Messerschmitt Bf-109 G-10

Messerschmitt Bf-109 G-10/Hispano Aviación Buchón HA-1112-M1L Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Messerschmitt Bf-109 G-10/Hispano Aviación HA-1112-M1L. This particular aircraft was built as an HA-1112-M1L Buchón by Hispano Aviación under a 1943 license from Messerschmitt and was fitted with an upright Hispano-Suiza V-12 engine rather than the inverted Daimler-Benz typical of the Bf-109, and thus had a…

Lockheed P-38L Lightning

Lockheed P-38L Lightning Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Lockheed P-38L Lightning, s/n 44-53186 (no name). This particular aircraft was built at Lockheed’s Burbank plant and delivered to the U.S. Army Air Corps in July 1945 but it did not see combat action. Rather, it was sent to Dallas, Texas where it was converted to an F-5G…

Lockheed P2V-7/P-2H Neptune

Lockheed P2V-7/P-2H Neptune Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Lockheed P2V-7/P-2H Neptune, #148360. One of 216 produced, this particular aircraft was one of the last of its type produced for the U.S. Navy: from October 1961 to 1977 it was on submarine patrol in the Atlantic, Arctic, Pacific and Mediterranean Oceans A maritime patrol and anti-submarine aircraft.…

Fieseler Fi-103 V-1

Fieseler Fi-103 “V-1” Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Fieseler Fi-103 “V-1.” Vergeltungswaffe (German for vengeance/retaliatory/reprisal weapon – a nickname assigned by Hitler – or “Kirschkern” (Cherrystone) or Maikäfer (Maybug). Developed at Peenemünde on the Baltic coast beginning in 1936 (a precursor to today’s cruise missiles) it was aimed primarily against England and Belgium. The first deployments…

Fieseler Fi-103R-IV Reichenberg

Fieseler Fi-103R-IV Reichenberg Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Fieseler Fi-103R-IV Reichenberg. This particular aircraft is one of six existing Fi-103R-IV aircraft, and was found in an underground facility that had been covered over by the advancing Soviet army at the end of World War II. It was restored by Bavarian restorer Alexander Kuncze in Geisenhausen (near…

Douglas C-47 Skytrain/DC-3C

Douglas C-47 Skytrain/DC-3C Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Douglas C-47 Skytrain/ DC-3C. Douglas s/n 20806/Line Number 4193, N877MG. This particular aircraft was delivered July 31, 1944 and was ferried by Capt. Peter J. Goutiere in August of that year from the Douglas factory in Long Beach, California as Pan American Air Ferries “Ship 100” to Miami,…

Curtiss P-40K Warhawk

Curtiss P-40K Warhawk Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Curtiss P-40K Warhawk, s/n 42-9749. This particular aircraft was assigned to the Eleventh Air Force as part of the defence of the Aleutian Islands during World War II. In 1944 it suffered engine failure and crashed near Fort Morrow Army Airfield. It was recovered by helicopter from a…

Messerschmitt Me-163 B-1 Komet

Messerschmitt Me-163 B-1 Komet Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Messerschmitt Me-163 B-1 Komet, Wk. Nr. 191660, and Scheuch-Schlepper. This particular aircraft was built by Junkers Aircraft (production of the Me-163 had been largely taken on by Junkers which had fewer production obligations at the time). Its first flight occurred on December 18, 1944 when it was…

Mittelwerk GmbH Aggregat 4 (A-4)

Courtesy of Randy Malmstrom Mittelwerk GmbH Aggregat 4 (A-4) Vergeltungswaffe 2. This particular V-2 was restored from interior components recovered during the 1990’s from the Mittelbau-GmbH facility which used slave laborers from the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. However, the sign also on display is believed to be from Test Stand 7 at Peenemünde, the launch pad…

Grumman F7F-3P Tigercat

By Randy Malmstrom Grumman F7F-3P Tigercat “Bad Kitty” Bu. No. 80483, Constr. No. C.225. This particular aircraft was delivered to the U.S. Navy on July 24, 1945 and was assigned to NAS San Diego. After 46 hours of non-combat flying time it was relegated to the boneyard at Naval Air Station Litchfield in Arizona, but…