New B-3 100 mission

[Anonymous]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-Mission-B-3 ... _406wt_646
Tooo much!

 

[Skip]

...and yet the stunningly white fleece and decal look pristine, scotchguard works wonders does't it?

 

[MikeyB-17]

'Looks like 60 years old!' Oh really?

 

[Roughwear]

It's not to my taste. The distressed skin is too uniform in appearance for a 100 mission B-3 and the lack of wear to the cuffs, decal etc.. is at odds with the outward appearance of the skin IMO.

 

[John Lever]

I wonder if anyone was lucky or unlucky enough to fly 100 missions ?

 

[MikeyB-17]

There were a few. The record holder in the ETO was M/Sgt. Hewitt' Buck' Dunn of the 390th BG who flew three tours totalling 104 missions. Highest number flown by a heavy bomber pilot was Lt.Col. 'Manny' Klette of the 91st BG who flew 91. There were others who flew some in the Pacific and some in the ETO. Of course Hans-Ulrich Rudel of the Luftwaffe, the famous Stuka pilot, flew 2, 530!

 

[Anonymous]

A Stuka pilot, always thought they were sitting ducks.

 

[ciddu]

H. U. Rudel, he wasn't exactly a sitting duck...
His score was amazing, something like: 11 killings - nine fighters and 2 more airplanes, 1300 tanks and armored vehicles, and even a destroyer, 2 cruiser and one battleship.
Flew over 2500 missions and was shoot down 30 times... and survived it all, walking out of the war on his own (one) leg.
Amazing...

 

[tom james]

It was not at all unusual for Ninth Airforce fighter bomber pilots to fly 100 missions-being close to the action & having to accumulate 200 combat hours to rotate home, many more missions were needed than fighter escorts from the Eighth.

 

[dmar836]

A friend flew 141 in MTO - fighters. Wanted 150 but "chickened out".

 

[ButteMT61]

WWII Soviet women were pretty impressive.
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/soviet_women_pilots.html

 

[PaulGT3]

I have never saved so much by not buying so few.

 

[TankBuster]

H. U. Rudel, he wasn't exactly a sitting duck...
His score was amazing, something like: 11 killings - nine fighters and 2 more airplanes, 1300 tanks and armored vehicles, and even a destroyer, 2 cruiser and one battleship.
Flew over 2500 missions and was shoot down 30 times... and survived it all, walking out of the war on his own (one) leg.
Amazing...

Rudel flew into the 405th fighter groups airstrip and surrendered. I have a grouping to a pilot who was there as well as original photos of his plane coming in to land there. That had to be a pretty surreal experience.