Best warbird to own

(ANDREW ROBERT BREEN) wrote:

Trouble is, I keep remembering Norman Hanson's comments on the
beast. In his book (Carrier Pilot) he said that if a Tiger Moth
were the last flying maching on Earth, he'd rather walk. His
comments outside the written medium were a lot less flattering
to it ;0

Heh - he's likely right, an hour's worth is hardly out of the
honeymoon period. I was suprised by your suggestion of the Fairey Fox
- the only Fairey aircraft I had seen looked more like articulated
greenhouses with wings - but that Fox looks like good fun - fast, too.




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"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: Best warbird to own
From: (John S. Shinal)
Date: 11/12/03 7:14 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

(Charles Talleyrand) wrote:

I'm fantasy shopping for my new warbird or historic aircraft. My
requirements are ...

- Historic value (rare and interesting aircraft)
- Reasonably easy to fly
- No turbines and under 12,500 lbs (no type rating needed)
- Seats two
- Aerobatic
- Easy on the eyes

My thinking suggests dive and torpedo bombers might be the solution.
They typically seat two or more, and the naval aircraft should have
reasonable low speed handling. Is this sound thinking? Would a
Dauntless or Devistator or even a Stuka fit the requirements?

My only time in a 'warbird' was an hour of casual instruction
in a Tiger Moth - not exactly zoom and glamour, but a joy to fly, and
highly aerobatic, but a little weak on the verticals ;-D

The SBD Dauntless is supposed to be a very nice 'pilot's
airplane', made to fly comfortably on long scouting missions - it's
not real fast, but is aerobatic also.

The Lockheed Ventura was supposed to be surprisingly aerobatic
as well.




With the right pilot everything is aerobatic.


Yep - proven on video by the gutsy - no brain Army Warrant Officer that
decided to do a loop in his OH-58C and have a buddy video tape it for
posterity.......

The members of the Flight Eval Board were "Not" amused........


Helomech.......

On 11-Nov-2003, Peter Twydell wrote:

On 7-Nov-2003, Peter Twydell wrote:

No he didn't. Please be careful with your snipping.


My apologies for careless snipping.
--
-Elliott Drucker

ubject: Best warbird to own
From: "Helomech"
Date: 11/12/03 4:20 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:


"ArtKramr" wrote in message
...
Subject: Best warbird to own
From: (John S. Shinal)
Date: 11/12/03 7:14 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

(Charles Talleyrand) wrote:

I'm fantasy shopping for my new warbird or historic aircraft. My
requirements are ...

- Historic value (rare and interesting aircraft)
- Reasonably easy to fly
- No turbines and under 12,500 lbs (no type rating needed)
- Seats two
- Aerobatic
- Easy on the eyes

My thinking suggests dive and torpedo bombers might be the solution.
They typically seat two or more, and the naval aircraft should have
reasonable low speed handling. Is this sound thinking? Would a
Dauntless or Devistator or even a Stuka fit the requirements?

My only time in a 'warbird' was an hour of casual instruction
in a Tiger Moth - not exactly zoom and glamour, but a joy to fly, and
highly aerobatic, but a little weak on the verticals ;-D

The SBD Dauntless is supposed to be a very nice 'pilot's
airplane', made to fly comfortably on long scouting missions - it's
not real fast, but is aerobatic also.

The Lockheed Ventura was supposed to be surprisingly aerobatic
as well.




With the right pilot everything is aerobatic.


Yep - proven on video by the gutsy - no brain Army Warrant Officer that
decided to do a loop in his OH-58C and have a buddy video tape it for
posterity.......

The members of the Flight Eval Board were "Not" amused........


Helomech.......



They never are these days. In WW II it would have all been dismissed as "Boys
will be boys".


Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

Ed Rasimus wrote:

[respectfully snipped for brevity]

...and although not a "war" bird, a T-38--take a friend, go fast, look
cool and low cost of upkeep (relatively).

Colorado State University (in your neck of the woods, Ed) operated
a civil registered (N8234) F-101B to study severe storms. However,
the ultimate "go-fast-look-cool" warbird would be the F-101F -- a
fully-combat capable F-101B w/dual controls.

From the pitot tube on her purty pointy nose to her tiny batwing and
cherry T-tail, the huge Voodoo is manly yet graceful and sleek when
viewed from any angle.

The exposed aft sections of the engines along with her long, slender
tailboom that are scorched black from the extreme heat and exhaust
from the roaring afterburners mightily exude her awesome power even
while parked on the ramp!

Stressed for 7.3 G, the old Voodoo flew well -- as long as the pilot
avoided radical pitch maneuvers, of course. And she had panache
galore thanks to her spectacular rate of climb plus she could range
out to more than 2,000 miles with external tanks.

She was dependable and could be dispatched quickly on very short
notice: once during a scramble back in the late '60's, Dad said he
went from Klamath Falls, Oregon to Ogden, Utah in his powerful
Voodoo in less than 45 minutes....

Mind you, that's going from snoozing in his humble cot upstairs in the
alert hangar at Kingsley Field -- to engines shut down and wheels in
the chocks at Hill AFB some 450 nautical miles away.

She wasn't called the "One-Oh-Wonder" for nothing!

That's what the rabbi said!

My apologies for careless snipping.
--

One of my friends owns the only EADS Epsilon in civil captivity. I have
had the privilege to fly with him in it for about an hour. It is made
for primary basic training of French jet pilots and responds similarly.
It is a fingertip plane and will not drink you out of house and home,
with a Lycoming IO-540.

It is faster than a Marchetti SF-260 (quite a bit faster than a
big-engined T-34) and, IMHO, flies better than the Beech.

OK, on the assumption that I just won the lottery, here are my 4
choices:

1. OV-10 - 2-seat, tandem with sticks, fully acro, relatively simple,
reliable, you can take it anywhere with a friend and lots of stuff
(camp in the back!), real "warbird" so you can look cool at airshows,
airframes and parts available. It would be a wonderful plane to
explore the US (or anywhere) in, with awesome vis and twin reliability
for low level recce. I got a couple of backseat rides in them when I
was on active duty and they were a gas to fly!

2. A-37 - 2-seat, side by side, fully acro, relatively simple,
reliable (I see a trend here), awesome performance (that you can
actually use) due to big wing and LOTS of grunt! Also rare on the
warbird circuit but still readily available. Bummed a ride in one in
the PI during a Cope Thunder and flew the whole 1.5 except for engine
start and shutdown, and 10 minutes of FACing on Crow Valley - even got
to engage and chase off a marauding Aggressor F-5E that tried to
engage us at low alt - had no problem lead turning him and closing for
a minigun pass until he realized what was happening and bugged out!

3. T-28B - Just about the perfect useful round-engine fun plane. And
yes, I've got about 8 hours in one, so I am definitely prejudiced.
Not much glamour status, but for just jumping in and blasting around
with a friend - perfect!

4. Mi-24 Hind D - 2-seat (plus a bunch of your drunk friends in the
back), tandem, sticks (and collectives), reliable (it's Russian! -
hire a full time mechanic to go with it!). Nope, never flown this one
(yet - hope springs eternal) but it would have to be a lot of fun to
run around in, terrorizing all the locals. Definitely high on airshow
chick magnet quotient - dress up in Sov uniforms while drinking water
out of Vodka bottles (well, at least the designated pilot would have
to) - and with the big cabin you can bring all the stuff you need to
have a good time. I'm surprised a private-owned one hasn't shown up
yet (yes I know about the Army's).

Sigh, oh well, back to picking 6 good numbers...

Kirk
Retired F-4 WSO and glider racing fanatic

In article , Kirk
Stant wrote:

1. OV-10 - 2-seat, tandem with sticks, fully acro, relatively simple,
reliable, you can take it anywhere with a friend and lots of stuff
(camp in the back!), real "warbird" so you can look cool at airshows,
airframes and parts available. It would be a wonderful plane to
explore the US (or anywhere) in, with awesome vis and twin reliability
for low level recce. I got a couple of backseat rides in them when I
was on active duty and they were a gas to fly!

I wasn't aware OV-10's were available for civilian acquisition?
If you don't already have significant hearing loss, get a pair of
REALLY GOOD noise cancelling headsets if you acquire one of these
aircraft. The props are right by your head with those Garrett's
spinning.

In rec.aviation.owning EDR wrote:

I wasn't aware OV-10's were available for civilian acquisition?

Dunno about civilian acquisition, but getting close...

In about '94 I stopped by Watts-Woodland airport in Northern California to
visit the Beech dealership. They had 3 or 4 OV-10s in the hangar that they
were under contract to modify for the Forest Service. Apparently the
Forest Service was going to use them as spotting planes for fire
suppression. Don't know if it ever came to anything.

--
Frank Stutzman
Bonanza N494B "Hula Girl"
Hood River, OR