Planes

I was at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on a D.C. trip over New Years.
On display was one of these babies. Talk about dying and going to heaven:

Specs (for 262A-1a)

Type: single-seat fighter

Engine: Two 1,980 lb. thrust Junkers Jumo axial turbojets

Size: wingspan - 41 ft., length - 35 ft.

Weight:empty 8,820 lb. (4,000kg), loaded 15,500 lb. (7,045kg)

Speed/Range: 540 MPH; climb 3,940 ft./min.; range 650 miles; ceiling 37,565 ft.

Weapons: four 30mm cannon in nose

Oh baby....

This is another one that rocks.
Saw it at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH:

No official published specs, but was rumored to go much faster than the acknowledged Mach 3.3 airspeed.

Posted by Rabbit
WWII planes...yes.

Ever been to the Air Force Museum in Dayton?

When I go there, I walk around with a perpetual boner....

Just posted a pic of the jet I saw at Wright-Patt.

Posted by Rabbit
I always drool over the A-10 Warthog.

I used to live in Georgia.
About 30 miles south of Atlanta is an airport - Falcon Field. They used to have an airshow there every October.
One year they had two Warthogs doing maneuvers.
Got a chance to talk to the Colonel flying one of them and quite honestly told him: "I don't care what other people think, but this is by far one of my favorite aircraft."

I remember reading when that Gatling 30 mm Gatling cannon got going full bore, the engines had to be on full to prevent stalling.
Also heard a story from an airman that if one of those is around and you're the target, when you hear that "burrrrrrup" you're already a bunch of human confetti.

Posted by djbuck1
White 1 looks like a trainer.

I think it might be as well.

Two other tidbits about Falcon:

One year, they had an FA-18 doing maneuvers. A bunch of us were cheering the pilot on as he did a flyby--you could tell he was playing with the sound barrier because several times a mist cone formed around the aircraft. No big BOOM unfortunately.

There is also an aircraft stationed there:

Old Red Nose

It was down for a few years to rebuild the engine--I saw it fly with the original Merlin engine.
Rumor had it they were trying to raise $ 150k to put a new spec engine in it (where they got the Merlin blueprints I don't know).

Posted by CancerOnTheCusp

Posted by Rabbit
I always drool over the A-10 Warthog.

I used to live in Georgia.
About 30 miles south of Atlanta is an airport - Falcon Field. They used to have an airshow there every October.
One year they had two Warthogs doing maneuvers.
Got a chance to talk to the Colonel flying one of them and quite honestly told him: "I don't care what other people think, but this is by far one of my favorite aircraft."

I remember reading when that Gatling 30 mm Gatling cannon got going full bore, the engines had to be on full to prevent stalling.
Also heard a story from an airman that if one of those is around and you're the target, when you hear that "burrrrrrup" you're already a bunch of human confetti.

click to expand

Fuck yeah! A gun with wings. Luv 'em.

Great Thread 😄

When I went to Paris I spent a whole day in the Air and Space museum..that thing was huge. The great thing about it was you could climb in a Concorde and a Boeing 747 and check the pilot's cabin, look everywhere etc as well as a german plane from ww2, don't remember the name now.

Took a ton of photos...will upload some later 😄

Is anyone a fan of Air Crash Investigation? I love that show.

Yeah, photos... let's see them. 🙂

I have a folder full of PDF files downloaded from the various crash investigation websites, mostly from the NTSB and TSB. I love reading that stuff, I think my favorite read is this

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2004/a04h0004/a04h0004.pdf

747 MK Airlines crash at Halifax.

Posted by Wynter
Yeah, photos... let's see them. 🙂

I have a folder full of PDF files downloaded from the various crash investigation websites, mostly from the NTSB and TSB. I love reading that stuff, I think my favorite read is this

http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-reports/aviation/2004/a04h0004/a04h0004.pdf

747 MK Airlines crash at Halifax.

Oh, it never occured to me to do that.

Still looking for photos, I have a terra of pics on my PC.

Posted by Ixion120
Alright so I have a question...what do we think about the F-35 Lightning II? Is it even a necessary investment given the current security environment that puts a much higher premium on unmanned systems?

Probably not.
I think further refinements to the F22 are in order to guarantee air superiority.
In combat tests, the latest tech in other aircraft was pitted against the F22 and they got p0wned

Bell X-1.
Nice flying, Mr Yeager!

BTW-Those little pulses in the exhaust are called "mach diamonds". They're caused by variations in air pressure and ignition of excess fuel in the propulsion stream.

Another favorite warbird:

One of those secret WWII planes I've read about....