Aviation BS and Photo Thread

More info on the EAA website.

https://www.eaa.org/eaa/events-and-...r-airplane-tour/ford-tri-motor-5-at-b-history

I believe there are a few of these that travel around in the summer and offer paid flights. I missed out on a chance to take a flight in one when I lived near Kansas City. Still kicking myself for that one…

 

Good fun. I'd love to talk with the pilots.

That's a big wing/large fuselage surface area/smallish rudder v. a crosswind. It has a wide stance main gear which helps but I bet they have some stories.

 

I sat in the first row of seats so I could watch the pilots. Seemed like a lot of yaw control was aided with changing power settings on the either of the outboard engines. Ground taxiing turns were a very obvious combination of rudder/tail wheel and bumping the outboard engine up.

Elevator trim was used a lot as well, a big crank handle set above, behind and between the pilots.

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuIb4hzNKbK/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

Good book on the OV-10….A Lonely Kind of War by Marshall Harrison. His story log going from fighters to FAC in Vietnam. Read it back in late 80’s.

 

FIFY

 

Nice catch, didn’t even notice I typed rotary. I don’t know that I’d trust a rotary engine in aircraft after seeing how quick they ate themselves in Mazdas.

 

Museum in Germany was having a Grand Opening. Invited my dad and told him they had a piece of his airplane on display. (He was shot down there on 25Aug44 in a B-17. Target was the base where the museum is at.) Turns out the piece was part of the landing gear off of a Lancaster. (Dad's plane crashed in Lake Muritz and has not been recovered.)

Anyway, the point of this post is, while at the museum he got to ride in a Junkers Ju 52 Tri-Motor. He loved it and was thrilled for the experience!

His ticket:

 

Don't forget the Rotax engine in aircraft was sometimes called a rotary. Different from the Wankel design.

And I have to add --- that I drove a '73 Mazda RX-3SP for over 270,000 miles without a single hitch. Was still going VERY strong when it was stolen.
I did add used engine oil to the fuel tank to help lube the apex seals. That might have been the single most beneficial action I took for long life. That and using synthetic oil in the crankcase (this was long before the big oil companies went to syn oil!).

The used oil did clog the fuel filter eventually. But it was so easy to swap the filter out that as soon as the engine started sputtering or losing power, I'd just pull over, pop the trunk, swap the filter, and be on my way in less than 5 minutes. Happened dang close to every 3,000 miles like clockwork. Loved that engine! Drove the back highways of southwest Texas at well over 100 mph for hours on end just cruising.

Also, the military was really digging into using the rotary to power everything from portable generators up through to light aircraft. The power increases were achieved by simply adding another rotor. Up to 5 stacked together in one engine. But the capability didn't stop there! These rotary engines would run off of a variety of fuels (gasoline, kerosene, diesel, propane, etc.) and that is what led the military to call this set up "The SCORE" (Stratified Charge Omnivorous Rotary Engine). Look it up, circa 1980s.
I never heard officially, but I have no doubt it was the emissions output that stopped the program.

 

Awful long ride for a domestic flight!

 

Wildlife Trooper dropped in on us at Whiskey Gulch:



https://youtube.com/shorts/NykOuH5SlU8?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/8GgbQ8s3dmg?feature=share

 

It was very friendly of him to drop in to say hi!

 

Kids were huntin' sea critters in tide pools... he was makin' sure they weren't diggin' clams ... season closed on the 4th. Really nice guy ... just chatted a bit.

 

I'll have to snag that one. I'm currently working through the FAC Association's "Cleared Hot" books. They're a bunch of short stories told by various FACs. It reads like a bunch of guys sitting around the table talking but there's something like 1500 pages between the three books and they're not pocket books. Lots of pictures as well as snippets from the various procedures, operating manuals, news clippings and such. It's also interesting because you'll frequently get different experiences of the same event. There are enough gut wrenching stories that I had to take a break about halfway through the first book.

On the topic of good reads from that era, I just finished Richard Drury's "My Secret War" about flying Skyraiders over Laos, I recommend it.

 

22 yrs in Oct ... me too neither Baby Sister ... hmmm ... would "BS" fit? Seems oddly appropo

Please don't ban me. ❤️

 

Yeah, blue shirts and brown shirts both have planes. They’re usually fine. The Feds have planes too and it’s usually a pain if they land.

 

A long-range reconnaissance patrol, or LRRP, is a small, well-armed reconnaissance team that patrols deep in enemy-held territory.

I have a good friend going back more than four decades [ouch] whose Dad was a LRRP in Vietnam.

The one story I remember was when Dad was on top of a hill that overlooked bad guys in the valley below and he called in an air strike. After the first bomb hit, immediately everyone in the enemy camp below scattered, running in all 360° directions.

They were not necessarily running to get away but to find the FAC that was calling in the air strike.

So, yeah, Dad had to run like the wind. Wow, wow, wow ... respect.

Fun aviation fact: after the war Dad had a successful career in advertising including creating/drawing the Flying Tigers cargo line logo.