WW2 Aviation trivia quiz

[robert]

Twelve WW2 aviation trivia questions:

1. Which USAAF ace was credited with victories over German, Italian, Japanese...and American flown aircraft? What were the circumstances behind his victory over a USAAF aircraft?

2. What type of aircraft made the first Allied bombing raid on Berlin?

3. What was the first Allied single-seat aircraft with sufficient range to reach Berlin (and back) from bases in Britain? When did it first do so?

4. What was the last victory of WW2 (and presumably forever) credited to a biplane fighter?

5. Who were Mary Blatz and Marge Vattendahl? What were they the sources of inspiration for?

6. Which European air force was still operating WW1 types such as the Fokker D.VII, Albatros J.II, and LVG C.VI as late as June 1940?

7. Who was the highest scoring American fighter pilot in the MTO/North Africa? Be very careful with this one!

8. What was the first time that an American plane (i.e. US designed and built) shot down another American plane? (Intentionally; friendly fire engagements between planes from the same side don't count).

9. Who was the highest scoring non-German fighter pilot of WW2? Be careful, again!

10. Which single-seat fighter was in front-line service from April 1943 to the end of the war without shooting down a single enemy aircraft?

11. What type of aircraft sunk the only submarine destroyed by a US Coast Guard plane during WW2?

12. The USAAF and US Navy generally didn't use the same single-seat fighters in combat during WW2. The Navy used one US Army fighter in a very limited PR role, and one US Navy fighter was assigned to USAAF units but was not used in action. Another USAAF fighter was flown by USN pilots flying with a USAAF unit. One single-seat fighter, however, saw significant combat action with both the USAAF and US Navy. Name the aircraft that has this unique place in US military aviation history, and the other three aircraft types mentioned above.

[Romantic Technofreak]

To be fair (and fast), most of these questions I don´t know at all or exactly. But I think, it is also fun to give answers that are not absolutely exact.

quote:2. What type of aircraft made the first Allied bombing raid on Berlin?

A French Farman NC.223.4 four-engined monster contraption beginning of June 1940.

quote:3. What was the first Allied single-seat aircraft with sufficient range to reach Berlin (and back) from bases in Britain? (When did it first do so?)

There were Spitfire reconnoisaters over Berlin. I don´t know when first, but I think it has to do with Corsarius´"Cotton" surface and did not start before the concentrated attacks on Berlin began in autumn 1943.

quote:4. What was the last victory of WW2 (and presumably forever) credited to a biplane fighter?

A rebel-flown Slovakian Avia B.534 shot down a Hungarian Ju 52 during the Slovakian revolt in November 1944.

quote:5. Who were Mary Blatz and Marge Vattendahl? What were they the sources of inspiration for?

I cannot find anything aircraft-related about a person named Mary Blatz, but Marge Vattendahl´s name is remarkable enough to give Google hits. I thought to myself already they must have been painted models on aircrafts. Marge was actually Richard Bong´s fiancee.

http://www.thehistorymart.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=nap-vel-marge&Category_Code=1740

quote:6. Which European air force was still operating WW1 types such as the Fokker D.VII, Albatros J.II, and LVG C.VI as late as June 1940?

I can imagine that the air forces of the Baltic states (I don´t know if Lithuania and Estonia ran air forces, Latvia actually did) used leftovers of the German troops of WWI that had occupied their area in 1918. They must have done so until they became Soviet-occupied in June 1940.

quote:8. What was the first time that an American plane (i.e. US designed and built) shot down another American plane? (Intentionally; friendly fire engagements between planes from the same side don't count).

I know that the Vichy-French still used Curtiss P-36 and Martin Maryland during the invasion in north Africa of October 1942, surely also against Wildcats from American carriers, and there were scores on both sides.

quote:9. Who was the highest scoring non-German fighter pilot of WW2? Be careful, again!

The ever-lasting question of acedom. Without looking in my book, I think IJNAF ace Tetsuzo Iwamoto claimed over 200 scores, but only 80 were recognized. If you use this link, Finnish Eino Juutilainen looks best (94 kills).

http://www.members.tripod.com/chip2500/id482.htm


quote:11. What type of aircraft sunk the only submarine destroyed by a US Coast Guard plane during WW2?

Once I read that a little Grumman J4F-2 Widgeon flying boat sank the first German submarine sunk by an US Coast Guard plane. Was it really the only one?

Thanks for the questions, Robert. I enjoyed the quiz a lot!:):):)

[robert]

Very good indeed! Here are the answers you correctly gave:

2. A Centre (Farman) NC 223.4 named Jules Verne of the French Naval Air Force bombed Berlin on the night of June 7/8, 1940, becoming the first Allied plane to bomb Berlin.

3. The unarmed photo-reconnaissance version of the Supermarine Spitfire was the first Allied single-seater with sufficient range to reach Berlin from bases in Britain and return. The Spitfire F, retroactively called the Spitfire PR.1F, had just enough range to reach Berlin and back from bases in East Anglia, under ideal conditions. It entered service in July 1940, and started flying to Berlin soon after, over three and a half years prior to the P-51B.

The Spitfire D, which entered service shortly after the F, was even-longer ranged. On October 29, 1940, for example, F.O. Millen flew a PR mission to Stettin, which is considerably east of Berlin, a mission of 5 hours and 20 minutes, the longest Spitfire mission to that time. The PR.19, which entered service just prior to D-Day, had a range of 1,550 miles.

The image of the Spitfire as a short-ranged fighter has obscured its remarkable service as a long-range PR aircraft with both the RAF and the USAAF. PR Spitfires from the Spitfire D (later called the Mk.IV) onward had additional fuel tanks in the wing leading edges, replacing the armament. Because the Spitfire had a very tricky center of gravity, added weight could not be easily absorbed without severe handling problems (though it must be added, no worse handling problems than beset the long-range P-51). The main reason the Spitfire was not developed as a long-range fighter was simply because the RAF had no requirement for one. In early 1944, Wright Field in Ohio converted a Spitfire Mk.IX to a long-range fighter, and flew the Atlantic to prove to the British it could be done. As Jeffrey Quill points out in his book Spitfire, the problems could have been solved given time and a higher priority, and that "there was no fundamental reason why the Spitfire should not be turned into a long-range escort fighter."

4. On September 2, 1944, during the Slovak National Uprising, Frantisek Cyprich, flying an Avia B-534 from Tri-Duby airfield, far behind the enemy lines, shot down a Hungarian Air Force Junkers Ju 52.

5. One out of two correct - Marge Vattendahl was indeed the fiancee (and later wife) of Richard Bong, the leading USAAF ace of WW2. Bong named his P-38 Marge, and put a huge portrait of her on the nose of his plane.

Mary Blatz was a similar inspiration for another famous fighter pilot...

6. Lithuania is correct.

http://wp.scn.ru/camms/shablon_view.shtml?archive/ww1_fighters/0009/pics/0009_85_3.jpg

8. Once again, you're halfway there! You have one of the planes, and the general theater, correct - it was a Vichy French-flown Martin 167F (Maryland) bomber that was shot down in North Africa, but the date and type of aircraft that shot it down are incorrect.

11. It was indeed the only one. A Grumman J4F-1 Widgeon from Coast Guard Patrol Squadron 212, based in Houma, Louisiana, sunk the U-166, on August 1, 1942, while the U-Boat was in the Gulf of Mexico.

One that you didn't get right:

9. This is indeed a tricky one. Notice that the question said "highest scoring non-German". That's a bit of a clue right there, and you'll kick yourself when you get it...:D

[simon]

Not many I can even begin to shed light on I'm afraid.

9) I thought about the highest scoring non-German. Since almost all the top scorers were Luftwaffe pilots I'm assuming this would be an Austrian (or similar) flying for the Luftwaffe, rather than a German.

That would presumably be Kommandofuhrer Walter Nowotny an Austrian, not German Luftwaffe pilot. :D

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/nowotny.html

10) The only one I can think of to fit this bill would be the P-63 Kingcobra, although the Soviets did use the type as well so they may have used it combat and scored aerial victories so this may not be true.

[robert]

quote:Originally posted by simon

Not many I can even begin to shed light on I'm afraid.

9) I thought about the highest scoring non-German. Since almost all the top scorers were Luftwaffe pilots I'm assuming this would be an Austrian (or similar) flying for the Luftwaffe, rather than a German.

That would presumably be Kommandofuhrer Walter Nowotny an Austrian, not German Luftwaffe pilot. :D

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/nowotny.html

10) The only one I can think of to fit this bill would be the P-63 Kingcobra, although the Soviets did use the type as well so they may have used it combat and scored aerial victories so this may not be true.




8. Very good! Walter Nowotny, an Austrian who had 258 victories for the Luftwaffe, is correct. Kind of a trick question, but not really, when I pretty much admitted that it was! :)

10. A good guess, but not correct. The Bell P-63 Kingcobra did not enter service with the Soviets until mid-1945, and missed the war in Europe, but it did score one victory against the Japanese.

[amigojeff]

Hi,dear forum members!I'm new here.I'm from Shanghai, a big fan of WW2 Italian & French airplanes.A friend of mine just happened to find out the answer to the 1st question.:)

Lt Col Louis Edward Curdes

He shot at an American C-47 led astray somewhere near Batan Islands ,which ditched and 17 crew and passengers were rescued,actually he married one of the passengers aboard that plane later.:D

http://home.earthlink.net/~aircommando1/ACACES03.htm

[robert]

quote:Originally posted by amigojeff

Hi,dear forum members!I'm new here.I'm from Shanghai, a big fan of WW2 Italian & French airplanes.A friend of mine just happened to find out the answer to the 1st question.:)

Lt Col Louis Edward Curdes

He shot at an American C-47 led astray somewhere near Batan Islands ,which ditched and 17 crew and passengers were rescued,actually he married one of the passengers aboard that plane later.:D

http://home.earthlink.net/~aircommando1/ACACES03.htm


Correct! Lt. Louis Curdes was flying a P-51D on February 10, 1945, during a sweep to Batan Island. He saw a P-51 pilot parachute into the sea, and Curdes circled around him to pinpoint his position to rescuers. While circling, he saw a USAAF C-47 that was preparing to land on the Japanese-held strip on Batan. Unable to veer the C-47 away, Curdes saw only two possibilities - first that it was a Japanese plane using US markings (the DC-3 was made under licence in Japan,) or it was a US plane truly lost. He therefore carefully shot out both engines, causing the plane to land in the sea. All 13 people on board the C-47 were rescued - and they were indeed Americans, including several nurses, one of whom was a girlfriend of Curdes! The plane had lost its way, and had tried to land in error on the Japanese-held island. Curdes' quick thinking averted the Americans' capture, and he was later awarded the Distingushed Flying Cross for his action. He adorned the victory scoreboard on his P-51 with seven German swastikas, one Italian fasces, one Japanese rising sun, and one American flag!

[Ricky]

Ok, here is a question -

Which pilot was an ace for both sides during the Second World War?

[robert]

quote:Originally posted by Ricky

Ok, here is a question -

Which pilot was an ace for both sides during the Second World War?



The one who comes immediately to mind is Pierre le Gloan. Le Gloan had eleven kills in the Battle of France against German and (primarily) Italian aircraft, and added seven British aircraft flying with the Vichy French in North Africa.

I had forgotten that I hadn't given the answers to my previous quiz. I'll do so when I get a minute or so...

[R Leonard]

Yo Robert!

Before you start supplying answers

Re: #12 -

Let’s see … the USN had some P-38’s … called them XFO-1, b/n’s 01209 to 01212. I don’t think they did much with them, though.

There was also a P-51H, b/n 09064 and another P-51 (variant not noted), b/n 57987. One of these two, and I’ll have to drag out the info from the files, had a tail hook installed was used for carrier suitability evaluation on USS Shangri-La in the fall of 1944 off the Virginia capes.

The Navy also acquired eleven Northrop P-61B’s re-designating them as F2T-1N, b/n’s 52750-52761.

And, of course, there were numerous YP-59’s, P-59’s, and P-80’s that the Navy wrangled away from the Army, but I don’t think they’re what you’re looking for.

I'd consider ...

VCS-8 (Cruiser Scouting Squadron 8) (Lieut. DA Liane, USN), made up from pilots from the cruisers Brooklyn and Philadelphia, flew first P-40’s and then F-6A’s (but only for familiarization – big steps up from SOC’s and OS2U’s – not in combat exposure) and then P-51Cs for gunnery observation/spotting work over southern France in Operation Anvil /Dragoon, all while attached to the 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.

VCS-7 (Cruiser Scouting Squadron 7) (Lieut. Comdr. W Denton, Jr., USN) flew Supermarine Spitfire Vb’s in the Normandy invasion, based out of RNAS Lee-on-Solent. There were present on that installation also four FAA squadrons, Nos. 808 (Lieut. Comdr. JF Rankin, DSC, RN), 897 (Lieut. Comdr. WC Simpson, DSC, RN), 885 (Lieut. Comdr. SL Devonald, RN), and 886 (Lieut. Comdr. PEI Bailey, RN), that were assigned Seafire III's and were also tasked with naval gunfire spotting and reconnaissance. The five squadrons’ aircraft were pooled to insure maximum availability. This meant that VCS-7 flew whatever type was available, either Seafire or Spitfire. VCS-7 pilots, gathered from USS Texas, Arkansas, Nevada, Quincy, Tuscaloosa, and Augusta, received their training in Spitfire Vb’s while temporarily assigned to the 9th AF’s 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group.

Not being terribly familiar with the European Theater, I am fairly confident that there were also USAAF squadrons that operated versions of the Supermarine Spitfire and I’m absolutely sure there were P-51C’s in USAAF service, so the “saw combat,” as in “flew combat missions” type has to be one of those two.

Some folks might say that the USAAF had a F2A in the Southwest Pacific theater, and indeed, there are even pictures of same, but I don’t think that one qualifies as a USN fighter as it was, I believe, an export version, not acquired from the Navy. As far as I know it didn’t see combat with the USAAF. The Army, at one point or another during the war, used Navy aircraft types, A-24 (SBD), A-25 (SB2C), O-10 (PBY) quickly come to mind, but, of course none of these are fighters. They did, however, have a single Grumman XP-50, s/n 40-3057, which was a Navy XF5F-1. It crashed in Long Island Sound in May, 1941.

Regards,

Rich

[robert]

quote:Originally posted by R Leonard

Yo Robert!

Before you start supplying answers

Re: #12 -

Let’s see … the USN had some P-38’s … called them XFO-1, b/n’s 01209 to 01212. I don’t think they did much with them, though.

There was also a P-51H, b/n 09064 and another P-51 (variant not noted), b/n 57987. One of these two, and I’ll have to drag out the info from the files, had a tail hook installed was used for carrier suitability evaluation on USS Shangri-La in the fall of 1944 off the Virginia capes.

The Navy also acquired eleven Northrop P-61B’s re-designating them as F2T-1N, b/n’s 52750-52761.

And, of course, there were numerous YP-59’s, P-59’s, and P-80’s that the Navy wrangled away from the Army, but I don’t think they’re what you’re looking for.

I'd consider ...

VCS-8 (Cruiser Scouting Squadron 8) (Lieut. DA Liane, USN), made up from pilots from the cruisers Brooklyn and Philadelphia, flew first P-40’s and then F-6A’s (but only for familiarization – big steps up from SOC’s and OS2U’s – not in combat exposure) and then P-51Cs for gunnery observation/spotting work over southern France in Operation Anvil /Dragoon, all while attached to the 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.

VCS-7 (Cruiser Scouting Squadron 7) (Lieut. Comdr. W Denton, Jr., USN) flew Supermarine Spitfire Vb’s in the Normandy invasion, based out of RNAS Lee-on-Solent. There were present on that installation also four FAA squadrons, Nos. 808 (Lieut. Comdr. JF Rankin, DSC, RN), 897 (Lieut. Comdr. WC Simpson, DSC, RN), 885 (Lieut. Comdr. SL Devonald, RN), and 886 (Lieut. Comdr. PEI Bailey, RN), that were assigned Seafire III's and were also tasked with naval gunfire spotting and reconnaissance. The five squadrons’ aircraft were pooled to insure maximum availability. This meant that VCS-7 flew whatever type was available, either Seafire or Spitfire. VCS-7 pilots, gathered from USS Texas, Arkansas, Nevada, Quincy, Tuscaloosa, and Augusta, received their training in Spitfire Vb’s while temporarily assigned to the 9th AF’s 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Group.

Not being terribly familiar with the European Theater, I am fairly confident that there were also USAAF squadrons that operated versions of the Supermarine Spitfire and I’m absolutely sure there were P-51C’s in USAAF service, so the “saw combat,” as in “flew combat missions” type has to be one of those two.

Some folks might say that the USAAF had a F2A in the Southwest Pacific theater, and indeed, there are even pictures of same, but I don’t think that one qualifies as a USN fighter as it was, I believe, an export version, not acquired from the Navy. As far as I know it didn’t see combat with the USAAF. The Army, at one point or another during the war, used Navy aircraft types, A-24 (SBD), A-25 (SB2C), O-10 (PBY) quickly come to mind, but, of course none of these are fighters. They did, however, have a single Grumman XP-50, s/n 40-3057, which was a Navy XF5F-1. It crashed in Long Island Sound in May, 1941.

Regards,

Rich



Hi Rich:

The Spitfire is the aircraft I was looking for; the question was very carefully worded! You're quite correct on most of the other aircraft.

The Lockheed P-38 (actually the F-5B, the recce version of the P-38) saw brief service with the US Navy. Four were used in North Africa, under the designation FO-1.

The "Navy" fighter used by the USAAF was the Brewster F2A Buffalo, or more specifically, the Brewster B-339D and B-439 export versions. You're quite right that they weren't actually ex-USN aircraft, but it was a USN type (in the general sense). Twenty Buffalos intended for the Dutch East Indies were diverted to Australia in 1942, after the Japanese occupied the Dutch East Indies. The Buffalos were assigned to units of the USAAF 5th AF, who were desperately short on combat planes. Fortunately, they never saw combat with the USAAF, who passed them along to the Australians as soon as they could. Their service with the RAAF was just as undistinguished, though for a time in 1942, six RAAF Buffalos were the entire defense for the city of Perth! At least one of the ex-RAAF Buffalos was passed back to the USAAF for use as a hack in late 1943 - the photos of this aircraft (in a NMF) may be the ones you're referring to.

The P-51 was indeed flown by members of VCS-8, but while attached to the USAAF's 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, as you correctly noted, which is why I specified "Another USAAF fighter was flown by USN pilots flying with a USAAF unit".

So the only one that fits exactly would be the Spitfire. The Spitfire saw considerable action with the USAAF in the ETO/MTO, primarily with the 4th, 31st, and 52nd FGs; the Spitfire had the lowest loss rate and second highest kill ratio (to the P-51) of any USAAF single-seat fighter in the theater. It was also one of the primary USAAF reconnaissance aircraft in the ETO.

The US Navy's use of the Spitfire is less well known, being confined to a single squadron, VCS-7, over a hectic three-week period during the invasion of Normandy. The below pretty much goes over the same ground you covered, but since I'd already written it for the answer, I may as well use it:

When the US Navy was planning its part in the Normandy invasion, it was realized that the Curtiss SOC and Vought OS2U planes used to spot for naval bombardment would be sitting ducks for the more modern German fighters. The decision was made to give the spotters high performance fighters. Since the RAF and FAA were using two Spitfire squadrons and four Seafire squadrons for that task, and British and American spotting aircraft would be under the same umbrella (the 3rd Naval Fighter Wing of the FAA,) it made sense to standardize on one aircraft type. The seventeen pilots of VCS-7 therefore transferred onto Spitfire Mk.Vs borrowed from the RAF, and given the US Navy paper designation of FS-1. Training was done by the 67th TRG at Middle Wallop, a USAAF Spitfire recce unit. From D-Day, June 6, 1944 until June 26, when the American naval bombardment stopped, US Navy Spitfires based at Lee-on-Solent flew 209 missions in support of the Allied invasion. VCS-7 cooperated primarily with the Western Naval Task Force, of which the US Navy made up the greater part. Nine USN Spitfires were lost to operational and non-operational causes, though I believe no pilots were killed (both of my sources are a little hazy on this point). The loss rate was substantially higher than the British loss rate on the same type, presumably because the US Navy fliers had much less experience on the Spitfire.

[B-24WillowRun]

What great questions and now I have learned a little more thanks all:)
I cannot wait to read the rest of the answers. [8)]

[Ricky]

Robert - full marks on my question!
He flew Dewontine D520s, btw

[amigojeff]

quote:Originally posted by Ricky

Robert - full marks on my question!
He flew Dewontine D520s, btw



Legloan achieved his earliest victories(two Do 17s) while flying MS 406.

[JoeB]

"7. Who was the highest scoring American fighter pilot in the MTO/North Africa? Be very careful with this one!

8. What was the first time that an American plane (i.e. US designed and built) shot down another American plane? (Intentionally; friendly fire engagements between planes from the same side don't count).

10. Which single-seat fighter was in front-line service from April 1943 to the end of the war without shooting down a single enemy aircraft?

11. What type of aircraft sunk the only submarine destroyed by a US Coast Guard plane during WW2?"

7. Wade Lance, American RAF pilot who flew in NA had more official victories than John Voll who was the leading USAAF MTO ace.

8. Semi guess here, that RAAF Tomahawks shot down at least some Vichy French Martin 167's in Syria in June-July 1941.

10. I'm not sure the date quite fits but the Australian Commonwealth Bommerang entered service around that time, designed but not used as a fighter. Swedish FFVS J-22 entered service later in 1943.

11. U-166 was credited to the USCG J4F for many years, however a survey for an underwater pipeline in the area in 2001 found the wreck of U-166 in the immediate vicinity of the wreck of the steamer Robert E. Lee some distance from the a/c's claim. U-166 sank the Lee July 30, '42. Her escort PC-566 delivered a depth charge counter attack and claimed a sub damaged, but in retrospect must have actually sunk U-166. The CG a/c attack Aug 1 was probably against U-171, which reported being attacked by a plane that day.

Joe