Group Activity

Rich,

Thank you for the update.

Several years ago during a VAH-10 reunion we tried to get the ball rolling
for placing an A-3 on a stick. After that I got a bit out of touch with the
progress. However, I sure hope that it is either a the bomber, or tanker
version and NOT one of the *******ized EW contraptions covered with all
kinds of antenna bubbles. (The EW things were based at Alameda, not
Whidbey.)

The PBY at the Seaplane Base will also be cool. In my early tours at
Whidbey there were P5Ms at the seaplane base. If they had one of those on
display, people would be surprised as to their size. (I was an navigation
observer during a couple P5M squadron ORIs. It seemed like it took for ever
for them to get airborne!)

The designer of the glider that I fly was quite famous in the PBY community.
http://www.soaridaho.com/Schreder/Sc...Biography.html

Wayne
Schreder HP-14 N990
http://tinyurl.com/N990-6F



"Richard Isakson" wrote in message ...

"Wayne Paul" wrote in message
...

Back when I was MUCH younger I flew A3-B Skywarriors.
http://www.soaridaho.com/Naval_Pictu..._12-Aug-64.jpg)
snip
Wayne
http://tinyurl.com/N990-6F


Wayne,

You may be interested, Whidbey Island Naval Air Station recently obtained an
A-3 and they're going to put it on a stick outside the main base with the
two A-6s.

Also the Seaplane Base has acquired a PBY and has it on display next to a
PBY museum. It's worth seeing just to see the technology that was the state
of the art in the 30's.

Rich Isakson

In article ,
says...

Back when I was MUCH younger I flew A3-B Skywarriors.
(http://www.soaridaho.com/Naval_Pictu..._12-Aug-64.jpg)
It had aerodynamically actuated slats. They slid in and out using rollers
on a track. When sitting on the deck gravity would cause them to extend.
At normal cruising flight speeds the air resistance would push them in.
They popped out at high angles of attack. The system worked pretty well;
however, heaven forbid that one of them got stuck in while the other
extended!

Wayne
http://tinyurl.com/N990-6F



The Socata Rallye is a French SEP aircraft which also features moveable
and automatic retracting slats. The design started in the 60's and
soldiered on to quite recentely. There are still Rallyes (now renamed
Kolibri's) made in Poland.

However most Rallye's get old and notably the movable slats cause lots
of maintenance problems. In Europe one can find Rallye -officially
airworthy- in quantity for no money. They will however suck money
afterwards...

http://www.flyrallye.com/Rallye_FAQs/rallye_faqs.html

I think that STOL is overrated, most pilots don't need it. Bush piloting
is good when there is bush. Very few bush to be found in Europ, landing
a bush plane on a 2000 ft grass field is a bit overkill.

When STOL-airborn you suddenly are confronted with a slow aircraft
guzzeling gas. Here we pay AvGas 2.3-2.7 EUr per liter (10 to 15US$ per
USG. For that price we want to move quite a bit faster than we drive a
car :-)

Greetings,


Tom De Moor