with the rapid performance increases of fighters, had eclipsed the Blenheim's speed advantage.

General characteristics

• Crew: 3
• Length: 42 ft 7 in (12.98 m)
• Wingspan: 56 ft 4 in (17.17 m)
• Height: 9 ft 10 in (3.0 m)
• Wing area: 469 ft² (43.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 9,790 lb (4,450 kg)
• Loaded weight: 14,400 lb (6,545 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× Bristol Mercury XV 14-cylinder radial engines, 920 hp (690 kW) each
• Propellers: Three-bladed Hamilton Standard propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 266mph (231 knots, 428 km/h)
• Range: 1,460 mi (1,270 nm, 2,351 km)
• Service ceiling 27,260 ft (8,310 m)
• Wing loading: 30.7 lb/ft² (150 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.13 hp/lb (.21 kW/kg)

Armament

• Guns:
   
  • 1× .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in port wing.
  • 1 or 2× .303 in Browning machine guns in rear-firing under-nose blister or Nash & Thomson FN.54 turret
• Bombs:
   
  • 4× 250 lb (110 kg) bombs or.
  • 2x 500 lb (230 kg) bombs internally and 8x 40 lb (18 kg) bombs externally.

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The CAC Boomerang was a World War II fighter aircraft designed and manufactured in Australia between 1942 and 1945. The Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation gave Boomerangs the model numbers CA-12, CA-13, CA-14 and CA-19.

The Wirraway trainer provided a starting point for the Boomerang's airframe. CAC general manager (and former chief designer) Lawrence Wackett and chief designer Fred David began detailed design work at the CAC factory in Fishermans Bend, Melbourne on 21 December 1941. David was a Jewish refugee from Austria, who had worked on aircraft designs for Heinkel in pre-Nazi Germany, as well as for Mitsubishi and Aichi in Japan. As a result, he had a comprehensive knowledge of advanced contemporary fighter designs, including the Heinkel He 112 and A6M Zero.

The RAAF ordered 105 CA-12 (Mark I) Boomerangs on 2 February 1942, before the prototype first flew on 29 May 1942.

The Boomerang was a small fighter, designed with an emphasis on manoeuvrability. It had an overall length of just 7.7 metres (25.5 ft) and an 11 m (36 ft) wingspan. Although the original intention had been to use as many Wirraway components as possible, the final design was quite different, with shorter wings, a shorter, wood-sheathed, aluminium-framed fuselage, increased strength for combat stresses and a new centre section.

Test flights found that the CA-12 handled well. It was very well-armed, with two 20 mm cannon and four .303 calibre (7.7 mm) machine guns, all mounted in the short, thick wings. The Boomerang was also generously equipped with armour plating to protect the pilot. However, general performance was mediocre. Although lively at low level, performance fell away rapidly over 15,000 ft (4,600 m), and at the maximum speed of 265 knots (490 km/h) was not sufficient to make it an effective counter to the Zero. In addition, the best European fighters were reaching almost 350 knots (650 km/h), and even relatively sluggish fighters like the Wildcat and the Kittyhawk were much faster than the Boomerang.

As a result, by early 1942 the CA-14 variant was being designed, around the U.S.-built, 1,700 hp (1,268 kW) Wright Cyclone R-2600 engine, to address the CA-12's deficiencies in speed, climb and ceiling.^[2] However, the 145 Cyclones ordered were not delivered as scheduled, and in mid-1942 Wackett authorised use of the 1,850 hp (1,380 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-2800, which could also be obtained from the CAC factory in Lidcombe. However, the significantly greater weight of this powerplant led to an unacceptable risk of undercarriage failure. CAC eventually returned to the Twin Wasp, to which was added a General Electric B-2 turbo-supercharger mounted inside the rear part of the fuselage, new propellor gear, a geared cooling fan (influenced by reports on Focke-Wulfs captured in Europe) and a larger, squared-off tailfin and rudder.

By July 1943, the significantly re-worked CA-14 prototype, now known as the CA-14A, had a top speed which was 25–30% better than the CA-12, and an operational ceiling which was 4,000 ft (1,200 m) higher. Overall, it compared favourably with the Spitfire Vc and early model Thunderbolts and Mustangs. By this time, however, British-built Spitfires had filled the interceptor role and Mustangs had been ordered, to fill the bomber escort, air superiority and close air support roles. In addition, work had begun on the all-new CA-15, also known as the Kangaroo. Consequently, production Boomerangs were never fitted with superchargers.

Boomerangs underwent various improvements and modifications, which were grouped under three CAC designations: CA-12, CA-13 and CA-19. A total of 250 aircraft of these marques were built: 105 CA-12s, (RAAF serial numbers A46-1/105), 95 CA-13s (A46-106/200) and 49 CA-19s (A46-201/249). The CA-13 and CA-19 are sometimes known collectively as the Boomerang Mark II.

The sole CA-14A was used for research by No. 1 Aircraft Performance Unit RAAF, and was also seconded to the Bureau of Meteorology for a period after the war ended.

Following the devastating first air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942, the need for interceptors became more pressing. Despite the Boomerang's astonishingly short development phase — especially since the Australian aviation industry had never built fighters before, let alone designed them — by the time the Boomerang entered service, sufficient Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawks had arrived from the United States. In January 1943, these were replaced in the air defence role over Darwin by No. 1 (Fighter) Wing RAAF, which had returned from Europe, equipped with the Spitfire Mk Vc.

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 25 ft 6 in (7.77 m)
• Wingspan: 36 ft 0 in (10.97 m)
• Height: 9 ft 7 in (2.92 m)
• Wing area: 225 ft² (20.9 m²)
• Empty weight: 5,373 lb (2,437 kg)
• Loaded weight: 7,699 lb (3,492 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp radial engine, 1,200 hp (895 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 305 mph (265 knots, 491 km/h) at 15,500 ft (4,730 m)
• Range: 930 mi (810 nm, 1,500 km)
• Service ceiling 29,000 ft (8,800 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,940 ft/min (14.9 m/s)
• Wing loading: 34.2 lb/ft² (167.1 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.16 hp/lb (256 W/kg)

Armament

• Guns:
   
  • 2× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano or CAC cannons
  • 4× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns

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The Douglas A-20/DB-7 Havoc was a family of American attack, light bomber and night fighter aircraft of World War II, serving with several Allied air forces, principally those of the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States. The DB-7 was also used by the air forces of Australia, South Africa, France, and The Netherlands during the war, and Brazil afterwards. The bomber aircraft was known as Boston among British and Commonwealth air forces, while the RAF night fighter variants were given the service name Havoc. The USAAF assigned the DB-7 the designation "A-20" and gave it the popular name "Havoc".

In March 1937, a design team headed by Donald Douglas, Jack Northrop and Ed Heinemann produced a proposal for a light bomber powered by a pair of 450 hp (340 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior engines mounted on a high-mounted wing. It was estimated it could have carried a 1000 lb (450 kg) bomb load at 250 mph (400 km/h). Reports of aircraft performance from the Spanish Civil War indicated that this design would be seriously underpowered and, subsequently, it was cancelled.

In the autumn of the same year, the United States Army Air Corps issued its own specification for an attack aircraft. The Douglas team, now headed by Heinemann, took the Model 7A design, upgraded to 1100 hp (820 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-1830 S3C3-G Twin Wasp engines, and submitted the design as the Model 7B. It faced competition from the North American NA-40, the Stearman X-100 and the Martin 167F. The Model 7B was maneuverable and fast, but did not attract any US orders.

Although not the fastest or longest-legged in its class, the Douglas DB-7 series distinguished itself as a tough, dependable combat aircraft with an excellent reputation due to its speed and manoeuvrability. In a report to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (AAEE) at RAF Boscombe Down, test pilots summed it up as "has no vices and is very easy to takeoff and land... The aeroplane represents a definite advantage in the design of flying controls... extremely pleasant to fly and manoeuvre." Ex-pilots often consider it their favorite aircraft of the war due to the ability to toss it around like a fighter. Its true impact was that the Douglas bomber/night fighter was extremely adaptable and found a role in every combat theater of the war and excelled as a true "pilot's aeroplane."

When DB-7 series production finally ended on 20 September 1944, a total of 7,098 had been built by Douglas and a further 380 by Boeing.

DB-7B / Boston III

The DB-7B was the first batch of the series to actually be ordered by Britain, in February 1940. Powered by the same engines as the DB-7A, with better armor and, crucially, larger fuel tanks, these were at last suitable for British use in the light bomber role. This was the batch for which the name "Boston" was first reserved, but since the commandeered DB-7s entered service first, this batch became known as the Boston Mk III. Amongst other operations, they took part in the attacks on the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen during their dash through the English Channel (Operation Cerberus) and the infamous raid on Dieppe (Operation Jubilee). Three hundred were delivered and some were converted for use in intruder and night fighter roles.

General characteristics

• Crew: 2-3
• Length: 47 ft 11 in (14.63 m)
• Wingspan: 61 ft 4 in (18.69 m)
• Height: 17 ft 7 in (5.36 m)
• Wing area: 465 ft² (43.2 m²)
• Empty weight: 15,051 lb (6,827 kg)
• Loaded weight: 27,200 lb ()
• Max takeoff weight: 20,320 lb (9,215 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× Wright R-2600-A5B "Double Cyclone" radial engines, 1,700 hp (1,200 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 339 mph (295 knots, 546 km/h) at 10,000 ft (3,050 m)
• Range: 1,050 mi (912 nm, 1,690 km)
• Service ceiling 23,700 ft (7,225 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,000 ft/min (10.2 m/s)

Armament

• Guns:
   
  • 4× fixed 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in the nose
  • 2× flexible 0.303 in Browning machine guns, mounted dorsally
  • 1× flexible 0.303 in Vickers K machine gun, mounted ventrally
• Bombs: 4,000 lb (1,900 kg)

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The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd.

The 1930s design evolved through several versions and adaptations, resulting in a series of aircraft which acted as interceptor-fighters, fighter-bombers (also called "Hurribombers"), and ground support aircraft. Further versions known as the Sea Hurricane had modifications which enabled operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-launched convoy escorts, known as "Hurricats". Together with the Spitfire, the Hurricane was significant in enabling the Royal Air Force (RAF) to win the Battle of Britain of 1940, accounting for the majority of the RAF's air victories. About 14,000 Hurricanes were built by the end of 1944 (including about 1,200 converted to Sea Hurricanes, and about 1,400 built in Canada), and served in all the major theatres of the Second World War.

The Hurricane was developed by Hawker in response to the Air Ministry specification F.36/34 (modified by F.5/34) for a fighter aircraft built around the new Rolls-Royce engine, then only known as the PV-12, later to become famous as the Merlin. At that time, RAF Fighter Command comprised just 13 squadrons, each equipped with either the Hawker Fury, Hawker Hart variant, or Bristol Bulldog – all biplanes with fixed-pitch wooden propellers and non-retractable undercarriages. The design, started in early 1934, was the work of Sydney Camm.

Sydney Camm's original plans submitted in response to the Air Ministry's specification were at first rejected (apparently "too orthodox," even for the Air Ministry). Camm tore up the proposal and set about designing a fighter as a Hawker private venture. With economy in mind, the Hurricane was designed using as many existing tools and jigs as possible (the aircraft was effectively a monoplane version of the successful Hawker Fury); and it was these factors that were major contributors to the aircraft's success.

Early design stages of the "Fury Monoplane" incorporated a Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine, but this was replaced shortly after by the Merlin, and featured a retractable undercarriage. The design came to be known as the "Interceptor Monoplane," and by May 1934, the plans had been completed in detail. To test the new design, a one-tenth scale model was made and sent to the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington. A series of wind tunnel tests confirmed the aerodynamic qualities of the design were in order, and by December that year, a full size wooden mock-up of the aircraft had been created.

Construction of the first prototype, K5083, began in August 1935 incorporating the PV-12 Merlin engine. The completed sections of the aircraft were taken to Brooklands, where Hawkers had an assembly shed, and re-assembled on 23 October 1935. Ground testing and taxi trials took place over the following two weeks, and on 6 November 1935, the prototype took to the air for the first time, at the hands of Hawker's chief test pilot, Flight Lieutenant (later Group Captain) P.W.S. Bulman. Flight Lieutenant Bulman was assisted by two other pilots in subsequent flight testing; Philip Lucas flew some of the experimental test flights, while John Hindmarsh conducted the firm's production flight trials.

Production

The Hurricane was ordered into production in June 1936, mainly due to its relatively simple construction and ease of manufacture. As war was looking increasingly likely, and time was of the essence in providing the RAF with an effective fighter aircraft, it was unclear if the more advanced Spitfire would be able to enter production smoothly, while the Hurricane used well-understood manufacturing techniques. This was true for service squadrons as well, who were experienced in working on and repairing aircraft whose construction employed the same principles as the Hurricane, and the simplicity of its design enabled the improvisation of some remarkable repairs in Squadron workshops.

The maiden flight of the first production aircraft, powered by a Merlin II engine, took place on 12 October 1937. The first four aircraft to enter service with the RAF joined 111 Squadron at RAF Northolt the following December. By the outbreak of the Second World War, nearly 500 Hurricanes had been produced, and had equipped 18 squadrons.

During 1940, Lord Beaverbrook, who was the Minister of Aircraft Production, established an organisation in which a number of manufacturers were seconded to repair and overhaul battle damaged Hurricanes. The "Civilian Repair Organisation". also overhauled battle-weary aircraft, which were later sent to training units or to other air forces; one of the factories involved was the Austin Aero Company's Cofton Hackett plant, which also built 300 Hurricanes. Another was David Rosenfield Ltd, based at Barton aerodrome near Manchester.

In all, some 14,000 Hurricanes and Sea Hurricanes were produced. The majority of Hurricanes were built by Hawker (which produced them until 1944), with Hawker's sister company, the Gloster Aircraft Company, making (2,750) most of the rest. As described, the Austin Aero Ltd built 300. Canada Car and Foundry in Fort William, Ontario, Canada, (where the Chief Engineer, Elsie MacGill, became known as the "Queen of the Hurricanes") was responsible for production of 1,400 Hurricanes, known as the Mk X.

In 1939, production of 100 Hurricanes was initiated in Yugoslavia by Zmaj and Rogozarski. Of these, 20 were built by Zmaj by April 1941. One of these was fitted with a DB 601 and test flown in 1941.

A contract for 80 Hurricanes was placed with Fairey's Belgian subsidiary Avions Fairey SA for the Belgian Air Force in 1938. Three were built and two flown by the time of the Blitzkrieg in May 1940.

General characteristics

• Crew: One
• Length: 32 ft 3 in (9.84 m)
• Wingspan: 40 ft 0 in (12.19 m)
• Height: 13 ft 1½ in (4.0 m)
• Wing area: 257.5 ft² (23.92 m²)
• Empty weight: 5,745 lb (2,605 kg)
• Loaded weight: 7,670 lb (3,480 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 8,710 lb (3,950 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Merlin XX liquid-cooled V-12, 1,185 hp (883 kW) at 21,000 ft (6,400 m)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 340 mph (547 km/h) at 21,000 ft (6,400 m)
• Range: 600 mi (965 km)
• Service ceiling 36,000 ft (10,970 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,780 ft/min (14.1 m/s)
• Wing loading: 29.8 lb/ft² (121.9 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 6.47 lb/hp (3.94 kg/kW)

Armament

• Guns: 4× 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannon
• Bombs: 2× 250 lb or 500 lb bombs

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The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used by the air forces of 28 nations, including those of most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in front line service until the end of the war. By November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built.

The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36; this reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service.

Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps adopted for all models, making it the official name in the United States for all P-40s. The British Commonwealth and Soviet air forces used the name Tomahawk for models equivalent to the P-40B and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.

The P-40's lack of a two-stage supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe. Between 1941 and 1944, however, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China. It also had a significant role in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. The P-40's high altitude performance was not as critical in those theaters, where it served as an air supremacy fighter, bomber escort and fighter bomber.

P-40s first saw combat with the British Commonwealth squadrons of the Desert Air Force (DAF) in the Middle East and North African campaigns, during June 1941. The Royal Air Force's No. 112 Squadron was among the first to operate Tomahawks, in North Africa, and the unit was the first to feature the "shark mouth" logo, copying similar markings on some Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine fighters. The logo was most famously used on P-40s by the Flying Tigers in China.

In theaters where high-altitude performance was less important, the P-40 proved an effective fighter. Although it gained a post-war reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support, more recent research including scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons indicates that the P-40 performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses, but also taking a very heavy toll on enemy aircraft. The P-40 offered the additional advantage of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground attack fighter long after it was obsolete in air superiority.

The P-40 had good agility, especially at high speed and medium to low altitude. It was one of the tightest-turning monoplane fighters of the war, although at lower speeds it could not out-turn the extremely maneuverable Japanese fighters such as the A6M Zero and Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Oscar").

Allison V-1710 engines produced about 1,040 hp at sea level and at 14,000 ft (4,300 m): not powerful by the standards of the time and the early P-40's speed was average. (The later versions with 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) Allisons were more capable, as were the Merlin engined P-40F/L series.) Its climb performance was fair to poor, depending on the subtype. Dive acceleration was good and dive speed was excellent. The highest-scoring P-40 ace, Clive Caldwell (RAAF), who scored 22 of his 28.5 kills in the P-40, said the type had "almost no vices", although "it was a little difficult to control in terminal velocity". Caldwell said that the P-40 was "faster downhill than almost any other aeroplane with a propeller." However, the single-stage, single-speed supercharger meant that it could not compete with contemporary aircraft as a high-altitude fighter.

The P-40 tolerated harsh conditions in the widest possible variety of climates. It was a semi-modular design and thus easy to maintain in the field. It lacked innovations of the time, such as boosted ailerons or automatic leading edge slats, but it had a strong structure including a five-spar wing, which enabled P-40s to survive some mid-air collisions: both accidental impacts and intentional ramming attacks against enemy aircraft were occasionally recorded as victories by the Desert Air Force and Soviet Air Forces. Caldwell said P-40s "would take a tremendous amount of punishment — violent aerobatics as well as enemy action."

Deployment

In all, 18 British Royal Air Force (RAF) squadrons, as well as four Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), three South African Air Force (SAAF), and two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) squadrons serving with RAF formations, used P-40s.

The first units to convert were Hawker Hurricane squadrons of the Desert Air Force (DAF), in early 1941. The first Tomahawks delivered came without armor, bulletproof windscreens or self-sealing fuel tanks. These were installed in subsequent shipments. When they converted to the P-40 in early 1941, due to a rear-folding landing gear that was more prone to collapse, DAF pilots found that landing required a flatter, two-point landing, contrasted to the three-point landings used with Supermarine Spitfires and Hurricanes.

Testing showed the aircraft did not have adequate performance for use in Northwest Europe in combat operations against Messerschmitt Bf 109s. RAF Spitfires used in the theatre operated at heights around 30,000 ft (9,100 m), while the Allison engine, with its single-stage, low altitude rated supercharger, worked best at 15,000 ft (4,600 m) or lower. When the Tomahawk was used by Allied units based in the UK from August 1941, this limitation relegated the Tomahawk to low-level reconnaissance and only one squadron, No. 414 Squadron RCAF was used in the fighter role. Subsequently, the British Air Ministry deemed the P-40 completely unsuitable for the theatre. P-40 squadrons from mid-1942 re-equipped with aircraft such as Mustangs.

The Tomahawk was superseded in North Africa by the more powerful Kittyhawk ("D"-mark onwards) types from early 1942, though some Tomahawks remained in service until 1943. Kittyhawks included many major improvements, and were the DAF's air superiority fighter for the critical first few months of 1942, until "tropicalized" Spitfires were available.

Combat performance

Tomahawks and Kittyhawks would bear the brunt of Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica fighter attacks during the North African campaign. The P-40s were considered superior to early versions of the Hurricane, which they replaced as the primary fighter of the Desert Air Force.

The P-40 initially proved quite effective against Axis aircraft and contributed to a slight shift of momentum in the Allied favor. The gradual replacement of Hurricanes by the Tomahawks and Kittyhawks led to the Luftwaffe accelerating retirement of the Bf 109E and introducing the newer Bf 109F; these were to be flown flown by the veteran pilots of elite Luftwaffe units, such as Jagdgeschwader 27 (JG27), in North Africa.

The P-40 was generally considered roughly equal or slightly superior to the 109 at low altitude, but inferior at high altitude. However most of the air combat in North Africa took place well below 16,000 feet (4,900 m), the altitude at which the performance of P-40s began to taper off. The P-40 usually had an edge over Bf 109 in horizontal maneuverability, dive speed, and structural strength; was roughly equal in firepower, slightly inferior in speed and outclassed in rate of climb and operational ceiling. The P-40 was generally superior to early Italian fighter types, such as the Fiat G.50 and the Macchi C.200. However, Clive Caldwell is reported to have said that the Macchi C.202 would have been a superior fighter to both the P-40 and the Bf-109 except that its armament of only two or four machine guns was considered inadequate. The earliest claims by P-40 pilots also included Vichy French aircraft, during the 1941 Syria-Lebanon campaign, including five Dewoitine D.520s, a type often considered to be the best French fighter used during World War II. The P-40 was deadly against Axis bombers in the theater, as well as the Bf 110 twin-engine fighter.

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 31.67 ft (9.66 m)
• Wingspan: 37.33 ft (11.38 m)
• Height: 12.33 ft (3.76 m)
• Wing area: 235.94 ft² (21.92 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,350 lb (2,880 kg)
• Loaded weight: 8,280 lb (3,760 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 8,810 lb (4,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Allison V-1710-39 liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1,150 hp (858 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 360 mph (310 knots, 580 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 270 mph (235 knots, 435 km/h)
• Range: 650 mi (560 nm, 1,100 km)
• Service ceiling 29,000 ft (8,800 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,100 ft/min (11 m/s)
• Wing loading: 35.1 lb/ft² (171.5 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.14 hp/lb (230 W/kg)

Armament

• Guns: 4× .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, 150~200 rounds per gun,2 .30cal LMG
• Bombs: 250 lb (113 kg) to 1,000 Ib (453 kg), a total of 1,500 lb (680 kg) on three hardpoints (one under the fuselage and two underwing)

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The de Havilland Mosquito was a British combat aircraft that excelled in a number of roles during the Second World War. Originally conceived as an unarmed fast bomber, uses of the Mosquito included: low to medium altitude daytime tactical bomber, high altitude night bomber, pathfinder, day or night fighter, fighter-bomber, intruder, maritime strike and photo reconnaissance aircraft. It was also used as the basis for a single-seat heavy fighter, the de Havilland Hornet. The aircraft served with the Royal Air Force (RAF) and many other air forces during the Second World War and postwar (see Operators below). The Mosquito was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews^[1] and was also known as "The Wooden Wonder" or "The Timber Terror" as the bulk of the aircraft was made of laminated plywood.

The Mosquito inspired admiration from all quarters, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring. Göring was due to address a parade in Berlin in the morning of 30 January 1943, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Nazis' being voted into power. Three 105 Squadron Mosquito B Mk. IVs launched a low-level attack on the main Berlin broadcasting station, keeping Göring off the air for more than an hour.

The Reichsmarschall was not amused:

In 1940 I could at least fly as far as Glasgow in most of my aircraft, but not now! It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy.

The British, who can afford aluminium better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that?— Hermann Göring, January 1943

The Mosquito inspired a conceptually similar German aircraft, the Focke Wulf Ta 154 Moskito, which, like its namesake, was constructed of wood.

The bulk of the Mosquito was made of custom plywood. The fuselage was a frameless monocoque shell built by forming up plywood made of 3/8" sheets of Ecuadorean balsawood sandwiched between sheets of Canadian birch. These were formed inside large concrete moulds, each holding one half of the fuselage, split vertically. While the casein-based glue in the plywood dried, carpenters cut a sawtooth joint into their edges while other workers installed the controls and cabling on the inside wall. When the glue was completely dried, the two halves were glued and screwed together. A covering of doped Madapolam (a fine plain woven cotton) fabric completed the unit.

The wings were similar but used different materials and techniques. The wing was built as a single unit, not two sides, based on two birch plywood boxes as spars fore and aft. Plywood ribs and stringers were glued and screwed to form the basic wing shape. The skinning was also birch plywood, one layer thick on the bottom and doubled up on the top. Between the two top layers was another layer of fir stringers. Building up the structure used an enormous number of brass screws, 30,000 per wing. The wing was completed with wooden flaps and aluminum ailerons.

The Mosquito is often described as having been faster than enemy fighters, although this is not completely true. On its introduction to service, the aircraft was about as fast as the front-line German fighters that opposed it, the BF 109F and Fw 190A. Nonetheless the fighters' speed advantage was slim enough that by the time those aircraft could reach interception altitude, the Mosquito would have completed its bombing run and would be racing for home. Advancements in German fighters eventually outpaced performance improvements in the Mosquito, but it was always an elusive target even in daylight.

At night, however, no Luftwaffe aircraft even came close. At the time the Mosquito was introduced, most of the dedicated night fighter groups were equipped with aircraft like the Bf 110 or Junkers Ju 88 of much lower performance. Although there were several attempts to address this by introducing a new night fighter of greatly improved performance, a variety of problems from engine troubles to the intensifying Allied bombing campaign meant that they never matured. The Heinkel He 219 and Junkers Ju 388, that were technically the Mosquito's equal, simply did not enter large-scale production. Their tiny numbers meant they were never a serious threat, and in the night bombing role, the Mosquito went largely unopposed for the entire war.

General characteristics

• Crew: 2: pilot, navigator/radar operator
• Length: 41 ft 2 in (13.57 m)
• Wingspan: 54 ft 2 in (16.52 m)
• Height: 17 ft 5 in (5.3 m)
• Wing area: 454 ft² (42.18 m²)
• Empty weight: 13,356 lb (6,058 kg)
• Loaded weight: 17,700 lb (8,028 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 18,649 lb (8,549 kg)
• Powerplant: 2× Rolls-Royce Merlin 21/21 or 23/23 (left/right) liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1,480 hp (21 & 23) (1,103 kW) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 318 knots (366 mph, 610 km/h) at 21,400 ft (8,500 m)
• Range: 782 nm (900 mi, 1,500 km) 410 gallon fuel load at 20,000 ft
• Service ceiling 29,000 ft (8,839 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,740 ft/min (8.8 m/s)
• Wing loading: 39.9 lb/ft² (195 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.189 hp/lb (311 W/kg)

Armament

• Guns: 4× 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannon (fuselage) and 4× .303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns (nose)

Avionics

• AI Mk IV or Mk VRadar (NF variants)

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The Supermarine Spitfire was a British single-seat fighter aircraft, used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries during the Second World War, and into the 1950s. It was produced in greater numbers than any other Allied design. The Spitfire was the only Allied fighter in production at the outbreak of the Second World War that was still in production at the end of the war.

The Spitfire was designed by R. J. Mitchell who was chief designer at Supermarine Aviation Works, a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrongs. He continued to refine the design until his death from cancer in 1937, whereupon his colleague Joseph Smith became chief designer. Its elliptical wing had a thin cross-section, allowing a higher top speed than the Hawker Hurricane and many other contemporary designs

The Spitfire will always be compared to its main adversary, the Messerschmitt Bf 109: both were among the finest fighters of their day and followed similar design philosophies of marrying a small, streamlined airframe to a powerful liquid-cooled V12 engine.

Carburetor versus fuel injection

Early in its development, the Merlin engine's lack of direct fuel injection meant that both Spitfires and Hurricanes, unlike the Bf 109E, were unable to simply nose down into a steep dive. This meant a Luftwaffe fighter could simply "bunt" into a high-power dive to escape an attack, leaving the Spitfire sputtering behind, as its fuel was forced by negative "g" out of the carburettor. RAF fighter pilots soon learned to "half-roll" their aircraft before diving to pursue their opponents. The use of carburettors was calculated to give a higher specific power output, due to the lower temperature, and hence the greater density, of the fuel/air mixture fed into the motor, compared to injected systems. In March 1941, a metal diaphragm with a hole in it was fitted across the float chambers. It partly cured the problem of fuel starvation in a dive, and became known as "Miss Shilling's orifice" as it was invented by a female engineer, Beatrice "Tilly" Shilling. Further improvements were introduced throughout the Merlin series, with Bendix-manufactured pressure carburettors introduced in 1943.

Production

In February 1936 the Vickers-Armstrongs director, Sir Robert MacLean, guaranteed production of 5 aircraft a week, beginning 15 months after an order is placed. On 3 June 1936, the Air Ministry placed an order for 310 aircraft, for a price of £1,395,000. Full-scale production of the Spitfire began at Supermarine's facility in Woolston, Southampton, but it quickly became clear that the order could not be completed in the 15 months promised. Supermarine was a small company, already busy building the Walrus and Stranraer, and its parent company, Vickers, was busy building the Wellington. The initial solution was to subcontract the work out. The first production Spitfire rolled off the assembly line in mid-1938, and was flown on 15 May 1938, almost 24 months after the initial order. The final cost of the first 310 aircraft, after delays and increased programme costs, came to ₤1,870,242 or ₤1,533 more per aircraft than originally estimated.

General characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Length: 29 ft 11 in (9.12 m)
• Wingspan: 36 ft 10 in (11.23 m)
• Height: 11 ft 5 in (3.86 m)
• Wing area: 242.1 ft² (22.48 m²)
• Airfoil: NACA 2200
• Empty weight: 5,090 lb (2,309 kg)
• Loaded weight: 6,622 lb (3,000 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 6,770 lb (3,071 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce Merlin 45 supercharged V12 engine, 1,470 hp at 9,250 ft (1,096 kW at 2,820 m)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 378 mph, (330 knots, 605 km/h)
• Combat radius: 410 nmi (470 mi, 760 km)
• Ferry range: 991 nmi (1,140 mi, 1,840 km)
• Service ceiling 35,000 ft (11,300 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,665 ft/min (13.5 m/s)
• Wing loading: 24.56 lb/ft² (119.91 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.22 hp/lb (360 W/kg)

Armament

• Guns: Mk I, Mk II, Mk VA
   
  • 8x 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns, 350 rounds per gun

Later versions (VB on)

• Guns:
• 2× 20 mm (0.787 in) Hispano Mk II cannon, 60 (later 120 (Mk VC)) shells per gun
• 4× 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns, 350 rounds per gun
• Bombs:
  • 2× 250 lb (110 kg) bombs

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The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used by the air forces of 28 nations, including those of most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in front line service until the end of the war. By November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built.

The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36; this reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service.

Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps adopted for all models, making it the official name in the United States for all P-40s. The British Commonwealth and Soviet air forces used the name Tomahawk for models equivalent to the P-40B and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.

The P-40's lack of a two-stage supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe. Between 1941 and 1944, however, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China. It also had a significant role in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. The P-40's high altitude performance was not as critical in those theaters, where it served as an air supremacy fighter, bomber escort and fighter bomber.

P-40s first saw combat with the British Commonwealth squadrons of the Desert Air Force (DAF) in the Middle East and North African campaigns, during June 1941. The Royal Air Force's No. 112 Squadron was among the first to operate Tomahawks, in North Africa, and the unit was the first to feature the "shark mouth" logo, copying similar markings on some Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine fighters. The logo was most famously used on P-40s by the Flying Tigers in China.

In theaters where high-altitude performance was less important, the P-40 proved an effective fighter. Although it gained a post-war reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support, more recent research including scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons indicates that the P-40 performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses, but also taking a very heavy toll on enemy aircraft. The P-40 offered the additional advantage of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground attack fighter long after it was obsolete in air superiority.

The P-40 had good agility, especially at high speed and medium to low altitude. It was one of the tightest-turning monoplane fighters of the war, although at lower speeds it could not out-turn the extremely maneuverable Japanese fighters such as the A6M Zero and Ki-43 Hayabusa ("Oscar").

Allison V-1710 engines produced about 1,040 hp at sea level and at 14,000 ft (4,300 m): not powerful by the standards of the time and the early P-40's speed was average. (The later versions with 1,200 horsepower (890 kW) Allisons were more capable, as were the Merlin engined P-40F/L series.) Its climb performance was fair to poor, depending on the subtype. Dive acceleration was good and dive speed was excellent. The highest-scoring P-40 ace, Clive Caldwell (RAAF), who scored 22 of his 28.5 kills in the P-40, said the type had "almost no vices", although "it was a little difficult to control in terminal velocity". Caldwell said that the P-40 was "faster downhill than almost any other aeroplane with a propeller." However, the single-stage, single-speed supercharger meant that it could not compete with contemporary aircraft as a high-altitude fighter.

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 31.67 ft (9.66 m)
• Wingspan: 37.33 ft (11.38 m)
• Height: 12.33 ft (3.76 m)
• Wing area: 235.94 ft² (21.92 m²)
• Empty weight: 6,350 lb (2,880 kg)
• Loaded weight: 8,280 lb (3,760 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 8,810 lb (4,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Allison V-1710-39 liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1,150 hp (858 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 360 mph (310 knots, 580 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 270 mph (235 knots, 435 km/h)
• Range: 650 mi (560 nm, 1,100 km)
• Service ceiling 29,000 ft (8,800 m)
• Rate of climb: 2,100 ft/min (11 m/s)
• Wing loading: 35.1 lb/ft² (171.5 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.14 hp/lb (230 W/kg)

Armament

• Guns: 4× .50 caliber (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, 150~200 rounds per gun,2 .30cal LMG
• Bombs: 250 lb (113 kg) to 1,000 Ib (453 kg), a total of 1,500 lb (680 kg) on three hardpoints (one under the fuselage and two underwing)

Type A - 1915-1942

Type A1 - 1937-1942

Type A2 - 1940-1942

Type B - 1940-1944

Type B1 - 1939-1942

Type C - 1942-1947

Type C1 - 1942-1945

SEAC - 1942-1946