When aircraft had style plus just cool aircraft

Gobblerforge · Post by **Gobblerforge** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:42 am

Well I've been wanting to participate in this thread for a while now. My airship is about a 2000 model and the engine has been replaced but she still handles like a dream.
Gobbler

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:36 am

Gobblerforge wrote:Well I've been wanting to participate in this thread for a while now. My airship is about a 2000 model and the engine has been replaced but she still handles like a dream.
Gobbler

Yeah, I've got plenty of time in those as well...

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:39 am

October 19, 2011 - Handley Page Hampden
Loading bombs

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/

The Hampden aka The Flying Prying Pan (find a side profile of one in flight and the joke makes sense)

rock-steady · Post by **rock-steady** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:27 am

I have been fond of the P61 Black Widow since I put together a model as a youngster.

MrMurphy · Post by **MrMurphy** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 4:10 pm

Did 3.5 years in the AF, guarded a ton of interesting aircraft, never actually flew on any of them.

My trip downrange was aboard Omni (chartered flight).

Last I heard, Brazil still flies A-4s off their (former French) Carrier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PmhWiVYbN4

Video from last year. VF-1, off the former Foch.

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 6:27 pm

The FMA IA 58 Pucará (Quechua: Fortress) is an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 8:48 am

Friends Call Me Ji wrote:The FMA IA 58 Pucará (Quechua: Fortress) is an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft.

COIN and mud movers are high on the cool scale to me. Dunno why, must be related to the Studebaker gene I picked up from Dad since I like all kinds of odd things.

November 18, 2011 - Martin XB-48
The Martin XB-48 was a medium jet bomber developed in the mid-1940s. It never saw production nor active duty, and only two prototypes were built.

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:02 pm

Great looking Avro Canada Jetliner. Sadly, after the war they never sold any and it became a footnote to history but it would have been revolutionary:

Cheers,
Oly

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 12:09 pm

It has 4 pair of square windows and one pair right in the highest stress zone of the fuselage - might have been a sad footnote...

But it is pretty.

I've always loved the flying boat racers.
Ya gotta love the Supermarine S6b, the test-bed for the Spitfire

COSteve · Post by **COSteve** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:26 pm

Deleted

Booger Bill · Post by **Booger Bill** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:32 pm

As a 35 year lockheed guard at the skunk works and elsewhere, I was around the SR-71, U-2, TR-2, P2v, P-3, YF-12, L 10-11, F 117, YF-22 etc. But the one I would like to own and fly is the Spartan Executive.

http://www.miramarevents.com/dreammachi ... utive.html

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:55 pm

awp101 wrote:
Friends Call Me Ji wrote:The FMA IA 58 Pucará (Quechua: Fortress) is an Argentine ground-attack and counter-insurgency (COIN) aircraft.

COIN and mud movers are high on the cool scale to me. Dunno why, must be related to the Studebaker gene I picked up from Dad since I like all kinds of odd things.

Me too, that's why I also like the Brazilian made Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano so much, and their resemblance to the P-51 doesn't hurt either.

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:03 pm

One plane a always wished they put into production was the the Piper PA-48 Enforcer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_PA-48_Enforcer
The Piper PA-48 Enforcer is a turboprop powered light close air support/ground-attack aircraft built by Piper Aircraft Corp. Lakeland, Florida. It was the ultimate development of the original World War II North American P-51 Mustang. The Enforcer concept was originally created and flown by David Lindsay, owner of Cavalier Aircraft, in response to the United States Air Force PAVE COIN program, but Cavalier did not have the political clout or manufacturing abilities to mass-produce the Enforcer, so the program was sold to Piper by Lindsay in 1970.
In 1971 Piper built two Enforcers by heavily modifying two existing P-51 Mustang aircraft and fitting them with Lycoming T55-L9A turboprop engines (along with numerous other significant modifications). One airframe was single seat (called the PE-1 and FAA registered N201PE) and the other was a dual-control aircraft (called the PE-2, registered N202PE). Prior to the PAVE COIN evaluation, N202PE was lost in a crash off the Florida Coast. Although the Enforcer performed well in PAVE COIN, Piper failed to secure a United States Air Force contract.

Bis · Post by **Bis** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 5:26 pm

The SR-71 made a low level pass over our runway at Hamilton AFB in N. Ca.. Very impressive.

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 12:31 am

The Basler BT-67 is a fixed-wing aircraft produced by Basler Turbo Conversions of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is built on a retrofitted Douglas DC-3 airframe, with modifications designed to improve the DC-3's serviceable lifetime. The conversion includes fitting the airframe with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-67R turboprop engines, lengthening the fuselage, strengthening the airframe, upgrading the avionics, and making modifications to the wings' leading edge and wing tip.
http://www.baslerturbo.com/

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 10:23 am

November 24, 2011 - North American AJ-2 Savage
A U.S. Navy North American AJ-2 Savage landing on the aircraft carrier USS Bennington, 1956-57.

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com

GonnePhishin · Post by **GonnePhishin** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:43 am

YB-35_04.jpg

Very classy 1940's design.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:50 am

December 1, 2011 - Piper PA-28-180 Cherokee
The Piper PA-28 Cherokee is a family of light aircraft designed for flight training, air taxi, and personal use. It is built by Piper Aircraft.
All members of the PA-28 family are all-metal, unpressurized, single-engine, piston-powered airplanes with low-mounted wings and tricycle landing gear. They all have a single door on the co-pilot side, which is entered by stepping on the wing.
In 1962, Piper added the Cherokee 180 (PA-28-180) powered by a 180 horsepower Lycoming O-360 engine. The extra power made it practical to fly with all four seats filled (depending on passenger weight and fuel loading).

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/2011_Dec.htm

C. Cash · Post by **C. Cash** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 3:18 pm

I was just at Falcon Field, AZ and the Sentimental Journey was there...got to crawl through her all alone(my older brother was with me). Incredible! There were 2 P-51D's which were incredible, but they were upstaged(if that's possible) by this FG2 Corsair sitting right beside them. This Corsair had 3 foot of wing clipped off of each side and utilized the same radial as the B-36 Bomber, and the large 4 blade propeller. It had nearly doulbe the horsepower of the standard Corsair. These were made up to counter Kamakazee's......to give it a super fast rate of climb so they could intercept them. The docent there said the plane was doing 450 mph right above the ground at Reno. It's the top one...Odegard/ Becker plane. The website is erroneous in saying Tempe...it is at Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ. I spent about ten years growing up in a hanger right next to these planes, and what would become the Sentamental Journey, back in the 70's. Lots of great memories visiting this place. http://www.air-and-space.com/Goodyear%20F2G.htm#88463

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:31 pm

Speaking of the SR-71, one of my co-pilots years ago was a guy we lured away from NASA. He was a military test pilot before hiring on with NASA and got to fly a whole pack of very cool airplanes, but the coolest had to be the SR-71 (and he agreed). H emailed this photo to me back in the day. You can see the attitude indicator in the middle of his instrument stack and he's in a right turn. Jus to the left and right of the AI are his airspeed and altitude instruments. Can anyone tell me what his Mach speed and altitude are?

Provided you survive, there sure were/are some fun rides in the military industrial complex on the taxpayer's dollar!!

Cheers,
Oly

PaperPatch · Post by **PaperPatch** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:47 pm

olyinaz wrote: Can anyone tell me what his Mach speed and altitude are?

Is that 98,000 feet...at 3000 miles per hour?????

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 8:01 pm

Looks like Mach 4.5@90K.

Friends, that'll out-drag a Chevrolet...

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 11:04 pm

I believe what we have there is 89,000 ft at Mach 3.2 and 450 kts indicated airspeed. I see a temp guage on the left side that looks to be pointing at -70 degrees. Yeowsa! That's cold folks! My jet fuel would be sludge at that temp. When we fly over the North Pole we keep an eye on it and sometimes speed up to close to the barber pole (Mach limit) just to heat up the wings a bit with air friction and keep them from getting much below -40 deg but at -70 we'd be done for. Couple that with leading edges of his wings and canopy that are so hot they'd turn aluminum into useless junk and you've got an engineering nightmare that boggles my mind to this day. What an airplane!

The Skunkworks really out did themselves on this one. If only Boeing had been allowed to finish the 2707 SST. It would've been a marvel.

Cheers,
Oly

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:13 am

Lockheed C-141 - one of my all time favorite aircraft. Especially to jump out of!

All parked in Tucson now and actively being chopped for beer cans.

Oly

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 1:05 pm

My nephew is a C-130 in the the USCG. What an extremely practical design that really needs no improvements.

COSteve · Post by **COSteve** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 2:52 pm

Friends Call Me Ji wrote:My nephew is a C-130 in the the USCG. What an extremely practical design that really needs no improvements.

Actually first produced in 1954, the C-130 has been constantly improved including the current version, the C-130J Super Hercules which has more powerful engines, 6 bladed scimitar props, upgraded flight deck, and other systems which give it 40% greater range, 21% higher maximum speed, and 41% shorter takeoff distance than the C-130E/H it replaces (itself much upgraded and more powerful than the original C-130A). In addition, there is the C-130J-30 which has a longer fuselage to carry more cargo.

And who could forget the AC-130 Spectre?

kasTX · Post by **kasTX** » Mon Dec 05, 2011 5:59 pm

I'm pretty sure that is 79,000 feet. Not sure about the speed - it looks like mach 4.5, but I don't think they were that fast.

The bank angle also looks pretty steep for that altitude. Any chance this was a simulator photo?

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 4:28 am

kasTX wrote:I'm pretty sure that is 79,000 feet. Not sure about the speed - it looks like mach 4.5, but I don't think they were that fast.

The bank angle also looks pretty steep for that altitude. Any chance this was a simulator photo?

No, that's the real deal. That's just over 30deg of bank and at that speed it'll take him two states to make a 180! The 4.5 is most likely indicated airspeed (450 kts) and just inside of that is the Mach indicator at 3.2 (which makes sense).

Cheers,
Oly

Booger Bill · Post by **Booger Bill** » Tue Dec 06, 2011 12:54 pm

Think I said earlier, I was a lockheed guard at burbank and then palmdale from 1965 to 2000. I was around the sr-71 plenty. One day I was home off duty and called my best friend, my counterpart that was working the desk to BS. While we were talking I could hear him get a call from a pilot of a sr-71 call in. (We would get calls to open the fly way gate to our site to let planes in and out, and I belive this might have been on a sunday). The pilot or likely his rear seat radio man said we are over salt lake, had a flame out and will land palmdale in 14 minuets! I lived near the field so went outside and sure enough, here it come, right on time!
Salt lake to palmdale is about 520 miles. 14 minuets is about 2,230 mph. Of course that is the RO calculateing loosely and glideing down etc, yet thats the way it went!
I used to fly myself. Once I and a friend was flying my citaberia high over plant 42. A SR-71 called saying he was makeing a touch & go or fly by. We watched him do it far below us he climbed out, made a long 180 and all the sudden I thought we all would be dead meat! He looked like a arrow or missle climbing up past us. I was starting to think about doing a split s! I still wont say how far ahead of us they crossed, and I am sure they wouldnt either, but relatively speaking it was exciteing!
One of the bennies of my boreing job was knowning many of the men that flew and worked on these things and being around them landing and takeing off.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 10:16 am

One of these is based out of an airport not far from me, so I see it from time to time. Very distinctive sound.

Piaggio P.180 Avanti

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_P.180_Avanti

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:51 am

I really like the Piaggio. Is a very interesting design philosophy and I wish they'd make a large, airliner version of it.

Oly

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Fri Dec 16, 2011 9:51 am

Back to basics...

December 16, 2011 - North American F-86 Sabre

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:30 pm

December 19, 2011 - Saab 37 Viggen
Photo: SAAB AJ37 Viggen fighter aircraft on permanent display at Swedish Air Force Museum in Linkoping, Sweden
The Saab 37 Viggen was a Swedish single-seat, single-engine, short-medium range fighter and attack aircraft, manufactured between 1970 and 1990. Several variants were produced to perform the roles of all-weather fighter-interceptor, ground-attack and photo-reconnaissance, as well as a two-seat trainer.

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/

I've always admired the way the Swedes did their own thing...

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Mon Dec 19, 2011 10:36 pm

Click the pic to see a Gnome rotary engine in action.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 10:04 am

December 22, 2011 - North American B-25 Mitchell "Panchito"

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:24 pm

A few my dad flew in during the war:

Douglas B-18 Digby

Curtis C-46

Grumman TBF Avenger

Consolidated PBY Catalina

rock-steady · Post by **rock-steady** » Thu Dec 22, 2011 2:56 pm

I've always liked the Bristol Beaufighter aka "The Ten Gun Terror".

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Sat Dec 31, 2011 10:17 am

Another for Hobie!

December 31, 2011 - Lockheed P-38 Lightning

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 5:39 pm

Air Iceland Fokker 50:

olyinaz · Post by **olyinaz** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:58 pm

U.S. Army Fokker 27:

Oly

Borregos · Post by **Borregos** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 7:52 am

Sixteen Spitfires!!
Plus lots of other good stuff

http://www.airshows.org.uk/2010/airshow ... eview.html

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:37 pm

Borregos wrote:Sixteen Spitfires!!
Plus lots of other good stuff

http://www.airshows.org.uk/2010/airshow ... eview.html

MmmmmmmSpitfires....

COSteve · Post by **COSteve** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:41 pm

Lockheed Martin's F-35B, Marine Corps variant is a versatile aircraft.

Here is a short video of some sea trials on board the USS Wasp. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Ki86x1WKPmE

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 10:23 am

Here's one for Ji...

January 11, 2012 - Consolidated PBY Catalina
Photo: August 1942 - "It's an intricate operation - installing a 30-calibre machine gun in a Navy PBY plane, but not too tricky for Jesse Rhodes Waller, Corpus Christi, Texas. He's a Georgia man who's been in the Navy 5-1/2 years. At the Naval Air Base he sees that the flying ships are kept in tip-top shape. Waller is an aviation ordnance mate"

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/2012_Jan.htm

Borregos · Post by **Borregos** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:14 pm

The Short Stirling, first of the RAF's true "heavies" of WW2.

Short Stirling.jpg

stew71 · Post by **stew71** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:32 am

awp101 wrote:Another for Hobie!

December 31, 2011 - Lockheed P-38 Lightning

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/

You can just lock the thread right here. With the possible exceptions of the D-Model Mustang and Mk XII Spitfire, there is no sexier airplane than the P-38. I'd give away my first born just to have an hour of low-altitude stick time in that beauty.

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:19 am

Mahalo Airlines was my favorite to fly inter-island when they were still in business. I much prefer to fly in a STOL prop plane than a jet. They started out flying old Fokker F-27-500s and later upgraded to new French made ATR-42-320. I didn't mind the old Fokker planes. These planes flew lower and slower than the jets so great views of the islands yet did not take that much longer than the jets which had to fly at twice the altitude. They were also about 1/2 the price of the jet liners.

Fokker F-27-500

ATR-42-320

GonnePhishin · Post by **GonnePhishin** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:13 pm

Hi JI,

When did Mahalo Airlines go out of business. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Ji in Hawaii · Post by **Ji in Hawaii** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:10 pm

UncleBuck wrote:Hi JI,

When did Mahalo Airlines go out of business. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

They were only around for about 4 years from '93 to '97 and not sure why they went bankrupt as they were always pretty full, and the planes were fuel efficient.

Another local airline that I liked flying was Discovery Airways flying their British Aerospace BAe 146 a very impressive 4 engined high-wing jet. They were only around for about a year and a half from '90 to '91. They were forced to shut down by the US Department of Transportation due to majority foreign ownership a fact they tried to conceal. Their planes were so new they smelled like a new car the first time I flew them. Great looking and performing planes the BAe 146.

Island Air is the only Hawai'i airline now flying a multi-engine turbo-prop which is a DeHaviland Dash 8 another wonderfully performing, and comfortable plane. I will always prefer the romance of a prop plane over those "new" fangled jet liners any day.

awp101 · Post by **awp101** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 10:47 am

The 146 is uber cool in my eyes. It's like a little kid playing grown up. "Hey look, I have 4 engines just like Dad!"

Here's one for a bunch of us:
January 16, 2012 - Lockheed P-38 & Supermarine Spitfire
England WWII

CREDIT
http://www.planeaday.com/