What would you ask a WW2 Ace?

[eddiek]

Robert S. Johnson, if he were still alive at least.  Questions?  Hhhhmmmm.......
#1:  Was the P47 really a match for the German planes as it came from the factory, or did your crewchief have to make mods to it to make it more competitive.....and did everyone else do the same to their birds?

#2:  Since they were in service at the same time, how would you personally rate the Jug compared to the the P51 and P38 as air to air fighters?

Next, Warrant Officer Kaneyoshi Muto.  Questions:

#1: When you engaged those 12 F6F Hellcats singlehandedly, at what point did you turn on your anti-gravity drive?

#2:Another N1K2-J pilot said that the Homare engine performance was much lower than catalog due to reduced fuel quality (85 octane), and that the Shiden-kai performed well against the Hellcat but had troubles with the Mustang.  Do you agree with his assessment of the Shiden-kai performance?  

[Voss]

Bob Hoover.

#1 - Why yellow, man?

#2 - Do you and Chuck ever get together anymore?

#3 - (After asking him to try AH, until his first death) How do you feel about a snot-nosed, ground-bounder dweeb killing you?

[Sachs]

How many licks to the center of a tootsie pop?

[Sancho]

Good topic, BTW.

If I had a lot of time, I would ask any WW2 pilot to take me through a day in the life of a fighter pilot.  I'd ask him to try and remember as many details as he could about daily routine--not necessarily a specific mission.  What was it like from reveille to chow to briefing to getting the plane and waiting to takeoff into the mission and landing, then getting drunk at the end of the day.    We could go off on tangents from anything above.

In the book P-47 Pilots: the FighterBomber Boys, author and 9th AF P-47 pilot Tom Glenn devotes a single chapter to this kind of stuff--taking you with him as he goes on a mission and its really a brain dump of everything he can remember about how it was.  Awesome stuff.

The pilots I'd want to talk most (mostly to talk about tactics) with would be Hub Zemke, Robert S. Johnson (both now dead   ), Francis Gabreski, Walker Mahurin, Gerald W. Johnson, Mike Gladych--all aces from the 56th FG.  I'm happy to meet whatever ww2 pilots I can though.  Aces or not, allied or axis, they've all got good stories to tell.

[gatt]

Some months ago I had a long interview with Emanuele "Ele" Annoni, an 11 victories italian C.202 ace. He led the 96a Squadriglia, 9°Gruppo, 4°Stormo in North Africa. I asked him 1/100 of what I wanted to know. One week with him would not have been enuff  

Anyway ... no furballs, only Hit&Run, short and furious dogfights, great respect for RAF pilots, stress, fellows dead ... this was his life.

[Duedel]

Great thread!

Gatt (or any other) i would really appreciate it if u would post the interview or a link to the interview or links to any other interviews   ! Maybe its worth a new thread in the history forum?
My grandfather was flying in a HE 111. Unfortunately i havent talked to him much about WWII. So my questions would be what feelings/thoughts he (or any other pilot/gunner ...)had when he was flying over enemy territory knowing this could be the last sortie.

[Curval]

I was not suggesting that German pilots were "lying" or that they did not deserve respect...just that the Germans had much less rigorous confirmation of kill requirements.  

The US pilots, for example, had to have a confirmation of the kill by another pilot who saw the enemy pilot get shot down....if there was no second set of eyes then the kill did not count as official.  I do not think that this was the case for the Germans, but I could be wrong.  Hey...other question for Hartman.

I was actually very lucky to be taught History by a Wing Commander of a Hurricane Squad who took part in the Battle of Britain.  He was the best teacher I ever had....he could draw maps in seconds that were unbelievable...and he had the knack of being able to capture and entrall his students with the details of a given battle or senario.  He is one reason why I am flying here today!  A few friends of mine, and I, used to be able to distract him from the topic that he was trying to teach with a simple question about WW2.  He would then launch into a detailed description of the battles in which he fought and draw his maps to show not only the tactical aspects of a battle, but also the overall strategic situation that faced them at the time.  Sadly he passed away about 10 years ago...I recently sent his wife a letter telling her how much I enjoyed his classes and how he turned me into a WW2 buff.  She wrote back and mentioned that my letter brought tears to her eyes....not because it was well written or anything, but because she was so happy that her husband was fondly remembered by his students.

He was a very tough man (he played Rugby for the Lions - British national team)...but very fair as well.

 

[Grimm]

Originally posted by Voss:
Bob Hoover.

#1 - Why yellow, man?

#2 - Do you and Chuck ever get together anymore?

#3 - (After asking him to try AH, until his first death) How do you feel about a snot-nosed, ground-bounder dweeb killing you?

Voss,  I can answer #2 for you.  Yes, They see each other every summer at Oshkosh. Bud Anderson is there also.  What a bunch of Great Guys.  The Oshkosh Fly-in AirVenture is the place to be man!  

If I see Bob, I will ask him about the Yellow  

[Grimm]

This is a Great Question.

Hmmmm...  Well Chuck Yeager is out, Iv already met him, and heard about every story by now.  

Iv never met Bud Anderson, but Iv heard him tell all his stories about a dozen times.

Maybe Dick Bong.  Then I can ask him why his nephew Chris is the way he is... ;D  (yup Chris used to work for my uncle)

How about Earl "Dutch" Miller.  I would ask him what he is going to order for lunch. (got lunch plans with him)

I guess the one question that I would ask of any fighter pilot is this.

How can you get into a dogfight and not get sick from pulling positive and negetive G's for an extended period of time.  I know 15mins is about my limit??

You know its great living in Wisconsin, We have alot of aviation right in our backyards.  

::Brag mode off::
Muhahahahahahaaa

[Rotorian]

Originally posted by Grimm:


How about Earl "Dutch" Miller.  I would ask him what he is going to order for lunch. (got lunch plans with him)


::Brag mode off::
Muhahahahahahaaa

Peanutbutter and jelly sammich.  I swear it is true, ask +Mia  .

[muckmaw]

What about Butch O'Hare?

I think he's dead though.

I would want to talk to one of my drunks. Seems jumping out of a perfectly good airplane takes alot of balls.

I recently got a letter from Dick Winters, The CO of 101st Airborne Easy Company.

He ws nice enough to write back after I saw the HBO series "Band of Brothers"

Hell of a nice guy.

[llbm_MOL]

I've met about 5 fighter aces and about the same on Bomber pilots. Listened to thier speaches and shook thier hands. All you have to do is go to an Aces High CON. They always have at least two or more speakers at each CON I've been to. You also might wanna look up AKWabbits post in the archives here and download his vidoes of this years CON. He taped both speakers and posted it to the BBS.

LLB OUT!!!!

[Darkglam]

Curval.  Some tactics with 109:

  - Boom and zom (Hartmann didn't like dogfigths)
  - Shots at <d100(*) with 20mm & 30mm  (remember the words of Hartmann:  near, near). You know the story of a pilot of P51 agaist Bubbi over Ploesti(Rumania)?
  - Spiral climbs, hammer...
  - 4 Fingers
  - Split-S, G negatives,
  - Don't dive with P51,P47 at the back.
  - Don't turn with spits, yaks, etc...
 
About the Hartmann kill, they were probably more than 352. The German systems of recognition of victories were so rigorous with those of the allies.  However the japoneces was enough bad: overclaims, kills of group. They had very liberal methods of counting the victories.   For example Tetsuzo Iwamoto  birdcall 200 victories.the alone historians recognize him 80. The same thing for Tanimizu, Nishizawa, Sasai, etc.
 
  The 109 were such a good airplane as the P51, although difficult to steer. For experten like Hartmann, Barkhorm(the best), Rall, Krupinski, Galland, Marseille etc etc at the end should not be very difficult to get victories.

 Greetings, and sorry for my poor english
( poor english of Power Translator Pro ;-) )
 

P.S: Hartmann was shotdown 17 times ... fortunate boy, but it was for the 11 years of prisoner in the URRS after WW 2.
 

 
 

(*) Kills D900 of AH.  They are not too real.  
   

[LePaul]

Was invited to a military dinner a few years ago, one where Chuck Yeager was the guest of honor.  Was told we could all meet and chat with him.  Wanted to ask him about the X-flights and how it felt to be the 1st to fly faster than the speed of sound and not be able to talk/bragg about it.  Was waiting near the door for him when it swung open suddenly, nailing me in the face and knocking me down the the ground.  Regained my marbles as I lay there, and Chuck held his hand out to help me up.  "Nice landing" he says with a grin and helps me up.  Buys me a beer and moves on, chatting with other guests.  Didnt get any questions answered but I sure remember that like it was yesterday!

[Ratbo]

Originally posted by Duedel:

[QB]Great thread!

Ya, but it belongs on the O' Club!

(Hey! I had to

But seriously folks.... During my association with AW, I've got to meet many a WW2 Pilot and ask the dweeby questions we all always wanted to. And stading next to these men, one tends to snivel a bit.  

The first question to ask bar none is.....
"So whatcha drinkin'?" I havn't met a WW2 pilot yet that forgot how to drink. It's only polite to buy him a cocktail and adress him as "Sir".

Now....
When you look into the *eyes* of a man like Bud Anderson or General Olds or Gabby etc. you see "something". A something that time cannot dim. It's sad to lose these guys.

Last month I got to talk to Gen. Paul Tibbets and Col. Bob Morgan.  Talk about a couple of buff drivers from hell.  

-W