uncljoe

My Feedback: (8)

HoundDog
A long time ago the USN had a get ID system (told you who,what,type and version etc) but Sec. of Defense Robert S McNamara ..Screw up the whole system ,He was a bean counter.

Example F4D -1 Fighter ,4th by this mfg. Douglas , 1st version became F4 SkyRay
F4H -1 FIghter , " McDonnell " became F4 US Navy/USMC Phantom
F 110 " " " F4 USAF Phantom

Semper Fi
Joe
Tried to put the info in rows 4 times but the RCU editor makes it impossible for me

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

What else could U expect from a guy with a whole Life of screw ups, Biggest ending with marrying a Traitor.

Top_Gunn

My Feedback: (6)

Ilmari Juutilainen? Top Finnish ace, supposedly never had a bullet hole in his airplane. Many victories with a Brewster Buffalo.

uncljoe

My Feedback: (8)

Al
"Brewster Buffalo" I know for the "Finish Aviators" it proved to be ONE GREAT aircraft.

Semper Fi
Joe

Hydro Junkie

Not Ilmari Juutilainen but it does get another clue:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Richard Ira Bong P-38 ACE having shot down at least 40Japaneseaircraft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bong

Hydro Junkie

Nope, not Bong. Time for another clue:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.

Hydro Junkie

I think I'll give you all another clue and see if it gets a correct answer:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage

Hydro Junkie

And, one more time, I'll give you all another clue and see if it gets a correct answer:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question

Hydro Junkie

And, once again, I'll give you all another clue and see if it gets a correct answer:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question
7) This pilot is the only one in history to have accomplished this feat in combat.
Good Luck

Hydro Junkie

And, again, I'll give you all another clue and see if it gets a correct answer:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question
7) This pilot is the only one in history to have accomplished this feat in combat.
8) This pilot's actions helped determine the outcome of a historic battle
Good Luck

elmshoot

My Feedback: (6)

The Duke in flying leathernecks.
Sparky

Hydro Junkie

Nope, not John Wayne.
You guys had better figure this one out soon as I'm running out of clues:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question
7) This pilot is the only one in history to have accomplished this feat in combat.
8) This pilot's actions helped determine the outcome of a historic battle
9) This pilot's actions helped avenge his country's worst ever defeat
10) Upon his death, this pilot was buried at a national landmark
Good Luck

Hydro Junkie

And, one more time:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question
7) This pilot is the only one in history to have accomplished this feat in combat.
8) This pilot's actions helped determine the outcome of a historic battle
9) This pilot's actions helped avenge his country's worst ever defeat
10) Upon his death, this pilot was buried at a national landmark
11) This pilot's military aviation career started in biplane fighters
Good Luck

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

What Nationality Please

Hydro Junkie

Now how am I supposed to answer that? I've given you some serious help already with a couple of the clues above

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

But not his NATIONALITY Just asking but it's your Quiz so sorry if I Offended U in any way. PLZ for give me. Won't happen again.
Interesting place: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ma...71b24ff0?hl=en

Hydro Junkie

No offense taken. You asked a question, no harm in that either.
As far as my interesting place, I like it. Being at 22 feet above sea level isn't bad either

HoundDog

My Feedback: (49)

Well U R betting against Global Warming then ... Gota come up 860 for me to be on Oceanfront property. Have an Awesome Day

Hydro Junkie

Okay everyone, someone figured it out yesterday but, not wanting to hog the thread, sent me the correct answer in a PM.
Since that is the case, it's time for another clue:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question
7) This pilot is the only one in history to have accomplished this feat in combat.
8) This pilot's actions helped determine the outcome of a historic battle
9) This pilot's actions helped avenge his country's worst ever defeat
10) Upon his death, this pilot was buried at a national landmark
11) This pilot's military aviation career started in biplane fighters
12) This pilot spent his entire combat career flying from one "base"

Hydro Junkie

Guys, you're starting to worry me. I'm running out of clues but, thankfully, I still have a couple more:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life.
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question
7) This pilot is the only one in history to have accomplished this feat in combat.
8) This pilot's actions helped determine the outcome of a historic battle
9) This pilot's actions helped avenge his country's worst ever defeat
10) Upon his death, this pilot was buried at a national landmark
11) This pilot's military aviation career started in biplane fighters
12) This pilot spent his entire combat career flying from one "base"
13) This pilot was one of only four to get home with an aircraft deemed to be "in flying condition" in his second to last sortie
Good Luck

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Okay, let me take a shot here. We're obviously talking about a US Naval aviator (DFC and Navy Cross), who helped avenge our worst defeat (Pearl Harbor) in a historic battle (Midway?). With a couple of the other clues (lung damage, last flight, etc.,) I'd say we're talking about Lieutenant Richard Best. Thanks; Ernie P.


From a press report: 3 November 2001:

Richard H. Best, a former Navy bomber pilot who scored hits on two of the four Japanese aircraft carriers sunk in the critical Battle of Midway during World War II, has died. He was 91.
Best, a retired Security Manager at the Rand Corporation, died October 26, 2001, in Santa Monica, California.

The Battle of Midway--June 4-6, 1942--is considered the decisive battle of the war in the Pacific.
Before the battle, according to experts at the Naval Historical Center in Washington, the Japanese were on the offensive and had planned to capture Midway to use it as an advance base and entrap and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
But the Pacific Fleet surprised the Japanese forces and sank its four carriers, which had attacked Pearl Harbor only six months earlier. After the victory at Midway, the Allies took the offensive in the Pacific.

For his actions in the battle, Best received the Navy Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
"He exemplified the young Navy pilots who turned the tide of the second world war," said Jack Green of the Naval Historical Center.
"He never bragged about it, but he was obviously very proud of it because he would tell of his experiences to groups such as ours," said Matthew H. Portz, a retired Navy Captain who, along with Best, belonged to the Order of Daedalians, the national fraternity of military pilots.

Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Best was inspired to become a pilot by listening to the exploits of air veterans of World War I. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1932, served on the light cruiser Richmond and began flight training in 1934. He later taught instrument flying and evaluated torpedo bomber tactics in Pensacola, Florida.
In June 1940, Best returned to the fleet and requested to be assigned to dive bombers.
"I knew that I could make the most contribution as a bomber rather than a fighter," he told The Hook, a journal of carrier aviation, in 1996.
By mid-1942, Best was an experienced combat pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier Enterprise in the Pacific.
Portz, who interviewed Best recently for an upcoming article in the Order of Daedalians' quarterly magazine, said that the Americans had broken the Japanese code and learned that the enemy fleet was on its way to Midway.

On the morning of June 4, 1942, the Enterprise and two other American carriers--the Yorktown and the Hornet--were a few hundred miles from Midway Island when a patrol plane spotted Japanese aircraft carriers and their escorts heading toward the island.
That morning, Portz said, torpedo bombers from the three American carriers attacked three of the Japanese carriers and were almost wiped out by Japanese fighter planes and anti-aircraft fire.
But the attacking American torpedo bombers drew down the enemy fighters close to the water, Portz said, and while the Japanese fighters were attacking the torpedo bombers, the American dive bombers were able to hit the Japanese carriers.

Bombers from the Enterprise hit the Akagi and the Kaga. Dive bombers from the Yorktown hit the Soryu.
Of the 15 planes in Best's squadron, Portz said, only three returned to the Enterprise in good condition. A fourth plane came in later but was badly shot up.

That afternoon, Best and his remaining squadron members and another Enterprise bomber squadron went after the Hiryu, the one Japanese carrier that had escaped being hit in the morning.
Best and his squadron succeeded in destroying it, but unlike the morning mission when the Japanese fighters were down low defending against the American torpedo bombers, they were aloft.
"Hiryu threw everything she had at us," Best told Portz. "I never tried to look where my bomb hit: she was shooting, the battleships were shooting, and the Zeros were swarming around. I dropped all the way to the deck to get out of there."

Although Best returned unharmed after a day's work in hitting the Akagi and the Hiryu, the Battle of Midway turned out to be his last.
After returning to the Enterprise, he began coughing up blood and developed a fever. He was transferred to the hospital in Pearl Harbor, where X-rays showed cloudy spots on his lungs.
While flying the first mission during the Battle of Midway, a faulty oxygen canister had created gases that turned to caustic soda. He had breathed in the soda to clear it out. And the caustic soda, he was told, had activated latent tuberculosis.
"I knew my career was dead," Best told Portz. "I never flew again."

After undergoing 32 months of treatment, Best retired from the Navy in 1944 with a 100% disability. Between ages 32 and 42, Portz said, Best spent four years in and out in the hospital recovering from tuberculosis.

After the war, he worked at Douglas Aircraft and in 1947 he joined the Rand Corporation.
He is survived by his daughter, Barbara Ann Llewellyn; his son, Richard Halsey Best II; and a grandson.

Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery.

Hydro Junkie

DAMN!!!! Ernie was explaining the clues for me. I guess I need to finish the job before turning it over:
1) This pilot's skill was legendary He was known to hold his dive longer than any other pilot with a very high degree of accuracy
2) The plane he flew was considered obsolete when he flew it Many in the upper levels of the US Navy felt that the Dauntless dive bomber was due for replacement
3) This pilot was grounded immediately after his last and most famous combat sorties He started coughing up blood
4) After being grounded, this pilot was medically retired and lived a long life. Caustic soda powder activated tuberculosis that made him unfit for duty
5) Even though it's been reported incorrectly that he had help, he attacked and destroyed his first target in this battle and assisted in destroying a second later in the day, only to be grounded afterward due to lung damage He and two wingmen attacked the Akagi with Best hitting the middle of the flight deck, one wingman missing aft, damaging the rudder and the other missing forward. Best's bomb started a fire that was uncontrollable with all of the ordinance in the hanger "cooking off". The rudder had jammed due to the miss aft so the ship was uncontrollable. The ship was ordered scuttled after a 12 hour fight against the flames. In his last sortie, he hit the Hiryu in the forward half of the flight deck, along with three other pilots. The Hiryu was scuttled the next morning
6) This pilot was awarded the DFC AND Navy Cross for his actions during the day in question
7) This pilot is the only one in history to have accomplished this feat in combat. Bombing two carriers in one day, destroying both
8) This pilot's actions helped determine the outcome of a historic battle The loss of four carriers, ended the Japanese invasion of Midway
9) This pilot's actions helped avenge his country's worst ever defeat The four carriers sunk were all involved in the Pearl Harbor attack
10) Upon his death, this pilot was buried at a national landmark Arlington National Cemetery
11) This pilot's military aviation career started in biplane fighters
12) This pilot spent his entire combat career flying from one "base" He flew with Bombing 6 off the Enterprise until after Midway
13) This pilot was one of only four to get home with an aircraft deemed to be "in flying condition" in his second to last sortie Of 16 VB-6 planes launched , only four weren't shot up by the Japanese Combat Air Patrol while attacking the Kaga and Akagi

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Hydro Junkie; more than anything else, I was pointing out that clues 5, 6, 8 and 9 were sufficient to solve the puzzle for me. I'll admit I was a bit lost at first. Okay; I'll put something up quickly. Thanks; Ernie P.

Ernie P.

My Feedback: (3)

Okay; I hope this one will amuse, perhaps enlighten, everyone. But I doubt it was puzzle this group of experts very long. Thanks; Ernie P.


Question: What warbird do I describe?

Clues:

1. Although it wasn’t the first of its type within its service, it was the first of its style.