Topic: What's your favourite aircraft? (Read 225599 times)

SteamboatPhil · « **Reply #450 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:04:59 pm »

For me it has always been the Mossie, reason. my late fathers first real boat ( a straight running boat) was built using the plywood (a new word in them days) from a downed Mossie just after ww2 (to all the youth out there Downed meant sort of crashed or shot down....its a war thing

) I still have the boat, and indeed will be running my copy of it at Mayhem this weekend...the boat not the war

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #451 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:11:45 pm »

SteamboatPhil · « **Reply #452 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:14:19 pm »

I might bring the original to mayhem, just to show.....unless some has some glow fuel and a starting battery........and a stopper.........KLUNK

raflaunches · « **Reply #453 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:19:06 pm »

Quote from: SteamboatPhil on May 22, 2018, 09:04:59 pm

For me it has always been the Mossie, reason. my late fathers first real boat ( a straight running boat) was built using the plywood (a new word in them days) from a downed Mossie just after ww2 (to all the youth out there Downed meant sort of crashed or shot down....its a war thing ) I still have the boat, and indeed will be running my copy of it at Mayhem this weekend...the boat not the war

I knew what you meant Phil! We still use the term ‘try not to get downed in the drink!’ Mind you, a Tornado almost went down in the dust three years ago until the pilot realised he had another engine!
Looking forward to seeing this bit of history... and the boat!

SteamboatPhil · « **Reply #454 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:24:39 pm »

Now thats no way to talk about Steamboat Apprentice....she's armed with vegetables.......and bloomin dangerous, ask Klunk

raflaunches · « **Reply #455 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:31:05 pm »

Backing away with my hands in the air slowly! Mustn’t upset Steph! I might have to start eating the green stuff very soon as I’ve been passed A1 medically fit and need to do my fitness test in August!

SteamboatPhil · « **Reply #456 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:35:35 pm »

Don't tell she will become you personal trainer and you will never see meat again.

raflaunches · « **Reply #457 on:** May 22, 2018, 09:59:41 pm »

KitS · « **Reply #458 on:** May 23, 2018, 12:17:31 am »

The Canberra, to be specific, just one of them, PR9 XH131, currently on show at the Ulster Aviation Society at Long Kesh.

Back in the 70s I helped fit a clever hydraulic sampling valve in XH131's flare bay, and since then I've always thought of it as 'My Canberra'.

By an amazing quirk of fate XH131 was the last ever RAF Canberra as it made the last Canberra landing at RAF Kemble when the PR9s were sold into civilian life in June 2006. And I was there to watch it happen as my office was only 2-3 miles away!

I've sat in '131's cockpit twice, once at RIAT Fairford in 2005 and then at Long Kesh in 2016, as below.

bj · « **Reply #459 on:** May 23, 2018, 07:30:56 am »

Mossie - saw it fly in 2013 at the Wings over Wiararapa airshow before it got deported to the USA
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxq_JhMIFe8

roycv · « **Reply #460 on:** May 23, 2018, 01:51:56 pm »

Hi KitS were these PR9's conversions from the Bi 8's? (BI = bomber interception) I say that as many Canberras including the early PR's had the tandem wide canopy. I used to work on the Bi 8s on 59 squadron and I will always have a soft spot for them. They had the off-set canopy, I sat in many a one as I did the air radar equipment servicing. In any kind of sunshine the heat inside was oppressive. My own little pleasure was marshalling them in onto their spot on the apron after night flying.
Some early ones were built by CIA with greatly extended wings and used prior to the U2 spy plane. I did like the B57 American version.
regards Roy

KitS · « **Reply #461 on:** May 23, 2018, 03:54:35 pm »

Quote from: roycv on May 23, 2018, 01:51:56 pm

Hi KitS were these PR9's conversions from the Bi 8's? (BI = bomber interception) I say that as many Canberras including the early PR's had the tandem wide canopy. I used to work on the Bi 8s on 59 squadron and I will always have a soft spot for them. They had the off-set canopy, I sat in many a one as I did the air radar equipment servicing. In any kind of sunshine the heat inside was oppressive. My own little pleasure was marshalling them in onto their spot on the apron after night flying.
Some early ones were built by CIA with greatly extended wings and used prior to the U2 spy plane. I did like the B57 American version.
regards Roy

No Roy, the PR9s were purpose built high altitude versions, and all were built by Shorts at Belfast. They had extended chord wings inboard of the engines and much more powerful Avons as well as powered ailerons and rudder, thus the need for my sampling valve on the hydraulics.

While the B(I)8s had an offset canopy it wasn't the same as the PR9s. On the B(I)8s the canopy didn't open and access was via the normal Canberra starboard side door, whereas the PR9 canopy opened up as you can see in the pic I attached.

The poor old Nav in the PR9s sat right in the nose behind a sideways opening door, a place usually called the 'Coal Hole' as it only had two tiny windows at shoulder height and suffered greatly from too much or too little heat as the heating controls were up in the pilot's cockpit!

Those US high altitude Canberras looked awesome with the huge wings. The early ones were RB-57Ds with either a tandem two seat canopy or a single seat one, but suffered from weak wing spars and many failed just outboard of the engines. They were flown by both CIA and USAF crews.

The latter ones were RB-57Fs with even LONGER wings, and massive TF-33 engines. After service with the USAF some went to NASA and three of them are still flying! One was over here, based at Mildenhall for a bit, only last year.

roycv · « **Reply #462 on:** May 23, 2018, 07:04:11 pm »

Hi kitS thanks for that most interesting.
Roy

KitS · « **Reply #463 on:** May 23, 2018, 09:22:01 pm »

Quote from: roycv on May 23, 2018, 07:04:11 pm

Hi kitS thanks for that most interesting.
Roy

NP Roy, I could go on about Canberras for hours.

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #464 on:** September 30, 2018, 01:24:32 pm »

spearfish99 · « **Reply #465 on:** December 11, 2019, 03:16:29 pm »

Always loved a Herkie. My especial favourites being those operated by the US Coast Guard with their wonderful colour scheme

Andy M · « **Reply #466 on:** January 21, 2020, 01:19:47 pm »

I have always loved the lines of the DH108 swallow, my model displayed the same problem as the full size, at speed it pitched up and down rapidly, luckily mine never broke up. There are many many planes I like. The swallow is just such a clean shape.

BrianB6 · « **Reply #467 on:** January 22, 2020, 12:39:16 am »

I am starting to think NASA's new one.

If it ever gets off the ground.

One of the problems is that the pilot cannot see where s/he is going.

mogurnda · « **Reply #468 on:** January 22, 2020, 02:51:53 am »

I have two favourites...both are biplanes..... the old Stringbag.... Fairey Swordfish and the De Havilland Dragonfly Rapide. The first time I built the stringbag... the old Airfix 1/72 scale kit was nearly fifty years ago. David.

Dreadnought · « **Reply #469 on:** January 22, 2020, 05:45:17 am »

I have two favourites to Boeing 747 Jumbo jet and the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

Martin (Admin) · « **Reply #470 on:** July 02, 2020, 08:30:54 am »

Channel 4 (UK) - https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-plane-that-saved-britain/on-demand/57221-001

Arthur Williams tells the forgotten story of the Mosquito, the light, fast plywood plane that had a vital role in World War II. He meets its pilots and visits the last remaining Mosquito.

Quote from: Martin [Admin] on June 04, 2008, 11:31:23 pm

633 Squadron is on the telly just now....
The Dehavaland Mosquito,what a great film and what a great aircraft!

I love the design principle of the aircraft;
"Lets take the fastest and most successful plane we have, the Spitfire, and nail two of them together
into one plane, one on each wing." Ta daa! The Mosquito!

I've long been an armchair fan of the Mossy, with those huge props, tundra wheels, scaffolding undercarriage and
twin engines that would sounds at home on one of Brains inventions in Thunderbirds!

There are none flying now but a few years back I finally decided to go to show and see one fly, unfortunately
the last flying example fatally crashed a week before I choose to go. On the up side, you can still see the original
prototype at the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre / Mosquito Aircraft Museum.... it was a quiet day and they
let me actually sit in it! Sitting in the cockpit really brought home how brave those guys actually were. Those
big props seem only inches away from your nose! Speaking to a ground mechanic at the museum, he said
they were well twitchy on the ground and pilots quickly learnt that for takeoff runs, you put the slower engine
to full throttle and steered the plane with the faster engine.

633 Squadron - great music too!

Links:
http://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Mosquito
http://www.mossie.org/stories/Frederick_Lacy.htm

My pictures from Duxford.

roycv · « **Reply #471 on:** July 07, 2020, 12:41:12 am »

I have been recording 'Air warriors' on TV and I am coming round to liking the American A 10 Thunderbolt 2 aka the 'Warthog'. It can carry just as much ordanance as the F35 just not as fast but a lot more likely to get the pilot home than most aircraft. It has 2 sets of hydraulics with shared redundancy and the control surfaces can revert to direct control from the pilot if all else fails.

Very clever design, for instance the twin tail fins are positioned to shield from the side the heat from the 2 engines. Carries chaff and flares. It also carries the biggest airborn gun, a 30 mm Gatling cannon, the ammunition store for this is half the size of a car. The gun reaction / recoil force is greater than the power of one engine.

Also costs just one fifth of the cost of an F35 to keep flying and can operate without ground assistance as it can start its own engines with an inboard turbine. Has lots of bits off other aircraft as well. It looks like it was made by some blokes in a hangar to do a job. Which means of course that senior officers poured scorn on it but have since had to eat their words.
You can spend too much on designing and building an aircraft usually for reasons that pass you by in the process. The variants of the F35 appear to be costing rather a lot. I watched a documentary about why the UK did not update the Harrier, the designer was explaining, but the aircraft led the way and did a great job for a long time. The Americans updated their ones!
regards
Roy

Stan · « **Reply #472 on:** July 07, 2020, 08:12:32 am »

Never mind all these fancy hi tec jets. Two of my favourite aircraft are the Chance Vought F4 Corsair and the Douglas Skyraider.

Stan.

Dave_S. · « **Reply #473 on:** July 07, 2020, 08:48:22 am »

My favourite aircraft is a helicopter, namely the Finnish army Hughes (MD) 500 I flew in with a Finnish test pilot I was giving English lessons to. It was an interesting hour or so, which included being given the controls to fly from one point to another, having the approach and escape from different types of targets demonstrated (mostly seemed to involve flying flat out at about 6 ft off the ground followed by a rapid turning climb), trying to master the basics of hovering, and finished with an autorotation back at the army base.

Then back to college to give a lecture on something completely unrelated while my head was still flying!

Baldrick · « **Reply #474 on:** July 07, 2020, 12:45:41 pm »

Quote from: Martin [Admin] on July 02, 2020, 08:30:54 am

Channel 4 (UK) - https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-plane-that-saved-britain/on-demand/57221-001

Arthur Williams tells the forgotten story of the Mosquito, the light, fast plywood plane that had a vital role in World War II. He meets its pilots and visits the last remaining Mosquito.

https://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/store/mosquito-experiences/mosquito-experience-day/mosquito-experience-day-17th-june-2021.htm

News:

Author Topic: What's your favourite aircraft? (Read 225599 times)