# Can Anyone Identify The Planes In This Video?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 10, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844 "2017-03-10T06:42:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SHARKBITEATTACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SHARKBITEATTACK)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/1 "2017-03-10T06:42:21Z")
Toward the end the cameraman pans in a circle. What are the other planes that you can see? It looks like they are WWII or Korea Vintage.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMMf-leWZ_8)
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### Author:  [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2017, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/2 "2017-03-10T07:05:53Z")
The first silver plane is another b-25, then a TBF Avenger torpedo bomber,(navy ww2), another b25, P-47 fighter (USAAF ww2), F4 Phantom jet fighter (Navy, Vietnam war), P-40 Warhawk fighter (USAAF ww2), and finally a P-39 Airacobra fighter (USAAF WW2).
I also spotted an F4 Corsair and what appears to be a replica Zero in the background.
They are all WW2 vintage expect for the jet which is Cold War.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2017, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/3 "2017-03-10T07:06:42Z")
I saw (in order):
(0:53) Another B-25 (silver)
(0:58) Possibly a Grumman F4F Wildcat (First guess was a Brewster F2A Buffalo, but the landing gear isn’t right.)
(1:01) Yet another B-25
(1:04) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
(1:08) McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
(1:10) Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
(1:13) Bell P-39 Airacobra
If anyone has better guesses for any of those, I’m all ears.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2017, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/4 "2017-03-10T07:09:41Z")
yendis may be right about the TBF Avenger.
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### Author:  [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2017, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/5 "2017-03-10T07:44:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> yendis may be right about the TBF Avenger.
My first thought was also Wildcat, then I spotted the sideways hinging canopy and a brief bit of googling led me to think Avenger.
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### Author:  [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2017, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/6 "2017-03-10T15:30:06Z")
I think the above posters pretty much nailed it but here’s my contribution:
A/C being towed is a B-25J (pod mounted .50s)
Silver B-25J (I think)
A line of Texans/Trojans and a Catalina/Canso in the background
TBF Avenger (side mounted canopy and rear gunner position (barely visible)
F4U Corsair and an possibly an F4F Hellcat in the background.
B-25J
P-47D Thunderbolt
F-4 Phantom but I can’t tell which variant
P-40E (3-.50 cals in each wing and carb scoop on cowling so not an -F)
P-39D Airacobra (I think)
Finally, a B-25G or H with that awesome 75mm cannon in the nose.
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### Author:  [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/7 "2017-03-10T18:56:03Z")
> [@swampspruce](#):
>
> I think the above posters pretty much nailed it but here’s my contribution:
>
> A/C being towed is a B-25J (pod mounted .50s)
> Silver B-25J (I think)
> A line of Texans/Trojans and a Catalina/Canso in the background
> TBF Avenger (side mounted canopy and rear gunner position (barely visible)
> F4U Corsair and an possibly an F4F Hellcat in the background.
> B-25J
> P-47D Thunderbolt
> F-4 Phantom but I can’t tell which variant
> P-40E (3-.50 cals in each wing and carb scoop on cowling so not an -F)
> P-39D Airacobra (I think)
> Finally, a B-25G or H with that awesome 75mm cannon in the nose.
If you’re gonna do letter models…🙂 Avenger is TBM-3 series based on the air scoop at the bottom of the cowl, cheating to look up the actual plane it’s a TBM-3E; P-40M, later model because of the longer fuselage, but looking it up it’s a P-40M painted up to be a similar RNZAF Kittyhawk III; P-39Q, guess based on general idea that WWII warbirds are late models, again cheated and confirmed it. The a/c next to the Corsair in the background is also an Avenger.
A few WWII ‘warbirds’ are early models but if so usually ‘restorations’ (ie somebody built one, often virtually from scratch). The ones that are really the original planes are usually the big volume models built in 1944-45.
The F-4 is a QF-4E target drone. Two attended AirVenture in 2016, last appearance there of the F-4 in USAF service. The program ended soon after as the remaining ones were shot down or retired. That type of combat a/c to target drone conversion is optionally manned: pilots flew them to the air show and in flight demonstrations there, though they fly unmanned to get shot at.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2017, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/8 "2017-03-11T00:17:09Z")
I don’t think that’s an F-4, I think it’s an A-4 Skyhawk. The wings aren’t gulled like a Phantom’s.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2017, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/9 "2017-03-11T04:13:44Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> I don’t think that’s an F-4, I think it’s an A-4 Skyhawk. The wings aren’t gulled like a Phantom’s.
The engine air intakes don’t look like an A-4.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2017, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/10 "2017-03-11T04:20:16Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> The engine air intakes don’t look like an A-4.
Yeah, agree, not A-4.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2017, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/11 "2017-03-11T04:37:29Z")
The jet is unequivocally an F-4. It _looks_ like an F-4E, though it could be an RF-4C. I can’t get a big enough picture to tell.
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### Author:  [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/12 "2017-03-11T17:04:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> The jet is unequivocally an F-4. It _looks_ like an F-4E, though it could be an RF-4C. I can’t get a big enough picture to tell.
As in post #7, it’s a QF-4E target drone. Media stories said two QF-4’s were present at that air show, AirVenture 2016. The other had a different paint scheme (both were done up in historic F-4E schemes rather than their normal drone paint schemes). And a side shot shows 167 as the last three digits of the serial, making it 72-0167 an F-4E-53-MC ordered in fiscal 1972, served with the 52nd Tactical Fighter Wing at Spangdahlem, Germany, retired to the ‘boneyard’ in 1990, converted to a QF-4.
But, without knowing that it would still be possible to say it was originally an F-4E because of the bulge at the top of the vertical tail for antenna, smaller than an F-4G ‘Wild Weasal’ conversion (of some earlier production F-4E’s) to which it also looks otherwise similar, and which isn’t on RF-4C’s. Also I believe you’d be able to make out the flatter nose sides and side camera windows if it was an RF-4 despite the two guys nearby, and between them you can see the deeper ‘gondola’ fairing compared to an RF-4’s shallower fairing. But once you know the particular plane…
Other QF-4 conversions were from F-4G’s and RF-4C’s.
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### Author:  [@SHARKBITEATTACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SHARKBITEATTACK)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/13 "2017-03-15T20:58:45Z")
The Jet is indeed a F-4 Phantom converted into a QF-4 target drone that was destroyed in the subsequent months.
Here’s the plane and pilot that flew the last remaining ones.
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKvHAVKvK30)
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/14 "2017-03-17T17:17:19Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> I don’t think that’s an F-4, I think it’s an A-4 Skyhawk. The wings aren’t gulled like a Phantom’s.
The dihedral on a Phantom’s wing is [not as pronounced in plan view](http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/usa/mcdonnel_phantom.gif) as it appears from other angles, and certainly not as pronounced as the anhedral tail. I can see why it looks a bit like a Skyhawk because of the people blocking the Phantom-y bits, but the Skyhawk has distinctive semicircular intakes. The Phantom doesn’t - it has rounded rectangles like the ones on the plane in the video.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [March 17, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/15 "2017-03-17T20:07:49Z")
I didn’t realize there were so many flyable B-25s.
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### Author:  [@SHARKBITEATTACK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SHARKBITEATTACK)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2017, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/16 "2017-03-18T02:46:31Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#):
>
> I didn’t realize there were so many flyable B-25s.
Here’s a list of all airworthy ones.
> **[List of surviving North American B-25 Mitchells](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_North_American_B-25_Mitchells)**
>
> There are more than one hundred surviving North American B-25 Mitchells scattered over the world, mainly in the United States. Most of them are on static display in museums, but about 45 are still airworthy.
> A significant number of these were brought together for Catch-22, a 1970 war film adapted from the book of the same name by Joseph Heller. When Catch-22 began preliminary production, Paramount hired the Tallmantz Aviation organization to obtain available B-25s. Tallmantz president, Frank ...
I know in the past there used to be large gatherings of B-25s in honor of Doolittle Raid that included the veterans who were part of it. Unfortunately I think there is only one of them still alive.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2017, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/17 "2017-03-18T12:55:55Z")
Thanks, SHARK.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [March 18, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/18 "2017-03-18T13:40:28Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> I saw (in order):
>
> (0:53) Another B-25 (silver)
> (0:58) Possibly a Grumman F4F Wildcat (First guess was a Brewster F2A Buffalo, but the landing gear isn’t right.)
> (1:01) Yet another B-25
> (1:04) Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
> (1:08) McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
> (1:10) Curtiss P-40 Warhawk
> (1:13) Bell P-39 Airacobra
>
> If anyone has better guesses for any of those, I’m all ears.
Good eye on the Airacobra.🆒
Could the Thunderbolt actually be a Bearcat?
Maybe.😕
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### Author:  [@cmdrpiffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmdrpiffle)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2017, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/19 "2017-03-19T07:18:49Z")
In order thru the pan…
b-25
b-25
b-25
AT-6 disguised as an A6M5 Aero (several other AT-6’s in the background)
Grumman H-16 Albatross
TBM Avenger
AT-6 (Zero)
F4U Corsair
T-28 Trojan far background, only nose head on showing
TBM Avenger
B-25
P-47
QF4 Phantom II
P-40 N (War Hawk variant, longer fuselage)
P-39 Airacobra
B-25
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### Author:  [@cmdrpiffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmdrpiffle)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2017, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-identify-the-planes-in-this-video/781844/20 "2017-03-19T07:20:59Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#):
>
> Good eye on the Airacobra.🆒
>
> Could the Thunderbolt actually be a Bearcat?
> Maybe.😕
No, It’s a P-47