Paris Air Show 2009 Aircraft

 For this centenial edition of the 48th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, you will discover both brand new aircrafts and 30 historical airplanes.
Highlights of this year will be the Lockheed F-22 Raptor, Sukhoi Superjet 100 and the Schiebel Camcopter unmanned helicopter, the first UAV to be shown in flight at an air show.
In 2007 the International Paris Air Show again provided the opportunity to meet all the players in the sector, with over 130,000 trade visitors. In 2009 the Show will mark a hundred years of technological innovation in aeronautics and space conquest with an event that continues to look to the future of the industry.

Modern Aircraft:
AERIS NAVITER         AN2 ENARA
AERO MAROC              AT-3
AIR & COMPAGNIE   CESS172 / CYRRUS CR20
AIRBUS                          A380
ANTONOV                    AN124/ AN148
AOZ                                 CH701
ARMEE de l’AIR         EC725 / MIRAGE 2000 / RAFALE air / RAFALE marine / TIGRE
ATK                                 CESSNA 208 / KINGAIR350
ATR                                 ATR 72-500
BELL TEXTRON          BELL407 / BELL429
BOMBARDIER            CALLENDER 850 / GLOBAL EXPRESS / Q400
BREITLING                 L1049 / L39C ALBATROS
DAHER/SOCATA      TBM700 / TBM850
DASSAULT                  FALCON2000LK / FALCON7X / FALCON900 / RAFALE air / RAFALE marine / NEURON
DIAMOND                    D-jet (Maquette) / DA42 / DA42MP / DA50
FINMECCANICA       C27J / EUROFIGHTER / M346 / M308 / ATR42MP / SUPER LYNX / A109LUH / A119 KOALA / GRAND / AW101 / AW139
                                          UTILITY / AW139 VIP / AW149 / M303
G1 AVIATION             G1
GECI                                Maquette SKYLANDER SK-105
HAWKER BEECHCRAFT  HAWKER 4000 / KINGAIR350
HINDOUSTAN             DRUHV
Aircraft Ltd.
LH AVIATION            LH10 ELLIPSE
NHI                                 NH90
NOVESPACE                A300-b2 ZERO G
OMA SUD                      SKYCAR
PATRIA                         HAWKmk51
PIAGGIO                       P180
PILATUS                       PC6Turbo Porter / PC12 / PC21
REIMS AVIATION    F406
REX COMPOSITE        APM21 LION / APM40 SIMBA
SAGEM                           F1
SUKHOI                         SSJ 100
US DOD                          C130J / HC130 / C2A / E2C Hawkeye / F15 Strike Eagle / F16 Fighting Falcon / F18Super Hornet / F22 Raptor
VULCANAIR               P68C

Historical Airplanes

AD4-N SKYRAIDER	CURTISS 75H HAWK	MS406
ANTONOV AN2	DC3	N3N-N
AT6 A TEXAN	DH100 VAMPIRE	ND25
B 17 G FLYING FORTRESS	F86 SABRE	P51D MUSTANG
B25 MITCHELL	FOKKER DRI	PBY-5 CATALINA
BLERIOT XI	JUNKER 52	PT22
BREGUET XIV	MD312	SE 5A
BRONCO	MIRAGE III	SPITFIRE
CAUDRON C460 RAFALE	MORANE H	YAK 3
CORSAIR	MS317

International Paris Air Show June 15  – 21, 2009

For photos Paris Air Shows 1985 – 2007 see www.parisairshow.eu

 

Iwo Jima

February and March of 1945

Written by Pacific Aircraft (www.warplanes.com), producing the finest collection of hand made and hand painted Aircraft, Ships, and Space Craft models for over 20 years.

Viewing Iwo Jima today might make one wonder what the fuss was all about. The island isn’t pretty, its volcanic origin causes it to reek of sulfur, and there is hardly any vegetation. In addition, dangerous live ordnance still can be found in various places across the island. There is no potable water, so at present no one lives there, except for personnel at a Japanese Naval Base. In fact, one needs special permission from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to visit the island.

US forces were losing fighters (F4-Us and P-51s) and bombers (B-24s and B-29s) due to their not having an emergency landing strip after a bombing run against the Japanese mainland, and those losses were devastating, both for experienced personnel and the equipment. Iwo Jima – called Chichi Jima (“ Sulfur Island ”) by the Japanese – was in a good location to provide that service. The problem was that a force of Japanese soldiers manned it. Unbeknownst to American war planners, it was a rather large force (some 22,000), and they had dug a vast network of tunnels all over the island. With the armament in their possession, they presented a formidable obstacle. In addition, Lt. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi had been ordered by Japan ’s Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to defend Iwo Jima to the last man.

It was because of the network of tunnels that intelligence underestimated to a large extent the number of men defending Iwo Jima . Nevertheless, a force of some 70,000 Marines landed on several of the beaches under withering fire. One of the most memorable difficulties was in trying to dig foxholes for cover: You couldn’t dig a foxhole in dry sand that kept collapsing on you, and the shovels were no good against the obsidian rock on the other beachheads. Thus for want of cover, an inordinate number of men were lost just in the initial assault.

Progress was slow and costly, and it wasn’t until they discovered the network of tunnels that they understood some strange incidents. After they cleared caves with grenades and flame-throwers, they’d move on, only to be attacked from the rear – from a hole they thought was clear. One night, a physician, dead on his feet in a “clear” zone after working all day to patch up wounded Marines heard foreign voices as he drifted off to sleep. He awoke and began digging through the sand, and encountered support beams of the tunnels below. It was then that the Americans realized what was happening, and adapted their strategy to account for the tunnels.

The Japanese knew every square inch of the island and were skilled at moving at night to silently kill sleeping Marines. US command had estimated three days to take Iwo Jima , but due to the miscalculated strength of the opposition, the entire operation took a full thirty-six days for an island that measured four miles by two miles. The battle could be measured into two distinct struggles: The North end, and the South end where Mt Suribachi stood. Both struggles were extremely difficult, and together they became the costliest encounter in the entire history of the US Marines.

The Marines killed some 21,000 Japanese troops in thirty-six days of fighting, but this one battle cost around 26,000 US casualties, a full one-third of all the casualties in the Pacific Theater in all of forty-three months of fighting. Still, the mission was accomplished: Now the US had a serviceable airstrip in close proximity to the Japanese mainland, as well as an emergency landing strip for battle-damaged aircraft. In fact, the first bomber to set down in an emergency, the B-29 Dinah Might , did so before the battle was over, as soon as the Marines cleared an airstrip and while being fired on by the Japanese. It had been low on fuel, and was refueled and serviced and immediately took off again, headed for home to report for its next mission.

As soon as Iwo Jima fell to the US Marines, the bombing campaign began to see the benefit of its capture. Strategically, the operating range and payloads were increased greatly, and tonnage dropped on Imperial Japan increased significantly. However, the greatest reward for the sacrifices made was its use as an emergency landing strip. Over 2,000 B-29s made emergency landings on Iwo Jima, saving the lives of almost 25,000 crew personnel who otherwise would have crashed in the sea with little if any hope of rescue.

This Article brought to you by
Pacific Aircraft (www.warplanes.com), producing the world’s finest collection of hand-made model aircraft, ships, plaques and artifacts for over 20 years.

Baron Manfred Von Richthofen, the world’s first Ace

Written by Pacific Aircraft (www.warplanes.com), producing the finest collection of hand made and hand painted Aircraft, Ships, and Space Craft models for over 20 years.

Photo: M. van Leeuwen (Duxford 2007)

A bit of a mystery shrouds the death of Baron Manfred Von Richthofen (the “Red Baron”) over the Morlancourt Ridge, near the Somme River, on April 21, 1918. Some accounts have him crashing to the ground, others say that while he was shot through the torso, he maintained enough control and presence of mind to land his Fokker Dr I before he died of his wounds. Whatever the exact circumstances, he was hit with a .303 caliber round, which confirms that he was killed by a British Empire troop – whether Australian, British, or Canadian – although the identity of the shooter remains in question to this day.

Officially, credit for the Richthofen kill went to RAF Captain Arthur Brown, who was pursuing him at the time. Later analysis tends to credit an Australian machine gunner on the ground, primarily because of the route traveled by the round. It was determined that it went from low in his right side and slightly behind him, then went up and forward from there, but the most telling fact was that it was found still in Richthofen’s clothing. Had the shot come from Brown’s machine gun, it would not have still been there, since the planes were in close proximity to each other.

Thus both the angle of the wound and the diminished velocity of the bullet indicate that the shot came from the ground, most likely one Sergeant Cedric Popkin of the Australian 24th Machine Gun Company.

Richthofen was born on May 2, 1892. He went into the German army and completed his cavalry cadet training in 1911, but soon after the outbreak of the Great War, he became bored and decided he wanted to fly. He secured a transfer in 1915 and started flight training in October, completing his first solo flight on October 10. Taking the liberty of mounting a machine gun on his Albatros B II reconnaissance plane, he essentially created his own fighter. It wasn’t long before he shot down a French reconnaissance plane, although it wasn’t credited to him.

During one of his many exploits, on November 23, 1916, he shot down and killed Major Lanoe George Hawker, who at the time was the best of the British pilots, one whom Richthofen considered very “big game.” By this time, of course, the Allies were concentrating intensely on going after him. He was causing entirely too much damage and had to be stopped.

With 20 kills in April of 1917, Richthofen brought his total to an unprecedented 52. By this time he had become a fearless as well as a ruthless killer, even shooting Allied pilots trying to escape from their downed planes. This was quite a change from earlier, when he once sent a box of cigars to a British opponent who survived.

Then in July of that year, he took a round that grazed and partially splintered his skull and, because it never healed properly, caused discomfort in the form of severe headaches for the rest of his life. After a period of treatment and recuperation, he returned to the squadron, but he wasn’t at his peak for several weeks.

By September of that year, he had managed to recover somewhat, and raised his kill count to 60. By then he was flying the distinctive red triple-wing Fokker Dr I that he is remembered for today. At the time of his death, he had achieved 80 kills, the highest number for World War I of any country, and in fact Baron Manfred Von Richthofen’s air battle record still stands.

This Article brought to you by

Pacific Aircraft (www.warplanes.com), producing the world’s finest collection of hand-made model aircraft, ships, plaques and artifacts for over 20 years.