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Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 12:17 am

Small air forces have through the years, by necessity, adapted airframes not intended for combat, into that role.

To mind, come the Rhodesian AF, Guatemalan and Salvadorean AFs, and even the U.S. CAP.

So, this is an invitation for images and comments on such aircraft that are too, legitimate warbirds.

This is an image [EDITED] from the Andrew Watson collection- of a Rhodesian Bonanza, with .30cal gun packs.

Saludos,


Tulio
Attachments
1953 Bonanza in Rhodesia.jpg
Last edited by Tulio on Wed May 25, 2011 1:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 12:20 am

Didn't the Israelis roll 500# bombs out the door of a C-47 in the first conflict?

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 12:28 am

Yes, they did; they had a system of rollers installed on the floor of the Douglas.

And the Hondurans did something similar, IIRC during the 1969 100 Hour War against El Salvador, using a C-47 to bomb the Salvadorean
AF's main installations in Ilopango Airfield.

Argentineans employed civilian turboprop and executive jet aircraft as squadron hacks and also as navigational pathfinders for some of
their missions into the Islas Malvinas [Falklands] in 1982.


Saludos,


Tulio

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 10:35 am

I'm no Bonanza expert, but that example looks much newer than 1953, unless there has been a lot of conversion work done. The photo certainly doesn't date from 1953.

I'd like to see that at an airshow in the US! :mrgreen:

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 10:54 am

Tulio wrote:Small air forces have through the years, by necessity, adapted airframes not intended for combat, into that role.

To mind, come the Rhodesian AF, Guatemalan and Salvadorean AFs, and even the U.S. CAP.

So, this is an invitation for images and comments on such aircraft that are too, legitimate warbirds.

This is an image -photographer is unknown to me- of a Rhodesian Bonanza, with .30cal gun packs.

Saludos,


Tulio


Is that Bob Diemert?

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 11:42 am

It's hard to tell from an old KODAK BROWNIE picture, but that Doctor killer may have had the third window painted on like Poor Sailors Airlines did with their DC-4's by painting the window surrounds square so people would think they were DC-6's-

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 1:16 pm

I think the confusion may come from here:

http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/1953.htm

I think it's PHOTO # 1953.

According to Wiki, the V35A is 1968-1969:

V35A
(1968-1969) V35 with a streamlined windshield and minor changes, optional turbocharged TSIO-520-D engine (as V35A-TC), 470 built


The Inspector wrote:It's hard to tell from an old KODAK BROWNIE picture, but that Doctor killer may have had the third window painted on like Poor Sailors Airlines did with their DC-4's by painting the window surrounds square so people would think they were DC-6's-

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 2:44 pm

mustanglover wrote:Is that Bob Diemert?



I thought that too!!! Followed closely by didn't I see that on the ramp at Harlingen one year?

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 3:23 pm

Makes sense now. The Inspector's comment would certainly have been possible as well, except the three bladed prop wouldn't have made much sense unless a larger engine had been installed- in which case installing the larger windows would also have been plausible.

famvburg wrote:I think the confusion may come from here:

http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/1953.htm

The Inspector wrote:It's hard to tell from an old KODAK BROWNIE picture, but that Doctor killer may have had the third window painted on like Poor Sailors Airlines did with their DC-4's by painting the window surrounds square so people would think they were DC-6's-

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Tue May 24, 2011 4:47 pm

Another quite unusual warbird is the Swedish MFI 9, also produced as Bökow 208 in Germany. Originally a light 2-seater for Training with a 100 HP RR-Continental O-200-A, several were equipped with rocket-pods under the wings. They performed quite well initially in the Biafran war against Nigeria. The pictures below were taken from this site (in Swedish):

http://lae.blogg.se/category/biafra.html


Image

Image

Image

Several other pics and drawings on the website/blog

Michael

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Wed May 25, 2011 1:31 am

Too late for the correct answer, but...yes, I believe that 1953 was the photo classification / serial number versus the airplane's year of manufacture. I received the photo a long time ago, and posted it as received.

Thank you for posting the link. Now I have the photographer's namne added to the photo.

Saludos,


Tulio

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Wed May 25, 2011 2:08 am

During January 1929, three Ryan B-1 Broughams took part in combat agaings rebel troops led by Colonel Marciano Casado, during a revolt that took place in the departments of San Marcos and Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. The Ryans were armed with machine guns firing from the door.

This constituted the first use of an aircraft in Guatemala, for any combat-related operations.

Saludos,


Tulio
Attachments
Ryan B-1s Guatemala.jpg

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Wed May 25, 2011 6:34 am

There were 3rd windows that were customer installed, but not (to the best of my knowledge) the big one. So with the big window, its a V-35 ........

Probably is photo #1953

Mark H

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Wed May 25, 2011 6:48 am

mustanglover wrote:
Tulio wrote:Small air forces have through the years, by necessity, adapted airframes not intended for combat, into that role.

To mind, come the Rhodesian AF, Guatemalan and Salvadorean AFs, and even the U.S. CAP.

So, this is an invitation for images and comments on such aircraft that are too, legitimate warbirds.

This is an image -photographer is unknown to me- of a Rhodesian Bonanza, with .30cal gun packs.

Saludos,


Tulio


Is that Bob Diemert?


Now that is a good one :axe:

Re: Most unusual warbirds

Wed May 25, 2011 9:49 am

gary1954 wrote:
mustanglover wrote:
Tulio wrote:Small air forces have through the years, by necessity, adapted airframes not intended for combat, into that role.

To mind, come the Rhodesian AF, Guatemalan and Salvadorean AFs, and even the U.S. CAP.

So, this is an invitation for images and comments on such aircraft that are too, legitimate warbirds.

This is an image -photographer is unknown to me- of a Rhodesian Bonanza, with .30cal gun packs.

Saludos,


Tulio


Is that Bob Diemert?


Now that is a good one :axe:


If that was Diemert, though, wouldn't the Bonanza be modified to hold like 16 passengers or something?
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