WWII planes that have no surviving examples

[ElvisL1ves]

Actually, upon further research, it said “Manufacture Ferme” and “Mon coeur est en chomage” (“Plant Closed” and “My heart is not under occupation”).

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Some great shots, recently sent to me by a friend, of the 2009 Edwards AFB open house - many historic and contemporary warplanes: http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/Edwards09/Edwards09.html

[gunnergoz]

I’m feeling too lazy to Google. Do any P-61 Black Widows survive? I’m going to guess there may be one at Wright-Patterson, if anywhere.

[Precambrianmollusc]

@carnivorousplant

How successful was the komet as an interceptor?

From the wiki

“It is the only rocket-powered fighter aircraft ever to have been operational”

A long and unsuccessful development summarized in one short sentence.

[audit1]

@gunnergoz

I’m feeling too lazy to Google. Do any P-61 Black Widows survive? I’m going to guess there may be one at Wright-Patterson, if anywhere.

There are four p-61 black widows

Beijing China

US Airforce Museum Wright patterson

Udvar hazy center DUlles AIrport Smithsonian

Mid Atantic Aviation Museum Reading PA. This one was pulled out of the jungle and is on a very long term restoration to fly.

[shaunmike]

WWII planes that have no surviving examples
I am referring specifically to planes that saw combat in WWII, but none exist anymore, not even non-flying examples in a museum.

One is the Douglas Devastator torpedo bomber. After more than half of all of those in existence were shot down at Midway, they were taken out of combat and the rest were scrapped in 1944. Wiki notes 4 “survivors”, all of these are underwater after ditching – AFAIK none have been recovered for restoration. In my mind they don’t count, nor would wreckage out in a jungle somewhere.

I’m sure there are plenty of others but I don’t know which they are. Wiki also says there is one Fairey Barracuda (another torpedo bomber) currently being rebuilt out of two wrecks, so if that’s correct it’s another example that will soon be rectified.

[Dahu]

@Mk_VII

Things which were novel attracted the attention of Allied scientists and ensured that (mostly) the type was passed to the Smithsonian (or someone) once its value was exhausted. Types which had been made earlier in the war, of which a great deal was already known, were of less interest. Dornier 17/217s, Hampdens or Whitleys, Fairey Battles, Blenheims (though some have been reconstructed out of Canadian Bolingbrokes in recent years) the list is endless. As late as 1949 a number of unique types were scrapped for want of storage space when the Air Historical Branch was instructed to severely prune its holdings for financial reasons.

There might not turn out to be much left of it, but there’s a Dornier 17 at the bottom of the English channel.

Salvaging a rare WWII plane from the sea

[Malacandra]

@Raguleader

There is a V-1 rocket on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere. Interestingly enough, it actually flew on a mission and still lived to retire in Kansas.

The V-1 wasn’t a rocket but an early cruise missile powered by a pulse-jet engine. I just had a look at the Cosmosphere website and it does sloppily talk about “V-1 and V-2 rockets” but only the latter was a rocket (a remarkable one for its time, albeit a huge waste of money).

[ElvisL1ves]

I’m not sure if you’d count it, but there are multiple examples of the Republic JB-1 “Loon” in US museums. It was a direct copy of the V-1, reportedly even including some captured German parts, which would have been used to soften up Japan for the Operation Olympic/Coronet invasions.

[drachillix]

@echo7tango

I visited Planes of Fame Air Museum. It’s definitely worth it. I wanted to have a quick 1- or 2-hr visit, but it was so good I ended up staying for 4.5 hours there. A treat was seeing my first flying P-38. Of the nine surviving airworthy P-38s in the US, two are in Chino, CA.

Another fun one is the Castle Air Museum

http://www.castleairmuseum.org/

They are actualy having “open cockpit day” where they let you up a little closer and let you into crew spaces of many of the larger planes.

[Bullitt]

@drachillix

Another fun one is the Castle Air Museum

http://www.castleairmuseum.org/

They are actualy having “open cockpit day” where they let you up a little closer and let you into crew spaces of many of the larger planes.

Thanks, I’ve been there. My daughter went to UC Merced which is nearby. They have a B-36 there and I was able to sneak my car into the field where it was, park beneath its wing, and take a picture of that. I thought that was a pretty ccol picture.

[Isilder]

@ElvisL1ves

I’m not sure if you’d count it, but there are multiple examples of the Republic JB-1 “Loon” in US museums. It was a direct copy of the V-1, reportedly even including some captured German parts, which would have been used to soften up Japan for the Operation Olympic/Coronet invasions.

jb-2 = v1
Wikipedia tells me the JB-1 is the Northrop JB-1 “Bat” , a surface-to-surface cruise missile

[Elendil_s_Heir]

They just raised a Do-17 bomber from the English Channel: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/11/world/europe/wwii-german-bomber-raised/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

[Novelty_Bobble]

I live just a couple of miles inland from where the Dornier was raised last week and with good binoculars you could see the rig clearly. Yesterday we also had the last remaining Vulcan bomber fly over our house (very low…very loud and the kids we thrilled by it) We are also off to the Manston Airshow next weekend, 5 minutes up the road with lots of piston-powered noisy goodness, hurrah!

[Isilder]

@Elendil_s_Heir

They just raised a Do-17 bomber from the English Channel: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/11/world/europe/wwii-german-bomber-raised/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

You think it past the test by
a. being lifted into the air by crane,
b. looking a bit like an aircraft

Its passing the test of “being able to hold its own weight”. but its weight is reduced quite a lot by corrosion.

If there was a single solid airframe left, the experts would have called this pile of oxide ‘destroyed wreckage’ !,

[carnivorousplant]

It looks rather grim.

[Loach]

@gunnergoz

I’m feeling too lazy to Google. Do any P-61 Black Widows survive? I’m going to guess there may be one at Wright-Patterson, if anywhere.

@audit1

There are four p-61 black widows

Beijing China

US Airforce Museum Wright patterson

Udvar hazy center DUlles AIrport Smithsonian

Mid Atantic Aviation Museum Reading PA. This one was pulled out of the jungle and is on a very long term restoration to fly.

Last weekend I went to the annual WWII weekend in Reading. I recommend it to anyone interested in warbirds. Drop a bit of cash and you can go for a ride in one. They had the P-61 on display. It’s not nearly ready to fly but they put a lot of work into it and it looks great so far.

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Stalking the world’s biggest planes: http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/21/travel/plane-spotting-big-aircraft/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

[jovan]

@ElvisL1ves

Actually, upon further research, it said “Manufacture Ferme” and “Mon coeur est en chomage” (“Plant Closed” and “My heart is not under occupation”).

Mon coeur est en chômage does not mean “my heart is not under occupation,” it means “my heart is unemployed.” </ nitpick>

[JKellyMap]

@Malacandra

The V-1 wasn’t a rocket but an early cruise missile powered by a pulse-jet engine. I just had a look at the Cosmosphere website and it does sloppily talk about “V-1 and V-2 rockets” but only the latter was a rocket (a remarkable one for its time, albeit a huge waste of money).

The website may be sloppy (in that respect), but the actual exhibit is not at all. I was just there last week, and all the texts accompanying all the pieces (including the V-1 and V-2) are, AFAICT, complete and accurate. One of the most informative museums I can recall enjoying, in fact. And, they do a good job of putting the aerospace history in its larger context (various phases of the Cold War, etc.) – something especially important for teaching kids these days for whom the Berlin Wall is as ancient as the Great Wall of China.