Plane Spotter's Guide to World War II Aircraft Quiz

Answer: P-51 Mustang

The North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs were long-range fighters often used as bomber escorts. The original Allison engine's performance was weak above 15,000 ft./4500m. But lengthening the nose and installing a Rolls Royce Merlin engine transformed the plane and it matched or beat the majority of Luftwaffe fighters at altitude.

The most flexible version of the plane, the P-51D, used a U.S.-made Packard V-1650-7 engine, a 1,500 horsepower variant of the Merlin engine licensed by the U.S. auto manufacturer Packard.

While some Mustangs saw action in the Pacific Theater it was primarily used in Europe.

Answer: P-38 Lightning

The P-38 Lightning with its twin booms and central seating was built by Lockheed for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Flown primarily in the Pacific Theater, it was used by America's top aces, Richard Bong (40 kills) and Thomas McGuire (38 kills). (An 'ace' is a pilot who has downed five enemy planes.) It was also used to some extent in the European theater.

As a boy I built a plastic model of the P-38, and while intrigued by the looks of the plane, I wondered if it was really a good fighter. I found out later about the American aces and that the plane was good enough that the Luftwaffe pilots had nicknamed it "the fork-tailed devil".

Answer: Flying Pencil

Nicknamed the "flying pencil" because of its narrow fuselage (which made it harder to hit) the Dornier Do 17 was designed as a fast, light bomber and was one of the main Luftwaffe bombers in the early stages of World War II. Though used throughout the war, it was supplanted by the Junkers Ju 88 and the Dornier Do 217. The British Royal Air Force Museum raised the remains of the last known intact Do 17 from the English Channel in June, 2013. Restoration work was expected to take years.

Answer: Kate

The B5N was called "Kate" by Allied airmen. "Emily" was a Japanese flying boat, "Frank" was a Japanese single-seat fighter and "Osprey" is a current U.S. Marine tiltrotor aircraft. The Nakajima Aircraft Company use the internal model code "Type K" for the B5N, which may have been the basis for its nickname.

Then again, maybe not. It was widely used as an aircraft-carrier based torpedo bomber. It had a crew of three: pilot, navigator/bombardier and radio operator/gunner. Though becoming obsolete as the war progressed, it was used during the entire conflict due to the delayed development of its successor, the B6N, which was nicknamed "Jill".

Answer: Messerschmitt Bf 109

The Messerschmitt Bf 109 (called the Me 109 by Allied pilots) was one of the first modern fighter planes: single wing, closed cockpit, chassis integral with the body. Originally designed as an interceptor, as German fortunes waned during the war, it was pressed into service as a bomber escort, fighter/bomber, ground-attack aircraft and reconnaissance plane. Constant development kept it on a par with most Allied fighters for the duration of World War II.

As a side note about the other choices, the only surviving Dornier Do 335 is on display at Washington D.C.'s Dulles Airport.

Answer: B-17 Flying Fortress

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (a name coined by a newspaper reporter) was a heavy bomber used primarily in the European Theater in World War II. Although the prototype crashed during a test in Ohio in 1935, the army was impressed enough to order thirteen for further testing, which showed that the B-17 was a solid aircraft. Though considerably more expensive than others that competed for the Army contract, over 12,700 were eventually produced during the war.

The B-17 pictured here is the "Memphis Belle", a plane featured in two films bearing her name. The Belle was one of the first bombers to complete a 25 combat mission tour of duty and return to the U.S. All of its original ten crew members survived the tour despite the plane being routinely riddled with bullets, damaged by flak, reportedly going through nine engines, both wings, two tails, and both main landing gear assemblies over the course of her seven month combat career.

Answer: Spitfire

The Supermarine Spitfire was used by the British Royal Air Force and several allied air forces during World War II. During the Battle of Britain (July-October, 1940) there were fewer Spitfires than Hawker Hurricane fighters but the Spitfire was faster and had a higher victory-to-loss ratio (kill ratio) than the Hurricanes.

It became the predominant British fighter plane of World War II. It was designed by the Supermarine Aviation Works; R.J. Mitchell was the head designer. Originally to be called the Shrew, the name Spitfire was supposedly chosen because of one of the team's daughters who was called a spitfire due to her temperament. Mitchell commented: "That's just the bloody silly sort of name they would choose."

Answer: Junkers Ju 87

Three of these planes were long-range bombers, the correct answer was the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka (from Sturzkampfflugzeug: 'dive bomber'). It was a two-man dive bomber and ground-attack plane. It was known not only by its distinctive shape but by its "Jericho Trumpet" siren which screamed as the plane dived; the siren became the propaganda symbol of German air power.

It was only moderately successful because, like most dive bombers, it was slow and cumbersome, requiring a large fighter escort and was a comparatively easy target for anti-aircraft gunners. Still, it was used throughout World War II.

Answer: Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster was Britain's primary bomber of the war. Designed as a night bomber, the "Lanc" was also used for precision daylight raids. It had a long, unobstructed bomb bay that could handle all British bombs including the 22,000 lb./10,000 kg. "Grand Slam" earthquake bomb which was designed to penetrate the earth beside or below a reinforced concrete structure and cause a cave-in of the surrounding ground.

Answer: Liberator

The Consolidated B-24 bomber was dubbed the Liberator. It was a more modern design than the B-17 Flying Fortress and could deliver a bigger bomb load. But! It was more difficult to fly and was harder to hold in position when flying in formation. It had a tendency to catch fire because of its fuselage-mounted fuel tanks and it's high-mounted wings made it tend to break apart if it crash-landed. Still, its large payload and long range made it a workhorse throughout the war.

Answer: Zero

Designed as an aircraft carrier-based airplane, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero was one of the best fighter planes of World War II. Early in the war they were the dominant fighter in the Pacific Theater; it took the Allies a couple of years to build a plane that would match them.

The best counter to the Zero, or "Zeke" (which was the official Allied reporting name) was probably the Grumman F6F Hellcat. More Zeroes were built in World War II than any other Japanese fighter plane.

Answer: Mosquito

The DH.98 Mosquito was made by de Havilland for the Royal Air Force; it was built almost entirely of wood. When introduced in 1941 it was one of the fastest airplanes in the world. It excelled at photo-reconnaissance and at high-speed, low-altitude bombing runs at German factories and railways, evading anti-aircraft gun emplacements because of its speed (415 mph/668 km/h). It could get to its target and be gone almost before Axis forces could get their planes airborne. It had two Rolls Royce Merlin engines, which seemed to be one of the magical power plants of the war. It was used by all the Commonwealth of Nations forces and the U.S. Army Air Force took a liking to it, too.

As Germany's air force was decimated in the latter stages of the war the Allies had almost free rein over the skies. The Mosquito was used as a night bomber over Berlin, partly to drop some bombs but mainly as a psychological weapon: their arrival set off air raid alarms, causing citizens to leave their beds and go to bomb shelters, lose sleep and be constantly on edge.

Answer: Focke-Wulf

Built by Focke-Wulf, the Fw 190 "Shrike" was a fast, maneuverable fighter plane, the equal of early versions of the RAF Spitfire and in some ways better than its Messerschmitt Bf 109 partner. The Fw 190 was a single-seat plane that was used as an interceptor, fighter-bomber and ground-attack aircraft. It played a major role in Germany's Eastern Front campaign against the Soviet Union.

Answer: Betty

The Mitsubishi G4M (Type 1), named Betty by the Allies, was a light, high-speed bomber used against land targets and against ships as a torpedo-bomber. Part of its lightness was due to the fact that it had almost no armor plating and its wing-mounted fuel tanks were not the self-sealing types.

These proved to be two big weaknesses, particularly the fuel tanks. It was called the Cigar because it caught fire easily when the tanks were punctured. Both sides also called it "The Flying Lighter" (as in cigar lighter) for the same reason.

Answer: Corsair

The Chance Vought F4U Corsair had a distinctive inverted gull wing design (although other air forces used similar designs in a few of their aircraft). Designed for aircraft carrier usage, the Corsair had big problems in its early versions. Besides the 'bouncing' problems shown in the photograph (caused by too much hydraulic pressure in the landing gear struts) it had a tendency to quickly flip over during carrier landings.

The inverting problem was solved by adding a 6 in/150 mm metal strip to the leading edge of the right wing.

It sounds like an easy fix, doesn't it? but it took over a year to find it. The plane was finally certified for carrier operations in 1944. In the meantime it was used as a land-based fighter and fighter-bomber with much success, especially in the Pacific War. If you watched the television program "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (called "Black Sheep Squadron" in reruns) the Corsair was the plane flown by Greg Boyington's VMF-214 squadron.