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C O N T E N T S
THE TECHNOLOGY THAT TRANSFORMED WARFARE 6

NO RTH A MER I CA N P- 51D MUSTA NG 18 BE LL P-3 9Q -1 5-BE AI R AC O BR A 56

GR U MMA N F 4 F- 4 WI LD CAT 2 0 CONS OLIDATED PBY-5 CATALINA 58

DO UGL A S S BD - 6 DAU NTL ESS 22 NO RTH A MER I CA N SNJ- 4 ( AT- 6) 6 0

C URTI SS P-4 0E WA R HAWK 24 VULTEE BT-13A VALIANT 6 6

B OEING B -29 SUPERFORTRESS 26 PI PE R J -3 C U B 6 8

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B O E IN G - STE AR MA N N2 S - 5 KAYD ET 36 GR U MMA N F 6 F- 3K H ELL CAT 74

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S I KO R S KY J R S -1 50 FAI R CH IL D P T-19 A C O R NE LL 86

NO RT H AME R I CAN B -2 5J- 20 -NC N O O R D U Y N YC - 6 4 N O R S E M A N I V 88

(TB -25N) MITCHELL 52 NAVAL A I R CR A F T FACTO RY N3 N -3 9 0

BE LL X P-59 A A I R AC O MET 54 SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE HF. MK. VII C 92

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CONSTANTIN CANTAC UZINO 46 T HE DI E PPE R A I D 4 8

GEOR GE BEURLING 6 2 T H E B ATT L E O F KU R S K 6 4

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 T H E T E C H N O L O G Y
T H A T
T R A N S F O R M E D
W A R F A R E
World War II was neither fought, nor won,
entirely by aircraft. But the introduction of
advanced aerial technology that began in the late
1930s came of age during the landmark conflict,
transforming the landscape of war forever.
During this important era, the biplanes of the
first World War were relegated to training tools
and other secondary roles, and, at the behest of
various air forces, manufacturers across Europe
and North America designed and produced new
sleek monoplanes with enclosed cockpits and
advanced engines for combat. Pilots could
generally fly the streamlined models faster at
higher altitudes for longer. They could dive more
nimbly and carry more bombs. The sky became
the most contested battlefield, beginning most
memorably with the Battle of Britain, the first
fought entirely in the air.
As World War II progressed, improvements to
planes and the sheer quantity of them designed,
ordered, manufactured and delivered, impacted
nearly every strategic decision. Air bombing
became the order of the day for Allied powers,
and air defense and ground coordination were
equally essential to each campaign. The set of
skills required for dogfighting became crucial
for pilots to master, or at least learn as quickly as
possible. Aircraft carriers became vital, especially
in the Pacific theater, as they created islands of
bases from which pilots could attack and regroup.
By the end of the war, the United States alone
had amassed a fleet of 300,000 aircrafts—from
fighters to scouts to bombers—spread across
the Air Force, Navy and Marines. The war effort
marked a tremendous leap forward in aircraft
advancement: the last propeller planes to fly
combat missions were built early in this war and
the first jet technology appeared in every theater
by the end.
This book includes 30 historic examples of
Allied aircraft from World War II. All are housed
at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Mu-
seum in Washington, D.C., and many of the craft
featured saw combat. Understanding the stories
behind each of these planes is to appreciate how
history’s most-examined war was won.

The P-38 Lightning—shown here being assembled at the

Lockheed plant in Burbank, California—shot down more Japanese
airplanes than any other fighter during World War II.
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 More than 310,000
women—including those
shown here installing
fixtures to a tail fuselage
section of a B-17 bomber
at the Douglas Aircraft
Company plant in Long
Beach, California—worked
in the U.S. aircraft industry
in 1943. Women made up
an estimated 65% of the
industry’s total workforce,
compared to just 1% in the
pre-war years.

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A bomb loaded onto a
B-25 Mitchell at an airfield
by a U.S. airman in Tunisia
carried a message for
Erwin Rommel, a German
army officer who rose to
the rank of field marshal
and earned fame for his
leadership of Germany’s
Afrika Korps in North
Africa during World War II.

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 The Civilian Pilot Training
Act of 1939 not only
strengthened the United
States’ national defense
prior to entering World
War II, it also opened up
pilot training to many who
would never have had an
opportunity to learn to fly.

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While the U.S. Army Air
Forces destroyed more
than 40,000 enemy
aircraft during World
War II, the United States
lost 65,164 airplanes in
combat, training accidents
and other incidents
between December 1941
and August 1945.

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 A payload of 1,000-pound
bombs was dropped onto
the German-held Italian
coastal town of Piombino
on Jan. 18, 1944, by U.S.
Martin B-26G Marauders,
the only medium bomber
with two bomb bays
capable of carrying
5,800 pounds of bombs.

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 T H E
A I R C R A F T
The introduction of advanced aerial
technology that began in the late 1930s
came of age during World War II,
transforming the landscape of war forever.
NORTH AMERICAN
P- 5 1 D - 3 0 - N A M U STA N G
Often considered the favorite fighter of Al-
lied pilots during World War II, the P-51 was
born of the literal need for speed. In 1940, the
Royal Air Force, resigned to the Curtiss P-40’s
inferiority to Germany’s famed Luftwaffe at
high altitudes, ordered hundreds of the popular
model from North American Aviation. The head
of the company, J.H. “Dutch” Kindelberger,
instead pitched the RAF on his team’s design
for the fastest single-seat aircraft yet. With a
contract signed, North American built the P-51
prototype in under four months and debuted
it on Oct. 25, 1940. The RAF ordered 620 and
christened it the “Mustang.”
The Mustang’s superiority was in its low-
drag design. Kindelberger streamlined the
laminar-flow wing and engine cooling system,
which improved the speed and range, making it
ideal for ground attacks. Once North American
replaced the Allison engine with the British-
designed Rolls-Royce Merlin in 1942, pilots
were able to unlock the fighter’s speed at higher
altitudes. It could reach an astonishing 425 mph.
“It’s best described as ‘a pilot’s airplane,’”
Major Thomas Hitchcock said of the P-51 in The
New York Times in 1942. “Fliers feel they have
always known how to fly the plane after they’ve
been in it only a few moments.’”
A North American P-51D Mustang shown in flight.
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 Of all the Grumman-built, carrier-based Wildcat
EASTERN DIVISION variants, the F4F-4 saw the most combat. It re-
placed earlier versions of the aircraft in time for
F M -1 ( G R U M M A N F 4 F- 4 ) the Battle of Midway in 1942, and distinguished
W I L D CAT itself from its predecessors with two additional
machine guns and the Grumman-patented
“STO-Wing” foldable wings, which doubled the
number of aircrafts that fit on a carrier at once.
These two changes—plus additional armor

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and bullet-proof glass—made for a slower air-
craft with a 318 mph max speed. Pilots noticed.
Commanding Officer Elliott Buckmaster of the
USS Yorktown called it “sluggish” and asked the
admiral for an aircraft that could rival the Japa-
nese Mitsubishi A6M Zero. Distinguished pilot
James Thach attributed any success the aircraft
had in combat, of which he had plenty, to the pi-
lot’s training or lack thereof on the enemy’s side.
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The F4F-4s may have been cumbersome,
but the bulk helped protect the planes, allowing
them to take more fire from the Zeros, a
competitive advantage that came in handy
during prolonged dogfights.
A 1941 Grumman F4F Wildcat, VF-41, from the U.S.
Navy aircraft carrier USS Ranger, flies in the
foreground, circa 1965.
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 21
22
DOUGLAS SBD-6
DAUNTLESS

The SBD Dauntless was the little engine that

could or, as its crews dubbed it, “Small But
Deadly.” The Dauntless was compact and
sturdy, ideal for near-vertical dive-bombing.
The most improved variant was the SBD-5,
which entered the fight in May 1943. It
boasted a larger fuel tank and more power,
but most importantly for the pilots and gun-
ners, an upgraded reflector sight. The Pacific’s
humidity fogged up the old sights and ren-
dered its target an educated guess.
Before the war, the Dauntless was
scheduled to be discontinued, but then
Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor.
The aircraft’s replacement faced production
delays, so the Dauntless was called back into
action. It proved its mettle in the Pacific
theater, especially during Midway, when its
pilots sank all four enemy carriers, three of
them in just six minutes. By the end of the war,
it had earned the distinction of sinking more
Japanese ships than any other aircraft.

The last version of the Dauntless, the SBD-6

differed little from the previous model.
 The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fought in every
CURTISS P-40E corner but proved the most effective in the
China-Burma-India theater, thanks to the
WA R H AW K American Volunteer Group (AVG), better
known as the Flying Tigers. The Chinese
government contracted this group of U.S. pilots
early on in the war to help repel Japanese
invasion. They made famous the iconic shark-
mouth nose painted on the Warhawk.

24
 The one-seater specialized in ground
attacks, and it could make tight turns and
also powerful dives. The AVG’s leader,
Claire Lee Chennault, ultimately received
a Distinguished Flying Cross for training
around the fighter’s deficiencies—which
included lack of auxiliary fuel tanks and
loss of power at high altitudes—and leaning
into its advantages.
Most Allies flew Warhawks beginning in
1940, but newer aircrafts like the P-51 Mustang
quickly outpaced them. Curtiss tweaked the
design of the cockpit, fuel tanks and engines,
but it couldn’t equal newer fighters by V-J Day.
With its open mouth to accommodate air flow over
radiators and oil coolers, the Warhawk was the
perfect aircraft for the shark-mouth treatment.
 BOEING B -29
SUPERFORTRESS
“ E N O L A G AY ”

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Dubbed the Superfortress after its predecessor,
the “Fortress,” the B-29 answered the U.S. Army
Air Corps’s need for a bomber that could travel
significant distances with heavy cargo. Boeing
won the contract in 1940, but the bomber didn’t
enter combat until 1944, when it was sent
primarily to the Pacific theater.
When the B-29 Superfortress entered the
air space, it was revolutionary for a number of
reasons: It was the largest aircraft of the era, it
incorporated new remote technology that gave
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the gunners control of multiple turrets at once,
and it introduced pressurized cabins, which
helped cut down on its pilots’ flight fatigue. The
B-29 program became the U.S.’s most expensive
of the war, more so than even the nuclear pro-
gram. And perhaps most famously, it became the
first aircraft to drop a nuclear weapon in combat
with Hiroshima, and the last with Nagasaki.
The Enola Gay was the first—and last—aircraft to
drop a nuclear weapon in combat.
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 ¸
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The Flak-Bait’s claim to fame is that, in its two

MARTIN B -26B -25-MA years of European combat, it survived more than
200 missions, the most of any other American
MARAUDER aircraft during the war. Its inauspicious name
“FLAK-BAIT” hails from its first pilot, James J. Farrell, who bor-
rowed his family dog’s term of endearment, “Flea
Bait.” The nickname was apt. The aircraft always
returned shot up with shrapnel from the German


28
flier defense cannon, the fliegerabwehrkanone,
or “flak” for short. Twice it landed with just one of
its two engines, and once with the engine on fire.
But it always returned its crew alive.
Flak-Bait was a Martin B-26 Marauder, a me-
dium bomber produced in the U.S. from 1941 to
1945. Before Flak-Bait helped turn the aircraft’s
reputation around (and before Martin made
some necessary improvements), the model
had an even more unpromising nickname: the
“widowmaker.” Pilots struggled with takeoffs
and landings since they had to be executed at
precise, but atypical, speeds.
A Martin Flak-Bait B-26 Marauder (top) shown
with an array of mission markings on its nose.
 S
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E R I C H
H A R T M A N N
E R I C H H A R T M A N N WA S T H E LU F T WA F F E ’ S T O P- P E R F O R M I N G
fighter ace (a designation given to pilots who shot down at least five enemy
planes), and possibly the most successful in the history of aerial combat.
He flew 1,400 missions mainly on the Eastern Front, and his aircraft of choice
was the Messerschmitt Bf 109 painted with a “black tulip.” His kill count
was an astounding 352; it may have been higher had Soviet pilots not learned
to turn back when they spotted the dark floral pattern on his craft’s nose.
What made Hartmann so good, at least according to one of his biographers, was
his extensive training prior to the start of the war. As the fighting wore on, pilots
on all sides had to jump into combat with little to no experience.
His signature was avoiding prolonged dogfights in favor of the surprise attack,
which allowed him to shoot at remarkably close range.

Fighter pilot Erich Hartmann flew 1,400 missions in a Messerschmitt Bf

109 painted with a black tulip. His kill count was 352.

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B A T T L E
O F
B R I T A I N
I N 1 9 4 0, A F T E R F R A N C E H A D FA L L E N T O
Germany, Winston Churchill—the U.K’s new prime
minister—turned down Adolf Hitler’s offer of peace,
giving his now-famous “Finest Hour” speech. Britain
prepared to be attacked. The stakes of the forthcom-
ing battle—which would become the first to transpire
entirely in the air—were clear, and they were no less
than all of Europe itself.
Germany’s Luftwaffe, led by its single-engine
Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters, went toe-to-toe with
the Royal Air Force’s Supermarine Spitfires and
Hawker Hurricanes beginning in July 1940, when
Germany began bombing Britain’s strategic outposts.
Hitler intended to wear down the underestimated
RAF, clearing the way for a land attack, but he never
got the chance. The RAF answered Germany’s strikes
with its own, thanks in part to the Dowding System,
new radar technology that warned its forces of
impending attacks. The U.K. even retaliated with a
Berlin bombing. Enraged by the counterattack, Hitler
ordered “the Blitz,” beginning near-indiscriminate
bombing of London and other large cities. The Blitz
continued well after October 1940, when the RAF had
in turn worn the Luftwaffe thin. Hitler called off his
air force, and the Battle of Britain was won, marking
Germany’s first major World War II defeat.

The Royal Air Force’s Supermarine Spitfires (top)

battled the Luftwaffe’s single-engine Messerschmitt Bf
109s (bottom, right), one of which was shot
down (bottom, left) during the Battle of Britain.

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VOUGHT F4U-1D
CORSAIR

The F4U-1D Corsair, which would become

the last propeller-driven plane to fly in
combat, broke the speed record for a
single-seat fighter when Vought tested it in
1940 and it exceeded 400 mph. It entered
the war in 1943, and became the first fighter
able to challenge the quick and agile Japanese
Zero on its own terms.
The Corsair wasn’t a perfect aircraft. In its
earliest designations, a series of design choices
made to accommodate more guns made vis-
ibility difficult when landing on carriers—so
much so that it was given the nickname the
“ensign eliminator.” Still, the turrets proved
useful; the Corsair’s .50 caliber machine guns
took advantage of the Zero’s lack of armor and
self-sealing fuel tanks. Its kill ratio was 11:1.
In 1944, famed aviator Charles Lindbergh
helped double the Navy’s expectation for how
much weight the Corsair could handle. He
proved one could take off with 3,000 pounds
worth of bombs, helping to turn the aircraft
into the most versatile of the war.

The last propeller-driven plane to fly in combat,

the F4U-1D Corsair entered the war in 1943.
 At the start of World War II, Kaydets were
BOEING - STEARMAN largely used to train pilots for the U.S. Army
and Navy. Generously proportioned and with
N 2 S - 5 K AY D E T wings painted yellow to signal “new driver,” the
simple trainers featured double cockpits—one
for the instructor and one for the student.
Though they rarely saw combat, the Kaydet’s
contribution to the war can’t be underestimated:
Many U.S. Army and Navy pilots and even some
Canadian flyers learned the ropes with one of
the approximate 10,000 Kaydets that Stearman,
a subsidiary of Boeing, built in the late 1930s.
These pilots fondly remember the Kaydet as
their first experience in the cockpit of an air-
craft—and never forgot the struggle to take off
and land. (Due to the design of the nose, seeing
in front of you during these two crucial maneu-
vers was almost impossible.)
Popular at local antique air shows, Kaydets
were eventually sold as cropdusters, thus
remaining in civilian circulation.
A Boeing-Stearman N2S-5 Kaydet on display at
the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
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 LOCKHEED
P-38J-10-LO
LIGHTNING

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The Lockheed P-38 Lightning, a single seat
twin-piston fighter, was among the first planes
that could truly answer Japanese fighters and fill
a much-needed aerial reconnaissance role upon
joining the war in 1941.
One of the Lightning’s missions stands out
for its strategic impact on the war in the Pacific.
On April 18, 1943, following intel from code-
breakers, pilots from the 70th and the 339th
Fighter Squadrons flew to meet Imperial Jap-
anese Navy’s Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who
was the architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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With Major John W. Mitchell leading the
mission, the pilots flew their Lightnings slow
and low over the ocean to minimize the chance
of detection, and intercepted six Zeros and two
Mitsubishi G4M BETTY bombers that were
transporting the Admiral and his staff to the
front. The Lightning pilots shot down both
bombers, losing one casualty, Lt. Ray Hine.
Upon its official introduction in 1940, the P-38
was capable of reaching 400 mph—100 mph faster
than any other fighter in the world.
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 VOUGHT OS2U-3
KINGFISHER

The Vought OS2U Kingfisher, the amphibious,

carrier-based floatplane that entered
the war effort in 1940, served many purposes.
It trained pilots, scouted, carried and dropped
bombs, towed, collected practice torpedos,
and filled a number of anti-submarine func-
tions. Often it proved useful rescuing downed
airmen due to its water landing ability.
In one notable incident in 1942, a King-
fisher flown by Lt. Willam F. Eadie and his
radioman, L.H. Boutte, discovered three men
on a raft. One was Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker,
the World War I flying ace, who had attempted
to fly with seven other men from Hawaii to
Canton Island before getting lost and being
forced to abandon the plane. They survived
for weeks on three rafts. When Eadie found
them, he strapped one to the gunner’s seat
and the other two to each wing, then taxied
40 miles to his base on Funafuti Island. The
other five men were then rescued, though one
did not survive.

An OS2U-3 managed to score an air-to-air kill

when its pilot shot down a Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero
near Iwo Jima in February 1945.

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 CURTISS SB2C-5
HELLDIVER

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The Curtiss SB2C Helldiver was a carrier-based
bomber used effectively as a scout bomber and
a divebomber—which required pilots to fly
sharply at a target to drop a bomb at close range.
Pilots did so for greater accuracy, but by the end
of the war, new technology and wartime tactics
shifted, eliminating the need for dive bombing
and thus the Helldiver.
The Helldiver was one of the planes dogged
by design mishaps and course corrections until
the end of the war. At its worst, for example,
the wings would break off mid-dive and pilots
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would lose a tail while landing. Crews tended to
prefer the handling on the Dauntless, and they
had some less-than-flattering nicknames for the
Helldiver. The “Beast” referred to its heft, and
the more colorful “S.O.B. 2nd Class” was a play-
ful reference to its Navy designation “SB2C.”
Every plane contributed something to the war
effort, however, and the Helldiver boasted more
guns and could fly faster than the Dauntless.
The heft of the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver earned it
the nickname “Beast.”
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 43
 Lockheed developed the XP-80, dubbed “Lulu
LOCKHEED XP-80 Belle,” under near-impossible circumstances.
In June 1943, the United States Army Air Force
“LULU BELLE” tasked Clarence “Kelly” Johnson with delivering
an answer to Germany’s forthcoming Messer-
schmitt Me 262, the first operational jet of its
kind and an enormous threat to the Allied forces.
The U.S. was several years behind European
powers in developing jet technology, but that
didn’t matter. Johnson was to present a
model in 180 days with very limited resources
as Lockheed was already stretched thin by the
war effort. Additionally, the plane’s engine
wasn’t scheduled to arrive from Britain until
the end of production.
Johnson had to keep his mission top secret,
so he moved the operation to a rented circus
tent and got to work. His team delivered the
XP-80 after 143 days, well ahead of schedule.
The Me 262s entered the war too late to
make a real dent, but with the help of the Lulu
Belle, the Allies developed tactics against the
German jets, and likely saved some lives.
A Lockheed XP-80 “Lulu Belle” at the
Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and
Space Museum.
 S
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C O N S T A N T I N
C A N T A C U Z I N O
N O T O N LY WA S C O N S TA N T I N “ B Â Z U ” C A N TA C U Z I N O R O M A N I A’ S
top pilot, he also played a crucial role in releasing more than 1,000
Allied prisoners of war from his country.
In August 1944, the U.S.’s Lt. Col. James “JAG” Gunn, was shot down, captured
and interned in Bucharest. A week later, a Romanian coup flipped the
country, and Germany promptly began bombing, taking out means for
international communication. JAG hatched a plan to fly to Italy, where he could
orchestrate the transportation of prisoners. Cantacuzino was the only pilot
in the country willing to take on the flight’s tremendous risk.
Cantacuzino made room for JAG in his Messerschmitt by emptying radio
equipment from its belly, and JAG drew flight maps from memory.
To ward off Allied gunning, they painted an American flag on the fuselage.
It worked. Cantacuzino flew his German plane across the Adriatic and landed in
Italy unscathed. JAG immediately sent a rescue mission back
to Romania, freeing his fellow POWs.

Constantin Cantacuzino is pictured at Hatfield Aerodrome in June 1951

for the Festival of Britain National Air Race.

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T H E
D I E P P E
R A I D
T H E D I E P P E R A I D, L A R G E LY C O N S I D E R E D
an unmitigated disaster for the Allied forces, had one
silver lining: The lessons learned about amphibious
attacks shaped plans for D-Day, ultimately helping to
end the war.
In August 1942, when the code name Operation
Jubilee commenced, the joint forces attempted to
coordinate air, land and sea attacks. The goal was to
briefly hold Dieppe in Northern France and gather
intelligence. The Soviets had also asked for more
pressure to be put on the western front in order to
alleviate the crush in the east.
The RAF, which included Free French pilots who
joined after France fell in 1940 and Royal Canadian
Air Force, flew in squadrons of Hurricane bombers
and Spitfire, Typhoon and Mustang fighters. Their
mission was to provide cover for ground attack and
withdrawal. Over the course of just 6 hours of dog-
fighting and coverage, 106 Allied aircraft were lost,
while the Luftwaffe reported 48 downed planes.

The Royal Air Force—including French and

Canadian pilots—flew in squadrons to
provide ground cover during Operation Jubilee 1942,
and helped shape the battle plans for D-Day.

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 49
 S I KO R S KY
JRS -1

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The Sikorsky JRS-1 was a large amphibious
transport and patrol flying boat plane. Its main
jobs were among the most thankless of the war:
they delivered mail, towed targets for practice
and took aerial photos. The fuselage was
often painted with a squadron logo on the
side to communicate in a pre-radio world what
job they served to other pilots in the sky. There
was a pelican with a mail bag in its feet or a
photographer in its beak, for example.
The JRS’s claim to fame was that 10 of
them were stationed at Pearl Harbor when
°µĄ°™
the Japanese attacked. They all made it through
because they were on Ford Island, which avoided
the bombing.
Though they were utility vehicles and not
intended for combat (notably, they had no gun
turrets or other ordnance), the JR-1s were sent
almost immediately into the war in the Pacific
theater, charged with searching for Japanese
fleets, including submarines.
Ten Sikorsky JRS-1 planes were stationed at Pearl
Harbor when the Japanese military attacked.
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 51
 North American B-25s were named after
NORTH AMERICAN World War I’s General William Mitchell, whose
intensity in his support for the country’s air force
B -25J-20-NC (TB -25N) led him to be court-martialed. The bombers
MITCHELL were created under similarly urgent advocacy:
In the late 1930s, when it began to look inevitable
that the U.S. would enter the war, the Air Corps
was under growing pressure to bulk up. It

52
ordered untested B-25s from North American.
The risk paid off and more than 100 were in the
air by the attack on Pearl Harbor.
For much of the war, the B-25 was the only
bomber available that could carry large bomb-
loads the distance required of them. As a result,
they had a huge impact in the Pacific. The air-
craft was popular with crews since it was easy
to maintain and fly, thanks in part to design
inspiration. The twin vertical fin and rudders
kept pilots steady and in control of the Mitchell
if an engine quit, which happened more often
than one would want in combat.
The B-25 was among the planes that flew at the
Duluth Air Show in Minnesota in June 2017.
54
BELL XP-59A
AIRACOMET

The Bell P-59 Airacomet was the first twin

jet-engine fighter produced in the U.S. Like the
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, which would
become the first operational jet in America,
the Airacomet borrowed engine plans from
Britain. In 1941, Bell began designing a model
for the General Electric-built engine.
Two main challenges might have hampered
its design: First, the Airacomet’s development
was top secret. Bell called the project XP-59A
as a red herring—the designation was a
piston engine fighter that Bell had recently
proposed—and the team couldn’t participate
in routine tests because they were too public.
Second, the finished engine would not be
delivered until it was nearly ready to be tested.
When that day came, the aircraft broke
altitude records, but did not manage to exceed
speed records of piston engines already in the
skies. Bell’s completed aircrafts ultimately
became trainers. The technology, however,
would be foundational to G.E.’s next half
century of flight.

The first twin jet-engine fighter produced in the

U.S., the Bell P-59 broke altitude records in 1943.
 “Galloping Gertie” was the affectionate nick-
BELL P-39Q -15-BE name that Betty Haas gave her Bell P-39 Airaco-
bra, which she purchased for $750 after the war.
AIRACOBRA Haas was one of nearly 1,100 graduates from
“GALLOPING GERTIE” the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP),
a competitive (but not terribly prestigious)
program for female aviators. Of the 25,000 who
applied, 1,800 were accepted, and they had to
pay their own way. Haas would mainly shuttle
airplanes from factory to airfield or ports, and
fly test flights.
WASP was disbanded in 1944, and Haas
began flying “Galloping Gertie” in air shows
around the country. She won the All Women’s
International Air Race from Montreal to West
Palm Beach, Florida, in 1950.
During the war, the fighter did not live up
to Bell’s promise; the design dragged and lost
power at higher altitudes. The British even sent
their order to the Soviet Union.
Under the Lend-Lease program, the USSR received
more than 3,000 P-39 Airacobras, which was more
than two-thirds of the total number produced.

C O N S O L I D AT E D P B Y- 5
CATA L I N A
World War II was the last war that needed what
the Consolidated PBY-5 Cat could offer; the
amphibious flying patrol boat, crucial for spot-
ting enemy battleships, would soon be obsolete,
replaced by the proliferation of ground-based
runways and other advancements. Eventually,
satellites became the eyes of the sea. But before
all that, Allies knew the Cat as a reliable aircraft.

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 One example of its crucial contributions to the
fight: At Pearl Harbor, U.S. Navy PBY squadrons
took huge losses. But six months later, on June 3,
1942, the pilots of PBYs in Patrol Squadron VP-44
were able to help avenge the attack.
They detected the Japanese fleet barreling
toward Midway Island. With plenty of time, the
U.S. used the advantage of surprise to torpedo
°µĄ°™ 59
and bomb Japanese carriers, sinking four of
them. The Battle of Midway remains the turning
point of the war in the Pacific, and it began with
the Catalina.
Although many aviation experts considered the PBY
Cat obsolete when World War II started, the plane
made crucial contributions throughout the war.
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 With multiple designations during its long
NORTH AMERICAN career—it was known as SNJ in the U.S. Navy
and Marine Corps, AT-6 in the U.S. Army Air
S N J - 4 ( AT- 6 ) Corps, the Harvard in the Royal Canadian
and Royal Air Forces, and T-6G in the U.S. Air
Force—this plane had a long production
tail and an unprecedented wide use. North
American manufactured the trainers from

60
1935 until the 1950s, and they were eventually
licensed to nearly 45 countries.
The reason they spread so far was that after
World War II, pilot training programs were
reigned in and the planes were sold or scrapped
while, in theory, plans for more advanced
trainers were drawn up. There was a fire sale on
the models all over the world. Soon thereafter,
the Korean War broke out and pilot training
programs revved up again, and, without those
more advanced plans yet in place, training
programs turned to SNJ production.
The advanced trainer taught tens of thousands of
pilots the difficult art of taking off from—and
landing on—a carrier while flying the SNJ-4.
 S
AC E
FL YING

G E O R G E
B E U R L I N G
G E O R G E B E U R L I N G S I M P LY H A D T O F LY. W H E N T H E WA R B R O K E
out, the Quebec native attempted to join the Royal Canadian Air Force, but it
rejected him for poor academics (he’d dropped out of school at 15).
Then he tried to join the Finnish Air Force but his parents wouldn’t sign off. So he
sailed to Glasgow to enlist in the Royal Air Force, but he forgot his
birth certificate, so he sailed back home. When he returned with the proper
paperwork, the RAF finally admitted him.
Beurling earned his reputation and a couple nicknames in Malta in the summer
of 1942. Though his wing commander already called him “Screwball”
for his pugilistic personality, the papers preferred “the Falcon of Malta.”
He shot down 27 enemy aircraft over a fortnight, including the Italian ace
Furio Niclot Doglio and his wingman. By the end of the war, he reached 31,
making him Canada’s most prolific ace.

George Beurling earned his reputation in the summer of 1942, when

he shot down 27 enemy aircraft over a fortnight in Malta.

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T H E
B A T T L E O F
K U R S K
T H O U G H T H E B AT T L E O F KU R S K H A S
the distinction of being the largest tank battle in
history, some argue that Germany lost the fight
in the air.
The plan, Operation Citadel, was to attack the
Soviet’s salient, a bulge carved into Germany’s
western line. Hitler’s forces would attack the south
and north of the bulge, effectively pinching off
Soviet holdings, and meet in the city of Kursk.
The Soviets, however, were prepared. With
British intelligence of Nazi plans, the Red Army’s
aircrafts flew out early on July 5, 1943, and were
able to divert Nazi fighters and bombers from their
intended missions.
German aircrafts were generally thought to be
superior and their pilots better trained, but the
Soviets had a bigger inventory and could fight a
battle of attrition. Over one chaotic week, Soviets
bombed panzers, provided cover and engaged in
dogfights. When Nazis called for backup, none came.
All its forces were occupied on other fronts.
By July 12, the USSR had established aerial suprem-
acy, and Hitler withdrew from Kursk.

In early July 1943, Soviet pilots were able to

divert Nazi fighters and bombers from their missions,
which led to the Germans withdrawing from Kursk.

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V U LT E E B T- 1 3 A VA L I A N T
The Vultee BT-13A Valiant was a crucial part
of early pilot training programs. It was a more
forceful aircraft with a stronger engine than
other trainers. Pilots who passed initial rounds
of training—including pre-flight instruction
and primary flight training in simpler aircrafts
like the Kaydet—moved up to the Valiant.
From there, trainers were split into fighter and


66 µĄµ
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bomber groups, and sent to train in aircrafts
specific to those goals. The training program
took 10 weeks and launched before the U.S.
entered the war. Vultee’s models trained pilots
in the U.S. Army Air Force as well as the U.S. Navy.
The Valiant itself featured a fixed landing
gear, a two-position propeller and a tandem
cockpit with flight controls for both the trainee
°µĄ°™ 67
and the instructor. It was outfitted with a
radio for communication with ground control
and an intercom for in-flight instruction.
Students dubbed it the “Vultee Vibrator” after
its tendency to shake.
The BT-13A Valiant evolved in response to a need
for a second-phase training aircraft.
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PIPER J-3 CUB

The Piper J-3 Cub is as its name implies: small,

strong and simply built. Piper Aircraft pro-
duced the model so efficiently and affordably
that the plane drew comparisons to Model
T automobiles and the company’s owner,
William T. Piper, to Henry Ford. The J-3, a
later model with upholstered seats in place
of plywood, sold for $1,300. For comparison,
the P-51 Mustang sold for tens of thousands of
dollars around the same time.
Cubs weren’t only tools for training, they
also contributed to scouting and observation,
liaison and ambulance missions in the war.
They earned the nickname “Grasshopper”
from their ability to hop out and complete
their mission without drawing fire.
Nearly 20,000 Cubs left the assembly line in
the decade Piper produced them, and they’re
still popular flyers today.

Small, strong and simply built, Piper J-3 Cubs

earned the nickname “Grasshopper” from their
ability to hop out and complete their mission
without drawing fire.
™

In 1939, as part of an effort to modernize its

G R U M M A N TA R P O N I carrier-based fleet, the Bureau of Aeronautics
issued a design specification for a new torpedo
( T B F- 1 AV E N G E R ) bomber. Vought was busy producing Corsair
aircrafts, so Grumman got the contract for
the initial run of 286 TBF-1s. The order came
through two weeks after the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor. (Though the rumor was that

70
they were named “Avenger” after the attack,
the designation was given to the aircraft plans
in October of that year.) The model ended up
being lighter and faster than Vought’s proposal.
The Avenger was intended as a torpedo
bomber, but it also hunted and bombed
submarines with radar equipment, jammed
enemy radar and—since it was one of the
largest aircrafts in the sky at the time—trans-
ported personnel and equipment to and from
carriers. Post-wartime, the Avenger would have
a long second career as a tool for firefighters.
Although it suffered from a lack of speed and
performance, the Avenger was a large aircraft that
could accommodate many different payloads.
 World War II saw great leaps in aeronautical
CURTISS XP-55- CS technology, but many experiments also failed in
the achievement of progress. The Curtiss XP-55
ASCENDER Ascender was one of these.
In 1941, the Air Corps called for a new fighter
that incorporated radical design. Curtiss
delivered a pusher aircraft with wings behind
the engine, plus smaller wings at the front,
creating the “canard” configuration. It looked

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like an aircraft that was put together backward,
and thus was dubbed the “Ass-ender.”
Still, the promising project reached the second
prototype’s testing stage before it ran into major
issues. A stall test saw the aircraft pitch forward
and free-fall down. It couldn’t be righted, and
the pilot bailed after falling 4,900 meters.
Additionally, the second prototype couldn’t
match already-existing fighters’ speed, so the
°µĄ°™ 73
then-U.S. Army Air Force shut down the project.
Curtiss could have created an extraordinary
aircraft given more time, but jet engines would
soon render aircrafts with piston engines
obsolete anyway.
Because it looked like an aircraft that was put
together backward, the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender
was dubbed the “Ass-ender.”
µĄµ
 The F6F Hellcat began as an advanced version
G R U M M A N F 6 F- 3 K of the F4F Wildcat. As Grumman’s engineers
tried to provide for a larger, more powerful
H E L L CAT engine in the Wildcat, they tweaked the aircraft
so much that it evolved into the Hellcat.
Because the Hellcat relied on the well-tested
Wildcat blueprint, Grumman put the F6F on
the assembly line in 1942 before it was officially

74
done testing. That proved to be a wise choice.
The aircraft couldn’t have arrived any later in
the Pacific, where the Wildcats were up against
the superior Mitsubishi A6M Zeros. The Navy
had long been asking for a carrier-based aircraft
that could match or exceed the Zeros in speed,
high speed at altitude and other performance
categories. The Hellcat delivered a higher-
caliber aircraft on most fronts, and ultimately
claimed 5,203 Japanese aircrafts and 13
German ones. With a loss of only 270 F6Fs,
the kill-loss ratio was an impressive 19 to 1.
It took less than 18 months for Grumman’s F6F
Hellcat to go from the experimental stage to
operational employment.
 The P-47 Thunderbolt acquired a curious nick-
REPUBLIC P-47D -30-RA name over the course of World War II: “Jug-
gernaut,” or “Jug” for short. The Thunderbolt
T H U N D E R B O LT entered combat in December 1942, and by then,
pilots had grown used to the Spitfire’s agility. By
comparison, the American-made plane weighed
twice as much. But this would become the Jug’s
advantage: It was resilient, able to take enor-
mous damage to the turbo-supercharged engine

76 µĄµ
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without going down. Plus, it was adorned with
heavy armaments, including eight .50 caliber
machine guns total and a capacity for 2,500
pounds of bombs. By the end of the war, the U.S.
had produced more than 15,600 Thunderbolts,
the most of any American fighter.
Though the P-47s went through extensive
development over the war to improve range and
rate of climb, by D-Day it was near top form. It
°µĄ°™ 77
targeted bridges and enemy airfields before the
D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, and it pursued
tanks and armored vehicles as the battle pro-
gressed. It was an essential long-range flier in
Operation Overlord.
The air-cooled radial engine and sturdy construction
of the Thunderbolt enabled it to keep flying even
after absorbing severe battle damage.
µĄµ
 S
AC E
FL YING

R I C H A R D
B O N G
R I C H A R D “ D I C K ” B O N G B E C A M E T H E “A C E O F A C E S ”
in April 1944 when he shot down his 27th plane over New Guinea and broke the
confirmed victories record at the time. Bong solidified his legacy as the top ace
in the U.S. when he shot down his 40th plane just five days after General
Douglas MacArthur personally awarded him the Medal of Honor.
Bong’s twin-engine Lightning became almost as famous as he was. He adorned
the fuselage with a college graduation photo of his eventual wife,
Marjorie “Marge” Vattendahl, and called her teasingly “the most
shot-after girl in the South Pacific.”
Bong died tragically after he’d been sent home from the war. On Aug. 6, 1945, the
same day that U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, he was
testing a P-80 “Shooting Star,” one of America’s first jets, when it exploded near
the Lockheed plant in California. He attempted to escape and was out of the
plane, but the flames from the explosion engulfed him.
A highly decorated airman, Bong is remembered well, especially in his
home state of Wisconsin, giving his name to a bridge, a recreation
area and several airports.

Richard “Dick” Bong solidified his legacy as the top ace in the U.S. when he shot
down his 40th plane five days after receiving the Medal of Honor.

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T H E A I R
B A T T L E
O V E R N I Š
T H E A I R B AT T L E OV E R N I Š, Y U G O S L AV I A
(present-day serbia) was a terrible case of
friendly fire.
On Nov. 7, 1944, three groups of U.S. P-38
Lightning fighters of the 82nd Fighter Group set
out on a mission to intercept German ground
troops that were outside Kosovo. Spotting
marching troops and vehicles below, they began
strafing. What these pilots didn’t realize was that
they were many miles off course and this army
was their allies, the Soviets.
The Yugoslav Partisans and the Bulgarian
People’s Army, both part of the Red Army, were
fulfilling orders to reinforce the Hungarian
Front. They were convoying toward Belgrade
from Niš, which they had just helped free from
the Germans, when the attack began.

The Germans occupied Niš (bottom, left and right) for

more than three years before the Soviets helped free the
city. Shortly after doing so, the Soviets were mistakenly
attacked by U.S. P-38 Lightning fighters (top).

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 81
 R YA N P T- 2 2 A
RECRUIT

82 µĄµ
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The Ryan PT-22A Recruit was a primary trainer
made in the image of the low wing fighters
of World War II. The plane was less popular
than the more well-known Boeing-Stearman
Kaydets or the Fairchild Cornell, and handled
less easily, but it inspired loyalty. Its propo-
nents argue that the Recruit was better to train
on since it was less forgiving than other aircraft.
Over the course of the war, the Air Corps,
which became the U.S. Army Air Force, ordered
more than 1,000 of them. An early order of
°µĄ°™
25 Recruits was scheduled to be shipped to the
Netherlands East Indies, but then the colony
capitulated to Axis powers, and the planes were
rerouted back to the U.S.
The Air Force retired the trainer by the end of
the war and many went into the civilian market.
They’ve appeared in antique air shows since.
Used for primary pilot training, the Ryan PT-22A
Recruit made for a smoother transition to more
demanding low wing fighters during World War II.
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 83
 NORTHROP XP-56
BLACK BULLET

The XP-56 Black Bullet, which Northrop

began designing in 1939, was supposed to be a
radical new aircraft. As with many of the most
useful inventions, it was intended to solve one
set of problems and ended up solving another.
Northrop’s design of the flying wing air-
frame, in which the fuselage merges seamlessly
with the wingspan, failed. The company did,
however, build the XP-56 with magnesium, a
new material used in aircrafts, and established
Heliarc welding, a new construction process.
Both would become industry standard not
long after.
Northrop chose magnesium because it was a
lightweight metal and available. The growing
American war industry had made aluminum
scarce. Also, a Northrop associate developed
the Heliarc welding method that would speed
up the build process for not only aircrafts, but
ships as well. XP-56 Black Bullet would never
fly in World War II, delayed by engine and
control issues, but how it was made provided
a lasting legacy.

The XP-56 represented an attempt to radically

improve combat aircraft performance.

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µĄµ
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FA I R C H I L D P T- 1 9 A
CORNELL
In 1938, as war was still spoken of in hushed
tones, the Air Corps issued a specification for a
rugged trainer, and the PT-19A was born. Like
the Boeing-Stearman Kaydets, it would go on to
train a large swathe of the pilots who contributed
to the fight for the skies across the Army Air
Force, the Navy, and other Allied air forces.
Sherman Fairchild built a monoplane instead of
a biplane like the Kaydet. He figured it’d be better
for pilots to train on, since biplanes were begin-
ning to lose their appeal by the late 1930s.

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 In May 1939, Fairchild entered what would
become the PT-19 Cornell into an Air Corps
competition. He won over 17 other entries
and received an initial contract for 270 aircrafts.
By the start of 1945, more Allies got their first
taste of flight in a Fairchild trainer than in any
other model.

The PT-19 Cornell was among the World War II

vintage trainers displayed at AirFest 2017 in
Nevada City, California, in July 2017.

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 87
 The Noorduyn YC-64 Norseman IV was a bush
°

NOORDUYN YC -64 aircraft ideal for exploring the frozen backcountry

of Canada and Alaska since it could operate from
NORSEMAN IV water, snow or land. Bush pilots happily used
them from 1936 until the start of the war, when
the Royal Canadian Air Force and the U. S. Army
Air Forces began ordering them for service. They
became dedicated trainers and transport vehicles.

88
 In 1944, one Norseman flew Major Glenn
Miller, the distinguished big band leader,
across the English Channel to play a Christmas
concert in Paris. He never arrived.
The leading theory is that an RAF bomber on
a mission was unable to find its target, and as
it flew home, ditched its bombs over the water,
as standard operating procedure dictated.
Researchers eventually discovered that the
Norseman’s flight path was right under the
bomber’s. A typical English fog over the Chan-
nel would have prevented the pilot from seeing
the small bush aircraft below.
The Norseman seated up to eight passengers and
two crew in an enclosed and heated cabin.
 Used extensively in World War II to train naval
N AVA L A I R C R A F T cadets, the N3N-3 was one of the few aircrafts
FA C T O R Y N 3 N - 3 not created by a private company, but built by
the Navy itself. The design was based on float
biplane trainers from Consolidated, originally
made in 1923.
The sea planes that World War II cadets

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would recognize had an extruded aluminum
fuselage instead of welded steel. One explanation
for why the Navy built them is that there
was leftover extruded aluminum from the
USS Akron and USS Macon builds, and they
wanted to put it to good use.
The model enjoyed the longest life of all the
trainers. The Navy stopped production in 1942,
and it was finally retired in 1960. Like many of
the trainers used in the war, the N3N-3 had a
second life in agriculture.
The N3N-3 was configured both as a land plane
and a seaplane.
91
 The British-made Supermarine Spitfire proved
SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE to be an essential aircraft from the moment
it left the production line in 1938. During the
H F. M K . V I I C Battle of Britain, outfitted with Spitfires and
Hurricanes, the RAF held their own against the
so-called superior Luftwaffe aircrafts. More
than 20,000 were made and they faced combat
in every theater of the war.

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 You can recognize a Spitfire by the shape of
the wing. It’s elliptical, a design that reduces
drag and increases speed at higher altitudes.
The wing-shape, along with some crucial
modifications over the years, made it ideal
for a number of jobs. By 1943, engineers had
added external fuel-tanks, so they could carry
bombs to targets farther away and jettison the
°µĄ°™ 93
tanks if needed. And besides serving as a fighter
at times and a bomber at others, it could run
photo-reconaissance at high altitude and sea
rescues flying low. Perhaps no aircraft in the
war was as versatile.
Designed for high-altitude operations, the Spitfire
saw service on every major front of World War II.
µĄµ
 S
AC E
FL YING

M A R M A D U K E
“ P A T ” P A T T L E
M A R M A D U K E “ PAT ” PAT T L E H A I L E D F R O M S O U T H A F R I C A
and, after he was rejected at 18 from the South African Air Force, he
joined up with the RAF. When the war broke out, he was stationed in Egypt,
where he cut his teeth against Italian invasion.
There is some dispute over Pattle’s official number of air victories, though most
agree he downed at least 40 enemy planes and possibly up to 60,
which would make him the highest-scoring pilot flying for Britain. Few dispute
that he was the highest-scoring ace piloting both the Gloster Gladiator,
an outdated biplane, as well as the Hawker Hurricane.
Over just two days in 1941, while sick with the flu in Greece, Pattle achieved his
highest high and lowest low. He achieved the most victories in a single
day—six total—on April 19 of that year. The next day, despite grounding orders
from his superior officer, the RAF ace went after German aircrafts
outside of Athens. While engaged in a dogfight with Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters,
he crashed into Piraeus Harbour and died. He was 26.

Marmaduke “Pat” Pattle was the highest-scoring ace piloting both the Gloster
Gladiator, an outdated biplane, as well as the Hawker Hurricane.

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B I G
W E E K
“OPERATION ARGUMENT” WAS A
weeklong bombing campaign beginning in
February 1944 that helped pave the way for D-Day
later in the spring. It’s now known as “Big Week.”
The plan was to target the Luftwaffe’s heart:
Germany’s industrial centers, especially engines
and ball bearing manufacturers. The Nazis
would be drawn into air battles they couldn’t
afford. Aircrafts lost could no longer be replaced.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force and the RAF would
remain well equipped with new long-range
Mustangs as well as Thunderbolts.
Though the Allies lost a significant number of
fighters and bombers and suffered casualties in
the thousands over the week, they established
air superiority quickly. All told, the RAF and U.S.
forces dropped roughly 10,000 tons of bombs on
12 industrial areas, from Leipzig to Augsburg. They
eventually flew on to Berlin.

The stars of “Big Week” were Mustangs (bottom, left)

and Thunderbolts loaded with .50 caliber cartridge
belts (top). Each of the 22 swastikas on the fuselage
of Captain Fred J. Christensen’s plane (bottom, right)
represents a German aircraft destroyed.

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 M I L I T A R Y
P L A N E S O F

W O R L D W A R I I

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RESEARCHER CONSUMER MARKETING DIRECTOR

Erika Berlin Melanie Piselli

CIRCULATION MANAGER
Bill Fiakos

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PHOTO CREDITS
Cover: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; Three Lions/Getty Images; Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL/Getty
Images; Bettmann Archive/Getty Images; P2-3: Ivan Dmitri/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; P5: Richard Hayward/Alamy Stock Photo; Daily Herald Archive/National
Science & Media Museum/SSPL/Getty Images; Q.R. Porter/PhotoQuest/Getty Images; P7: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images; P8-9: Buyenlarge/Getty Images; P10-11: FPG/
Hulton Archive/Getty Images; P12-13: Three Lions/Getty Images; P14-15: MPI/Getty Images; P16-17: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; P18-19: PhotoQuest/Getty
Images; P20-21: Archive Photos/Getty Images; P22-23: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; P23: US Navy/Interim Archives/Getty Images; P24-
25: © National Archives/Corbis/Getty Images; P26: Art Edger/NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images; P26-27: Corbis/Getty Images; P28-29: Military Images/Alamy Stock
Photo; P31: Ullstein Bild/Getty Images; P32-33: Daily Herald Archive/National Science & Media Museum/SSPL/Getty Images; P32: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images; P33: ©
Museum of Flight/Corbis/Getty Images; P34-35: Richard Hayward/Alamy Stock Photo; P35: Aviation History Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; P36-37: Smithsonian National
Air and Space Museum, NASM; P38: Lockheed Aircraft Corporation/PhotoQuest/Getty Images; P38-39: Underwood Archives/Getty Images; P40-41: Ivan Dmitri/Michael
Ochs Archives/Getty Images (2); P42-43: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images (2); P44-45: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, NASM; P47: Douglas Miller/Keystone/
Hulton Archive/Getty Images; P48-49: Keystone/Getty Images; P48: Piemags/Alamy Stock Photo; P48-49: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images (2); P50: Asar Studios/Alamy
Stock Photo; P50-51: NASA Archive/Alamy Stock Photo; P52-53: America/Alamy Stock Photo; P54-55: PhotoQuest/Getty Images; P56-57: Corbis/Getty Images; P58-
59: © Museum of Flight/Corbis/Getty Images; P60-61: Visions of America, LLC/Alamy Stock Photo; P63: Reg Speller/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; P64-65:
Smith Archive/Alamy Stock Photo; P64: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images; P65: Sovfoto/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; P66-67: PF-(aircraft)/Alamy Stock Photo;
P68-69: Robert Plattner/Oneworld Picture/Universal Images Group/Getty Images; P70-71: Bill Crump/Alamy Stock Photo; P72-73: © Museum of Flight/Corbis/Getty
Images; P74-75: Black&White/Alamy Stock Photo; P76-77: ART Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; P79: PhotoQuest/Getty Images; P80-81: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images;
P80: Ullstein Bild/Getty Images; P81: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy Stock Photo; P82: Aviation History Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; P82-83: Avpics/Alamy Stock Photo;
P84-85: Universal History Archive/ Universal Images Group/Getty Images; P86-87: Rick Pisio/RWP Photography/Alamy Stock Photo; P87: NASA Image Collection/Alamy
Stock Photo; P88-89: Aviation History Collection/Alamy Stock Photo; P90-91: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, NASM; P92-93: Heritage Art/Heritage Images/
Getty Images; P95: No credit; P96-97: PhotoQuest/Getty Images (2); P97: Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images; P99: Fox Photos/Getty Images; P100: Bettmann Archive/
Getty Images; Bill Crump/Alamy Stock Photo
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M O S T - E X A M I N E D W A R W A S W O N .