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Category Archives: Dave’s Essays
Scale Matters, Part III
Big and Small Let’s call this, a grown man playing with his toys on a Saturday afternoon.
Scale Matters, Part II
I never planned on revisiting this article. But a visitor to this site, ericritter65, asked a question about scale and it just got me to thinking I had never really shown how big any of these subjects are in real … Continue reading
The Value of an Ace
Readers of this site may recall about three years ago (!) a discussion about what an ace is worth to an air force. Some of this came about from my previous post “How Sure Are You?” which was mostly about … Continue reading
How Sure are You?
The Value of a Claim and Combat Intelligence In a swirling, twisting dogfight a highly trained but inexperienced fighter pilot gets his first shot at an enemy aircraft. He fires, and after seeing a burst of smoke the unfortunate target … Continue reading
What’s in a Name – Great Britain
“It’s the sort of bloody silly name they would give it…” RJ Mitchell, head designer of the Spitfire Uniquely among the wartime powers Great Britain used names as the primary designation for all production aircraft. Let’s take a brief look at … Continue reading
What’s in a Name – Germany
The German Luftwaffe’s aircraft designation system was one of the simplist employed during the war years After the jump, what will surely be my shortest article yet in this series!
The Best Airplane of World War II
We’ve already looked at several candidates for the worst aircraft of World War II, so what about the other side of the question? What aircraft really stand out for excellence and overall impact? After the jump, another of my pointless … Continue reading
The Worst Airplane of World War II
This is one of those discussions I’ve found myself in many times over the years. Its a favorite topic among war gamers, model builders and amateur historians. So as someone who fits all three categories, its come up before(!). Join … Continue reading
What’s in a Name – United States
Aircraft Naming and Designations For the second post in this series let’s take a look at the designating and naming systems used by the United States. I know this sounds dry, but I find it fascinating and I hope you … Continue reading
What’s in a Name? – Japan
This will be the first in a recurring series of posts on how aircraft naming/designating systems worked in different countries. I thought I would start with Japan as the title I’ve chosen for this series has a particular meaning for … Continue reading
Plane Dave 