This weekends photo's.
Some wonderful shots of Curtiss P-40B Warhawks at Mitchel Field Long Island NY Dec 5th 1941

This weekends extra.
Curtiss P-40 Warhawks taken September 26th 1940.

And Curtiss P-40F 41-13997 taken July 13th 1942.

This midweeks photo's,
Taken over Buffalo New York 1941 of a Curtiss O-52 Owl

I think it's the first time I see her.

This weekends photo's.
A couple of stunning shots of a B-25A Mitchell of the 17th Bomb Group in flight near Wright Field Ohio 1941.

This weekends extra.
And a nice shot taken at Brooklands. Of the first prototype Vickers Warwick (serial K8178), powered by Vulture engines,which made its maiden flight from Brooklands, on the 13th of August 1939.

This midweeks photo.
The first XB-29 (41-0002) flew on September 21, 1942 at Boeing Field, Boeing's chief test pilot Edmund T. "Eddie" Allen being at the controls. By this time, there were 1664 B-29 aircraft on order. No armament was initially fitted. The engines were four R-3350-12s with 17-foot diameter three-bladed propellers. Unfortunately, the early R-3350 engines were subject to chronic overheating and were specially prone to catching fire upon the slightest provocation. By December, Allen had been able to get only 27 hours in the air out of 23 test flights. Sixteen engines had to be changed, nineteen exhaust systems had to be revised, and twenty-two carburetors had to be replaced. There were also problems with the governor. On December 28, one of the R-3350 engines of the prototype caught fire during a test flight, forcing Allen to return immediately to Boeing Field. Aside from the engine problems, the performance and handling qualities of the B-29 were found to be excellent. Other than the rudder boost being removed, no significant aerodynamic changes were found to be necessary. The first XB-29 remained at Boeing throughout the war as a test aircraft.

The second XB-29 (41-0003) flew for the first time on December 30, 1942, but this flight was cut short by another engine fire, which caused a suspension of further tests until the engines could be replaced. The engines from XB-29 number 1 were removed and put in No. 2. The second XB-29 flew again on February 18, 1943, but an inextinguishable engine fire broke out just eight minutes into the flight, forcing an emergency return to the field. While attempting to land at Boeing Field, the fire burned through the main wing spars and caused the wing to buckle. The burning XB-29 plunged into the nearby Frye Meat Packing Plant factory, killing test pilot Eddie Allen and everyone else aboard, plus about 20 workers on the ground.

This crash caused ripples up the chain of command all the way to President Franklin Roosevelt, who was already unhappy about the delays in the B-29 program. He wanted B-29s on their way to India by the end of 1943 so that they could begin bombing attacks against Japan. Senator Harry Truman's Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, which had been established to expose fraudulent overcharging and other violations in defense acquisitions, looked into the B-29 program and concluded that the problem lay with substandard or defective engines delivered by the Wright Aeronautical Company. The USAAF also came in for a share of the blame, by having put too much pressure on the Wright company to speed up engine delivery.

The third prototype (41-18335) flew for the first time in June of 1943. It incorporated extensive powerplant and equipment revision as a result of experience with the first two. It was sent to Wichita to assist in the establishment of the production line. It was soon handed over to the USAAF for armament and accelerated flight testing. It too eventually crashed, but not before verifying the potential of basic design.

This weekends photo.
Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver BuNu 1813, U.S. Naval Reserve, piloted by Lt Donald F Smith 1940

This weekends extra.
From the same photo shoot Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver's BuNu 1815/14/13, U.S. Naval Reserve New York 1940

This midweeks photo.
An Olive drab Boeing B-17B Flying Fortress at March Field 1941