Aichi D3A (Val)
The D3A series of aircraft (dubbed "Val" by the Allies) were thought to be all but extinct when the war in the Pacific began. The rude awakening came in the form of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii - home to the ...

Amiot 354
The Amiot 354 bomber and reconnaissance platform was a quite capable aircraft when war broke out over France. The system had its origins based on the unarmed fast transport mail carrier to which some further development would...

Arado Ar 240
The Arado Ar 240 was designed to an RLM 1938 response to replace the twin engine, two seat Messerschmitt BF 110 Zerstorer heavy fighter, being made obsolete by the changing face of war. The Arado firm and the Messerschmitt fi...

Arado Ar E.530
The idea of twin fuselage aircraft was always in the minds of military aircraft engineers throughout the Second World War. Conceivably, these systems would offer up double the performance and capabilities of their single fuse...

Avro Manchester
The Avro Manchester was a semi-successful attempt by the Avro firm to fulfill Air Ministry Specification P.13/36. The specification called for a twin engine heavy bomber that could sport a multi-purpose payload of bombs or to...

Beech AT-10 Wichita
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Bell XFL Airabonita
The XFL "Airabonita" was a Bell Aircraft Company product developed in parallel with the P-39 Airacobra, a land-based USAAF design that eventually achieved operational status. In essence, the Airabonita was a "navalized" versi...

Bell XFM-1 Airacuda
In the same way that the XFM-1 Airacuda was a "different" sort of aircraft, the Bell company itself was "different sort" of aircraft maker. Know more for its unique elements in the P-39 Airacobra piston-engine fighter of Worl...

Blohm & Voss Bv 138
The Blohm and Voss Bv 138 was a German floatplane that saw quantitative production in the Second World War. Initially conceived of as early as 1936, the system would enter service by 1940 and play the most pivotal role of mar...

Bristol Beaufort
The Bristol Beaufort enjoyed a strong run between the war years of 1940-1943 as the primary British torpedo bomber in service. Designed as the successor to the aged biplane Vildebeest design by Vickers, the Beaufort saw succe...

Caproni-Campini N1 (CC.2)
With the introduction of the N1 (may also be known as the CC.2), Italy became only the second nation in the world to achieve jet-powered flight (Germany being the first), though the development of this particular aircraft did...

Consolidated PB2Y Coronado
By the middle of the 1930's America was no longer blind to the real possibility that the war would sooner or later be waged along it's shores. As such, the United States Navy took action in the requirement for a new generatio...

Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu (Owl)
The Focke-Wulf brand Fw 189 Uhu (translated to "Owl") was of the most peculiar aircraft design for the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War, but by no means made less lethal by it's appearance. The system accounted for a ...

Grumman F4F Wildcat
The Grumman F4F Wildcat was the unsung hero of the Allied Pacific Theater campaign in the early years of World War 2. Often overshadowed by the upcoming Grumman F6F Hellcats and Vought F4U Corsair hotrods, the stubby Wildcat ...

Handley Page Halifax
While the Lancaster Heavy Bomber will always be more identifiable in terms of the British night bombing campaigns of World War Two, the Handley Page Halifax series of bombers should be remembered as being just as equally impo...

Lavochkin La-5
Design of the Lavochkin La-5 series of low-to-medium altitude fighters was spurred on by a need for equipment capable of matching or exceeding anything the German Luftwaffe was fielding. Initially caught by surprise by the Ge...

Lavochkin LaGG-3
The LaGG-3 piston-engine pursuit fighter (the LaGG in the designation coming from "Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Goudkov") was one of the earlier successes of modern aircraft design for the Soviet Union in World War 2. Basically an impr...

Martin Maryland (A-22)
The Martin-produced Maryland series was classified as a light bomber and saw action as a photographic reconnaissance plane throughout the Second World War. Originally drawn up as a response to a United States Army Air Corps (...

North American B-25 Mitchell
The North American B-25 Mitchell series of medium bombers went on to become one of the classic American aircraft designs to emerge during World War Two. Designed as early as 1939, the series was built to specifications as req...

Petlyakov Pe-2
The Petlyakov Pe-2 began arriving in small numbers on the East Front in the summer of 1941. The system owed its pedigree from the developmental Petlyakov-designed VI-100 high-altitude interceptor that featured a pressurized c...

Short Stirling
The gangly-looking Short Sterling formed the backbone of heavy bomber groups for the RAF from the Battle of Britain on through the end of the war, though by then deemed obsolescent and relegated to transport duties. Designed ...

Sukhoi Su-1 / Su-3
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Vought OS2U Kingfisher
The OS2U Kingfisher was a product of the Vought aircraft firm, appearing initially as the VS.310 design to which the United States Navy accepted as a prototype in the XOS2U-1. The prototype would be airborne for trials by 193...

Westland Whirlwind
The Westland Whirlwind was a most capable design that might have seen even better service numbers were it not for the choice of engines. Originally slated to utilize the Rolls-Royce brand Merlin engines, the Whirlwind platfor...

Yakovlev Yak-1 (Krasavyets)
Often overshadowed by its contemporaries in the West (to include the Supermarine Spitfire, North American P-51 Mustang, Messerschmitt Bf 109 and the Focke-Wulf Fw 190) the early production Yakovlev fighter aircraft were some ...