The first historically recorded flight of a pig took place on at Leysdown in Kent (Great Britain) on November 4, 1909. With this flight, the aristocratic British aviator J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon, later the First Lord Brabazon of Tara, made porcine aviation a reality. He fixed a wicker basket to a wing strut of his personal French-built Voisin biplane and carefully strapped a pig into it. The basket had a hand written sign “I AM THE FIRST PIG TO FLY”. Then he took bemused pig for a flight of about 3.7 miles from Shellbeach, the Short Brothers airfield at Leysdown on the Isle of Sheppey. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Bob- Love the old Lockheed star emblem on that one. They named all their aircraft with celestial references until USAF screwed up the naming process.
Yes! These are such beautiful examples of the beautiful airplanes that Lockheed produced. I flew as crew on a C-60 during the war, saw a few P-38's, knew an ex-air force ace who owned one in the 60's, and was fortunate to fly a Model 12. Lockheed did beautiful stuff and they flew as nice as they looked. At least the Model 12 did since it was my only opportunity to experience one.
Another beautiful Lockheed 12 seen at the Rome (GA) airshow a few years ago: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Shot a lot of photos today as the weather was great. Sky ended up looking too blue in some of these photos from the polarizing filter I used on my camera. @Bob Parks probably will recognize the two big Boeings. The very first 777 ever and the 25th 747 ever. The Tomcat is always way larger than I remember every time I see one up close. They are absolutely massive and make an F16 look like a miniature plane. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Not sure if this is going to display right, but my favorite photo today was with my cell phone and not DSLR. edit: ya too bad it won't show full-res clickable. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Glad to hear Russ is doing well. Is he still in Texas? Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
Whenever I see a P-38 I think about my late friend, Larry Blumer, an ace in the P-38. He had acquired a P-38 from South America well after the war and kept it in a big hangar that he built at Thun Field. I won't get into the intricacies of his dealings but he had it locked away in the hangar out of sight and "out of payment". It was eventually activated and flown by the late Chuck Lyford in several airshows, Abbottsford the main one, where he performed the engine out aerobatic show that Bob Hoover did the next year in his Shrike. I am in the process of writing the account of Blumer's action at Clastres France where he shot down 5 FW-190's in something like 10 minutes. He was a squadron commander at the time and took his squadron along with another one into the biggest aerial dog fight of the war where there were over 75 airplanes involved. They wiped out one German squadron completely and they downed more than 30 airplanes. Eye witness on the ground said that the sky was full of flaming aircraft. A German FW-190 pilot survivor said that it was no place for a beginner. I believe that I have written about Larry's adventures over there and how he trained with Chuck Yeager at Tonapah in P-39's where they would land on a highway and have lunch at a hamburger joint and go on to do their thing. His stories were full of his blatant disregard for any rules then as they were when I knew him doing the air show circuit. It was a kick to fly with him in his Student Prince biplane in the 60's but it was total boredom to him. He loved action and he loved to fight. He died in a small town in Oregon in quieter obscurity. He wasn't someone that you would want your daughter to marry but he was someone that we desperately needed during the war and a warrior that our enemies thought that we didn't have. He was one of many.
Tcar and Bob - yes, it has the metal grille. Unique as it has updraft cooling. Correct, Bob, it has the O-300 (145 HP) Continental. Before restoration, it had the 125 HP Continental. Thanks for the comments, Bob Z.
Coolest pic captured tonight.... Image Unavailable, Please Login That’s the moon.... as we approached the mainland Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat
Happy New Year everyone! Shot this photo today from a few thousand feet up after a hike up Cat Mountain locally (no trail up so I got cut up bad up and down lol). Photo is of Tucson International Airport, cropped. N787RR in the background with the gigantic engine #2 for Rolls Royce's test bed. Foreground is a ton of F16s part of the ANG...largest F16 fighter wing I believe. Some private jets for the holidays and the pax commercial planes are to the right out of image...nice variety overall. Probably last photo I will have taken to post here. Nothing else interesting planed in the near future. Image Unavailable, Please Login