An interesting piece of history is the story of the นักชกชื่อดัง pilot of the Second World War. This pilot was one of the very first to use the new medium sized aircraft in combat, and this would be the invention of the bomb. John Pilsworth was a bombardier in the United States Army Air Force, but he preferred to fly a biplane instead of an aircraft. It was in October 1940 that he flew for the very last time a Mosquito, and it was this plane which became famous. Pilsworth was actually the very first pilot to actually photograph the battles of Midway and Coral Sea, and he made the shot that was used in many movies to this day. In fact his photo of this plane has become the inspiration for the original Star Wars movie Death Star.
Pilsworth was in a fighter squadron, but there were not actually any fighter planes there. It was simply called the "fighter school". Pilsworth was very well known in the aviation world and was known as the " Fighting Pilot". Every member of his squadron received training in the form of ground instruction and aerial combat. Pilsworth was one of the better students at the fighter school. He was trained on the new F-86 which was a step up from the B-24 which was used in World War II.
The original purpose of these flying trainers was to test the flight capacities of the new aircraft. When the plane was finished they were supposed to be able to take off with at least one passenger and be within the performance envelope of the aircraft. This meant that Pilsworth was supposed to know how to handle the aircraft by himself before he was added to the bomber squadron.
Pilsworth was one of the first members of his squadron to receive a B-24 and he was assigned to the "arsity squadron". He was only 23 years old when he started out in combat and this was considered very young to be flying an actual combat aircraft. Most pilots were instructed to keep their hair short, wear loose fitting clothing and not to fly unless it was really needed. Pilsworth was however permitted to start flying at the age of eighteen due to the fact that most of his peers in the squadron were older and already equipped with their own B 24s.
Pilsworth was assigned to the " squadron" number and was assigned to be one of the two "pit crew" who performed dog fighting exercises in the area. The other pilot flew his own E-3 "hunter" and the training became quite fierce between these two pilots. There was even a time when they got into a dog fight and one of them ended up shooting down the other's E-3. When the plane went down it was supposed to crash and the survivor was supposed to go back to the base but instead he stayed behind and brought along his own gun. A firefight broke out and several planes were damaged during the dog fight and the "hunter" pilot was shot down but he managed to make it back to the base and report what happened.
When the war started Pilsworth was put in charge of maintaining the damaged aircraft and getting it back into action. He was given the title " Colonel" because he was considered to be an "experienced fighter pilot". He was, however, slightly under equipped for combat. On this note he was given the job of repairing the damaged aircraft. It was a slow process as many of the components were still damaged.
In the autumn of 1940 the Blenheim was returned to service and Pilsworth and the team which had worked on the Blenheim took on the job of re-arming the aircraft. During this process the new ammunition that were fitted proved to be more powerful. Finally in November of the same year they began to test the new ammo in combat. It was during this test that the "night fighter" became immortal.
The Blenheim was later damaged by German Luftwaffe planes and was almost completely destroyed. But it was saved by a British bomber. As luck would have it this pilot was an ace pilot who also happened to be a member of the " Bomber Command". He was actually so successful that his daring helped to keep the Blenheim in operation. The famous "night fighter" even won a battle against the Royal Air Force at one point in its life. After the end of the war he went on to become a pilot and served in the Navy and in the air force as a navigator before finally retiring to live his life to the full.
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