The Last Bass Outpost

Post a picture of yourself and your favorite aircraft, even if its the Flying Guppy!

My favorite was always the ME 262, then the Bell Airacobra (about as successful as a Gibson 20/20)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/misc/messerschmitt-me-262-3.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/misc/3380042.jpg)

Big fan of the Me 262. My favorite is the Corsair in particular the F2Gs that Cook Cleland entered in the Thompson trophy races in the late 40's (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/godofthunder59/1948_Becker-1.jpg)

I love MOST airplanes, but I think my favorite is the humble DC-3...

(http://www.centercomp.com/dc3/gallery/collections/Neil_R/DC36.jpg)

Cheers, Tim

Well, I can't do any Photoshopping, but these were my favorites, and the Germans certainly built a few formidable airplanes:

(http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/YankeeAirMuseum2005/Highlights/Bf109e2oClock.jpg)

(http://unitedcats.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/me163.jpg)

My favorites from the European theater were:

De Haviland Mosquito
(http://i28.tinypic.com/vsm14h.jpg)

Junkers JU-88
(http://i28.tinypic.com/rcvp78.jpg)

And since my Dad fought in the Pacific theater my favorites are:

Grumman F6F Hellcat
(http://i31.tinypic.com/2428lyo.jpg)

Kawasaki Ki-61 Tony
(http://i29.tinypic.com/110ips2.jpg)

The Me 163B Komet was a wild plane ! Another of my favorites.

 
Isn't an Me 109, more like 1941 GMC 6x6, but it is owned by my band's lead singer....we may use it for our  next CD cover

(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd306/veronicasteed/Picture043.jpg)

No access to Photoshop away from home, but I'll have to say this is my favorite plane:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/dudepit/10384.jpg)

Pure balls.  ;D

i know your thinkin' "thats not a plane".....but i can make it fly!
(http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x120/yrofrat/5boro.jpg)
skate or die!

Quote from: OldManC on March 24, 2008, 07:17:05 PM
No access to Photoshop away from home, but I'll have to say this is my favorite plane:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v47/gcarlston/dudepit/10384.jpg)

Pure balls.  ;D

The National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian, has an annex out near Dulles Airport in Northern Virginia, and a friend of mine and I went there about a month ago, and as you walk into the main building, there's an SR-71 Blackbird aimed right at you.  Man, that's a profoundly cool airplane!

Cheers, Tim

They also have one at Lackland AFB San Antonio.  If you ever get a chance to got down there they have a lot of vintage aircraft on the parade field.

http://www.johnweeks.com/sr71/lackland.html

I went to the old facility in Maryland (?) when I was in Virginia about 8 years ago.  It was right before they started work on the new facility.  Great tour - they were restoring a WWI French bomber, and had some great historic planes.  They had one of the surviving B-24 Liberators from the attack on Pearl Harbor that had gone on to be in service for several more years.  My favorite was the Swoose Goose, flown by the father of actress Swoozie Kurtz - yes, she was named after his plane.  At that time, the restoration facility was little more than a dozen or so warehouses crammed full of stuff.

If you're going modern, I too loved the SR-71, but going to Wright Paterson Air force base and seeing the huge XB-70 in person was jaw dropping.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/misc/XB-70_3.jpg)

I saw an SR-71 on the deck of the USS Intrepid in NY. It was a lot smaller than it looks in pictures, still cool, just the same.

I remember seeing a special about the SR-71 and how it leaks fuel on the ground but once airborne everything tightens up due to the high air pressure.

Figures a starfighter took it out-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz-b05dQ430
The plane was never really stable but made it to Mach 3.25

Quote from: Barklessdog on March 24, 2008, 02:56:44 PMThe Bell Airacobra (about as successful as a Gibson 20/20)

You're wrong the Bell Airacobra was THE saving grace for the USSR airforce.

http://www.acepilots.com/planes/p39_airacobra.html

(http://www.cobrasoverthetundra.com/images/Finnish%20Airacobra%20lg.jpg)

Funny, I never read that as kid, but reading it, it was not until the 80's when the soviets released info on them in the war.

I always heard the US version of it being under powered.

Still a cool looking plane

No Blackbird at Seattle's Museum of Flight, instead we have an A-12/M-21 drone launcher, one of only two made. Yeah, it's kinda chromey!

(http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd306/veronicasteed/a12-1stflight.jpg)

John I cringe every time I see that. Tragic. Years ago I also saw the XB70 at Wright Patterson.

I have a penchant for aircooled engines, three of my favorites:

Focke Wulf 190
(http://www.bredow-web.de/Sinsheim-Speyer/Focke_Wulf_190/a_Focke-Wulf_190-3.jpg)

Grumman Hellcat
(http://www.angelfire.com/fm/compass/F6Fprofile.jpg)

and of course the P-47 Thunderbolt:

(http://www.b17flyingfortress.de/images/jagdflugzeuge/p47.jpg)


And for some reason I always had a weak spot for this Italian thing (reminiscent of a Junkers 52), the Savoia-Marchetti SM 79:

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/SM79_193.jpg)

I liked the Douglas Invader as a kid for its fearsome "porcupine nose":

(http://www.apostar.de/edrw/him/A26tx2.jpg)

and the P 61 Northrop Black Widow for its similarly respect inspiring turret:


(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2c/Northrop_P-61_green_airborne.jpg/786px-Northrop_P-61_green_airborne.jpg)

The Hell cat was a dog, now the Bear Cat, that was a plane!

No flying Pencil fans :'(

"The Hell cat was a dog ..."

Granted, not the prettiest plane nor the best, but it sure gave the Zeros/Zekes a run for their Yen and basically won air superiority from flight decks (the Corsair was much more difficult to land on flight decks and required an experienced pilot) for you in the Pacific which enabled you to do the war-winning "island hopping". In contrast, most Corsairs were flown from island landing strips, but to do that you had to conquer the islands first!

So don't put the poor old Höllenkatze down. You'd all be buying Japanese products today if it wasn't for her ...  ;)

Uwe

My Bad I was thinking of the Wild Cat, I had forgotten about the Hellcat


(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/Fenderbird/misc/sideview.jpg)

It just occurred to me that you might have!

Mistaking the most-flown US naval fighter of WW II, shame on you!  ;D

Uwe

It was on par with our infamous Sherman Tank!

P-38. My dad was stationed at Pearl Harbor and often told stories of lying on the beach and these flying by very low and very fast.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v383/iamthebassman/p38.jpg)

Beautiful plane and very successful in the Pacific theatre, but curiously not in Europe, where - as a fighter, it did alright as an unarmed reconnaissance plane at high altitudes - it failed to impress Me 109 and Focke Wulf 190 pilots who compared it to the lumbering Me 110 (certainly unfair to the Lightning which was a much better plane and had admirable range and high altitude flying characteristics). Losses were high and it only saw service for as long as the P-47 Thunderbolt did not yet have the range to guard the Flying Fortresses over Germany (exterior belly and wing tanks which could be jettisoned solved that problem). The P-47 wasn't a favorite with German pilots who flew captured specimen either, but it at least got grudging respect. And the Mustang, finally, (deserved) admiration.

 Part of the P-38s woes in the European theater were due to teething problems, compresability dives and problems with the Allison engine/super chargers. At altitude the early Lightings were very ineffective. Also the fine aircraft of the Luftwaffe, especially the FW 190 gave it a severe headache. I think if I remember right by the J model they had the plane sorted out and combined with it's long range, twin engines (a nice thing to have over long stretches of ocean), fire power and speed advantage was more than a match for most Japanese fighters. Most American fighters worked best by using speed and fire power to their advantage, especially in the pacific theater, Tight turning dogfights were a good way to get killed. Either using alltitude  converted to speed or brute horsepower was a much better formula for success. The Hellcat while a Ace maker in the Pacific would have been hard pressed to survive in the European theater.

A bit obvious (no Fokkers though) but I always liked the simple and almost sports car look of the Spitfire (no not the Triumph). If a kid draws a fighter I guess it just looks like a Spitfire:

(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/spitfire_v2_20.jpg)

Of more modern age I've always liked the enormous F4 Phantom:

(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/f4.jpg)

And if we're talking cargo planes, the DC3/C47 is legendary of course:

(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/c47ddaystripe.jpg)

I even love the Junckers, especially shot down. Did they sell them to Citroen after the war to make vans of them?

(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/Vliegtuigverliezen.jpg)

And the Constellation is a very nice one:

(http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k165/chrispdekker/TWA.jpg)

When the Luftwaffe moved from Starfighters to Phantoms, pilots were heartbroken: They compared the Phantom to "driving a truck after you have spent years on a motorcycle", the latter meaning the agility of the Starfighter (which drove many pilots to dangerous antics and inevitably to more than 100 Starfighter losses over the years with the Luftwaffe alone). I think less than 5 Phantoms crashed during decades of German service - it was such a rugged, forgiving and good-natured plane. It also performed well in Vietnam - no match for a MIG 21 in pure flight performance, but it could take a beating and return home plus carry impressive weaponry.

I believe it wasthe same in Holland with changing to F16s and NF5s. of course the F16 is one of the best fighters and it's relatively light and agile, but there were a lot of Starfighter-lovers. A lot of crashes though...

do any of you guys actually fly?

 In my dreams. I'm thinking of going for my sport pilot ticket. I went through ground school years ago.

I used to fly years ago.  I got my private license, and was working towards my commercial when I realized that I really didn't want to fly for a living.  It was fun flying the Cherokee, Cessna 150 and 172, though.  I even spent time in an Aeronca Champ.  My coolest flight was night cross-country trip.  Champaign, IL to Chicago, where I did a touch-and-go at Midway Airport, then came back.

"do any of you guys actually fly?"

In the company of vodka, yes..... ;)

I would love to learn. But it's the same with learning to take good pictures, learning to play bass, saxophone, drums, trumpet and maybe even guitar. Restoring a classic car.


I have a small RC helicopter though. And I looooooove Bell Hueys!

Quote from: TBird1958 on April 02, 2008, 11:02:29 AM
"do any of you guys actually fly?"

In the company of vodka, yes..... ;)

but too much vodka will make you fall

i have about 7000 hrs. none lately, though.
glad to have found you guys again. the former site of choice is suffering death by a thousand cuts. over and over..

Hi birdie, glad you found us.