Bell P-63C Kingcobra Unit: 16th GvIAP VVS Siberia/Mongolia Bell designed the P-63 with the intention of improving the high altitude performance failure of the P-39 Airacobra. Although similar looking, the P-63 was a totally new aircraft; being larger with a laminer flow wing, supercharging,etc. Despite its improvements, the P-63 never lived up to the level of the P-51, Corsair, or other late-war front line fighters. The P-63 never saw combat in USAAF squadrons. Some 76% of the 3300 planes went to the Soviet Union, where their service record is largely unknown. The Soviets were have spin recovery issues with the first production version, the P-63A, and demanded a fix. Bell responded with the P-63C, adding a fin under the rear fuselage and shifting some of the aircraft CG which solved the problems. The US Army Air Force (USAAF) order for two prototypes in June 1941 launched the P-63 Kingcobra. Further prototypes followed before deliveries of the first production version began in October 1943. Production deliveries of the P-63A began in October of 1943. The USAAF never saw fit to use the Kingcobra for operational combat missions, since by that time in the war the need for a high altitude fighter was met by the P-38 and P-51, and low-altitude close-support fighter aircraft was more than adequately filled by such aircraft as the P-47 Thunderbolt. However, the Soviet Union had a need for a high-altitude fighter (where the P-39 was deficient), and excellent ground attack capabilities using the 37-mm cannon. The US Army directed the production of the Kingcobra to the Soviet s lend-lease program. The Russians used the P-63C Kingcobra primarily in the far east after declaring war on Japan in August 1945, Its mission was for close-support and ground strafing. The Kingcobra had a relatively good low-altitude performance and had the ability to absorb a lot of battle damage and still remain flying. It proved to be a potent ground attack aircraft and tank-buster, but it never received the amount of attention in the Soviet Union as did the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmovik. Credits Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, drop tank, VC, paint textures, 2D panel. ACWai contributed the landing gear designs. Shessi: Pilot figure Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture Gauges: AliCat, ACWai, Microsoft, and others unknown 714/257th 1% Aircraft: aircraft.cfg, air file, and .dp

Bell P-63A Kingcobra Bell designed the P-63 with the intention of improving the high altitude performance failure of the P-39 Airacobra. Although similar looking, the P-63 was a totally new aircraft; being larger with a laminer flow wing, supercharging, etc. Despite its improvements, the P-63 never lived up to the level of the P-51, Corsair, or other late-war front line fighters. The P-63 never saw combat in USAAF squadrons. Some 76% of the 3300 planes went to the Soviet Union, where their service record is largely unknown. Another 300 planes went to the Free French squadrons, seeing Viet Nam action. The US Army Air Force (USAAF) order for two prototypes in June 1941 launched the P-63 Kingcobra. Further prototypes followed before deliveries of the first production version began in October 1943. Production deliveries of the P-63A began in October of 1943, and by December of 1944 1725 P-63As had been produced. The USAAF never saw fit to use the Kingcobra for operational combat missions, since by that time in the war the need for a high altitude fighter was met by the P-38 and P-51, and low-altitude close-support fighter aircraft was more than adequately filled by such aircraft as the P-47 Thunderbolt. Regardless, P-63As did serve for a few months with the 31st, 444th, and 445th Squadrons while they were based Stateside. Credits Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, drop tank, VC, paint textures, 2D panel. ACWai contributed the landing gear designs. Shessi: Pilot figure Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture Gauges: AliCat, ACWai, Microsoft, and others unknown 714/257th 1% Aircraft: aircraft.cfg, air file, and .dp

North American P-51A Mustang Unit: 1st Air Commando Group The P-51A served mainly as a fighter and escort in the China/Burma/India theatre (CBI). Modified versions called the F-6B, were fitted with camera equipment for recon and served in the ETO. The P-51A would see service into 1945, long after replacement models were in service. Production would be cut far short of the 1,200 ordered. As soon as the Rolls Royce Merlin modifications to the P-51 were deemed worthy, production was shifted to the new models. In all, 310 P-51As were produced by NAA. Designated NA-99, the P-51A Mustang was ordered in numbers of 1,200 by the U.S. Army in August 1942. No ground attack here, no dive brakes, just pure fighter. This was the best fighter the U.S. had below 22,000 feet. This according to the AAF School of Applied Tactics at Orlando, FL. The P-51A was powered by the Allison V-1710-81 which had automatic boost control and rated at 1,200 horsepower. This Allison had increased performance at altitude over the V-1710-39 used in the P-51. The propeller was a 3-blade, 10 feet 6 inch Curtiss electric. Top speed was 415 mph at 10,000 feet and the service ceiling was 31,500 feet. There were two underwing mounts for bombs or drop tanks. Gross weight increased to 10,600 lbs. max with an average load of 8,600 lbs. Credits Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, drop tank, VC, paint textures, 2D panel, aircraft.cfg, air file, and .dp Shessi: Pilot figure Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture Other ordinance: FDG Team Gauges: AliCat, ACWai, Microsoft, and others unknown Sound: razcal -- The Allison V-1710-81 for the P-40 but same engine in the P-51A

North American A-36A Invader Unit: 533Rd FBS, 27th FBG at Sicily 1943 April 1942 marked the first order of any P-51 variant by the US Army. 500 NA-97s were ordered. The U.S. serials were 42-83663 to 42-84162. The P-51 was never intended to be a dive bomber. Budgets for pursuit fighters were limited at that time, but there were funds available for dive bombers. NAA's President, Dutch Kindelberger, made proposals for a quick design modification to the P-51 and landed a contract for 500 A-36A's. Although "Apache" was the A-36A's official name, it was rarely used.Units in Africa and Italy called it the "Invader" and the name eventually found its way into offical USAAF use. The design was very similar to the Mustang I and P-51A. The powerplant was the Allison V-1710-87. The A-36 was a dive-bomber so the addition of hard points for two 500 lb bombs and dive brakes to slow the fast acceleration of the P-51 in a dive were added. The belly scoop was now fixed at the front. Armament was 2 guns in the nose and 4 in the wings, all .50 caliber. The dive brakes were operated hydraulically and located on the top and bottom of each wing outboard of the guns. Plan was that they limit the dive speed to 250 mph but in practice the speeds were closer to 350 mph and higher. The angle of dive was reduced to 70 degrees because of high stress during pull-out. The hard points for the bombs were also capable of holding 75 gallon drop tanks for extended range. The top speed of the A-36 was down from added weight to about 358 mph at 5,000 feet (without external stores). The US used the A-36 in the Mediterranean theatre with first deliveries beginning in early 1943. When not in the ground attack role, the A-36 was essentially a low-altitude P-51A and was used as a fighter. The A-36 scored 101 air-air victories during WWII. The A-36 proved to be a very stable platform for accurate weapons delivery. 177 were lost in action mostly due to the dangerous mission of low-level operations. Credits Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, drop tank, VC, paint textures, 2D panel, aircraft.cfg, air file, and .dp Shessi: Pilot figure Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture Other ordinance: FDG Team Gauges: AliCat, ACWai, Microsoft, and others unknown Sound: razcal -- The Allison V-1710-81 for the P-40 but same engine in the P-51A

North American P-51 / F-6A Mustang Unit:154th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Tunesia April 1943 Pilot: Lt. Alfred C. Schwab For aid to Great Britain under the Lend-Lease program, the USAAF ordered 150 model P-51 Mustangs with a Letter of Intent on 7 July 1941. Four 20mm cannon replaced the mixed caliber machine gun arrangement of the British Mk I Mustang. As production of the P-51 airplanes ramped up in late 1941, it was decided that the USAAF would retain fifty-eight of the 150. The first example (41-37320) was delivered to the USAAF as the one-of-a-kind P-51-1-NA to serve as the prototype F-6 photographic reconnaissance and mapping variant. Another 54 were delivered as P-51-2-NA airplanes that were modified to serve as photo reconnaissance planes. In the summer of 1942 these 55 were re-designated as F-6A-1-NA rather than P-51-1/2 airplanes. One P-51 (41-37426) was acquired by the US Navy for aircraft carrier sea trials and was assigned US Navy Bureau Number 57987. The last of the keepers were two P-51s (41-37352 and 41-37421) which were retained to become the XP-51B airplanes. Therefore, the RAF only received 92 of these aircraft as Mustang Mark IA airplanes instead of the 150 it had requested. It's been written that the F6 modification included installation of two K-24 cameras behind the pilot s seat or alternatively, that one was behind the pilot seat and one in the rear fuselage. However contemporary photos show only the single camera behind the pilot seat and never any second camera. Credits Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, VC, paint textures, 2D panel, aircraft.cfg, air file, and .dp Shessi: Pilot figure Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture Gauges: AliCat, ACWai, Microsoft, and others unknown Sound: razcal -- The Allison V-1710-81 for the P-40 but same engine in the P-51A

A6M5 ZERO Aircraft of 381ku based at Kendari, Dutch East Indies circa March 1944 Visual model: Captain Kurt VC: acwai Airfile: UncleTgt Texture file: painted by UncleTgt and acwai. Gauges: These gauges were designed by Alphasim, Mape, Aussie, or some unknown author. I have made some modifications. Weapons: Captain Kurt This is a copyrighted freeware program.Use this program at you own risks, the author is not responsible for any damages done to your computer. Thanks for downloading this aircraft, have fun! Andrew Wai

A6M3 model 32 ZERO Aircraft from 204ku, flying from Kahili, Bougainville during the summer of 1943. Pilot was W/O Matsuo Hagiri. Visual model: Captain Kurt VC: acwai Airfile: UncleTgt Texture file: painted by UncleTgt and acwai. Gauges: These gauges were designed by Alphasim, Mape, Aussie, or some unknown author. I have made some modifications. Sound: CFS2 stock sound Weapons: Captain Kurt This is a copyrighted freeware program.Use this program at you own risks, the author is not responsible for any damages done to your computer. Thanks for downloading this aircraft, have fun! Andrew Wai

A6M3 model 22_ZERO VERSION 1.0 FEB 2026 582ku Rabaul, April 1943 Visual model: Captain Kurt VC: acwai Airfile: UncleTgt Texture file: painted by UncleTgt and acwai. Gauges: These gauges were designed by Alphasim, Mape, Aussie, or some unknown author. I have made some modifications. Weapons: Captain Kurt This is a copyrighted freeware program.Use this program at you own risks, the author is not responsible for any damages done to your computer. Thanks for downloading this aircraft, have fun! Andrew Wai

A6M2 ZERO Aircraft of the IJNAF Tainan ku, Taiwan November 1941. This aircraft was usually flown by Lt. Kiku-ichi Inano, but was lost whilst being flown by PO 1st class Shimezo Inoue on 26th NOvember 1941. Whilst transferring to Saigon, Inoue & his wingman became lost in poor weather & made an emergency landing on the Leichou Peninsula, & were taken prisoner by the Chinese. Visual model: Captain Kurt VC: acwai Airfile: UncleTgt Texture file: painted by UncleTgt and acwai. Gauges: These gauges were designed by Alphasim, Mape, Aussie, or some unknown author. I have made some modifications. Weapons: Captain Kurt This is a copyrighted freeware program.Use this program at you own risks, the author is not responsible for any damages done to your computer. Thanks for downloading this aircraft, have fun! Andrew Wai

Unit: VT-8 USS Hornet (CV-8) June 4, 1942 Pilot: Lt. Commander John Charles Waldron, USN. When it entered service in 1937, the Douglas TBD-1 was one of the most advanced aircraft in the world, but by 1941 it had become obsolete, too slow, under armored and hobbled with the dysfunctional Mk XII torpedo which rarely worked. It was still in frontline service in 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the US Navy had to fight with what it had left until the new TBF Avenger could be delivered to replace the Devastator. The TBD fought valiantly for the first 6 months of the war. It was used in the first hit and run fast carrier raids on Wake, Marcus, Gilberts, Tulagi and New Guinea. On June 4, 1942 the 41 Devastators of the Hornet (VT-8), the Yorktown (VT-3) and the Enterprise (VT-6) were launched against the 4 Japanese carriers of the Midway invasion task force. Poor coordination, poor tactics and confusion led to the 3 TBD squadrons attacking individually without coordination with each other or with the dive bomber squadrons. This gave the Japanese Combat Air Patrol Zero's plenty of time to shoot them down in detail. Only 4 TBDs made it back to the Enterprise, and 2 others to the Yorktown. VT-8 from the Hornet was completely destroyed with a single pilot - Ensign George Gay - surviving to be rescued. Credits Captain Kurt: Aircraft model, US Naval ordinance bombs, bomb racks, Mk XIII torpedo, torpedo rack, VC, paint textures, panel, and .dp file. Shessi: Pilot figure Kelticheart: Prop blurred texture BeePee: Compass gauge Microsoft: Gauges and .air file