Favorite aircraft

[dynajetjerry]

OK, Mark, here goes:

In December 1983, I helped my Air Force sergeant nephew, Rodney, drive a van loaded with his family's worldly possession the 4500 miles from Anchorage, Alaska to near Dayton, OH. We also towed his old Ford so that, when we arrived, he would not need to buy a car for his daily drive to work.

During a stop to repair the tow hitch, about 300 miles north of Anchor-age, we sipped coffee in the restaurant/grocery/repair center while the work was being completed. A grizzled, bewhiskered, older "Eskimo" came in, I assumed to replenish his supplies while his dog team waited outside. I also assumed he would return to his cabin in the woods and resume prospecting or running trap lines or hunting caribou.

Seeing we were not local citizens, he came over and talked for a while, asking where we were headed. When Rodney told him, he raised his eyebrows and asked "To Dayton from here in December?" (His surprise at our audacity caused me considerable alarm but Rodney stayed cool. As it happened, we encountered no weather problems but had many troubles with the van.)

Then he said "Dayton. Isn't that where Wright-Patterson AFB is located?" Rodney said yes and added that he was being transferred to W-P to be near his father, who had cancer. The old-timer sympathized then told us he was once in the AF and had worked on the Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines in Douglas C-124 transports! (That engine uses 56 spark plugs!)

I quickly decided he was not a prospecter or owner of a dog team or hunter, etc., though we never learned why he was in Alaska; only that he wanted to be there.

To complete this story, I am sorry to say that Rodney's dad died about 8 months later. Rod remained at W-P a few more years, being obliged to retire when he could no longer meet the "10-mile hike with a full back pack" requirement. His total time in the AF was about 16 years. Rod and his family stayed with his parents for a while after the funeral, easing the burden on his mother (my sister,) during their recovery from that tragedy.

I learned that appearances CAN be misleading.

Jerry

[RG Rhodes]

An F7F-3 Tigercat

[RG Rhodes]

OK, try again...

[dynajetjerry]

Hi, Guys,

For those of us who admire the Constellation I have a little story about one of them and Bill Tenney, the owner/CEO of the manufacturer of the Dyna-Jet.

On one of my trips with Bill to take part in an outboard speedboat regatta, we got to talking about the Connie and its admirable qualities. Bill, however, did not like to fly in it, much preferring the Douglas DC-4, 5, 6, or 7 transport. When he explained, I could understand his feelings.

It seems that every time he flew somewhere in a Connie, its presurized cabin caused the fuselage shell to expand a little. If he sat in a window seat, he always noticed that the gap between the seat and fuselage side fluxuated, enough that he would become disturbed. He said he never felt secure after seeing such a sign of weaknesses in a plane he occupied, being afraid the fuse. would rupture or the wings would fall off.

Despite the sleekness of the design, I've always been surprised by the competivness of the 4-engined DCs, even though they do not look to be so fast as the Connie. Of course, the two lines of aircraft employed various and sundry power plants with various efficiencies and power.

Jerry

[steve]

Although I don't particularly like the layout of this aircraft, you have to admire the aerodynamic genius behind the design:

Antonov An-74
http://www.flightlevel350.com/viewer.ph ... rating=yes

one of my all time favorites:

Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter
http://www.flightlevel350.com/viewer.ph ... rating=yes

[dynajetjerry]

While looking at the picture of the McDonnell XP-67, I was reminded of several not-well-known facts. For one, the "Bat" was the first complete in-house aircraft from the James F. McDonnell company and it failed because of the poor performance of its Continental IV-1430 "hyper" engines. It ws also doomed by the potential of rapid-development of turbo-props and turbojets.

McConnell's first successful aircraft was the FH-1 Phantom, a ship-borne jet fighter that preceded catapults. As can be appreciated, that fighter often had trouble taking off from such a short runway. (This plane is the reason the F4H was named the "Phantom II.)

Later, improved fighters from McDonnell included the F2H Banshee, F3H Demon, F-85 Goblin, and the F-101. The Phantom II was the first Navy warplane to also enter Air Force service, as the F-110. With the trend to simplify nomenclature, this fighter may have been the first to carry the same designation when assigned to either service, the F4. (The "H" indicated it was manufactured by McDonnell and the AF did not use codes to indicate the company of origin.)

Ain't that a blast?

Jerry

[Dan]

Hi,

I was enjoying reading your posts. I am a great lover of the flying boats of the pre and post WWII era. I have to butt in just a little. I too recall the PBY that was refitted as a beautiful flying yacht. The couple had used teak and white canvass sail cloth on the interior. It was truly a spectacular speciman of a very nicely restored PBY! I wish that I could find out more about this beautiful aircraft.

[HattoriHanzo]

My favorite aircraft driven by reciprocating engine is B17.
I cant choose only one jet aircraft so my favorites are MIG 15 and J35. Really like the "cold war style" of those jet fighters.

B17



MIG15



J35

[Bruno Ogorelec]

Hi,

I was enjoying reading your posts. I am a great lover of the flying boats of the pre and post WWII era. I have to butt in just a little. I too recall the PBY that was refitted as a beautiful flying yacht. The couple had used teak and white canvass sail cloth on the interior. It was truly a spectacular speciman of a very nicely restored PBY! I wish that I could find out more about this beautiful aircraft.

It was described in the Flying magazine a long time ago -- early 1970s, as far as I can remember. The title of the article was, 'Mr. Hefner, Have We Got a Plane for You...'. It mocked Hugh Hefner's personal aircraft at the time, a converted DC-9 airliner.