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The P-47 Thunderbolt. For me, it has to be the bubbletop versions. It really transformed them. They still look purposeful but much more modern. Such a crazy fighter, with a massive turbo behind the cockpit.

https://archive.org/details/squadron-si ... t/mode/2up

The mighty Corsair. I love the inverted gull wing and the general look of the thing.

https://archive.org/details/squadron-si ... r/mode/2up

I mustn't forget all the Mustang freaks. This is another compressed file with several books.

https://archive.org/details/p-51-mustan ... 7/mode/2up

Okay then, so I guess that some children never grew up. They just got larger and more expensive toys. Going from tricycles on the ground to flying tricycles . . .

Thanks for the post and the links.

Soviet bomber projects since 1945

https://archive.org/details/490056551-s ... a+gross%22

British fighter and bomber projects 1935-1950.

https://archive.org/details/proyectos-s ... britanicos

More secret weapons of the Luftwaffe (for anyone old enough the remember that game)

https://archive.org/details/luftwaffe-s ... -1939-1945

Chinese aviation since 1951.

https://archive.org/details/chinese-air ... 1-pdfdrive

The ill-fated He 177.

https://archive.org/details/heinkel-he- ... s/mode/2up

The Me 264 Amerika Bomber

https://archive.org/details/messerschmi ... r_compress

As a kid who enjoyed watching Firefox, this is good stuff. Soviet fighter projects.

https://archive.org/details/soviet-secr ... since-1945

Combat Aircraft of WW2, by the legendary Bill Gunston. This is an excellent general resource. It's a bit hard to read the text but I was able to zoom slightly, which improved things.

https://archive.org/details/combat-airc ... i/mode/2up

Neilster wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 3:43 pm The mighty Corsair. I love the inverted gull wing and the general look of the thing.

I've often wondered about that extended tail on the Corsair. Was that to house the arresting hook?

Lobster wrote: Mon Aug 04, 2025 11:49 am

Neilster wrote: Wed Jul 30, 2025 3:43 pm The mighty Corsair. I love the inverted gull wing and the general look of the thing.

I've often wondered about that extended tail on the Corsair. Was that to house the arresting hook?

The Corsair does have a slightly unusual tail. Yes, the long taper would be to house the hook and also to have a low drag end to the airframe. The vertical stabiliser is quite forward of the horizontal stabiliser and it's been suggested that this is for stall recovery but I'm unconvinced. A vertical stab has to cope with heavy forces and the Corsair's fuselage gets quite slim towards the tail. It's probably well forward so it has a chunkier piece of aircraft to attach to.

I know that the inverted gull wings were because the designers wanted the undercarriage to retract backwards rather than sideways to facilitate a wing folding mechanism but the leg length was going to make this difficult. The legs had to be a certain length to allow clearance for the big prop. By having an inner wing section with high anhedral (slopes down) the u/c leg length was minimised. It has the additional benefit of a low drag wing/fuselage junction. It was, however, harder to build and such wings don't last as long but with most WW2 fighters having a combat life measured in hours, that wasn't an issue.