Crosford, Duxford

Samolot torpedowo-bombowy pokładowy 

Grumman TBM-1c Avenger

"Standard US Navy carrier-based torpedo bomber, in service from mid-1942.

Grumman named the TBF-1. the new torpedo bomber for the US Navy, 'Avenger' on the day that the Japanese attack on Peart Harbor brought the USA into World War Two. It proved to be just that, playing a major part m the sinking of over 60 ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Two features made the Avenger outstanding. It was the first single-engmed American aircraft to incorporate a power-operated gun turret, and the first to carry the heavy 22 inch torpedo. It could also carry bombs, rockets, and depth charges 9.836 Avengers were produced by Grumman and General Motors (Eastern Aircraft Division).

Torpedo attacks by Avengers played the predominant role in the sinking of the largest battleships ever built, the Musashi and Yamato, in October 1944 and April 1945 respectively The Avenger entered Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm service in January 1943 and the British Pacific Fleet's Avengers made devastating attacks on oil refineries in support of the Americans' fmal drive on Japan in 1945.

This Avenger is painted to represent the TBM flown by President George Bush when, as a Lieutenant, he served with the US Navy in the Pacific during 1944. He named the aircraft Barbara, after his wife.

Crew: three

Engines: One 1.900 hp Wright R-2600-20 radial

Performance:

Max speed - 276 mph (444 kph) al 16.000 ft (4.880 m) Cruise speed 147 mph (236 kph)

Cruise speed - 147 mph (236 kph)

Service ceiling - 25.000 ft (7.625 km)

Combat range - 1.000 miles (1.609 km)

Weapons:

Four 0.50 in machinę guns

One torpedo or up to 2.000 Ib (907 kg)

Up to eight air - to surface rockets

Dimensions:

Wing span 54 ft 2 in (16.51 m), length (12 48 m)

Weight: 10.545 Ib (4.783 kg) empty. 17.895 Ib"

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (pol. Latająca Forteca)

Amerykański ciężki samolot bombowy dalekiego zasięgu. Zaprojektowany i zbudowany w amerykańskim koncernie lotniczym Boeing Airplane Company.

Wprowadzenie: kwiecień 1938 r.

Wycofanie: 1968 r.

Rozpiętość skrzydeł: 32 m.

Prędkość maksymalna: 462 km/h

Długość: 23 m.

Koszt jednostkowy: ok. 238329 USD

Typ silnika: gwiazdowy

Samolot myśliwski Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero Fighter

"The most successsful Japanese fighter aircraft of the Second World War

Designed by the Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, the Zero derived its name from the last two characters of the year of its adoption, 2600 (1940). After proving its worth in China, the carrier-based Zero was used in the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. At the start of the war in the Pacific it outclassed every Allied fighter. Its supremacy was finally broken by the new American fighter, the F6F Hellcat, introduced in 1943. At the end of 1944 Zeros were used in suicide attacks against Allied shipping by Kamikaze pilots.

The cockpit is from on aircraft built by the Nakajimo Aircroft Company, probably in 1944. Nothing is konwn od its service history. It is thought to have been captured in 1945 and evacuated by the Allied Technical Air Intelligence Unit - South East Asia.

It was transferred to the Museum by the Royal Air Force in 1961."

Sakae (Prosperity)

"Manufacturer - Nakajima

Type: 14 - cylinder two-rwo radial

Prime use - Mitsubishi A6M5 Zeke, Nakajima B5N2 Kate

Entered Service - 1940

General information - this engine was designed alng the same lines as the Pratt and Whitney Twin - Wasp but was fittes with a twin choke carburettor and a single stage supercharger."

Samolot myśliwski lądowy Kawasaki Ki 100

"This airctaft, a unique survior, was one of the best Japanese single-seat fighters of World War II. It grew aot of a desperate adaptation od an existing airframe to take a different engine and enabled the Japanese in the last months of the Pacific War to field an outstanding combat aircraft. it was a nimble, fast fighter which proved very effective in intercepting long-range American B-29 Superfortress bombers and their escorting fighters defending the homeland of Japan.

Milestones?

This was one of a series of aircraft developed by all major players in World War II which pushed the existing technology to its limits. Its wal also an example of ingenuity and flexibility being built during the latter stages of a conflict at a time when widespread destruction od manufacturing facilities had placed a secere strain on Japanese production abilities."

Samolot - pocisk (latająca bomba) Yokosuka Ohka 

Przenoszona wraz z pilotem w komorze bombowej samolotu - niszczyciela. Po dotarciu na miejsce ataku samolot - pocisk był zwalniany z zaczepów i pilot kamikaze wykonywał nim swój samobójczy lot. 

"The Japanesc Ohka (Cherry Blossom) was primarily used against ships. It was flown to the target area strapped beneath a specially modificd twin-engined "Betty"bomber. The pilot entered the cockpit via a hatch in the lower fuselage of the bomber.

Having dropped away from the parent aircraft the Ohka would glide towards its target, the pilot electricaly igniting the rockets towards the end of the flight. He guided the Ohka visually to its target using the ring and bead sight mounted in front of the cockpit.

The accuracy of the attacks carried out was quite low; this was attributed to the difficulty of guiding the aircraft at high speed with limited control response. 

Unpowered prototypes were tested in October 1944 and 755 were built before production ended in March 1945.

After months of planning the first operational mission on 21 March 1945 ended in disaster and failure. US Navy and Marine Corps Hallcat fighters broke through the Japanese fighter escort screen and shot down sixteen of the twenty vulnerable and highly inflammable Mitsubishi G4M2e"Betty" mother aircraft from the 721st Kokutai (one of two units specially formed to operate the Ohka). The four damaged survivors limped home without releasing thcir Ohkas.

Later limited successes, including the sinking of the American destroyer USS Manntert L.Abele on 12 April 1945 wilh the loss of 73 crew members, could not disguisc the total vulnerability of the mother aircraft to the US fleet's fighter screens. The entire programme was abandoned and Cherry Blossom was consigned to history."

Źródło informacji: 

Royal Air Force Museum - Cosford

Imperial War Museums - Duxford