Aviation MegaThread!!!!

[Lornce]

Outstanding photographs.

We need to get at least another page out of them.

Originally Posted by scottcolbath

Spent the day out at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson as part of a media group this morning for the Heritage Flight Conference.

http://www.dm.af.mil/pressreleasesar...p?id=123242889

Wrong finger, buddy.



On the right......Sarah. She was tasked with being my wrangler for the day. Basically she had to chase me around the flight line, make sure I was not sucked into a jet engine, or chopped up by a prop, and bring me water. She was a real sweetheart, and very smart. :



About half of the wranglers. There were only sixteen of us who had full access to the flight line this morning. It was great.





The P-40. Basically, the retarded little sister to the P-51.



F-22.



F-4. You can figure out some of the others. I've had 4 hours sleep in the last two days.







Not being an Air Force expert, I'm just going to go with this being a C-5. The goddamm thing looked like it was barely moving in the sky due to its size. It made an approach like it was going to land, then at the last second, hammered the throttles and did a low pass.









If you ever wanted to be a gynecologist on an F-22, here's the view.



Yeah, that's a P-38 upside down.





All of us taking pictures on the flight line had to fight the sun all day, so the pics aren't as good as any of us would like. But, you do what you can with what you are given. Regardless, the people on base were nothing less than awesome and everyone there had an excellent morning.

Also, a trip to Tucson means Sonoran hot dogs and Carne Seca at El Charro. Who can bitch about that?

S.C.

[Daniii]

Originally Posted by Hay Ewe

Isnt the Phantom F4E one of the most business looking aircraft there has been, sure there our others, but thats one of them

Hay Ewe

I was surprised one day when an F4 and a C-47 were side by side on the ramp. Both are the same length.....

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by scottcolbath

Spent the day out at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson.

Great pictures!! Thank you.

[97wing]

We finally worked through our Ag plane annuals and now have time for more time consuming projects.


Stearman in for recover:


L19 (Cessna 305) repairs after landing accident:


450 hp Stearman in for annual:


Cessna 195 after engine change:


Mount swings for maintenance:

[EvilGenius]

Awesome!!

Swing mounts always make me nervous for some reason.

[pmacb]

Originally Posted by scottcolbath

Spent the day out at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson as part of a media group this morning for the Heritage Flight Conference.

http://www.dm.af.mil/pressreleasesar...p?id=123242889




{snip}


S.C.

If they're ever stupid enough to make me the President of the United States there will be an Executive Order that there will always be at least one military aircraft in inventory with the Flying Tigers shark mouth painted on them.

pmacb

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by pmacb

If they're ever stupid enough to make me the President of the United States there will be an Executive Order that there will always be at least one military aircraft in inventory with the Flying Tigers shark mouth painted on them.

pmacb

pmacb FOR 2012!!!!

[Flying-D]

Kyle and Amanda Franklin had an accident at an airshow in Brownsville TX on Saturday. She's critical, he's stable. The video's out there on Youtube or somewhere if you care to find it.

[I_FLY_LOW]

Originally Posted by Flying-D

Kyle and Amanda Franklin had an accident at an airshow in Brownsville TX on Saturday. She's critical, he's stable. The video's out there on Youtube or somewhere if you care to find it.

OH NO!
Damn...
Prayers sent for speedy recoveries.

I saw them in Oshkosh 09'.
I've always enjoyed seeing that gorgeous plane, and thier routines.

[EvilGenius]

Man, he lost airspeed quick.

[PorkChopExpress]

A friend of mine sent me this, (He's a public affairs officer in the USCG).

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Flying-D

Kyle and Amanda Franklin had an accident at an airshow in Brownsville TX on Saturday.

I'm very sorry to hear this. It sounds as if Kyle is mostly ok but apparently Amanda is pretty badly burned. I wish them all the best. They have always been absolutely amazing performers.

[Flying-D]

Originally Posted by EvilGenius

Man, he lost airspeed quick.

Yeah, lots of parasitic drag there. I did get around to watching the video from a few angles. Looks like there's a big flash/explosion from the exhaust (or a jug) below the plane just as he passes over the runway flying away from the crowd. Shit...first show of the season for them I think...

Some people don't don't know this, but Kyle's dad (Jimmy) was killed in a collision with Amanda's dad (Bobby Younkin) during an airshow in 2005. I was lucky enough to have met them all through the years. It always hits closer to home when it's someone you know, and every once-in-awhile, it is.

[FPGT72]

I don't think the P-40 is the retarted little sister of the P-51. Both the P-40 and the P-39 where great planes with a low level engine. The Army took the blowers off the engines in the P-40 and P-39 but left them in the P-38...One blower exploded on a P-39 prototype and it was all over.

I do think they put the RR engine in a P-40 and it was on par with other fighters of the era, not the range of the P-51 but it could hang with it in a fight, the P-40 also did not have the problems the P-51 had due to the laminar flow wing. They where great planes with a not so great high alt. engine.

[EvilGenius]

Originally Posted by FPGT72

I don't think the P-40 is the retarted little sister of the P-51. Both the P-40 and the P-39 where great planes with a low level engine. The Army took the blowers off the engines in the P-40 and P-39 but left them in the P-38...One blower exploded on a P-39 prototype and it was all over.

I do think they put the RR engine in a P-40 and it was on par with other fighters of the era, not the range of the P-51 but it could hang with it in a fight, the P-40 also did not have the problems the P-51 had due to the laminar flow wing. They where great planes with a not so great high alt. engine.

The P-40 is just plain beautiful, I'm convinced if they'd kept the blowers on the P-39 (there were a lot of internal politics also) that it Probably wouldve been the premier fighter of WWII. The P-51 woulda been a joke in comparison.