The Aircraft in Jake Hammer

    The airplanes flown by the heroes in aviation pulp fiction were often the authors’ futuristic inventions, capable of feats that no existing airplane could match. For example, Dusty Ayers, the hero in Robert Sidney Bowen’s series, Dusty Ayres and his Battle Birds, flew a biplane named the Silver Flash that was capable of 500 mph. I wanted at least some of the aircraft in the Jake Hammer series to have that kind of “super” quality too. But rather than simply make up aircraft with the desired features, I thought it would be fun for me (and for the reader!) to incorporate real airplanes from a time that was futuristic from the characters’ point of view, namely from World War II. Instead of spelling out the plane’s identity though, I left clues in the text that the World War II aviation aficionado might use to decipher for him- or herself what airplane I was describing. But if that doesn’t sound like fun to you, here’s the skinny on the aircraft of Jake Hammer and Merciless Intruders 

de Havilland Mosquito

Jake Hammer’s personal airplane, Lady Luck, is nothing less than a prototype of a de Havilland Mosquito, easily one of the most recognizable and versatile aircraft of World War II. Originally conceived as a super-fast high-altitude bomber, the Mosquito went on to serve with distinction as a tactical bomber, night fighter, maritime strike aircraft, fighter-bomber, as well as many other roles. When it entered production in 1941, the Mosquito was the fastest operational aircraft in the world, its Rolls-Royce Merlin Mk 23 (or Mk 25) engines propelling it to unheard of speeds. In tests conducted in February, 1941, a Mosquito easily beat the front-line British fighter of the period, the Supermarine Spitfire, with the Mosquito attaining an astonishing top speed of 392 mph at 22,000 feet, as against the Spitfire which could manage only about 360 mph at a lower altitude. And with its typical armament of four Browning .303 caliber machine guns and four 20 mm Hispano cannon, the Mosquito was more than able to outpunch its weight. Jake couldn’t have chosen a better airplane with which to launch his flying service than the de Havilland Mosquito!

Dornier 335 "Pfeil" (Arrow)

In Episode 7, Jake finally meets his adversary, the fictional test pilot Hans Dietrich, who is also flying a World War II aircraft. However, unlike the Mosquito, one of the most well-known planes of the Second World War, Dietrich’s aircraft became operational only at the end of the war. His plane is the Dornier 335 “Pfeil” (“Arrow,” in English). With its push-pull engine configuration, the Do 335 offered many advantages over the conventional twin-engine arrangement: lower drag, increased roll rate, high performance, and easy handling. Despite these advantages, the plane’s development proceeded in fits and starts. Its original design, as a single-seat Schnellbomber, was accepted for production in May 1942, only to be cancelled by the following autumn. However, Dornier was then told that a multi-role “heavy” fighter incorporating the same design elements of the previous work would be accepted. The first flying prototype (in October, 1943) was equipped with two Daimler-Benz 603A engines, each one delivering over 1700 horsepower. These engines would prove to be the largest inverted V12 engine designs Germany produced throughout the war. And they propelled the Do 335 to incredible speeds. With refinements incorporated in the later prototypes, the Pfeil could achieve a phenomenal 475 mph in level flight, making it Germany’s fastest piston-engine aircraft of World War II. Fewer than 20 of them were operational by the end of World War II. But there is one surviving example, and it can be seen at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, located near Washington, DC.

Boeing P26 "Peashooter"

Finally, we come to the Boeing P26A “Peashooter,” the plane flown by the pilots of the California Air National Guard in their confrontation with Hans Dietrich in Episode 7. Unlike both the Mosquito and the Pfeil, whose main operational period coincided with World War II, the P26A was developed in the early 1930s. Deliveries of the P26A began in December, 1933, and the aircraft became the front-line fighter/pursuit plane of the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) from 1936 until 1938. It was the first all-metal monoplane to enter service in the Army Air Corps’ pursuit squadrons. But rapid development in aviation during its service period rendered the plane obsolete in just a few years. By the mid-1930s, the Hawker Hurricane, Messerschmidt Bf109, and other aircraft were flying without the externally-braced wings, fixed undercarriage, and open cockpit of the P26. Still, I think the plane makes a very fitting appearance in an aviation pulp fiction story, if for no other reason than its vivid and extravagant paint job!