Trafford Publishing: Contending Fighters of WWII

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Contending Fighters of WWII

by Ron Collis

143 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-1214; ISBN 1-55395-499-8; US$23.00, C$30.75, EUR20.00, £13.90

This book is principally about the fighter aircraft of WWII and what they were like to fly. Ron Collis joined the RAF in 1940 when he was 19. He first trained as a flying instructor but became a Spitfire pilot in 1943. After a most interesting year during which he was awarded the DFC and mention in Despatches, he joined the Central Fighter Establishment where he served in the Fighter Leaders' School, the Enemy Aircraft Flight and the Meteor Flight. This gave him the opportunity to fly an unusually wide range of advaned fighters. His experiences with all of these fighters make a fascinating story.

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About the Book

This book is principally about the fighter aircraft of WWII and what they were like to fly. Ron Collis joined the RAF in 1940 when he was 19. He first trained as a flying instructor but became a Spitfire pilot in 1943.
After a most interesting year during which he was awarded the DFC and mention in Despatches, he joined the Central Fighter Establishment where he served in the Fighter Leaders' School, the Enemy Aircraft Flight and the Meteor Flight. This gave him the opportunity to fly an unusually wide range of advanced fighters.
His experiences with all of these fighters make a fascinating story.

About the Author

Ron Collis joined the RAF in 1940 at the age of 19. He left in 1947 as a Squadron Leader having been awarded the D.F.C. and Mentioned in Despatches as a fighter pilot. He graduated from Oxford University and later served in the Royal Navy as a meteorologist.
In 1956 he started a career in applied research, first at Decca Radar in London and then at Stanford Research Institute (later SRI International) in California, where he became Director of the Atmospheric Physics Laboratory.

Sample Excerpts

PREFACE

     This book is principally about the fighter aircraft of WW II and what they were like to fly. These aircraft were the product of a contest within a contest -- a continuing struggle to gain and hold command of the air within the overall context of total war. Frequently, too, they were the outcome of intense competition between rival designers and manufacturers.
     It began in London one drizzly September evening in 1947, when I stood looking at a group of six aeroplanes that were on display to commemorate the Battle of Britain. Drawn up on the Horse Guards Parade, they represented a cross-section of the most famous British and German fighter aircraft of the period:a Hurricane, a Spitfire, a Me 109, a Focke-Wolf 190, a Meteor, and a Vampire.
     The Hurricane already looked very antiquated and as I compared it with the Meteor and Vampire I realized what a lot had happened in the last 7 years and how rapidly fighter aircraft had evolved. The Hurricane had been the first of the RAF's monoplane fighters and when the War began it was already being eclipsed by the first of the Spitfires and Me 109's. These were to appear in increasingly improved versions, until they in turn were superseded by aircraft such as the W190. Then came the greatest advance of all -- the new jet aircraft.
     During my career as an RAF pilot, I had flown all of the aircraft on show and it occurred to me that there couldn't have been too many people about who could say the same. "Perhaps one of these days I should write a book about them. "I said to myself, and promptly put the idea out of my head for over 40 years. Now, at long last, here is my account of these and the other British, American and German fighter aircraft of the WW II period, most of which I flew or with which I was directly involved.
     These aircraft are interesting and significant on two counts. Firstly they were the remarkable products of the see-saw struggle between the opposing air forces to achieve greater speed, more rapid rates of climb, higher ceilings, longer ranges and ever more lethal armaments. Secondly, this search for fighter superiority led, in a surprisingly short time, to developments and innovations that had a major impact on the history of aviation in general.
     As WW II approached, "fighter"aircraft were seen primarily as "interceptors", largely concerned with defense against attacking bombers. With an armament of machine guns their job was to destroy or divert formations of larger, slower aircraft, although they might be called on to ward off reconnoitering fighters or themselves make reconnaissances. The need to act as defensive escorts to bombers had also been underlined by experience in the Spanish Civil war, with the corresponding development of major fighter-to-fighter engagements.
     The early fighters took on all these jobs as the occasion demanded, and were quite ready to turn their guns on shipping or ground targets if the need arose. But as hostilities intensified, specialization developed to optimize the effectiveness of fighters in various roles. Distinctions were made on the basis of the height and range at which the aircraft operated and the nature of targets to be attacked in the air or on the surface, and appropriate changes were made in engines, aircraft design, weapons carried and pilot training. Very soon classifications were applied and fighters were designated as day-and night-fighters and/or by a host of other, overlapping designations:single-engined, twin-engined, long range, low-level, high altitude - and so on. Operationally we saw fighter-bombers, ground attack fighters, rocket fighters and the like, and the problem of classification was compounded by the fact that any particular type could often fulfill several of these functions, with or without major modification of its basic airframe or engine. As a Spitfire pilot, for example, successive entries in my log book record defensive "scrambles", dive-bombing, low-level bombing and fighter sweeps.
     All this greatly complicates any attempt to compare particular fighter aircraft, and indeed, many appeared in a variety of modified and improved versions, some of which might be operating concurrently. Some types were also involved in completely different activities; (for example the versatile Ju 88 appeared both as a night fighter and day fighter, and also as a bomber, dive bomber, torpedo launcher and reconnaissance aircraft, among other guises). In this book I have therefore treated each of the types described on a fairly general basis, only going into detailed discussion of the variants and sub-types where this is especially appropriate.
     The common theme in virtually all the aircraft described, however, is that they were the result of a continuing competition and that performance was advanced to achieve or maintain the advantage as each new tactical situation developed. Those aircraft, or their Marks or variants, that became outclassed by new or upgraded versions of their adversaries, were either discarded or transferred to a less demanding theater or role. It was this pattern of fighter development that gave rise to such progress in aviation in general.

*    *    *

     In describing what some of these aircraft were like to fly I have drawn on my experiences as a pilot in the RAF from 1940 to 1947. I spent some time as an instructor and later as an operational pilot in Spitfires.
     Serving with 41 and 126 Squadrons I spent an interesting year (1943/44)based at a sequence of 10 and 11 Group stations in the South of England. During this tour that included the Normandy invasion, I attacked many ground targets with bombs and guns and shot down a W 190 and a Me 109 in dogfights. I was also hit by flak just after D-day and had to bail out over the Channel.
     I later joined the staff of the Central fighter Establishment (C E)serving in turn in the Fighter Leaders'School, the Enemy Aircraft light and the Meteor light before finishing up at a desk. In all these roles I had the opportunity to fly an unusually wide range of advanced fighters.
     In writing this book, in addition to my log books, I have turned to various references, including those listed in the Bibliography, to prompt my memory and to provide hitherto unknown specific details of the aircraft described.
     The quantitative data that I have included on size, engine power, flight performance and so on, are my best estimates based on the sometimes conflicting information provided by such references. Even some of the more authoritative of these are exasperatingly incomplete and inconsistent in the way in which they present data.
     "Weight", in particular, is often used very vaguely. I have attempted to specify the weight of fighters on the basis of "all up weight"or "operational take-off weight", i. e. the sum of the weights of the structure and power plant, the standard flight crew plus parachutes, the full (internal)content of fuel and oil, and the normal military load (guns and ammunition)carried. In referring to bomber and training aircraft, I have tried to use an "unloaded"weight, i. e. the bare aircraft with empty tanks, and the "fully loaded"weight, which includes crew, fuel and oil and "pay"load). "Maximum"or "overload"weight is self- explanatory and sets the limit on how much additional load could be carried, such as auxiliary fuel tanks, bombs etc. or "maximum speed", unless otherwise stated, I have tried to give the all-out speed in level flight, at whatever height this was achieved.
     I have little confidence in the precision of the figures given, but they should adequately serve the present purpose, which is to give a general feel for the relative characteristics of the aircraft in question. In any case, precise information depends greatly upon the specific variant, sub-type and sub-sub version in question.
     Finally, though, any errors of fact are my responsibility, but in writing about my own experiences, whatever I may have left out, I have not consciously included anything that did not happen.

Catalogue Information