So, any aircraft geeks in here?

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:14 pm

I am a certified nut when it comes to winged machines. This summer for me has been fantastic - made the trek to the Wright Patterson AFB Museum in Dayton, OH - hundreds of displays, exhibits, and flying machines. I've also gone to the Geneseo Airshow, volunteered for flight-line duty, and marshalled the B-17 from the Memphis Belle! I work for a company that produces military and civilian airplane parts as well.

So - any other wingnuts in here? Any cool stories?

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:39 pm

Anything that uses pistons, but especially WWII. Had I the money, I'd build a car with a radial engine and a NACA cowl on the front, sliding canopy. The cheaper plan is to first build a tadpole 3-wheeler using a Cessna 152 fuselage, Prowler front end, and Subaru engine/transmission.

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 9:55 pm

evolutionmovement wrote:Anything that uses pistons, but especially WWII.

Probably my favorites too! (It changes pretty frequently

) The Genny AS featured the anniversary of the P-40 - we had six aircraft in attendance.

I have a ton of pictures and video from it - a favorite was the B-17 bearing down on me at the end of the taxiway. Goosebumps you could see from orbit.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:03 pm

My eyes teared up when a B-17 with 8th Airforce markings flew over my house last year. Quiet, too. Unlike fucking jets.

quicklook · Post by **quicklook** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:08 pm

i like when a b-17 takes off and starts slowly climbing, climbing, climbing for a long time.

they are so big in person.

p-40s are totally bitchin. i worked with a guy that flew one in wwII and he said it was so sweet to fly, very fast, and handled like a dream.

i saw the spruce goose when it used to be parked below the bridge in long beach. one big airplane. then when disney owned it and i was working for them i got to go inside and sit in the pilots seat.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 11:27 pm

Saw a Gee Bee R2 recreation fly at an airshow and that got me into racing planes of the thirties. Snoopy got me interested in WWI aircraft, and the AVG P-40 was the icon that made me first notice planes of WWII. If I had any past lives, one was in that war, another few in ancient Rome.

And nothing beats the sound of a big P&W radial starting up or a Merlin at full throttle.

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:10 am

I'd LOVE to show you guys some of these vids. I actually have one of a Mustang D just as she cranks over, as well as all the Belle's TTOL. Anyone know how I can put Quicktime flicks up?

Side note - the Belle I worked with is actually not the real Belle. That is at Wright Patterson in the resto shop.

I have a standing invite to go wrench on her though.

Youngest mechanic at Genny is 85. The youngest.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:20 am

Sounds like a great job.

A guy I went to school with's father was one of the guys who brought back Glacier Girl. That's about all I've got for for aircraft stories.

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:48 am

evolutionmovement wrote:Sounds like a great job.

A guy I went to school with's father was one of the guys who brought back Glacier Girl. That's about all I've got for for aircraft stories.

That's one helluva story though.

There was a fantastic pic-by-pic breakdown of the discovery, removal, and restoration somewhere on the net.

I'd love to go back and spin some wrenches on her - I don't know too many people my age (hell, my father's age) that can say they've worked on a Flying Fortress.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:09 am

A guy I work with now worked on P2s for the "Army" (don't ask why I put the quotes) in Vietnam. Had the same engines as a B-29 as well as jets.

I couldn't call that kid much of a friend, though I think he would have liked to have been, but I was far more interested in the project than he seemed to be. I'd love to see the P-38 they have flying from that now. I'm usually not a strong nationalist and I tend to regard the well-known and popular with less interest than the orphans and weirdos, but most of my favorite aircraft are popular US planes. Mustang, Lightning, Tomahawk/Kittyhawk, Corsair, Flying Fortress, Thunderbolt, Mitchell. I do really like the Spitfire, Mosquito, Ki-84, Do335, & Fw190 as well. I don't know the Russian planes very well, but some of the Yaks looked pretty sweet.

Unrelated to WWII, but I find the early rotary engine and its popularity through WWI very amusing. Amazing what those guys did during the early years of aviation warfare. It's also too bad that such gorgeous works of flying art had to be borne of warfare.

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:54 pm

If you think about it, WWII was really the adolescence into adulthood of aircraft. 1939 saw fabric covered biplanes still in the front lines of many air forces, and only six years later the world marveled at swept wing stressed skin jet fighters.

I can't think of any other time in history when technology advanced so quickly. So in a way, the most destructive period in mankind's existence is also it's most bountiful.

(This is too philosophical for 8AM

)

SILINC3R · Post by **SILINC3R** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 7:09 am

TrueBlue wrote:If you think about it, WWII was really the adolescence into adulthood of aircraft. 1939 saw fabric covered biplanes still in the front lines of many air forces, and only six years later the world marveled at swept wing stressed skin jet fighters.

I can't think of any other time in history when technology advanced so quickly. So in a way, the most destructive period in mankind's existence is also it's most bountiful.

(This is too philosophical for 8AM )

no but unfortunitly it is true.their were lots of medical advancement during Hitler's time. however they were at the expence of millions of innocent lives. but same goes for automobile tech during those two wars

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:04 pm

SILINC3R wrote:
TrueBlue wrote:If you think about it, WWII was really the adolescence into adulthood of aircraft. 1939 saw fabric covered biplanes still in the front lines of many air forces, and only six years later the world marveled at swept wing stressed skin jet fighters.

I can't think of any other time in history when technology advanced so quickly. So in a way, the most destructive period in mankind's existence is also it's most bountiful.

(This is too philosophical for 8AM )
no but unfortunitly it is true.their were lots of medical advancement during Hitler's time. however they were at the expence of millions of innocent lives. but same goes for automobile tech during those two wars

Agreed. Penicillin and sulfa drugs, synthetic rubber, blood transfuions, atomic power, radar, sonar, nylon, rise of the aircraft carrier, rocketry, vacuum computers, proximity fuses, and magnetrons. To name a few.

Plato wrote:Necessity, who is the mother of invention

And Silly Putty yo

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:12 pm

It's one of the things that pisses me off most about humans - that they cannot push advancement for the sake of advancement, but only when they are forced to. That's why slavery helped build so many grand structures in the ancient world. I'm hoping the energy crisis forces us towards great advancements, which could be one of the only times war hasn't been the push we need.

Aerotech · Post by **Aerotech** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 2:44 am

Ex-geek here... Choosing aviation as a career cured that pretty quickly.
Maintenance controller for CO at EWR. I work in the ops tower at Newark.

evolutionmovement · Post by **evolutionmovement** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 3:11 am

Working on cars did that for me. Boats, the opposite. That job was fun.

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:13 pm

That's why I chose not to go into computers or cars for work, and try and keep the car work as a hobbie, mainly on the Legacy. I don't particularly care to work on the impreza.

lucas · Post by **lucas** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:27 am

im a pilot by trade

93Subadan · Post by **93Subadan** » Sun Sep 14, 2008 4:04 pm

Pilot for the fun of it...I make my living working as an engineer at Dryden Flight Research Center (the place with all the X planes). So kind of into aircraft

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Tue Sep 16, 2008 10:57 pm

No one can steal my idea but I've wanted a Westach quad gauge in my car since forever and a day. It's a single gauge with many options for the combination of display. Example

Aerotech · Post by **Aerotech** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 1:53 am

SWEET

Except they're $400(!!) at Aircraft Spruce...

ciper · Post by **ciper** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 10:42 am

Aerotech wrote:SWEET Except they're $400(!!) at Aircraft Spruce...

Think about it. Even good generic gauges are aound 65 each x 4 = 260. I'm positive this will outlast the life of the car and it takes up so much less space!

Fuzzylee · Post by **Fuzzylee** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:11 am

I've loved planes since I was a kid. Little bro and I built so many models we ended up blowing em up to make room for new ones.

I took the family down to Perdido Key, FL for vacation this summer and we went up the road to the Naval Aviation Museum @ Pensacola Naval Air Station. Holy crap it was the coolest place I have ever been in my life. So many planes from WWI era right up to the current Blue Angels F-18's. The wifey was ready to go after the first 2 hours but the girls and I staged a rebellion and got a couple of more hours out of her. What I found interesting was how small the cockpit in the older planes were. My 6'2" 200lb butt did not fit in alot of the interactive models on display.

ETA=not AFB, Naval Air Station.

Aerotech · Post by **Aerotech** » Sun Sep 21, 2008 6:49 am

There's a great Aerodrome flying museum up in Rhinebeck, NY. They specialize in WWI and earlier aircraft, and they put on an airshow every Sat and Sun, flying the old crates around in a terrific mock bombing raid on a little Hollywood movie set town. Antiques being used for what they were designed to do is a beautiful sight these days... Biplane rides, and many static displays. They even have an original 1909 Bleriot monoplane that occasionally gets airborne.

I first went there when I was about 13 years old! Cole Palin was still flying back then... make sure you check out his bio on the site.

They're open thru October, I highly recommend a visit if you're in the area.

http://www.oldrhinebeck.org/

Here's some great videos. Check out the Flying Farmer in his Cub, I've seen this guy all over the tri-state area...

http://www.oldrhinebeck.org/action_footage.htm

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:17 am

That is really pretty cool.

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So, any aircraft geeks in here?

So, any aircraft geeks in here?