What was it?

Last week I walked up to a couple pilots discussing an airplane that was
sitting on the ramp at STE. They noted that it did not have a data tag on
it so they really weren't sure what it was.

What it looked like was an early straight leg 172 fastback, but it had a
swept tail, not a straight tail. Beautiful airplane but nobody had heard of
a swept tail fastback. Was there such a beast? or did somebody put a new
tail on an old airplane?

Any ideas or answers appreciated.

Jim

Jim Burns wrote:

What it looked like was an early straight leg 172 fastback, but it had a
swept tail, not a straight tail. Beautiful airplane but nobody had heard of
a swept tail fastback.

The swept tail was added in 1960. Omni-vision came around in 1963. You probably
saw one of the interim aircraft.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

Thanks George!

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:Wa7Me.143$zb.94@trndny04...
Jim Burns wrote:

What it looked like was an early straight leg 172 fastback, but it had a
swept tail, not a straight tail. Beautiful airplane but nobody had
heard of
a swept tail fastback.

The swept tail was added in 1960. Omni-vision came around in 1963. You
probably
saw one of the interim aircraft.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

On Mon, 15 Aug 2005 20:46:46 GMT, George Patterson
wrote:

Jim Burns wrote:

What it looked like was an early straight leg 172 fastback, but it had a
swept tail, not a straight tail. Beautiful airplane but nobody had heard of
a swept tail fastback.

The swept tail was added in 1960. Omni-vision came around in 1963. You probably
saw one of the interim aircraft.

Yeah. The '61 172B we just sold was like that.. FWIW, several pilots
I took flying in it said it felt more "solid" than more recent 172s
they'd owned or flown.

Don

"Jim Burns" wrote in message
...

Last week I walked up to a couple pilots discussing an airplane that was
sitting on the ramp at STE. They noted that it did not have a data tag on
it so they really weren't sure what it was.

What it looked like was an early straight leg 172 fastback, but it had a
swept tail, not a straight tail. Beautiful airplane but nobody had heard
of
a swept tail fastback. Was there such a beast? or did somebody put a new
tail on an old airplane?

Any ideas or answers appreciated.


Sounds like a 172A/B/C.

The Model 172 was introduced in 1956; straight tail, fastback. The swept
tail was introduced in 1960 on the 172A, the 172B and 172C that followed had
no major changes. The cut-down rear fuselage and rear window were
introduced in 1963 on the 172D.