Mystery Airplane Contest – February 2025

In 1941, movie goers were introduced to Warner Brothers' "Dive Bomber" directed by Michael Curtiz. Starring Errol Flynn, Fred MacMurray, and Ralph Bellamy, with major flying scenes by Paul Mantz, it depicted, Hollywood style, pre-WWII USN dive bomber operations. Europe had already been introduced to the real thing in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

In early WWII battles, dive bombers, operating under an umbrella of air superiority seemed unbeatable. The Junkers Ju-87 Stuka led the blitzkrieg across Poland, the Low Countries, and France. Only in the Battle of Britain, when it came up against...