Who Likes Aircraft ?

[Richard Cranium]

I wonder how did it come to be that the Nazis captured all those planes?

 

[Basket case]

The Luftwaffe shot a lot of our planes down. This was just one mission...
The Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission was a strategic bombing mission during World War II. Carried out by Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces on August 17, 1943, it was an ambitious plan to cripple the German aircraft industry. The mission was also known as the "double-strike mission" because it entailed two large forces of bombers attacking separate targets in order to disperse fighter reaction by the Luftwaffe, and was the first American "shuttle" mission, in which all or part of a mission landed at a different field and later bombed another target before returning to its base.

After being postponed several times by unfavorable weather, the operation, known within the Eighth Air Force as "Mission No. 84", was flown on the anniversary of the first daylight raid by the Eighth Air Force.

Mission No. 84 was a strike by 376 bombers of sixteen bomb groups against German heavy industry well beyond the range of escorting fighters. The mission inflicted heavy damage on the Regensburg target, but at catastrophic loss to the force, with 60 bombers lost and many more damaged beyond economic repair.

 

[Photon440]

I'm wondering if those captured Mustangs had issues with the lower grade gasoline the German airforce had to use. The ME-109 had to use an engine much larger than the Mustang to get similar power because of that problem. (Merlin - 27 litres, Daimler-Benz DB 605 - 35.7 litres)

 

[polywideblock]

 

[polywideblock]

 

[Slap Stick]

The captured B17s need that high octane fuel, also.

I'm wondering if those captured Mustangs had issues with the lower grade gasoline the German airforce had to use. The ME-109 had to use an engine much larger than the Mustang to get similar power because of that problem. (Merlin - 27 litres, Daimler-Benz DB 605 - 35.7 litres)

Some of the 109s had engines which required 100 octane fuel.
And I'll bet those B17 required it, too.

 

[Photon440]

The captured B17s need that high octane fuel, also.

Some of the 109s had engines which required 100 octane fuel.
And I'll bet those B17 required it, too.

Exactly. Even the Luftwaffe pilots didn't have clearance to use full boost in their own fighters for fear of hurting the engines, meanwhile the allies had 130 and 150 octane by 1944.

 

[polywideblock]

 

[polywideblock]

 

[polywideblock]

 

[Photon440]

When the war ended and the Americans hauled 300 box car loads of rockets and parts over to New Mexico, they continued the launches and experiments. This is from an October 24, 1946 V2 launch - the first photograph taken from space.

America's first ballistic missile, the PGM-11 Redstone, was a direct descendant of the V2. Chrysler Corporation built over 100 of these rockets from 1952-1961.

 

[DeltaV]

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2019/07/russian-proton-m-spektr-rg-observatory/
----
As a side note, the Soviets launched Luna 15 on 13 July 1969.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_15

 

[DeltaV]

 

[DeltaV]

Alexander Martin Lippisch (November 2, 1894 – February 11, 1976) was a German aeronautical engineer, a pioneer of aerodynamics who made important contributions to the understanding of tailless aircraft, delta wings and the ground effect, and also worked in the U.S. His most famous designs are the Messerschmitt Me 163rocket-powered interceptor.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Lippisch

 

[DeltaV]

 

[polywideblock]

 

[polywideblock]

 

[polywideblock]

 

[polywideblock]

 

[Dipstick]

F-111 radome after bird strike.