WWII Fighters

[Ron B]

Hello everyone-Here's a photo of WWII fighters I took some years ago. Corsair in front, P40 in the middle with a P38 behind it.

[C]

Very nice picture . Where was that? I think that may be a Hellcat in front rather than a Corsair though:).

Welcome to SimV Ron,

Cheers,

Charlie

[bob576]

yea, in the corsair, weren't the part of the gear doors that was attatched to the gear its self on the front of the strut rather than the inboard side? other than that tiny detail, there is no other way of telling what plane this acctually is...

[Jared]

wonderful looking shot, great quality! ;-)

[Ron B]

The photo was taken at Palomar Airport in Carlsbad, CA, about 1979. I could be a Hellcat in the foreground, I'll have to go back and look through my negatives. I was doing a story about the company that was restoring the planes, mostly to be used in the movie business. I think they may have had some association with the Confederate Air Force.
Now that I look back on it, I wish I had taken more photos because I think these planes are getting pretty scarce.

http://www.collingsfoundation.org/menu.htm

[Hagar]

That's a great shot. Shame it isn't bigger.

Now that I look back on it, I wish I had taken more photos because I think these planes are getting pretty scarce.

I think you'll find that there are more airworthy warbirds around now than since the end of WWII. This is the case in the UK anyway. Unfortunately we've lost a few rare ones & their pilots over the last few years. If you fly an aircraft there's always the risk of breaking it. I'd rather have it that way than to see them stuck in some museum gathering dust - providing nobody gets hurt.

[C]

yea, in the corsair, weren't the part of the gear doors that was attatched to the gear its self on the front of the strut rather than the inboard side? other than that tiny detail, there is no other way of telling what plane this acctually is...

The other easy way to tell is the wing folding. The Corsairs wings fold upwards just ourboard of the 'gear, whereas we see here, the F6Fs fold and rotate backwards against the  fuselage...

[Ron B]

I have noticed many of these restored planes seem to be outside the US.  There seem to be a number of them in Canada.
A friend of mine who worked on the movie "Pearl Harbor" told me they only had two or three actual Japanese planes, that the rest had to be computer-generated.
I checked my archives and the plane in the foreground is indeed a Hellcat. The wings are rotated to the rear of the plane.
When I get a decent scanner I'll try and post more of the photos. Because they are shot in B&W, they look a lot older than they are.

[C]

[quote]I have noticed many of these restored planes seem to be outside the US.