When the first sample of the TB-3, a low wing, four engine heavy bombers made its maiden flight in the morning of December 22nd 1930, it became the most advanced piece of machinery ever to grace the skies. The USSR’s Red Air Force was so impressed with the aircraft’s handling ability and … Read more
The North American P-51 Mustang is a legendary plane, as much as the Spitfire or the Bf-109. No other combat aircraft of the war could go as far and fly as high as the Mustang. No wonder it was used to escort bombers over Germany and clear the skies of Luftwaffe airplanes. … Read more
This section is meant to be an online Memorial for Phillipe Bédard, who was my mother’s uncle and a crew member aboard a Wellington bomber. Since he was an air observer, the picture above may be showing the kind of view he had in his turret. He died on October 24, 1942, … Read more
The Mitsubishi J2M Raiden or Thunderbolt was designed like no other fighter before it. It emphasized speed, climb and raw firepower. The J2M was designed specifically to bring down huge and heavily armoured American strategic bombers. In 1939 the Japanese Navy put together specs for a high altitude interceptor. The most important of the navy’s specifications … Read more
Fitted with small wing structures and a fuselage just big enough to house the powerful Daimler Benz-601 ARJ engine, the Messerschmitt 209 was a pure speed machine. From its conception back in 1935, the 209 was design mainly for one thing: speed. Designed as a replacement for the venereal Bf-109, the 209 … Read more
The Me 262 was literally years ahead of fighters of other nations. That’s what the Allied engineers concluded after the war, when Me 264 units captured in Germany were brought back in their home countries. Studying the airframe and engines of this one-of-a-kind aircraft, the American, Russian and British experts developed more … Read more
The Kawanishi H8K was conceived as a replacement for the Japanese Navy venerable and obsolete H6K maritime reconnaissance and bombing platform. The H6K was the only standardized flying boat in operations when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. But it would be only a matter of time before a new, more … Read more
The Ju 88 certainly was the most versatile aircraft of the Luftwaffe. Apart from the British Mosquito, no other airplane in history has been subject to so many versions and purposes. Though it made its maiden flight in 1936, it entered service in 1939, and it wasn’t shipped to the front lines … Read more
IAR-80 was the most famous Romanian fighter aircraft during the World War II. The Romanian IAR-80 fighter aircraft project was initiated in 1937, as a private venture, at the aircraft factory in Brasov IAR (Industria Aeronautica Romana). The first prototype was manufactured in spring 1938 and performed the maiden flight in 1939. … Read more
Sort of a “super” Typhoon, the Hawker Tempest had unbelievable technical qualities for a World War 2 airplane. Starting in 1944, it became what was probably the best British propeller fighter aircraft of the war. Thanks to its capacities, the Tempest was responsible for the loss of twenty German Me 262 (the … Read more