About that previous air war . . .

A Japanese Zero: a world class fighter at war's beginning

Our learning today took place at the Pacific Aviation Museum. Tomorrow I'll have another chance to photograph some of the exhibits on the aircraft from the Korean War. Today, though, I went to the area of the museum showcasing World War II aircraft.

At first I was a little disappointed. My favorite plane, the F4U, was nowhere to be found. Nor could I find the F6F (Hellcat) which was the workhorse fighter for our Navy in the war.

But then I realized what they were up to: it's an exhibit dedicated toe the aircraft that characterized the first year of the war in the Pacific. In other words, the planes that were outdated: too slow, too lightly armed, too ungainly (as a retired Air Force pilot quipped today: a plane flies like it looks . . . if it looks pretty it flies pretty, if it looks ugly . . . ). Eventually these ugly ducklings were replaced by the more beautiful aircraft that capture our imagination.

Here are some pictures of these homely planes.

P-40

Dauntless

F4F (Wildcat)

B-25

Interesting note: When we began the war the Army Air Force and Navy used insignia that featured a large red circle inside our white star. However, that red circle proved to be a liability for early in the war personnel would confuse it with the red "meatball" on the side of Japanese craft. Eventually it was removed and a simple white star in a blue field marked our aircraft.

B-25 from the rear corner. This reconstructed "Mitchell" is meant to be similar to those used in Doolittle's raid.

Our one guest speaker told us today of how a constant in our wartime experience is that we enter the conflicts unprepared for the task at hand, especially when it comes to air power. A hall dedicated to artifacts of our unpreparedness is a good way to learn about an era when some very brave pilots had to use a lot of cunning and skill to compensate for what their equipment lacked.

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