Plane Pictures

Paul M. Weir

Forum Guru
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
8,706
Reaction score
3,732
Location
Dublin
First name
Paul
Country
llIreland
A Yak-1 of Escadron de Chasse 2/30 Normandie-Niemen. The Soviets gifted the squadron with Yak-3s at war's end and they returned to France with them.
A late-ish Bf-109G with Erla Haube (Erla hood/canopy) and underwing gondola 20mm MG-151/20 cannon. No idea which RSI unit,
 

Paul M. Weir

Forum Guru
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
8,706
Reaction score
3,732
Location
Dublin
First name
Paul
Country
llIreland
I should have said G-6 rather than simple G. But you are likely right as early G-14 had the same cowling "bumps" (covering the larger 13mm MG-131 breeches) as the G-6. The later pattern tail-rudder configuration as depicted also was common to both late G-6 and G-14.

I have a few favourite WW2 aircraft:
Yak-3: best low-medium level dog-fighter in my opinion.
I-16: Best '30s fighter in the world and quite competitive until about '40, adequate in '41.
P-39: Beautiful outline. Unfortunately it's lack of a turbo-supercharger meant that it effectively died at high level. At low level, especially in Soviet hands, it shined. An aircraft that deserves a better reputation.
Spitfire Mk XIV: Outgrown it's pretty perky teen look. The XIV looks like that at full power the rest of the aircraft and pilot would barely hang on to the engine.
Bf-109 G6: As for Spit XIV.
 

Paul M. Weir

Forum Guru
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
8,706
Reaction score
3,732
Location
Dublin
First name
Paul
Country
llIreland
With the availability of the German DB 601 (MC 202) & 605 (MC 205, Re 2005, Fiat G55) engines, the Italians produced some really beautiful fighters that matched the best.

The Italians and Soviets faced the problem that they were a half generation out of sync with the rest of the world, producing world beating aircraft in the mid-late '30s, became obsolete by '41 and only catching again up about late '42 or '43.
 

Brian W

Elder Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2003
Messages
7,216
Reaction score
1,024
Location
USA
Country
llUnited States
I like any plane that's lopsided.

11208
 

Brian W

Elder Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2003
Messages
7,216
Reaction score
1,024
Location
USA
Country
llUnited States
With the availability of the German DB 601 (MC 202) & 605 (MC 205, Re 2005, Fiat G55) engines, the Italians produced some really beautiful fighters that matched the best.
The Germans thought the Mc.205 was better than the Bf-109G, but it took about twice as many man hours to build one than the Bf-109, so they did not do much to increase production of them. I think that the consensus is that the Re.2005 was the best of the 5 series Italian planes, though.
 

Yuri0352

Elder Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2014
Messages
2,115
Reaction score
1,200
Location
25-30 Hexes
Country
llUnited States
A late-ish Bf-109G with Erla Haube (Erla hood/canopy) and underwing gondola 20mm MG-151/20 cannon. No idea which RSI unit,
My favorite Regia Aeronautica squadron emblem, the 'Gigi Tre Osei'.
The emblem on the 109's cowling (which I've usually seen placed on the mid-fuselage sides in photographs) suggests that this aircraft is assigned to one of the Squadriglias of the 150th Gruppo Autonomo. After this unit received its BF 109 F-4's / G-6's by April, 1943, they saw action over Sicily. 150 Gruppo was eventually withdrawn from Sicily before the end of July 1943, and was assigned to the the northern Italian base at Torino Casselle when the armistice was announced in September of that year.

I'm not entirely certain that the national markings on this aircraft are accurate, as every photo which I have seen of the BF 109's of this unit showed the aircraft to be displaying the fascist emblems on the wings and vertical stabilizer. In addition, my references indicate that although these aircraft were delivered to the Italians with the German crosses, these markings were painted over shortly after their arrival.
 
Last edited:

Paul M. Weir

Forum Guru
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Apr 3, 2004
Messages
8,706
Reaction score
3,732
Location
Dublin
First name
Paul
Country
llIreland
I was under the impression that pre-armistice aircraft were marked as you describe but RSI aircraft shifted to the 2 Fasces enclosed in a square (from 3 in a circle) and used German fuselage markings plus the tricolour.
 

Sparky

Senior Member
Joined
May 3, 2018
Messages
338
Reaction score
273
Country
llUnited States
The Germans thought the Mc.205 was better than the Bf-109G, but it took about twice as many man hours to build one than the Bf-109, so they did not do much to increase production of them. I think that the consensus is that the Re.2005 was the best of the 5 series Italian planes, though.
nice topic.. those were some beauties weren't they. Both not sure about the consensus part of that..

I remember reading once that the Germans evaluated the serie 5 against their own the lastest models of the Me and FW. Both the Centauro and the Sagittario were rated excellent and the Veltro merely 'average'. They did actually conclude that while the Sagittario was a playmate of the month.. the Centaurio was tops in what really mattes and was a beast in the sheets man.. the head of that commission concluded that the Fiat G.55 was the best performing Axis fighter of them all. Needless to say the big wigs in Berlin didn't dig that and even though the Fiat outperformed the German models the recommendation to mass produce the Fiat got filed in the circular bin haha
 
Top