Favorite aircraft

[yipster]

memory still working, i knew the coleoptere was discussed, here another site http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/AC/aircraf ... o/info.htm

[dynajetjerry]

Hi, Guys,

This is my first reading of this link and am inspired to insert my 2 cents worth (I may be over-stating the worth.)

Mike's comments about the P6E and the Akron dirigible are in error on two counts. While I, too, admire that Hawk, the fighters on the Macon (not Akron when it crashed,) were F9C Sparrowhawks, a much smaller design than the P6E, employing Wright R975 radials.

My personal favorites include the Beech G17 Staggerwing, Grumman F3F-3 and F8 Bearcat, Waco AVN-8 (designed and built 14 miles from my home,) and Republic XF-12/XR-12 Rainbow 4-engined recon. aircraft. For those who are not familiar with the Republic, call up "Republic Rainbow" on Google and all sorts of info and pictures will pop up.

Jerry

[Mike Everman]

Hi, Guys,

This is my first reading of this link and am inspired to insert my 2 cents worth (I may be over-stating the worth.)

Mike's comments about the P6E and the Akron dirigible are in error on two counts. While I, too, admire that Hawk, the fighters on the Macon (not Akron when it crashed,) were F9C Sparrowhawks, a much smaller design than the P6E, employing Wright R975 radials.

Shoot! Guess I'm not going diving after all! Thanks for setting me straight.

[Bruno Ogorelec]

After reading about the return of the P-38 'Glacier Girl' to flying, let me tell you that plans are seriously taking shape for the bringing of another Lightning up from dead. There’s one on the sea bottom just off the island of Vis in the Adriatic, discovered while underwater archeologists were looking for a big Italian warship reportedly sunken in the same area (with a load of gold). I wonder who has pockets deep enough to bring aircraft out from the deep. Well, whoever they are, I'm glad they are around. In the meantime, take a look at the Glacier Girl and enjoy.

[steve]

another nice lightning I saw at the new NASM facility. (behind it is the Enola Gay)

[Bruno Ogorelec]

Steve, you might like the fact that the tail-boom radiators on the P-38 work on the Meredith Effect principle. It boosted the top speed of the Lightning by 60 more mph. I am telling you this because you are employing it in your hybrid turbojet concept.

[steve]

yea I remember you mentioning it about a year ago. I think you said that it boosted the top speed by about 5 mph ?

[Bruno Ogorelec]

yea I remember you mentioning it about a year ago. I think you said that it boosted the top speed by about 5 mph ?

Nope. 5 mph would not have been worth the bother. 60 mph -- on top of the considerable top speed that the thing already had! A combination of extra thrust and lowered drag from the hot air enveloping the aft part of the booms. P-51 Mustang also used the same trick.

Another trick that was tested at about the same time was a thrust augmenter at the end of the engine exhaust pipe. Damned if I can remember how that one turned out.

[RG Rhodes]

Howdy everyone-

Yeah and let's not forget the other wonderful aircraft from the mind of
Kelly Johnson. His next monoposto after the P-38 was the beautiful
P80, I think a remarkable first attempt at a jet fighter. This was
followed by the fantastic F-104. My uncle, a career Air force fighter
pilot flew all three of these ships and he told me that there was
absolutely nothing in the world like an F-104 takeoff.

A favorite airplane? You know deep down in my heart of hearts, I
think I just love "em all every last one. Except maybe the Avrocar.

RG

[Mike Everman]

yea I remember you mentioning it about a year ago. I think you said that it boosted the top speed by about 5 mph ?

Nope. 5 mph would not have been worth the bother. 60 mph -- on top of the considerable top speed that the thing already had! A combination of extra thrust and lowered drag from the hot air enveloping the aft part of the booms. P-51 Mustang also used the same trick.

Another trick that was tested at about the same time was a thrust augmenter at the end of the engine exhaust pipe. Damned if I can remember how that one turned out.

My chief engineer, Bart suggests also the increase in horsepower that would come from more effective engine cooling. hmmm the plot "thins".

[hinote]

Howdy everyone-

Yeah and let's not forget the other wonderful aircraft from the mind of
Kelly Johnson. His next monoposto after the P-38 was the beautiful
P80, I think a remarkable first attempt at a jet fighter.

Actually, Kelly Johnson had worked on some jet fighter concepts, much earlier.

Check this one out:

http://tanks45.tripod.com/Jets45/Histor ... 3/L133.htm

--it would have been a beautiful aircraft, IMHO.

Also, I flew the developmental successor to the P-80--the famous T-33 jet trainer (also known as the "T-Bird"), I was an honor student at UC Berkeley in '64-65, and had also joined the Air Force ROTC program. They parked a T-33 at Alameda NAS on Saturdays and bused us down there, for joy rides.

A never to be forgotten experience, I can assure you!!

Bill H.
Acoustic Propulsion Concepts

".......some day soon we'll be flying airplanes powered by pulsejets."

[Mark]

Here's a plain but historical plane, my Dad flew several thousand hours in it when we lived in Omaha, I remember always unzipping a lower leg pocket of his flight suit when he came home, I always found a little pack of Chiclets, I guess one of the first memories I have of childhood, chewing gum. Imagine being up in it during the Cuban missile crisis, when all that was going on, and me only concerned with Chiclets. ha
Mark

http://www.aviation-central.com/1946-1970/afcgd0.htm

http://www.cleansweepsupply.com/pages/s ... 36237.html

[Bruno Ogorelec]

let's not forget the other wonderful aircraft from the mind of Kelly Johnson. His next monoposto after the P-38 was the beautiful P80, I think a remarkable first attempt at a jet fighter.

In the 1950s, when my country was a part of the Yugoslav federation, Yugoslavia was a Communist country but estranged from the Soviet Union and on relatively good terms with the West. So, our Air Force flew P80s. A beautiful bird. There's a few hulks still out there at the edges of some runways, gutted of anything removable...

Later on we got the F86 Sabre -- which must surely rank among the prettiest aircraft ever to fly. We also had a few T33s. The US was happy to give us the aircraft as a token of appreciation for staying away from the Big Bear. Later on, the US wanted money for aircraft and we went cheap, buying Mig 21s instead of Phantoms or F4s. That was another completely amazing aircraft, difficult to believe in some respects. We still have about 4 or 5 operational, but are phasing the Air Force out, really.

Here's the beautiful Sabre:

[RG Rhodes]

HolyCow Bill!

I thought I knew Johnson's work pretty well, but somehow missed this
one. A cannard layout, no less. And blended body, to a degree.
Just absolutely beautiful and truly amazing.

Thanks, Bill!
RG

[RG Rhodes]

Another real stunner is the Horten bros. Ho VI flying wing
sailplane with a span of nearly 80 ft. There is a nice photo of one
in flight at www.nurflugel.com. There are good photos of some of
their other planes, too. If you haven't seen this site, you'll want to
check it out.

RG