Not too impressed up there in the chilly north guys?

Well, I’ve never seen it in the flesh. Judging by the pictures, it DOES have a nice paint job inside and out 😎 :rolleyes: 😎

Anyway, at least it’s on display – unlike the gorgeous Hawk mouldering away in the RAF Museum’s ‘Reserve Collection’. Nutters like me ( and probably nutters like our chums in Iceland..??!!) would be happy to spend 3 times what its worth on restoring it to fly.

Hawk mouldering away is a crime that should carry a very heavy punishment. This Icelandic Nutter would be happy to provide a good home for it 😀

Mind you, the prospect of chillywi11y in an open cockpit machine in Iceland doesn’t exactly excite me so it has to come to me OK!

There are no chillywi11ies here. We dress them up before flight 😀 And the Hawk has to come to ME. We are not going to fight over it, are we? 😀

This subject is a minefield. There is a lot of difference of opinion regarding the combat claims of the Luftwaffe.

The book Luftwaffe Fighter Aces By Mike Spick (ISBN 1-85367-560-19) deals with the subject in some detail. I’m not in agreement with everything that he writes in that book, but the basic conclusion draw, is that the amazing tallies of victories cradited to some of the german fighter aces boils down to difference in operational culture of the fighters and superior tactics in the first half of the war, and survival of the fittest in the later part of the war.

There can be no doubt that during the early part of the war, the German Jagdwaffe had a huge tactical superiority over over the rest of Europe. Their use of open line abrest formations was far superior over the tight formations flown by the RAF for example. Early on, that must have contributed to a lot of victories.
The operational culture of the Jagdwaffe was very different from that of the RAF. The RAF was a team effort, while the Jagdwaffe was more of an individual effort by a team of experten. It was the leader of a flight, be it in a Staffel, gruppe or geshwader strength, that did the shooting. The sole purpose of the others was to cover his back from any nasty surprises. Thus, the leader was always in the best position to take on the enemy in good tactical situations. To take an example, on the 18th of august 1940, Gerhard Schöpfel leading jagdgeshwader 26, surprised Hurricanes of 501 Squadron near Dover. Having the tactical edge, he ordered the whole geshwader to remain on guard high above, while he swooped down alone and picked out four of the Hurricanes in less than two minutes, before the rest of the formation joined in. Had it been the RAF in the same situation, the whole formation would probably have gone down into the fight and the individual scores would have been lower, though the total score should have been roughly the same. This is not an isolated incidence, but the norm.

On the other hand we know, that the Jagdwaffe was overclaiming about 2 to 1 during the BoB, so can we then devide their scores by two?

Looks like it could be a Wildcat 😀 😉 😉 Highly modified Pitts S1 with a six banger up front. I’ve never seen it before, so it might be something else. 😉

What is the best pilot there ever was? What is the best pilot I’ve ever seen? So many men to choose from! Here is my list, in no particular order.

Magnus Nordahl, a local aerobatic pilot and aircraft nut. Pushing 80 years old and puts all us younger guys to shame with his aerobatic routines in the YAK 55. Has flown everything from Tiger Moths to DC-10’s and has wonderful stories of all of them.
Smari Karlsson Over 80 years old and still has the touch. Watching him show off the Citabria at the local club is a real treasure. In 62 years of flying he has never dented an aircraft.
Robert ‘BOB’ Hoover The best aerobatic display pilot I’ve ever seen. Watching his Shrike Commander routine is a pure bliss.
Ray Hanna Seeing him do his routine in the Spitfire is the best presention of a Warbird I’ve ever seen.
My last nominee is nameless. In 1998 I watched a Bucker Jungman practising aerobatics over Headcorn, and what a wonderfull display of skill and precision! That was the way aerobatics are supposed to be flown in an old biplane. Slow, easy and very, very GRACEFUL. It brought a tear to my eye watching it.

As you have seen, there are no war heros in my list. The reason is, that it is impossible to include them all. I’ve seen none of them fly, and can not judge their flying. All of them are, however, heros and should be on a list like that.

On the ATR, we would reach over and dump the seat, on which the PA speaker was sitting, right to the floor with a loud BANG. Then listen with a grim satisfaction to the noises made on the PA :diablo:

Well, this is what I would recon. I’m not an expert on UK geography, but what I can tell you is that I’ve had a Jodel DR1051 transported for me, from Hastings to Bedford. It cost me 1250 quid, exactly, and a Jodel is a lot smaller and lighter than a JP

Since we are talking P(or F) 80 and T33’s here, I have a question. Last month I was flying into Sauda Bay on Crete. That airport is a joint Civil/Military thing, and during the turnaround, I counted about 20 or so T33 neatly parked on the military side of the airport. Does anyone know if these Greek planes are operational or are there for some other reason?

Well, when Mr. MOL is telling the Europeans to “Foxtrot Oscar” when they demand back a fraction of his subsideries from Belgium, what makes you thing he will react any differently to this?

He will just tell his Staff to “Foxtrot Oscar”. That is his style!