P-51's overhead

[kingoffleece]

I know there are some fly-boys here.

Working at the shop and I hear "the sound" that only a WWII war bird makes.  Go out side and watch 2 P-51's fly in perfect leader/wingman formation for quite a while.  And several F-18's!

Local airshow weekend and the Buffalo airport is only a mile away.  Every year I get to see arrival of all kinds of great stuff.
Nothing like looking up (and they are only 1000 feet above me) and seeing a B-17 on final approach!

[Gliderjohn]

Quote from kingoffleece:

Nothing like looking up (and they are only 1000 feet above me) and seeing a B-17 on final approach!

Yes there is, being in it! Had a pretty yellow and blue Stearman flying around my place yesterday.
GliderJohn

[mentalfloss]

Mustang!....my favorite airplane ever....that sound of the merlin lump....wow

[PeteS]

I know there are some fly-boys here.

Working at the shop and I hear "the sound" that only a WWII war bird makes.  Go out side and watch 2 P-51's fly in perfect leader/wingman formation for quite a while.  And several F-18's!

Local airshow weekend and the Buffalo airport is only a mile away.  Every year I get to see arrival of all kinds of great stuff.
Nothing like looking up (and they are only 1000 feet above me) and seeing a B-17 on final approach!

The show was about 70 miles away at Geneseo this past weekend. They only have a grass runway so I expect a few planes took off and landed at Buffalo. The Geneseo museum used to have their own B-17 (Fuddy Duddy) and a P-40. They sold the the B-17 and the P-40 crashed. I think that is being restored.


Pete

[MGPilot]

As a student pilot, I spent some time flying at Chandler, AZ.

Taxied up to the runway and checked in with the tower who said, "Hold short for the B-17 on final."

No airshows nearby. Not sure if I heard, "B-17" correctly. I knew what a B-17 was...but this was so unexpected that I simply wasn't sure what they said or meant.

But -- I knew what "Hold short" meant, so I waited.  Sure enough, a minute or so later, a B-17 flew by and landed.  I continued to wait while it left the runway and taxied over to a ramp.  Every pilot with his pants on seemed to go jogging over to see it (and maybe one or two without pants....it was at a distance).

Regained focus and departed when the tower gave me permission and managed not to make a fool of myself (that morning, anyway).

[cruzziguzzi]

Had a weird formation over our house July 4thish: A couple of T-6s and at least one YAK with a fourth I didn't get a good sight on - might have been another YAK. It was of course the radials drew me outside. Great sounds from them.


Todd.

[boatdetective]

Real Planes Have Propellers

The whole P-51 project was pretty fascinating. However, I'd like to know more about the Russian planes. They saw LOTS of action and the best of them (Yak-3 and La-7) were every bit the equal of their German counterparts.

[PeteS]

Here is the link for this past weekends airshow at Geneseo, NY.

http://nwmairshow.com

Pete

[Fireflyr]

We have a company in Tehachapi that rebuilds the old Rolls Royce V-12s and Wright radials.  They have an engine run stand on the back of an old box truck that they'll park next to Hwy 58 and do run ups; oh, the sound those things make!

I was lucky enough to get a ride in Art Vance's P-51, Million Dollar Baby, back in the 1980's.  He sadly died a few years ago ferrying an airplane between museums.  His son still flies the Mustang but I think it's been renamed to Speedball Alice.

[ScepticalScotty]

I've always liked the Lavochkhins too Boat! Ivan Kodezhub flew them and loved them, think the La-7 was the best of them.

[ScepticalScotty]

Also although they were not the best fighters ever, not even close, I love the CAC Boomerang....it's cute, and it was cobbled together in an emergency, and it was as tough as old boots.

[Green1]

I like P-51s a lot but the first time a saw and heard a Corsair fly over,i was in awe,to this day I can still hear it

[kingoffleece]

A ride in a 51 would be over the top!
I did get a ride in a B-17.  How in the world did those guys fly in that plane for all those hours!  Now THOSE guys were tough.

[tris]

Mustang!....my favorite airplane ever....that sound of the merlin lump....wow

I heard my first P51 a year or so back and remember being surprised how different it sounded to a Spitfire given that they run basically the same engine

WW2 aero engines sound great. I was lucky to see the Canadian and BBMF Lancaster's flying over here - 8 Merlin's in "close formation" is VERY cool.

[Gliderjohn]

Quote from kingoffleece:

I did get a ride in a B-17.  How in the world did those guys fly in that plane for all those hours!  Now THOSE guys were tough.

And if your ride was like mine we didn't didn't have to ride in -30 degree temps or be shot at with a 1/4 of aluminum for armor.  :1: those were tough and brave men.
GliderJohn