On Tue, 14 Sep 2004 07:01:11 -0800, Dale wrote:

In article ,
(David Wallace) wrote:


I think the hydraulic boosters were removed when they were demilitarised
- I vaguely recall the pilot of one of the South American "airlines"
saying they were put back to manual and required both feet on the panel
to do anything at speed or in bad weather. I wonder if any of them are
still flying - the last one I heard of was around 5 years back. The
engines are a tad more complex than the R-1280s and I guess parts would
be a problem.

Everts Air is still flying C-46s in Alaska hauling fuel/cargo.

Many years ago during a military training jaunt I saw one of the
most amazing aircraft related sights I could ever hope to
witness.
I was walking back to barracks after breakfast and noticed a
line of airplanes off to the west. 9 of them, twin engine and
spraying something, probably for spruce budworm.
I though they might be DC-3s but as they got closer I noticed they
were too chubby for that and it hit me, C-46s in echelon flying
a spray block.
Then it happened. They ceased spraying and the guy at the extreme
right of the line ( form my viewpoint ) racked around in a 180 degree
turn.
In succession, the other 8 airplanes went up and over executing their
own 180s.
It was like they were on a string.
When it was over they had reversed course and were flying back onto
their spray block in echelon.
The spray came back on just as the last airplane resumed position.
I know a little something about the process of aerial spraying and
its difficult enough with a navigator and 3-6 smaller aircraft ( often
TBF/TBM ). This was way more complex.

IBM

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