Great guess! No wonder they let you push T-28s 'round the sky. No moss growing on you, Russ. It's the first, a Mosquito. The funky passage forward next to the pilot's seat would give it away if it were more clearly shown.
May I digress a bit and recall my association with a Mossy Ace. I lived near a man on San Juan Island who was an American flying with the RAF. He specialized in night ops in a Mosquito night fighter. He had some uncanny stories about his getting 17 NIGHT victories in his Mossy. One of the most interesting was a fight with a JU-88 that was his equal. They went at it until each was out of ammo. I never knew that you could dog fight a Ju-88 but Clip said that in the hands of a good pilot they were a strong adverary. His complaint about the Mosquito was the terrible cockpit layout where things were put helter skelter instead of in a functionally logical arrangement. I saw one flown by the NACA labs at Langley Field when I was there and it made quite an impression on us when it out-ran, out-turned, out-climbed, and out-did the P-38 in an impromptu dog fight one day. When it came down and made a high speed pass at 20 feet, the sound of two Merlin 61's at max RPM was absolutely unforgettable. It was one of the great airplanes of the war. An amazing story about the BOAC using Mosquito's to obtain ball bearings from Sweden during the war can be read in the book, " Ernest K. Gann's Flying Circus." I did a painting of that operation in the book. Switches
How about the gun butts in the cockpit? There are only two airplanes that I can think of that fit that configuration. The Mitsubishi A6m and the T-6 gunnery trainer. I pick the A6M. Switches
I saw one of these beautiful airplanes at Langley NACA labs in 1945 and at the first sight I felt that I could fly it. So graceful and agile, it invited you to try it. Switches
I'll have to think about it, but definitely looks single seat German from the instruments and the 1930s-1940s Teutonic affinity (especially Messerschmidt) for a rudder bar with boot stirrups.
Gotta get up early in the morning to 'sneak' one past you, Bob. Great call. It is, in fact, the Storch. If you've ever wondered what it's like to fly one: http://www.airbum.com/pireps/PirepStorch.html
I have the advantage of seeing a Stork quite often up at Paul Allen's compound in Everett, Wa. He has a beautiful authentic Stork that they fly a lot. It still has the Argus air cooled V-8 in it. The tip off in the picture, however, was the high elliptical shape of the cowling forward and the extremely narrow cockpit plus the windshield structure. Switches
I don't think I have told this story before on AChat, but back in 1970 I was instructing at a small airport near Augsburg, Germany next to a glider port that had a winch tow and a Storch for launching sailplanes. The storch was the only plane I have ever seen that could land with the tow rope attached, and not pull the slack out of it after landing. I have hundreds of hours towing sailplanes to altitude in everything from PA-18s to Stearmans, but have never seen anything as perfect for the job as a Storch.
Well Roy. What haven't you done? Really an interesting story but I guess that you have to consider the Storch just a powered glider pulling an un-powered glider. By the way, someone at the Auburn airport has shown up with a Fournier RF-5 that is a treat to see once or twice a week. I'm goung to try to make contact with the owner but the jerks that run the place aren't friendly to people who don't wear a baseball cap with the N number of their airplane on the front of it. Switches
For $20 at the Mall you can buy a cap and have the N number of Steve Fossett's Bellanca put on it N240R. Who will know?
Now how in the heck did Spasso get that panel and how the heck did Boffin218 recognize that? There ain't even any pilot in that thing so why is there a panel. Something like the Cessna on the conveyor belt? That's cheatin'. Switches
I will and I don't want that number for nuthin. All due respect for Fossett. I just don't understand the officious and supercilious attitude of so many FBO's ne' airport managers. I grew up in the company of friendly flyers that seem now a thing of the past. Switches
