You might find the following of interest. It suggests that the largest caliber weapon mounted during the WWII years was neither American nor British.

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/weapons/q0174.shtml

For me, the Swamp Ghost is a tangible reminder that the landowners of PNG have already been compensated–with private ownership of land. This opportunity would not have been possible under Japanese rule. Far too many Australian and American boys paid a heavy price for this advantage the locals enjoy today. I think PNG has already been paid in full for Swamp Ghost and any other allied war relic retrieved.

Discussion of the same topic on another forum.

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87

Now if we could just get her back into some olive drab and “Shangri-La” on the nose… 🙂

I guess on most points I’d have to agree with Phantom II on the A6M.

Now certainly the aircraft was blessed with tremendous range, but I’m not quite convinced its armament was a plus. I was led to believe that her guns were often the primary gripe amongst IJN pilots who flew her in combat. Apparently the muzzle velocity was quite poor on the cannon. Sakai-san is even recorded as stating that shooting at a target with the cannon was comparable to urinating. I imagine he was figuratively comparing trajectories, but I think the comment reflected his disgust with the weapon as well.

My mother’s cousin was a member of crew 28, 390th BG, 569th BS. Their assigned B-17 was named “Johnny Walker”, apparently donated by the company. Entire crew perished on April 24, 1944 in a different Fortress.

Not much reference material in print, but yes, 20 x 20 cm strips of very thin aluminum sheet (foil) were employed by some of the more clandestine Luftwaffe units for pathfinding use.

It’s interesting to note that the old timers would remember these episodes as this system was only used 2-3 times operationally. I believe the end of its use was the direct result of mass protests by hordes of German Hausfrauen, who appealed directly to Goering about having to find substitute material to wrap up their leftover Apfelkuchen.

slander, n. “the utterance of a falsehood that damages another’s reputation”

In your original post (before you returned to alter it), you suggested that the recent Corsair accident was due to the pilot in command forgetting to lower the landing gear. Has the FAA indicated that the gear up was the result of pilot error? If so, it remains the tragedy of human error. If not, you have uttered a falsehood that has damaged another’s reputation.

Why not wait for the FAA report before slandering the pilot?