In Their Words - Memorable Planes

	P-40 Tomahawk - Common early war fighter aircraft. The role of the fighter was to engage enemy planes in air-to-air combat. The plane became famous as the aircraft of the "Flying Tiger" volunteers fighting in China. Although the P-40 carried heavier machine guns, it was largely outclassed by the famous Japanese "Zero" in terms of speed and maneuverability.
	P-47 Thunderbolt - Originally designed as an air-to-air fighter, by the time the Normandy campaign opened in 1944 it was considered too slow and sluggish for that function. Its heavy armor protection made it an ideal close-support plane, however, and it was highly effective at destroying German vehicles and troop formations.
	P-38 Lightning - A unique twin-engine fighter that performed admirably in Europe but brilliantly from land-bases in the Pacific Theater. Top US air ace Richard Bong used this aircraft to shoot down 40 Japanese planes.
	P-51 Mustang - Arguably the best propeller-driven fighter of World War II, the Mustang symbolized the wartime alliance in that it had a British Rolls Royce Merlin engine fitted into an American-designed airframe. The propeller's rotation was so powerful that on take off pilots had use caution to avoid flipping the craft upside down onto the runway. With external fuel tanks the Mustang could escort allied bombers deep into enemy territory and once there they could outrun, outshoot, and outmaneuver almost anything they ran into (including Germany's famous Messerschmitt 109 and Focke-Wolfe 190).
	F4F Wildcat - The Navy's main aircraft-carrier based fighter plane during the first part of the war. While it had a significantly lower speed and less maneuverability than the Zero, its better armor and self-sealing fuel tanks made it about par in air-to-air combat.
	F6F Hellcat - This plane replaced the Wildcat beginning in 1943 and immediately began knocking down Zeros left and right. In addition to the superior firepower and armor of the Wildcat, the Hellcat had a speed and dexterity that was very close to that of the Zero.
	F4U Corsair - Designed as a carrier-based plane, the odd looking "Gull-winged" Corsair was not met with enthusiasm from the Navy who handed off the initial deliveries of the plane to the Marine Corps in 1943. Marine pilots immediately fell in love with the big, well-armored aircraft which was almost as maneuverable as the Zero and considerably faster. The Navy soon saw the light and later deployed large numbers of them on carriers to help fight off Japanese 'Kamikaze' suicide planes.
	SBD Dauntless Divebomber - The Dauntless was likewise a single-engine carrier-based plane like the F4F, F6F, and F4U but it was designed as a light bomber, not a fighter. It had a crew of two (pilot and tailgunner) and could carry a bomb load of over 2,000 lbs which were typically dropped from a steep dive, hence the name 'Dive-bomber.' This plane is credited with turning the tide in the Pacific by sinking four Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway.
	B-17 Flying Fortress - The 'Fort' was the United States Army Air Forces' primary heavy bomber at the beginning of World War II and remained in a predominant role in Europe until Germany's capitulation. The plane was well armored, had a crew of ten men, mounted as many as thirteen, .50 caliber machine guns, and typically carried around 6,000 lbs of bombs giving it a range of about 2,000 miles. Unlike the Dauntless, the B-17 typically dropped its large payload of bombs while flying level at high altitudes.
	B-24 Liberator - A similar heavy bomber designed for a similar mission to those of the B17. The B-24 was not as heavily armored as the Fortress and usually was armed with less machine guns. On the other hand it carried more bombs, had a longer range, and was a little faster than the other aircraft.
	B-25 Mitchell - A medium bomber that looked something like a two-engine version of the B-24. It was relatively fast, rugged, and reliable, serving in almost every front and theater of the war. Although designed as land-based bombers, these planes were even flown off the carrier USS Hornet by Jimmy Doolittle's men in order to make a famous early-war bombing raid on Tokyo in 1942.
	C-47 Skytrain - Perhaps the most important plane of World War II, the Skytrain started out in life as the civilian DC-3 airliner. Re-fitted for war, the C-47 was used as a cargo carrier, hauling supplies and personnel. It was so rugged and reliable that the term "overbuilt" has been applied to it on more than one occasion. One important variant, the C-53 Skytrooper, was re-fitted to serve as a paratroop drop plane and flew missions over Normandy, Holland, and Germany.