Flightline: 8/TBD

"user314" (user314) 07/20/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, WWII, Mustang

2

16

1943-1944 USAAF air power. Air base and exact time frame unknown.

When is a Mustang not a Mustang? When it’s an !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

D eveloped from the Mustang Mk.I built for the RAF, the Apache was intended to be a stop-gap measure to keep North American’s Mustang production line open through 1942 (the USAAF had no more funds for new Pursuit aircraft that year, but wanted Mustangs of their own). Retaining the Mk.I’s !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and fitted with new, more durable wings featuring dive-brakes, the Apache (also called Invader or Mustang) was also modified to carry up to 1,000 pounds of bombs and was equipped with the same six .50 Browning machine guns as the P-51. A-36s served in the Mediterranean and CBI (China/Burma/India) theaters of the war, though they were withdrawn from service by 1944. The plane shared the P-51s ruggedness, but flying low-level missions placed the Apache in the thick of withering German fire, and the planes suffered greatly. There were also issues with the dive brakes, which had a tendency to open unevenly under certain conditions. In one incident, an Invader attempting to pull out of a 450 mph dive lost both wings. The A-36 was retained as a training aircraft after being withdrawn from front-line services, though the type was fully retired from USAAF service by 1945. Out of five hundred A-36s produced, only three are known to survive: one on display at the USAF Museum at Wright-Patterson, and two flyable examples, one in private hands and the other owned by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Post your identification of the other planes in the comments!

Darkbrador > user314 07/20/2020 at 11:16

1

Airacobra ! 

ClassicDatsunDebate > user314 07/20/2020 at 11:21

1

Lightning, Razorback, Warhawk, Airacobra, Wildcat, Sentinel....and I wanna say Kaydet?

ttyymmnn > user314 07/20/2020 at 11:25

0

Looks like an air show lineup. Also, this:

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/ceci-nest-pas-une-mustang-1841362252?rev=1595258696757

Ash78, voting early and often > user314 07/20/2020 at 11:27

0

The P-39 sort of steals the show, but I’m a sucker for a P-38 all day.

Stearman and Piper L-4 (?) trainers over to the left. That’s all I’ve got without a little Google refresher .

P-40 in the middle, early P-51 just below it. Older P-47 above it? Both the 47 and 51 started out without their iconic bubble canopies, which always makes identification tricky for dummies like me :)

Far back, I’m stumped.

user314 > ttyymmnn 07/20/2020 at 11:35

1

GMTA

user314 > ClassicDatsunDebate 07/20/2020 at 11:42

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I was thinking L-3 rather than L-5. 

Mondial goes to 11 > user314 07/20/2020 at 11:43

1

Your title is so misleading. No Devastator.

user314 > Mondial goes to 11 07/20/2020 at 11:45

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... Yet

user314 > ttyymmnn 07/20/2020 at 11:49

1

Possibly either a “Look what your War Bonds are buying!” type deal or a post-war airshow . GIS just turned up copies of the same image on Pintrest and other type sites, nothing definitive .

ClassicDatsunDebate > user314 07/20/2020 at 11:55

1

I’m thinking the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer is more sweeping like the L-5.

ttyymmnn > user314 07/20/2020 at 12:04

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Probably not post war, since both P-51 and P-47 don’t have bubble canopy, and all are painted green. I’m going to guess 1942. 

ClassicDatsunDebate > user314 07/20/2020 at 12:06

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The other question is what are the vehicles in the background?

ttyymmnn > user314 07/20/2020 at 12:15

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A-36, not P-51. Apache never had a bubble canopy. Derp. 

InFierority Complex > user314 07/20/2020 at 13:51

1

One article just said it was 1942 from the “national archives.” what whatever that’s worth.

Looking at the numbers on the side turns up a few pictures of it and the P-40 but I can’t make out the p-47 or 38 to check. The P-39 doesn’t turn up anything. Was hoping that could lead me somewhere but just a dead e nd.

1942 “location unknown, apparently.

user314 > ClassicDatsunDebate 07/20/2020 at 14:36

1

Cushman Model 39 , I think.

RacinBob > user314 07/20/2020 at 15:21

0

Hmmm - Never knew there was such a thing as a P36. Pretty plane

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_P-36_Hawk