World War II was the first conflict to take aerial warfare to the next level. But instead of whipping around in advanced air superiority fighters like the Air Force of today, strategists of the time took the "more planes equals more damage" approach to combat. The result was intense, high-casualty dogfighting from a truly staggering amount of aircraft.
Here are 23 insane photos of WWII areal battles, and their consequences.
1
B-17 Flying Fortress “Miss Donna Mae II” drifted out of position and under another B-17 during a mission over Germany. One of the bombs from “Trudy” tore off the horizontal stabilizer and sent the plane into an unrecoverable spin. All 11 crewmen were KIA. May 19, 1944.
3
B-17s being escorted by P-47 fighters on their way to Germany, 1943.
4
WW2 pilots faced a number of dangers during dogfights one of them being mid-air collisions with other airplanes, as was the case with this unfortunate airman, 1942.
5
A desperate attack by a lone Japanese Ki-46 Dinah aircraft on an American B-29 bomber, 29th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force, formation somewhere over the Mariana Islands, 1945.
6
Fighter ace Francis 'Gabby' Gabreski in the cockpit of his P-47 Thunderbolt with his aerial victories emblazoned on the side. 1944.
7
Vapor trails from the dogfighting over St Paul's Cathedral in London during the Blitz, 1940.
8
American AA crew set in front of a sky covered in German and American contrails left from dogfights. Christmas day, 1944.
9
Pilots of No. 488 (NZ) Squadron scramble to their Brewster Buffalo fighter planes at Kallang airfield in Singapore, circa 1941. The Buffalo was outclassed by the Japanese Zero, but in some cases a skilled pilot could best the Zero in a dogfight.
10
A Bell P-39 Airacobra fires all of its weapons at night.
11
Hurricane line during the Battle of Britain.
12
Gun camera stills from a VF-17’s F6F Okinawa dogfight. This Betty was carrying a rocket-powered self-destruct stand-off bomb called a Yokosuka MXY7 Ohka. It is just visible under the Betty’s centerline.
14
A P-51D Mustang nicknamed “Floogie II” of the 357th Fighter Group escorts a damaged B-17 Flying Fortress of the 96th Bomb Group, flown by “Woody” Woodson during a mission.
15
Damage to the tail of a Corsair during a dogfight over Guadalcanal.
16
Japanese Kawanishi H6K ‘Mavis’ seaplane on fire after an attack by a PB4Y patrol bomber near Truk Lagoon; Caroline Islands, May 1944.
17
German Fw-190 in combat. Photograph taken by a gun camera installed on a U.S. P-47.
