# Question for Aviation Historians (what is the aircraft in this picture?)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 27, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853 "2024-04-27T22:51:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/1 "2024-04-27T22:51:18Z")
Can you identify this aircraft? I don’t know of it’s off the box of a model or maybe a set of DVDs, but I’ve never seen it before. There’s a slight resemblance to the Vultee Vengeance, but the areas fore and aft of the cockpit are different. The color scheme and markings suggest the NW Africa campaign of 1942–43, but as far as I know, the Vengeance never saw combat. There’s also a resemblance to the A-24 variant of the Dauntless, but I don’t think that’s right either.
Was this an actual airplane at one time, or is it purely fictional?
[ ](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZAqhASh_IeA/hq720.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEcCNAFEJQDSFXyq4qpAw4IARUAAIhCGAFwAcABBg==&rs=AOn4CLCLGh4MrbaJ3QEUFSk4vF8dZb_Rpg)
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/2 "2024-04-27T23:13:56Z")
It frankly looks like an AI monstrosity.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/3 "2024-04-27T23:18:21Z")
Not at all surprising. It has all sorts of embellishments that clutter the design.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2024, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/4 "2024-04-27T23:45:11Z")
It’s a TBM Spitfire. 1 of none. Note the spinning prop blades don 't line up with the hub.
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### Author:  [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/5 "2024-04-28T00:30:49Z")
A Martin torpedo bomber? Never heard of such a thing.
I know about the AM Mauler but not the TBM Spitfire.
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/6 "2024-04-28T02:36:04Z")
Agree with this.
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### Author:  [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/7 "2024-04-28T02:57:26Z")
I know next to nothing about historical aircraft, but I would guess it’s AI-generated simply because of the markings on the tail. It looks like “71” followed by a 4 missing the crossbar, or maybe a distorted uppercase lambda. That’s the type of thing that AIs tend to produce when generating text.
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/8 "2024-04-28T04:09:21Z")
The wings don’t even line up.
Franken-plane.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/9 "2024-04-28T04:24:15Z")
Although I’m convinced that if we could see him, the pilot would have a stubby cigar clenched in his teeth.
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### Author:  [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/10 "2024-04-28T04:36:34Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> The wings don’t even line up.
Is that important?
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### Author:  [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/11 "2024-04-28T04:39:17Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#):
>
> > [@Bullitt](#):
> >
> > The wings don’t even line up.
>
> Is that important?
Naah. Just go for it. Let ‘er rip!
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### Author:  [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/12 "2024-04-28T04:45:09Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> Naah. Just go for it. Let ‘er rip!
Just the answer I would expect from a pilot with “a stubby cigar clenched in his teeth.”
🙂
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/13 "2024-04-28T12:48:55Z")
It’s a fake amalgam of “generic WW-II era attack airplane”.
Correct shape and perspective on airplanes is notoriously difficult for artists. By the time you get close enough to have the airplane filling the “screen”, any actual photo you’d be working from will have suffered from fish-eye effects.
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### Author:  [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/14 "2024-04-28T20:18:43Z")
Is it an AT-6 Texan?
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/15 "2024-04-28T20:49:36Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> Note the spinning prop blades don 't line up with the hub.
Which hub? The dark primary or the ghostly one below it?
And that droptank is about to drop, Hank. Or is it a float? Gear wheel nacelle? Barely hanging on by a thread, whatever it is. And is that a phantom intake?
I do like the longwire antenna detail.
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### Author:  [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/16 "2024-04-28T20:57:19Z")
The weird open cowling panels and the faux gun barrel fairings sell it for me.
And also the fact that they can’t decide what orientation the roundel is supposed to be. (On one wing, single point forward; on the opposite wing, two points forward.)
I guess I should be grateful that this time, it’s sufficiently abominable that it’s easily detected as AI garbage.
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/17 "2024-04-28T20:57:40Z")
Is that a conference room video projector under the fuselage?
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/18 "2024-04-28T21:04:03Z")
> [@gnoitall](#):
>
> weird open cowling panels
I decided those were retrofuturistic landing lights.
How about the background? It looks like our hero fighter is in combat against smoldering tire fires on the coast.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/19 "2024-04-28T22:23:38Z")
> [@terentii](#):
>
> I know about the AM Mauler but not the TBM Spitfire.
Tongue in cheek. I don’t think it’s real. That’s why I said it was 1 of none. The spinning prop doesn’t look right, the cowling isn’t aerodynamic and there’s something weird sticking out under the cockpit.
It looks like a TBM Avenger and a Supermarine Spitfire had a child.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2024, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-aviation-historians-what-is-the-aircraft-in-this-picture/1000853/20 "2024-04-28T22:56:52Z")
> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> The wings don’t even line up.
>
> Franken-plane.
Burt Rutan was making real Franken-planes before AI generated images.
[Boomerang](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Rutan_Model_202_Boomerang.jpg/450px-Rutan_Model_202_Boomerang.jpg)
[Wiki page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutan_Boomerang)
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