The Me 262 was the world's first operational jet fighter - 100 mph faster than any Allied aircraft - yet Hitler's bomber obsession delayed its deployment long enough to neutralize its potential.
TaildraggerFlak Bait, serial number 41-31773, flew 207 combat missions over Europe - more than any other American aircraft in the ETO - and is now being fully restored at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center.
TaildraggerFlak Bait, the last surviving Martin B-26 Marauder, flew 202 missions over Europe and is now being preserved at the Smithsonian's Udvar-Hazy Center.
TaildraggerThe Hawker Hurricane destroyed 55% of German aircraft in the Battle of Britain - more than the Spitfire - yet history gave the glory to its more glamorous stablemate.
TaildraggerThe Memphis Belle was the first B-17 crew to complete 25 combat missions over Nazi Europe, a milestone that reshaped morale across the entire Eighth Air Force in 1943.
TaildraggerFlak-Bait flew 207 combat missions in WWII - a record no American aircraft has matched - and its ongoing restoration at Udvar-Hazy preserves every patch as evidence.
TaildraggerThe Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the heaviest American single-engine fighter of WWII and the most-produced American fighter aircraft in history, with 15,686 built.
TaildraggerThe Dornier Do 335 Pfeil was the fastest piston-engine fighter ever evaluated by Allied test pilots - and only one of the 37 built still survives.
TaildraggerHow a German pilot's navigational error in June 1942 handed Britain its most valuable aviation intelligence of the entire war.
TaildraggerOn the night of May 16, 1943, RAF 617 Squadron flew at 60 feet above German reservoirs to deliver a spinning bomb that breached two dams and reshaped strategic bombing.
TaildraggerDoc the B-29 Superfortress returned to flight on July 17, 2016, after decades in the California desert - one of the most significant warbird restorations in American aviation history.
TaildraggerFlak Bait, a Martin B-26 Marauder, flew 202 combat missions over occupied Europe - more than any other American aircraft in the entire European Theater.
TaildraggerOn June 4, 1942, Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers the Navy had already written off sank three Japanese fleet carriers in six minutes and turned the Pacific War.
TaildraggerOn May 16, 1943, nineteen RAF Lancasters flew at 60 feet in darkness to breach Nazi Germany's Ruhr Valley dams in one of history's most precisely executed aerial missions.
TaildraggerThe Memphis Belle - the first B-17 crew to complete 25 combat missions over occupied Europe - is now fully restored and on permanent display in Dayton, Ohio.
TaildraggerThe Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the most-produced American fighter of WWII - a massive, armor-laden aircraft engineered to bring pilots home from the worst the Luftwaffe could deliver.
TaildraggerFlak Bait, the Martin B-26 Marauder that flew 202 WWII combat missions, remains the most battle-proven American aircraft of the war - and its Smithsonian restoration tells that story in aluminum.
TaildraggerThe Soviet 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew obsolete biplanes in silence over German lines - and became one of WWII's most effective and feared combat units.
TaildraggerOn the night of May 16, 1943, nineteen Lancasters flew at sixty feet to deliver Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb and breach two of Nazi Germany's most critical dams.
TaildraggerThe de Havilland Mosquito - built of wood, crewed by two, carrying no guns - recorded the lowest loss rate of any aircraft in RAF Bomber Command during World War II.
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