[Captain Audio]

Discussions on unusual aircraft designs that pop up now and then in WW2 and earlier comics, some being from the artists imaginations rather than real life, got me thinking of possible non standard aircraft soldiers of fortune might use.

Here is a real peach, twice the climb rate of a Spitfire for one thing, and able in the right hands to out maneuver almost anything in the sky in its very short service life.

The CW21 Demon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l1ucm5VtEc&t=364s

The Japanese were able to steamroller over the inexperianced Dutch pilots due to shear numbers, but not without a fight.

Quite a few of these planes simply disappeared still in their crates. Perfect for a mercenary airforce to pick up on the black market.

[bowers]

How about the Blackhawk's F5F-1 Skyrockets? Not very good, but they sure looked SO tough! Cheers, Bowers

[Captain Audio]

Actually the Skyrocket had a lot going for it, the high rate of climb being its best feature, and with a top speed of 383 MPH it was faster than most of its competition, especially in the Pacific .
Like all Gruman products it was tough as nails, intended for carrier landings. It had good STOL characteristics, needed for rough impromptu airfields in primitive conditions.  Its folding wings would make it easier to hide in clandestine operations.

[bowers]

I agree with everything you said, Captain! I read it could also outperform a Corsair and Spitfire in speed. I think it was just such a radical design that it brought with it a whole set of production issues. Since the Navy needed fighters immediately, of course they decided to build more Wildcats instead. Could you imagine the look on a Japanese pilot's face when facing one of these for the first time? Oh, what might have been...   Cheers, Bowers

[Captain Audio]

Heres a truly insane design from WW1.
Not exactly in the theme of the other entries, but astoundingly retro, almost steampunk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZoRCnOytOw

Built to loiter at high altitude for 18 hours at a shift. It would cruise at a mere 35 MPH.
It carried a 2,000 lb fuel load and bristled with machine guns and the main gun was a 37mm recoiless rifle. This bememoth was powered by only two 100 HP motors. Quite a feat of engineering.
The fuselage was so spacious that they had intended to install a sofa so some of the crew could relax in comfort till needed.
The intended mission was to intercept Zepplins.

[bowers]

Good lord! That thing actually flew! Cheers, Bowers

[Captain Audio]

Probably the most photogenic of late 1920's biplane fighters, the P6E Hawk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_P-6_Hawk

I once had a model of this beautiful aircraft which I painted in the "Snow Owl " pattern.

[bowers]

Was that the scheme with the black and white patterns on the nose and wheel cowlings? The Hawk was, indeed, a beautiful aircraft. Cheers, Bowers

[Captain Audio]

Was that the scheme with the black and white patterns on the nose and wheel cowlings? The Hawk was, indeed, a beautiful aircraft. Cheers, Bowers

Not sure of the proper term for the landing gear wheel covering but I've often seen them called "Spats" like the coverings of dress shoes of the day used to avoid soiling the shoes with mud or horse droppings.

Another favorite and a beautiful biplane is the Hawker Fury.

[The Australian Panther]

Uncle Scrooge wears Spats on his feet. No shoes!

[crashryan]

Not sure of the proper term for the landing gear wheel covering

"Wheel pants." That's what I'd always heard them called. I googled the term to double check and fell down a rabbit hole of merchants of aftermarket and vintage wheel pants for older private planes...none for the P-6 though.

[Captain Audio]

Not sure of the proper term for the landing gear wheel covering

"Wheel pants." That's what I'd always heard them called. I googled the term to double check and fell down a rabbit hole of merchants of aftermarket and vintage wheel pants for older private planes...none for the P-6 though.

According to Wikipedia,

Wheels on fixed gear aircraft
Wheel fairings are often called "wheel pants", "speed fairings" in North America or "wheel spats" or "trousers", in the United Kingdom, the latter enclosing both the wheel and landing gear leg.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_fairing

So for an American aircraft "pants" is most likely the correct term.
Spats that reach to the knee are called Gaiters, so that could have been the term if pants had not already been established.

I have seen a few trainers with wheel and landing gear legs covered by what resembled bell bottom or bootleg    trousers. With just the bottom few inches of the tires showing.
One of these had a retracting mechanism to draw the final few inches of tire up out of the airstream. For rough field landing they could extend the wheel several more inches.