Whipped Cream Difficulties

Some military aviation stuff today. One short-ish, one longer.

The short-ish: I’m a fan of the US Naval Institute. I intermittently subscribe to “Proceedings”, and have actually gotten some valuable leadership tips out of it.

(I don’t want to post it here, but I think I have a PDF of that article somewhere, if you can’t access it through your local library.)

“David McCampbell: Ace of Aces” is a short documentary produced by USNI (including material from his oral history) about Captain David McCampbell (USN – ret.), the Navy’s leading fighter ace, the third highest scoring ace during WWII, Medal of Honor recipient, and F6F Hellcat pilot.

On October 24, 1944, in the initial phase of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines, he became the only American airman to achieve “ace in a day” status twice. McCampbell and his wingman attacked a Japanese force of 60 aircraft. McCampbell shot down nine, 7 Zeros and 2 Oscars, setting a U.S. single mission aerial combat record. During this same action, his wingman downed another six Japanese warplanes. When he landed his Grumman F6F Hellcat aboard USS Langley (the flight deck of Essex wasn’t clear), his six machine guns had just two rounds remaining, and his airplane had to be manually released from the arrestor wire due to complete fuel exhaustion. Commander McCampbell received the Medal of Honor for both actions, becoming the only Fast Carrier Task Force pilot to be so honored.

Longer bonus video: “Gaining Altitude: The Mosquito Reborn”, about the de Havilland Mosquito…and the restoration of a vintage one.

Oh, what the heck. Nibbles: the Mosquito at Oshkosh in 2019.

And from the RAF Museum: “Under the RADAR: Mosquito versus Me 262”.

I’m fond of the Mosquito: how can you not like a fighter made of wood? At the same time, I’m not sure I’d actually want a Mosquito with the infinite money I don’t have, because I’m not sure I want to try to maintain a plane made out of wood. The Me 262 is closer to being my jam as far as vintage fighters, all that pesky Nazi stuff aside. Or a F6F Hellcat, but they aren’t making those anymore.

(I can’t find it now, but I have a general recollection of a company – somewhere up near Dallas? – that was building Me 262 reproductions with current engines. I think they were asking a little over a million each, but I have no idea what the current status is. If I am remembering this right, that seems a lot more feasible and fun than trying to find a vintage F6F and parts, or trying to maintain a Phantom jet.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2020 at 2:00 pm and is filed under History, Nazis, Planes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.