Just out of curiosity - Airplane Guys

  • Da Vinci Air Screw. Invention of ball bearings was just a byproduct...
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  • Wright Flyer. Cuz hoo boy
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  • Grumman Hellcat. Most effective fighter of the War. Heavy armor. Cool stubby look. Wings fold up
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  • Cessna 182. I have no interest at all in flying but used to jump out of one. The first step is a doozy...
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A Wittman Tailwind as built by Jim Clement.
This may be the best example of old school homebuilt aircraft in the world. Jim would start with a pile of chromoly tubing and some plywood. I think he built 4 or 5 of the Whitman designed Tailwind and made significant improvements as he worked. Baraboo Airport DLL was a hotbed of Tailwind building. At least 7 were built there. Several were award winners at Air Venture. Steve Wittman is a home builder legend. The Oshkosh airport is named after him.
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The USAF museum is a must stop..... make a appointment (ahead of your visit) to do the restoration area... requires a bus ride across the base.... No Photos dur'n the ride. Evergreen Museum south of Portland, Oregon.... excellent... home of the Spruce Goose. Has a 747 parked on the roof. The Seattle area has many aviation spots.
I flew in a Dc-3, while in Africa.... Ethiopia Air lines...look'n out the windows at mountain walls... " say, shouldn't we be above these..? " also a hour in a B-25..... sat in the trail gunners seat.... the thought of sheet aluminum between me and a Me-109 …not comforting. Also a hour in a trimotor Ford. Did my first whirly bird (crop duster by day) last summer... did NOT care for the " nap of the earth " portion. Not a fan of helo's….. I got a couple of photos, a Chinook that crashed at Yakima training center, Washington state.
 
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In '76 after we were released from duty one spring Air National Guard weekend I went next door to the American Airlines Maint Center were dad worked in the engine shop. They were having an Open Day. I went and did the tourist thing and lo and behold they were offering rides in a Ford Tri Motor! I paid my $5 (I think it was) and got in. It was one circuit of the airport but it was noisyand not long enough but I could say I had a flight in a Ford Tri Motor!
 
Some other notable aircraft
Lancaster bomber. Huge for its day. Long Bombay. 4 lovely sounding Merlin engines. Impressive to watch flying. I watched a Shackleton land here at D-M for the Pima Air and Space museum. Last of the Lancaster line with airborne early warning radar bulges and 4 Griffon engines and 32 blades of counter rotating propellers. Made a strange sound coming in.
Lockheed Constellation. Graceful lines. I've seen a few flying over the years. One morning, many decades ago, I heard one flying over Nellis AFB. It was still a touch dark enough to see the purple exhaust flames from the 4 Curtis-Wright R-3350s. One of Ike's Columbines was found at Marana Reginal airport and made airworthy to fly to a proper restoration shop. That was a about a year ago.
Lockheed F-104. Saw quite a few in Germany "attacking" Hahn AB during exercises. I always thought the J-79 sounded strange. It was a fast flyer. It was all engine and little wing or fuel tank.
 
Some years ago on a trip to the UK, I had an extra day and so I went to Duxford where there is an incredible collection of vintage aircraft. They were selling rides on a DeHavilland Dragon Rapide (a 1930s British airliner) and I grabbed it. Very cool and yet a little spooky being a reasonably large a/c that was fully enclosed and yet was a fabric covered, wire-braced biplane. As I recall it, they had a fairly large guy climb in and sit in a seat near the tail BEFORE the pilot boarded because the pilot alone could have tipped her onto her nose.

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A few yrs. back I worked at a place where we built Light Sport airplanes.... Renegade Falcons. One weekend the traveling Ford Tri Motor was in town giving rides. During a break, the Captain came over to check out our little birds, so I put him in the left seat of one and gave him a 30 min. demo ride. On the last Tri Motor flight of the day, he came and got me and put me in the right seat. For 20 minutes I got to fly the venerable Tri Motor. Talk about hog heaven. :)

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Great pic Jim!
Far from relics DC3's continue on in workhorse service! How many other machines built in the 30s - 40s are still going strong? https://www.baslerturbo.com/ a few have some upgrades. The Thailand Air Force had one into Baraboo (DLL) on a checkout flight some years back.
 
Was it wrong to call them "gooney birds"?
Couple years back there was a refreshed DC 3 flying out of Oshawa airport, I lived just south of the flight path.
 
I was going to mention this the other day but forgot. Each day I check the VFT (Vintage Flat Track) site. they give Birth-Death dates of memorable people in the racing world as well as other interesting facts of the day. They also give info on first flights of nostalgic planes. This was on today`s post. Great site. Check it out.
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Great pic Jim!
Far from relics DC3's continue on in workhorse service! How many other machines built in the 30s - 40s are still going strong? https://www.baslerturbo.com/ a few have some upgrades. The Thailand Air Force had one into Baraboo (DLL) on a checkout flight some years back.
There was a TV series on a few years ago about an air service in Canada (Buffalo, maybe?) that flew Curtis C46 Commando - roughly a contemporary of the DC3.
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This one occasionally flew in and out of BanMeThout East Field - took this pic sometime in '68-'69 when stationed there in an artillery unit.
 
…. a few yrs ago...local air show.... they stop here to and from Oshkosh .. give rides.. add $$$ to the gas coffers. I was head'd there on my 450 Ducati... the service road to the park'n lot routed right next to the end of the runway.... I got there just as a B-17 wing'd in for a land'n… I stop'd…. it pass'd over head at 30-40 feet.. I remember the noise...the hard odor of oil and aviation gas.... the prop wash was impressive... but.. what really brought it home was the about of heat.. that I felt radiating from those 4 big radials...
 
For me, my first was and always will be dad's P-51C.
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After that, just about everything that flys.
Probably a strong lean towards those that can be bought, built, and operated by us regular folks.

Since others mentioned the Cessna C-150, might as well post my '69 J.
Only $6,000.
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They call those "time builders".

And, my '79 Grumman AA5-A.
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I was driving to work at Nellis AFB one day when I saw this HUGE delta wing bomber flying above the flightline. It was an Avro Vulcan Bomber. I recall about 4 of them came over to play wargames with Jaguar fighters and maybe Tornadoes too. Impressive to see them.
 
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