The P-47C was the first mark of the Thunderbolt to see combat. The pilot is named as Lt Howard Hively, 28, with the squadron dog Duke. The aircraft later served with the 551st Fighter Training Squadron, RAF Atcham; it collided with a P-47D on 23 September 1944, pilot killed. Photo by: Frank Scherschel / Life

DX281 was retained by Westland as a test aircraft. While ordered into production, only 77 Welkins were completed and they never entered squadron service. It had been developed in response to the concerns of high-flying Luftwaffe bombers that never appeared, The Welkin was handicapped with compressibility problems. Photo from: Imperial War Museums

Canadian built aircraft with the enlarged bomb bay for 8000lb bombs. Once Boscombe Down finished its trial, KB783 went on the serve with 428 and 419 Squadrons, both Canadian units within Bomber Command. The aircraft returned to Canada postwar where it almost immediately suffered an accident at Yarmouth. Written off, it would serve two years as an instructional airframe before being scrapped. Photo from: Imperial War Museums

Captured aircraft that was flown to the US via the South Atlantic route. Arrived in the US on November 5. Given the serial FE-106 (foreign equipment) and later FE-1598. Testing ended in 1945 and the final fate the aircraft is unknown. Most sources give the location as Foggia but one suggests Salsola, which was part of the Foggia cluster of airfields. Now closed. Photo from: National Archives at College Park, Maryland

Grumman Hellcat taking off from OLF Concord. This F6F was there one day in October 1943 when I was home on leave and hung out in the weeds with my Graflex.