Aircraft

[Texas Lawdog]

That Planes of Fame Museum in Chino has the largest of Japanese warplanes in the country. They bult a second Museum that is in Arizona, near the Grand Canyon. The HellDiver replaced the Dauntless on the carriers.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

That Planes of Fame Museum in Chino has the largest of Japanese warplanes in the country. They bult a second Museum that is in Arizona, near the Grand Canyon. The HellDiver replaced the Dauntless on the carriers.

Little Jimmy, that's right ... and wrong!  As is so true with the Military, it took until after the war was over to replace the SBDs totally - 'specially since the Helldivers weren't as well-thought-of, so they didn't hurry much.

As another example, the M9 Beretta "officially" replaced the 1911s in 1990.  In fact, there are STILL front-line, Regular Army units that have 1911s.

[Texas Lawdog]

Te Dauntless debuted in 1940 and was used exclusively through 1943, along with the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver till the end of the War.  The CAF has the only SB2C in existence as far as I know.

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[Steel Horse Bailey]

It's the only one I've heard of - and I didn't know of it until fairly recently.  I wasn't disputing what you said, just that because it wasn't as dependable as they hoped, it took until AFTER WW Twice to completely replace the SBDs ... and then the A1s replaced the Helldivers pretty quickly!  The Japs would have had an even harder time of things if the A1 seried had been available in '45 (when the first flights happened, I b'lieve.)

I just read an account about the A1s that I hadn't heard before ... did you know that there are at least one and I think 2 verified MIG15 kills by A1s during Korea!  Not bad for a "support" prop-powered aircraft, eh?  I THINK I also heard (of a related item) that the 1st MIG kill in Korea was by an F-82 "Twin Mustang."  But I don't know of any F-82s still flying, do you?

[Texas Lawdog]

The CAF had one that had been donated to them many years ago by the AF. The AF notified the CAF that they wanted it back and a lawsuit has insued. It has not been in flying condition for a long time. The CAF lost the suit and the plane is to be returned. I have not heard anything other than that. The plane is at HQ in Midland,Texas

[Four-Eyed Buck]

I don't think the SB2C's were as accurate a DB as the Dauntless was. Biggest problem with the SBD was it's wings didn't fold, and the load capac. wasn't as heavy as the SB2C. otherwise most of the damage done to the Japanese Navy in the early large engagements was done by the SBD's. The early torpedo planes weren't up to snuff either, plus their weapons weren't working right either. After '43, the topedo arm took more prominence................Buck

[Texas Lawdog]

The pilot of the Helldiver related a funny story about flying it back east to an Air Show. He checked in with the Air Traffic Control in that area. The Contoller asked the pilot 3 times what type of aircraft that he was flying. He told the pilot that the aircraft was not in his computer.  The last time I had info on the Helldiver is that it is hangared in Graham Texas, which is a couple hours NW of Fort Worth and it is the last one in existence.

[Texas Lawdog]

The CAF classifies the SBD and the SB2C as Scout Bombers. The SBD is attached to the Dixie Wing of the CAF, which is Peachtree City, Georgia.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

In Navyese, Scout bomber/dive. The SB2C was referred to as son of a %^tch, 2nd class.......Buck

[Texas Lawdog]

That Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston has some deep pockets. That SBD of theirs was hanging inside a hangar at the Nimintz Museum in Fredricksburg Texas. Lone Star paid a Million dollars for the plane and a bunch more for the restoration. They also have a Grumman F3F that they rebuilt from blueprints and partial airframes recovered from the water near San Diego NAS. It's a Bi-plane with retractable landing gear. The Museum also has a F8F Bearcat, A Spitfire, and a Corsair. All of them are flying.

[Four-Eyed Buck]

The SBD that was being restored here, ended up going somewhere's else before it was finished. Can't remember where it went, though. It was close to completion.........Buck

[Texas Lawdog]

Those are the only 3 that I know of that are flying, the CAF one, the Planes of Fame one, and the one from the Lone Star Museum.  They celebrated the 68th anniversary of the Tokyo Raid and Wright-Patterson AFB last week.  Seventeen B25s took part in a formation flyover. The 5 CAF B25s took part in the celebration.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

That would be a great display/flight to see!

[Texas Lawdog]

Yep, That would have been a Kodak moment for sure.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Those are the only 3 that I know of that are flying, the CAF one, the Planes of Fame one, and the one from the Lone Star Museum.  They celebrated the 68th anniversary of the Tokyo Raid and Wright-Patterson AFB last week.  Seventeen B25s took part in a formation flyover. The 5 CAF B25s took part in the celebration.

17 B-25s in 2010!

Wasn't that one more than the actual raid?

[Texas Lawdog]

Yessir, Only 16 flew on the raid, they flew of the deck of the Hornet. I would have enjoyed seeing that fly over in person at Wright-Pat. I joined the Minnesota Wing of the CAF this year because their B25, "Miss Mitchell" is marked with 12th AF markings, the same BG, but different Squadron than Dad's. Some of the crew on "Miss Mitchell" are WW2 vets that served in the 380th BS of the 12th. They were there with Dad's Squadron at the same time frame. "Miss Mitchell" is sorta special to me for that reason.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I'll bet!

[Texas Lawdog]

When General Dolittle passed away, several years ago, "Miss Mitchell" was one of the B25s that did a fly over Arlington National Cemetary.

[Major E A Sterner]

See if this link works, some nice flying eye candy here


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=nKU0uQki5Dc[/youtube]

[Texas Lawdog]

Thanks Major, I have always wanted to go to Oskosh for the EAA show up there. Maybe someday before I get too old.