by Greg Mayer
My west coast correspondent sends the following picture of the “Bad Kitty” (who looks a little bit like Jerry Coyne the Cat).
The plane is a Grumman F7F Tigercat, one of a series of “cat” named fighters made by Grumman; the most well known is probably the F14 Tomcat, made famous by the movie Top Gun. The plane is at the Historic Flight Foundation, an air museum at Paine Field in Mukilteo, Washington. Although designed to be a carrier-based fighter plane, they did not get much use, and this particular plane wound up being used by an Oregon forestry service.
Upon first seeing the picture, and not knowing the type of plane it was, I inquired if it was British, given the Union Jack on the wall behind. In reply, my correspondent sent along some pictures of a Spitfire at the museum.
This plane was from one of the Czech squadrons formed within the Royal Air Force and flown by Czech pilots-in-exile during World War II. The red, white, and blue roundel on the plane’s tail is a Czech Air Force insignia of today; I’m not sure if it was used during WW II.
Update. Reader Graham provides below a link to the very interesting history of this particular plane– besides a Czech squadron in the RAF, this plane, built in 1945, was at different times in the Czechslovak, Israeli, and Burmese air forces, and finally was restored in England before coming to the museum in the US.
Am I the only one who had a favourite aircraft as a kid?
F-15 was all the rage in my single digit years.
The Spit is a Mk.IXe (probably the most attractive of all the Spits with the possible exception of the Mk II). It was built in 1945 entering service in August that year.
Behind is, I suppose, the US equivalent of the Spit – a P51-B Mustang. Probably the second most successful Anglo-American hybrid of the war – the first being Churchill ( who had an American mother).
The history of this spitfire is rather interesting:
http://duxfordfotogallery.co.uk/#/sl633/4551952325
Great story at that link– thanks!
GCM
I guess you should know, bonetired, since your avatar is a Spitfire (I don’t know which Mark…)
Some of the airplane art of WWII was very good stuff, particularly on the bombers. The bad kitty was a good one. Don’t think you see much of it on the British aircraft but could be wrong about that.
You are absolutely right: British aircraft tended not to have nose art in quite the same way as US aircraft. Nose art was present but, probably due to the camouflage, it was less obvious.
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/the-british-had-nose-art-too.html
I will leave to others the translation of the Latin in the 9th photo …..
Hey Thanks…That’s good stuff.
I like ‘Dante’s Daughter’, the Lancaster with 65 raids up. I don’t know the statistics but the well-endowed Dante’s daughter on the nose must have been good luck.
I visited that museum ten years ago. Though I spent most of the day there, I was so in awe of the aircraft that I completely forgot that there was a digital camera in my hand so I got no pictures.
can u pls re send your post on santiniketan From: Why Evolution Is True To: aroupchatterjee@yahoo.co.uk Sent: Thursday, 1 January 2015, 15:59 Subject: [New post] Bad Kitty #yiv5444585275 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv5444585275 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv5444585275 a.yiv5444585275primaryactionlink:link, #yiv5444585275 a.yiv5444585275primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv5444585275 a.yiv5444585275primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv5444585275 a.yiv5444585275primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv5444585275 WordPress.com | whyevolutionistrue posted: “by Greg MayerMy west coast correspondent sends the following picture of the “Bad Kitty”.The plane is a Grumman F7F Tigercat, one of a series of “cat” named fighters made by Grumman; the most well known is probably the F14 Tomcat, made famous b” | |
the Hellcat was always my favorite of that era
I still think these planes belong in the air, not as static museum pieces.
Per the open thread…if I ever do find a winning lottery ticket laying on the ground, I’ll likely buy a Connie to use as my personal private jet-equivalent. These things were meant to fly!
b&
I share your sentiment but in reality there is always a terrible tradeoff. If one could come up with the cash to restore more than just the appearance of the craft and to fund the maintenance of these beautiful old birds there is still the problem of age. Metal fatigues and the intense vibration of running these things quickens the inevitable parachute opening and the loss even to a museum.
I agree as well on the Connie, surely one of the most beautiful birds ever not made by evolution.
The RAF limit their historic aircraft to a very strict number of flying hours every year. Having said that, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum triumphantly brought their Lancaster (V-RA) across the Atlantic (in discrete hops) this year for a tour of the UK.
Urghh … January 1st-itis … Last year!
I got to crawl around inside that Lanc when our flying club (Windsor Ontario) held an airshow and persuaded its lucky keepers to fly down from Hamilton.
I barely glanced at the F-16s and other such marvels but I spent hours on that Lanc.
The Spitfire shown was restored to flying condition, and flown after its arrival in the US. I don’t know if it’s still taken out for a spin now and then.
GCM
My west coast correspondent confirms that the planes are indeed still flown.
GCM
Awesome! Now, I just have to make it to the other side of the country at the right time….
b&
Tomcat fans can also amuse themselves with clips from The Final Countdown on YouTube.
I have a pinup of the Spitfire mk III in my garage (also have an actual Jeep very similar to the one in the foreground — still roadworthy.)
Much better to have a full-sized one in your front garden. Beats gnomes any day.