WWII Forums Quiz Part VII

[macrusk]

Thanks, Jeff.

What was codenamed Moonlight Sonata?

[skunk works]

The German name for an operation.
They raid on Coventry (449 bombers?) on the Nov 14th, 1940.
Discovered/intercepted (talk of) on the 11th, but to avoid revealing the breaking of the code.....no/limited action was taken?

[macrusk]

You got it!

Your go, Skunk Works.

[skunk works]

easy one

Name the plane which had up to 16 (but usually less) fixed, forward firing 50 caliber machine guns.

[Vanir]

North American B-25J Mitchell had up to 12 (8 nose and 4 fuselage). Could a belly pack or gun pods be fitted to this?

[skunk works]

Not the B-25, close enough. The two planes had much in common as far as sharing many different layouts for weapons.
Douglas A-26 Invader
Throughout its lifespan, probably housed a bigger variety of weapons, and configurations than any other airframe.
The one I was thinking of had 8 in the nose, and 4 (2 gun) pods (2 each outer wing), for 16. WW 2's version of the 50-cal (minigun)
It (other models) also had a 75mm+MGs(#-?), 2-37mm+MGs(#-?), 4-20mm+MGs(#-?), all 50s(#-?), all 30s(#-?), and almost everything in between, plus internal & external (GP Bombs, Rockets, Napalm).

You're up Vanir !

[Vanir]

The A-26B had up to 8 in the nose (2 was standard on the A-26C), some fitted with cannon instead. Had no idea they added gun pods to this. Looking it up I found most were fitted with 6 in the nose, but had up to 10 more in a combination of belly packs and gun pods. That's a crazy plane.

Okay, more planes: fastest piston fighter to enter service. There are really 3 answers for various reasons, any will do but all three for maximum brownie points.

[TA152]

When you say enter service, do you mean a production fighter in numbers or just a few that were used in the war ?

If it is just a few I would guess the Dornier 335 Pfeil. A very large and fast aircraft.

[macrusk]

Found the following at Fastest piston fighter, page 1

waynos





posted on 16-1-2005 @ 05:02 AM
Here's a little more information that is relevant to this thread and also the 'first to break the sound barrier' thread.

I was reading the book 'The British Fighter Since 1912' by F K Mason and chanced upon the following two quotes;


On 12 December 1942 Philip Lucas reached 575 mph (mach 0.76)at 20,000 feet in a full throttle dive from 27,000 feet in the prototype Tempest V. Thereafter tests were flown on production aircraft, often firring their guns in dives at around 550mph to see if the wings came off



That sounds like an exciting job doesen't it

then there was this startling account;

....diving trials with spitfire PR.XI's in the late summer of 1943.......sqn leader James Tobin recorded Mach 0.92 between 25,000 and 30,000 feet (a figure later amended to Mach 0.90, but still a speed of around 650mph TAS); of course no spitfire would have retained its wings had it fired its guns at this speed.



This is a much higher speed than I thought any Spifire would have recorded and is probably as close to the [COLOR=#60e060! important][COLOR=#60e060! important]speed [COLOR=#60e060! important]of [/color][COLOR=#60e060! important]sound[/color][/color][/color] as any piston fighter of the time managed to get.


Otherwise it looks like the P-47 would be a probable.

[Vanir]

macrusk has it. I've read claims of up to 504mph for the circa.2800hp P-47M but the listed top speed by the USAAF was 473mph in level flight at 72" Hg.
But check this out from herehttp://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/9485/P-47M.html:

There is adequate evidence to indicate that some of the more resourceful crew chiefs in the 56th Fighter Group, managed to hotrod the P-47M to the point that some reliable pilots were reporting 500 mph at altitude in level flight.

It definitely entered service as it was developed and used to chase down V-1 Doodlebugs. The USAAF also tested P-47D models for 150 octane fuel and 65"Hg at 442mph (2600hp), a modification which was used (per availability of fuel, etc.) from late 1944. The XP-47J was a prototype developed alongside the P-47M and actually achieved 507mph (816km/h) during flight tests, but that doesn't really count.

I've read one claim for the P-51H Mustang designed for use in the Pacific (alongside the 457mph P-47N) at 478mph and another for 487mph but whether it entered service seems arguable. North American lists the calculated top speed as 471mph at 90" Hg. USAAF flight tests give 451 TAS at 90" Hg. It started coming off the production line in February 1945 but I'm unsure if it saw action. Mustang Mark III aircraft (P-51B/C, V-1650-7 engine) were modified for 150 octane fuel and 75"Hg for a top speed of 444mph.


The Ta-152H reportedly had a top speed of 760km/h (472mph) at altitude. The claim is no Me-262 jet was attacked during take off or landing when the Ta-152 was known to be in the area. Meanwhile the Do-335 reportedly reached 474mph but only entered preproduction service testing.

Focke Wulf tested the D-9 (water-methanol injection) at 437mph with (406mph by 8,000ft). The Me-109K-4 (with DB-605DB/ASB, 1.8ata, water-methanol injection and B4/87 octane) was tested at 712km/h (443mph).

The Tempest Mark V tested 435mph at +9lbs, but using 150 octane and +11lbs speed increased by about 14mph. The De Havilland Hornet Mark 3 is listed by Wikipedia at 472mph, but I think only the Mark 1 entered service just in time to have a flight or two in the Pacific.

This are some pretty cool websites: Planes and Pilots of WWII
and WWII Aircraft Performance




Okay, your shot.

[macrusk]

Sorry for the delay.

Who invented the Franks Flying Suit and what was its significance?

[skunk works]

A Canadian....Wilbur, Franks.
First "G" suit to be used in combat.

[macrusk]

That didn't last long....It's your's!

[skunk works]

In WW 2 how many bomber crewmen were wounded for every one killed ?

[Slipdigit]

Seems like it was about even, but I don't have time to look it up. Will do tomorrow.

[skunk works]

A trick question...sorta.

The dead outnumber the wounded. (Torpedo 8, for example)

[macrusk]

From RAF Bomber Command - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bomber Command crews also suffered an extremely high casualty rate: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4% death rate), a further 8,403 were wounded in action and 9,838 became prisoners of war.[11] A Bomber Command crew member had a worse chance of survival than an infantry officer in World War I.[12] By comparison, the US Eighth Air Force, which flew daylight raids over Europe, had 350,000 aircrew during the war, and suffered 26,000 killed and 23,000 POWs.[13] Of the RAF Bomber Command personnel killed during the war, 72% were British, 18% were Canadian, 7% were Australian and 3% were New Zealanders.[14] The fatalities included over 38,000 RAF aircrew (of all nationalities), 9,900 Royal Canadian Air Force personnel, and over 1,500 aircrew from countries in occupied Europe.[citation needed] It is illustrative that members of the Australian squadrons of Bomber Command equalled only two percent of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel, but the 4,050 killed represented 23% of the total number of RAAF personnel killed in action during World War II. No. 460 Squadron RAAF, which had an aircrew establishment of about 200, experienced 1,018 combat deaths during 1942-45 and was therefore effectively wiped out five times over. Nevertheless, by the beginning of 1945, 46% of Bomber Command personnel were from the Dominions.[15]
Taking an example of 100 airmen:[16]

• 55 killed on operations or died as result of wounds
• three injured (in varying levels of severity) on operations or active service
• 12 taken prisoner of war (some injured)
• two shot down and evaded capture
• 27 survived a tour of operations

In total 364,514 operational sorties were flown, 1,030,500 tons of bombs were dropped and 8,325 aircraft lost in action.

[skunk works]

and your guess is? (a "whole" number between one and ten)(all nations)

What to What? Wounded to killed?

[macrusk]

1 injured to 18.33 killed.

[skunk works]

1-6
My source said 1 wounded to every 6 killed, to include kamikaze's which "tipped" the balance that far from 1 to 1.
Not just heavy bombers of Allied nations, (sorry if I wasn't clear about that....dive & torpedo as well)
It was much more all or nothing than I thought it was. Many died of their wounds, (no MASH units on airplanes) many died when their plane went down, unwounded, all count.

you're on, take it away!