Official Aviation Thread...

[mrsleeve]

Ahhhh the shit we used to build in 368 days with a slide rule, a pen and a couple of manual milling machines......................... :(

[gkurey]

DUDE, that's killer! I come from a huge family of pilots, but the only one that ever made aircraft carrier landings was my uncle that flew Phantoms back in the day. You sir, are a bad ass for putting something like that down on moving runway w/ such ease, cheers!

Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed the video; I'll always have a soft spot for phantoms...I hear they were a handful behind the boat, props to your unc!

[george graves]

My mom and dad saw the xb-70 wreckage get hauled back onto base(Edwards) on a flat bed. As she tells the story, it was kinda a big deal back then. Everyone had see it fly overhead - but at that time, everything at Edwards was "hush-hush" - you only whispered about what planes and rockets they were working on. Security was done mostly by "loose lips sinks ships" kinda thing. But on any given day you could go out and see what was flying. That and the constant cracks in the plaster in your house from low passes/sonic booms - it was hard not to be coriouse what they where flying any given week.

[FLYNAVY]

Thanks man! Glad you enjoyed the video; I'll always have a soft spot for phantoms...I hear they were a handful behind the boat, props to your unc!

love the phantom. Briefed up a backseat ride in a QF-4E while participating in WSEP a few years back (boom check my sweet PAO article about it http://www.norfolknavyflagship.com/o...9bb2963f4.html)

and got wx cancelled to my eternal disappointment. So I just soak up old man stories about it instead.....and I got to sit in a Turkish Phantom 2000 (or whatever it was called) on cruise which was cool

[M-technik-3]

I had chance to get an incentive flight in one back in 1987 but was cancelled due to N. Korea getting squirelly.

# months later I got a ride in an OV-10 Bronco...oh yeah exciting NOT.

[flyboyx]

its not a fighter jet, but ov-10's are pretty amazing airplanes. i think the only one using them these days would be the california forest service to spot fires. they are aerobatic as hell.

back in 1989, there was a mechanic school in ypsilanti, mi(near detriot) that had a restorable one. it was missing engines but the props and gearboxes were there. at the time, they were asking 13 grand for it. i wish i had the money, but back then to a college student, it might as well have been a million bucks. they let me take the full maintenance manual and pilot manual home to make copies. i still have them somewhere to this day.

this airplane was the actual modified ov10 that nasa did stol tests on. still had the modified wings, flaps, and props hanging on it. it ended up at the yankee airforce museum in ypsilanti. a few years later, they had a fire and the airplane burned up in it.

[BlackbirdM3]

OV10s are really cool planes. Visibility out of them is 2nd to none. They can take off and land just about anywhere. Not fast, but they were never designed to be fast. I love watching them on forest fires.

Will

[BlackbirdM3]

Here is something you don't see every day. The back seat of a Lockheed YF-12


Will

[BlackbirdM3]

These guys are trying to do something that could benefit everyone, but they have a very steep hill to climb to get there. They are trying to crowd source the funds to buy a small fleet of Lockheed P3 Orion air tankers for fighting fires. The guys are all former employees of the company that used to own them. That said, since forest fires can affect everyone, its worth everyones effort to toss them a buck or two in an effort to make it happen. They have a good plan, they just need everyone's help to make it happen. Get your friends, and their friends in on it. It could be your house they are covering with fire retardant.


Here is a podcast of what they are trying to do, and how they propose to do it.

http://thehangardeck.com/episode-14-save-firefighting-p-3-orions/

Their website.

http://www.orionaff.com/

I just donated $20, who else is in? Lets get these back in the air.

Will

[FLYNAVY]

Here is something you don't see every day. The back seat of a Lockheed YF-12


Will

cool picture.....talk about an ergonomic nightmare

[george graves]

[george graves]

[M-technik-3]

Wish ours operated properly. Last time I deployed ours we had to do an apron chute. Folks were scared shitless going down it troop section as it's 27 feet above the ground going out the door

[cale]

Retro shot from the 60's, or modern era? Still going strong.

[flyboyx]

caribou's are nice, but i prefer this:

if i win the lottery one day, i am going to buy one of these, take out all the fire suppression equipment, and make it into an rv.