Af Form 88: Fill & Download for Free

The 32-bit value 10101111 10001000 11001100 00001111 in binary can be represented as 0xAF88CC0F in hexadecimal. This can be stored internally in memory in one of two ways — either little-endian or big-endian.In big-endian, which means the most significant byte is stored in the lowest address, the individual bytes (0xAF, 0x88, 0xCC and 0x0F) are stored in memory in the same order they are read, e.g.Byte address 00 01 02 03 AF 88 CC 0F (These examples assume 8-bit bytes, which is almost universally used in computers these days but was not always the case.)In little-endian, which means the least significant byte is stored in the lowest address, so the individual bytes (0xAF, 0x88, 0xCC and 0x0F) are stored in memory in the opposite order they are read, e.g.Byte address 00 01 02 03 0F CC 88 AF The designers of different computer architectures have chosen one or the other over the years. For example, Intel uses little-endian, where as Motorola (which became Freescale, later still bought by NXP) chose to use big-endian in its 68000 microprocessor.Some architectures, such as ARM version 3 and above, can operate in either mode, based on a flag setting.Big-endian is the most common format in data networking and is used in protocols such as IPv4, IPv6, TCP and UDP.Little-endian has the property that the same value can be read from memory at different lengths without using different addresses. For example, the 32-bit value 0x00000055, stored asByte address 00 01 02 03 55 00 00 00 in little-endian, can be read as a byte (8-bits), short (16-bits), or long (32-bits) all starting at address 0 and resulting in the same value. Little-endian representation also simplifies hardware in 8-bit processors that add multi-byte integral values a byte at a time.The "endian" names were drawn from Jonathan Swift's 1726 satire, Gulliver's Travels.

It wasn’t. Of all twin engine fighters of WWII, Messerschmitt Bf 110 was the most successful, followed by Junkers Ju 88, De Havilland Mosquito and Bristol Beaufighter. P-38 failed abysmally at ETO, having 0.77 to 1 kill ratio.What made Bf 110 so successful was that it was the perfect night fighter. Fast, high climbing, reasonably agile, could take a radar and had good armament. Junkers 88 was originally a bomber, but later substituted Bf 110 in the Nachtjagdwaffe. Major Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer scored 121 kills with Bf 110 - all four-engine aircraft.The fame of P-38 comes mainly at the Pacific Theatre of Operations (PTO), where it performed well. P-38 had good range, and the turbocharged Allisons had good performance at the much lower combat altitudes (5000 m and less) where the aerial battles of the PTO mainly were waged. P-38 had also a decent armament, 20 mm cannon and four 12.7 mm machine guns.The P-38 suited well for the “pendulum” tactics (bounce and zoom) in which the Japanese planes were bad. The American pilots favoured the “Idiotenreihe” formation originally used in the Battle of Britain, which suited well for this kind of fighting. The P-38s would dive, strike, shoot, pull up and prepare for another go. Conversely, engaging in dogfight with P-38 would be suicidal - Major Thomas McGuire got himself killed that way.Most of all, the Americans had better pilots than the Japanese after 1943. It really isn’t the plane but the pilot which makes the difference. American tactics also were better.Conversely, P-38 failed at ETO where the altitudes of aerial combat were much higher, 10,000 m and more. The mechanically charged engines of the German fighters performed better, the German pilots were better and more experienced, and P-38 had notoriously bad cockpit heating, exacerbating the situation. The 8th and 9th AF decided to substitute it with P-51 and P-47 respectivelyBy far of all WWII twin engine fighters, Beaufighter packed most punch. It had four 20 mm cannons and six 7.7 mm machine guns. It was also extremely successful as night fighter, ground attack plane and anti-shipping plane, being able to carry torpedo and rockets.Overall the highest scoring American aeroplane was Bell P-39 Airacobra, with 6,000+ kills. The vast majority of those was scored by Soviet Air Force.

The B-29 would have had huge problems over Germany with or without escorts. In 1943 the Luftwaffe was very formidable in its defense of German Industry.The German 88 and 105 flak guns were the Luftwaffe’s last line of defense and knocked down thousands of Bombers during WW 2.The B-29 was an amazing Bomber it could fly at 350 MPH and had a range of 3250 miles. It had a big payload capability from 5,000 pounds to 20,000 pounds depending on range. It was a huge plane 100 feet long and with a 141 foot wing span. It had a bigger silhouette than a B-17 as a result. It had a ceiling equal to the B-17 between 31,000 and 35,000 feet.Most Japanese ant-aircraft guns were 20 or 25 MM with ceiling of 11,000–18,000 feet. They had 85MM guns that had a ceiling of over 50,000 feet like this one belowThe problem was they had only 120 in the Tokyo area. By contrast the Germans had thousands of 88 guns that covered a ceiling of over 50,000 feet.The Japanese most common interceptor that defended the main islands was the JIA Ki-43 Oscar.It had a top speed of 330MPH so it rarely was able to shoot down a B-29. The Navy had the Zero with about the same speed as the Oscar.The JIA Ki-84 Frank had a top speed of 420MPH but there were only about 3,000 built, Not enough to make much of a dent in the B-29 bombers and the P-51 Mustang escorts.The German FW 190 had a speed of 405 MPH and was armed with 20MM cannon. Some FWs were in special bomber killer units that were armored and had rockets.This B-17 ground crew from the 303rd BG a few days before Black Thursday. The mission on 14 Oct 1943 lasted 7 hours. The bomb run was done at 24,000 feet. The Bombing Divisions were opposed by 300 fighters mostly Me109 with some FW190 and a few JU88s. Their payload was 4,000 pounds. Some of the planes were shot down by flak. This Group the 303rd Hells Angels lost 2 bombers. The 8th AF lost 60 bombers that day. 17 more bombers were so damaged they could not be repaired.The P-47 Thunderbolts that escorted the B-17s on their first leg turned back because they lacked the fuel to fly the distance. Bomber commanders were angry that drop tanks were not used by the fighters to increase coverage. The P-47 was faster and more durable than any German fighter. It had kill ratios of about 8–1 over the Luftwaffe planes.The B-29 was impressive due to the poor quality of Japanese fighter air craft and poor anti-aircraft guns. The Japanese were better than the Germans in other areas such as surface ships, defensive fortifications and naval night operations. In the area of air defense they were not prepared for heavy bombers.In summary without fighter coverage the B-29s would have done no better than the B-17s and maybe worse. I think flak losses would have been greater. I am not sure a B-29 could take the punishment a B-17 could. I know the B-24 and Lancaster could not sustain the damage a B-17 could. I don’t think a B-29 could limp home on one or two engines with massive structural damage. I am shocked anyone would think a B-29 was more durable or vulnerable than a B-17. I present a strong argument supported by facts that contribute to aircraft loss in combat.