Ze Plane! Ze Plane!

[godfry n. glad]

I still like the 'snub-nose' styling. Bristol Beaufighter.




Reputedly Amelia's favorite. Lockheed Electra.

[Dingfod]

This is flying in style (the Graf Zeppelin dining room)...



...which appears to be aft of the funk room.

[Watser?]

Zat is vere zey listen to ze funk radio.

[godfry n. glad]

Dat's how dey keep 'em high and flyin'!

[Dingfod]

The Marines just took delivery on the first production model STOLV F35Bs.

First USMC F-35B STOVL Flight - YouTube

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[godfry n. glad]

Yeah...interesting.

I understand that the space created by vertical lift fan, just aft of the cockpit, is utilized for extra fuel capacity for the conventional take-off version. It seems to me that such would make the STOL a realtively short range craft. Both are supposed to have supermaneuverability and stealth capability, as well.

I guess one has to be careful when several countries share a joint strike fighter.

I just hope we don't bogart that joint strike fighter.

[godfry n. glad]

Anybody up for floatplanes?



The Republic RC-3 SeeBee. And, yes, it does have a military version:



To me, they look almost insect like...It's a foursome ride, including the pilot; not much room to move around in this one-prop rig.

But...Something with two props and just a bit more room looks to be a better source for an economic 'recreational vehicle':



It's a little Italian number known as a Piaggio P.136. Man, talk about ready transport with bunking luxuries built in. I wonder what kind of mileage it gets?

[godfry n. glad]

I think it might be overcompensating for something.

Antonov 72

[BrotherMan]

Originally Posted by Dingfod

This is flying in style (the Graf Zeppelin dining room)...

[Dingfod]

Bwahahahaha!

[godfry n. glad]

The biggest?

The jumbo Russian product:

An-225

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[S.Vashti]

That is so very awesome!

[viscousmemories]

I've recently fallen in love with the idea of learning to fly, and hence with the most popular plane for student pilots, the Cessna Skyhawk 172. So I went all over town looking for Cessna toys/models to play with and didn't have much luck. I was hoping to find a die-cast plane about the size of an American football with working flight control surfaces, but would have settled for a plastic model. After trying Hobby Lobby, Toys-R-Us, Target and several other places I finally gave up and searched online, but even then the closest I could come was this set of Hot Wings die-cast airplanes (Altoids included for size ref) that don't have working control surfaces. I still think they're pretty neat though, and there are many other planes in that series that I'll probably eventually want.

[SR71]

Just stumbled across some pics of my muse. That one is crashed, but I have a replacement. Maybe this year, depends on how crazy work is. I had to remove the inlet cones, teh grass kept ripping them off on landings.

[SR71]

Here is a schoolyard sized Cessna, RC, ready to go. Not too sure what model Cessna it is though. It could be a 172 or 182.

HobbyKing R/C Hobby Store : Micro Light Aircraft 2.4Ghz Airplane w/ 2.4Ghz Ready-2-Fly

[ceptimus]

One of my RC planes is an ARC Ready 2. This is an all-plastic trainer that is (very loosely) modelled on a Cessna. It's about five-foot wingspan.



I bought it as there is also purpose made plastic float kit available for this model. I flew it from a lake and I figured that being made of ABS plastic it would survive a dunking in the water better than most models.

Mine has an OS 52 four-cycle glow plug engine that suits it well. Running at full power it leaps off the water, but it's more fun to only use about half throttle - that way you have to do a long scale-like run across the water, get her up on the step of the floats and wait for the speed to build before gently easing her into the air.

[godfry n. glad]

Fun with cargo planes...full size:

C-27J Spartan Loop - YouTube

Alenia C-27J Spartan Barrel Roll - YouTube

The newish C-27J Spartan. I suspect that the USPS uses that pilot for fragile materials.

[ceptimus]

In this video you can see Bob Hoover perform a loop, barrel roll, and two one wheeled landings all after stopping the engines of his plane. He then proceeds to pour iced tea while rolling the aircraft! Mind you, this is 'only' with a smallish executive twin.

[Dingfod]

I've always thought one of these would be a great plane to own and fly, the Cessna T-37 jet trainer.

[godfry n. glad]

Yeah...I've been seeing lots of those 'Tweets', which is the Cessna's trainer nickname. The thing is, it has since garnered another identity entirely, since it evidently has no shortage of "hard points" to which to attach other goodies, like these:



Whereby it becomes an attack aircraft known as the A-37 Dragonfly, evidently a favorite amongst tin-pot dictator types for it's handy-dandy ability to do ground attack for cheap.



Like this little Chilean number. Would that my van had such an arsenal.

I happened to catch Bob Hoover's whole show with his Aero Commander 500 at the Abbotsford Air Show in circa 1969. Man...was that awesome!

[ceptimus]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

I've recently fallen in love with the idea of learning to fly, and hence with the most popular plane for student pilots, the Cessna Skyhawk 172. So I went all over town looking for Cessna toys/models to play with and didn't have much luck. I was hoping to find a die-cast plane about the size of an American football with working flight control surfaces, but would have settled for a plastic model.

If you don't mind having to glue some bits together and paint it, this $20 kit will build into a 9-inch wingspan model.

Minicraft 1/48 Cessna 172 Tricycle Gear Airplane Model Kit - 11635 - eHobbies

I doubt if you'd want to do all the building work involved in a bigger more detailed kit, but if you're interested, the Nichimo 1/20 kit (about 22-inch wingspan) was about the best static kit of the 172 ever made.

You can still get kits from old stock, but the remaining ones now sell for about $350 each.

Website with some details and pics of the big expensive model.

[godfry n. glad]

Of course, some rigs are...uh...curious looking....with, uh, interesting configurations.

Yeah, that's the ticket...for something like this:







I, of course, prefer the screaming yellow paint job. It's an Edgley Optica.
From the fact sheet: "The engine drives a five-bladed fixed-pitch ducted fan, and the Optica is thought to be the world's quietest powered aircraft."

That may be, but I don't think you'll sneak up on too many folks with that screamin' yellow facade.

Cool, huh?

I like the pic in the fact sheet that makes i look like a huge glass teardrop being inserted in a huge spilled teacup.

Want? I think if the wings folded up, it might even qualify for Dingfod's 'personal flying car'.

[Dingfod]

Cool beans! I like the visibility from the cockpit.

[godfry n. glad]

Okay...

This thing just keeps on goin'....here provisioning a team on Antarctica.



A 'Basler conversion' but still a DC-3, just provided with a couple of turboprop engines.

When you've got a good thing, you keep it working.

[Dingfod]

Flying People in New York City - YouTube

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