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Old 05-27-2012, 02:57 PM
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Hydro Junkie
 
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Default RE: Can you tell me what airplane this is...?

You can put German markings on a USAAF aircraft. Like the US was prone to do with Japanese aircraft, the Germans took aircraft that had gone down and pieced them back together using parts from multiple planes. During the later stages of WWII, the US bomber formations found themselves being shadowed by rebuilt B-17s with black crosses and swasticas on them. There suposedly are also records of P-40s, P-51s and Spitfires that were flown by the Germans. As for the US, they got lucky in finding a complete A6M2 with relatively little damage beyond the tail that had flipped trying to land during "Operation AL" in June of 42. By attaching a tail from another crashed plane, the US was able to make changes in the F6F Hellcat design to make it the ultimate "Zeke Killer"