Cool airplane photo thread

Well, rong again! Plane was owned by Jacquline Cochran, flown and crashed by Bill Odom.

 

i recall a problem that they had with the straight stack Conquerer. Looked and sounded sexy until the pilots slipped the airplane sometimes on landing and took in a blast of cool air that bent the valve stems . . I saw that very airplane in the Air force Museum and thought of how much fun it would be to fly. Beautiful. Another favorite is this one, original profile painting is for sale if anyone is interested. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

In the 1949 Cleveland National Air Races, pilot Bill Odom turned too far around a pylon and high-speed-stalled the airplane trying to get back on course. It crashed into a house killing a mother and child, and for that matter, the Cleveland air races! Only relatively small races were held the next 15 years until the National Air Races were resumed in Reno in 1964. Many felt Odom was too inexperienced to be flying such a hot ship.

 

Amazing how the terminology has changed. High speed stall was also the description of what happened to Thomas McGuire in his P-38 with external tanks trying to save one of his wingmen. Now we just say departed as in departed controlled flight.

 

Yes! I have always disliked the " departed" thing. A stall is a stall ! The 'Beguine" with those big heavy tank-scoop things out on the wing tips had to have some changes in the aerodynamics of the wing. Clipping the span, inertia at the tips, airflow, etc. I saw some disastrous high speed stalls in my time and it matters not if they are in a turn or a straight pull up, it is a high speed stall , when the leading edge cannot keep the flow going over the surface of the wing and it separates, killing lift. Why this departed thing? A stall can happen at low speed if the AOA is too high, also. So if that is the case, you depart and go home.

 

Cleaning out old links; maybe a repost? TU-95 dropping the "Tsar Bomb".

 

6/8/22 On Ruth Glacier after encircling Denali in 1951 DHC-3 Turbo Otter with wheels/skis, with son, his wife and two grandsons.

Best regards,

Robert

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A good book, not only about this bomb, but about the entire Soviet air-dropped nuclear bomb program:

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See that turbine Otter and raise you one, Mr. Goodwrench
Flying approx 80 miles N/NW of Nakina, ONT, to fish the fabled Albany River two weeks ago.

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^^^ Loading on a new 14' Legend aluminum fishing boat to go into our camp. Also inside, a new Merc 25 h p jet thrust outboard.

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^^^^ Had to put it down about 20 miles from destination due to fog bank to north. ~ 80 minute wait.


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P & W PT6 made this bird a "fighter plane." Float pilot stated it uses 40 Imperial gallons an hour.

P S Walleye fishing was very good, and bugs were not yet voracious.

 

When I visited Ketchikan, their "runway" in the passage seemed to be about as busy as ATL or ORD! A constant stream of floatplanes taking off and landing, mostly Beavers (piston-powered) and Otters (turbine-powered) as well as quite a few Cessnas.

 

Can't wait to witness that, Jim!

Spousal unit scheduled a first cruise for us next year, and float plane excursions over Vancouver Island and another location are high on our want-to list.

 

One of our pilots said that because of topography Alaska has more than six times per capita of pilots as any other state, something like over 8,000 pilots which is more than 1 percent of the population.

Best regards,

Robert

 

A popular floatplane trip from Ketchikan is to the Misty Fjords National Monument just to the south, where you can see bald eagles, orcas and humpback whales and lots of great scenery. I chose the alternative: a fast catamaran.

 

Why wasn't the boat loaded bow forward? Wind resistance and all that...
I bet these guys know what they're doing, but...

 

Interesting question, Fred, and like you I would have thought the same. The pilot did provide an explanation, revolving around lessened wind resistance as the wind tapered around the boat from stern to bow..... he provided other variables such as size of boat carried, Beaver versus Otter carrying the boat, etc but I cannot accurately quote his recounting/explanations. Literally a flying boxcar

 

I took the same trip. Amazing trip there, and definitely weird landing. Unexpectedly warm (or at least not that cold)

 

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For show only. For best LO, gentle turns work best without flashing the whole planform at an emitter.

 

My initial thought as well. But then looking at it some more it could possibly be that bow fwd would have the potential to create lift, which would not be a good thing as the boat would pull against the straps.

 

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The rest of the story:

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Taxi accidents get you fired in the USAF.

 

Aman. I saw a few when I was on the line. Now was almost fatal when an AT-7pilot pulled out too fast into a line of others taxiing by to take off. They were moving when he started but suddenly stopped and his number one prop took off the left vertical fin and then chewed six or seven slices through the aft fuselage and stopped about one foot behind a navigation cadet in the last seat. Then there was one pilot who, for some reason, despised the ground crews and used the wing tip to knock one kid to the ground with a badly bruised head and eye injury. Pretty easy. Lock the right brake, rev up number two, and swing the wing around pretty fast. We couldn't stop the plane because of the hectic operation going on and it was after our shift change, 2400 hours ,when he returned. But it was reported and the pilot was removed from flight status and charged . It was a good thing that our crew wasn't able to get "in touch" with him. Looking back at flight operations at Hondo always reminds me of how dangerous it was when you were working a flight line almost 1 mile long with two lines of airplanes running up, taxiing out, and taxiing in. Night operations were particularly dangerous when you couldn't see propeller discs sometimes. The ramps, runways, and company streets are still there at the now regional airport but our old barracks are long gone. Can still see where they were, though.

 

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