WWII Aircraft I
Thomas J. Lynch's P-38
LT Col. Thomas was one of the top three fighter aces when, March 8, 1944, he went down in his P-38 Lightning in the southwest Pacific off New Guinea. He had shot down 20 Japanese planes, mostly fast-moving Zeroes. The twin columns of tiny Rising Sun flags on the P-38's hull were like notches in a gunslinger's pistol.
Ironically, Lynch wasn't shot down by a Japanese fighter pilot. On a routine mission with Maj. Richard I. "Dick" Bong, the all-time No. 1 American ace with 40 kills, Lynch spotted barges loaded with weapons. He swept down upon them, only to be hit with a surprise barrage of flak. One engine on fire, one of the plane's two propellers gone, Lynch struggled to bail out. He was poised to jump, Bong said when the plane exploded.
18 x 24 print
16 x 20 print
Captured P-38
Actually an F-5E, a reconnaissance version of the P-38. This particular aircraft, sporting Luftwaffe markings, was stolen by American pilot Martin James Monti when he defected to the German side.
Monti left his base in Karachi, Pakistan on October 13, 1944, hitched a ride aboard a C-46 to Cairo, and from there he traveled to Italy via Tripoli. He stole the plane from the 354th Air Service Squadron and flew it to Milan, where he surrendered it to the Germans and defected.
It was also in the book "Strangers In A Strange Land"
18 x 24 print
16 x 20 print
Donier Do 335 A-O
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"Pfeil/Arrow"
The Dornier Do 335 belongs in the small group of aircraft whose performance put them at the pinnacle of piston-engine aircraft development because it was one of the fastest aircraft powered by a piston engine ever flown. The Germans claimed that a pilot flew a Do 335 at a speed of 846 km/h (474 mph) in level flight at a time when the official world speed record was 755 km/h (469 mph). Two liquid-cooled engines each developing about 1,750 hp powered the Do 335. Dornier mounted one engine in the nose and the other in the tail in a unique low-drag push-pull configuration. This innovative design also featured an ejection seat, a tail fin which the pilot could jettison, and tricycle landing gear
18 x 24 print
16 x 20 print