36 replies to this topic

[crockrocket]

This topic was prompted by Merl and I having a hearty discussion about aviation after some 1v1's. Anyway, I'm sure we aren't the only ones in the community with a boner for cool airplanes, so let's discuss!

Some highlights of our discussion: 

 

Spoiler

I literally had my Junior high school prom under the shadow of  the Spruce Goose

 

Spoiler

These monstrosities are cool

 

 

But yeah planes are cool

Edited by (TDM)crockrocket, 20 October 2015 - 08:05 AM.

[Dr_Freeze001]

Right, time for a little quiz. Can any of you tell me what this myah is?

 

Spoiler

 

 

Bonus:

Spoiler

 

 

Planes are cool.

Edited by (KDR) Dr_Freeze001, 20 October 2015 - 02:17 AM.

[hoghead]

oops! Now these have been turned into razor blades .

Edited by hoghead, 20 October 2015 - 02:47 AM.

[n3onfx]

Right, time for a little quiz. Can any of you tell me what this myah is?

 

Spoiler

 

 

Bonus:

Spoiler

 

 

Planes are cool.

 

 

First one is an Ekranoplan, these things are sick. Technically not even a plane and needed a whole new category to classify it.

[HHJFTRU]

First: Soviet MD-160 'Lun'  a.k.a 'Duck' . This thing doesn't fly (or whatever) anymore.

Edited by someone, 20 October 2015 - 03:09 AM.

[Bergwein]

Planes are cool.

 

Spoiler

[comic_sans]

The plane that looks like it is perpetually from the future:

 

Spoiler

Ughgghg Lockheed Martin did so much cool shiiiiiiiiit

 

Also, Lifting Bodies.  Nifty little things I'd be waaaay too scared to ever dream of flying.

 

Spoiler

Edited by cringe_smells, 20 October 2015 - 03:52 AM.

[HHJFTRU]

More Antonovs (there's an AN-225 in OP)

Spoiler

click to enlarge

Edited by someone, 20 October 2015 - 04:41 AM.

[Aregon]

 

The A-10 Thunderbolt is my spirit animal.

[Amidatelion]

Oh man, airplanes. I love me some airplanes. I was Executive Director of a Jet Airplane Museum Association at one point (translated to Funding Manager).

 

We had a small fleet of CF-100s which were under restoration, with two or three flyable while I was there. I was also tasked with figuring out funding for getting a de Havilland Vampire. Jesus, what a hideous, beautiful plane. We were in talks to trade our non-restored CF-100s for 4 F-86s from a German museum, but I left before we could figure out the goddamn shipping issues.

 

It boggled my mind that you could get 1st and 2nd generation jet fighters for basically the cost of a good sportscar. It's the restoration costs that kill you. If you just want a fancy lawn ornament, you could get F-86s for like $70-$90k since there are literally fields of the damn things, but to get them air-worthy and flight-certified would cost you between another $150-$250k depending on your mechanical capabilities. We traded so much in terms of parts and relied on a lot of volunteer labour from retired RCAF personnel. Hell, one skydiving enthusiast got us a full set of ejector-seat parachutes some bloody how.

 

For a while there was a deH Vampire at near-restored for like $120,000 that was a constant, physical struggle to avoid bidding on, personally and professionally. The lack of/need to restore existing electronics killed it though. The tail end of 2nd-gen and 3rd gen fighters are out of most private owners reach for the same reason: the more electronics and hydraulics you need to maintain, the more your costs skyrocket. At that point you're better off just buying a new BAE T-1 Hawk. The costs over its lifetime will be less, even if you're shelling out $25m out the gate.

 

If I ever make it big, I am probably going to get an F-86 or Gloster Meteor and get it restored on a lend agreement.

[CrimsonKaim]

The Concorde. Never had a chance to fly with it. 

 

We will remember you QQ

 

[Silverfire]

It doesn't need to have an engine.

 

 

[DeeRax]

P-61 Black Widow.
First night fighter, and first aircraft specifically designed to use radar.

"On the night of 14 August 1945, a P-61B of the 548th Night Fight Squadron named "Lady in the Dark" was unofficially credited with the last Allied air victory before VJ Day." (thnx wikipedia)

Planes are cool.
(I like greasy, loud, old-timey planes)

Edited by (TDM) DeeRax, 20 October 2015 - 07:46 AM.

[HorseHeadProphet]

Cool thread! Is there room for choppers too? The Hind makes room!

 

 

wolverines!

 

Someone told me the other day, Branson was trying to buy a Concorde, and intended to put it in service and make it profitable. British Airways was trying to stop him, because it would make them look bad when and if he succeeded in doing so.

 

The Ekranoplane is super cool! Ground effect ftw. When the Generals showed Khruschev the film reel of its development however, he fell asleep then woke up asking when lunch was.

 

SR-71 is an amazing work of art, a real masterpiece of precision engineering. So many amazing facts and stories about that plane.For example, how it always bleeds fuel on the ground because of the way the frame changes shape in flight.

 

Also this one:

 

 

There's a great documentary about the U2 where they basically fly a passenger to the edge of space and back down.

[PoopSlinger]

My friend and his father have an amphibious plane.  Its awesome because you can fly it anywhere and don't need airports for landing.  We flew up the the UP for camping and just plopped it in a lake and rented bikes for a day.  

 

It took a 5.5 hour car ride down to a 3.5 hour plane flight.  It runs off of non-ethanol 91 car gas (mogas).  It can drive around like a boat on a lake.

 

[OdinTheWise]

fuzzy bunny you and your fixed wing aircraft, i give you the mighty mil mi-26.

 

 

 

also have a v-22 ospray because tilt rotors 

 

[comic_sans]

SR-71 is an amazing work of art, a real masterpiece of precision engineering. So many amazing facts and stories about that plane.For example, how it always bleeds fuel on the ground because of the way the frame changes shape in flight.

 

My favorite SR71 thing is this: http://oppositelock....tory-1079127041

 

Also, amid, if you get a gloster meteor, you will just blast ass all over every single classic car person in the world, and I endorse this dream.

[DeeRax]

As far as choppers go, my grandpappy flew Hueys during the entirety of Vietnam.

Spoiler

http://www.museumoff...s-(Huey)_P1.jpg

My dad, on the other hand, didn't pilot any planes or copters, but he jumped out of a large number of both (82nd Airborne Ranger).

I, myself, have had pie-in-the-sky ideas of flying commercial helicopters. Maybe I'll actually get on that one day... In my blood n' all.

Edited by (TDM) DeeRax, 20 October 2015 - 11:52 AM.

[OdinTheWise]

[DeeRax]

 
fuzzy bunnyng exactly.

 

 

 

My family history is drenched in American imperialism and military adventurism.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me? I was soooooooooooooooooooo close to joining the U.S. Airforce in my late teens.


I went to art school instead, lmfao.
Prolly a good thing in the long run. My tall height and shitty vision, I prolly wouldn't have been able to fly anything anyways.

Edited by (TDM) DeeRax, 20 October 2015 - 12:12 PM.

[JeffMagnum]

The A-10 Thunderbolt is my spirit animal.

13 or so years ago as a Little League baseball player, I had a coach for a few seasons who was a lieutenant colonel and flew one of those. One day he took the team up to Whiteman AFB (also the only place where B-2 stealth bombers are permanently stationed) and let us get inside his plane and look at its rotary cannon while passing around a dummy 30 mm round--as cool as it is to read about all that online, nothing really compares to holding a cartridge as big as your entire forearm and seeing what fires it at almost 4000 RPM in person. We also got to hop in an Apache helicopter and fuzzy bunny around on the training sim they used for various aircraft, but probably due to security reasons, we weren't able to see the B-2s. It was still a really memorable experience as a kid though and it's fun to think back on.

I used to watch B-2s fly overhead every so often when I was in class at my elementary school, but I can't recall the last time I saw one in the air. They were incredibly black and flat against the sky like nothing else I've ever seen to the point of almost looking fake--spooky is probably the best word I can use to describe them in flight. Knowing the huge nuclear payloads they're capable of carrying makes them even more impressive and intimidating in hindsight.

Compared to normal fighter jets:

Edited by JeffMagnum, 20 October 2015 - 05:18 PM.

[OdinTheWise]

those a-10s fly over my house at low altitude (tree top level) every now and then. my house must be along one of their flight paths lol. fuzzy bunnyers are noisy   

Edited by OdinTheWise, 20 October 2015 - 12:06 PM.

[DeeRax]

Chuck Yeager was a badass, BTWs.

[PoopSlinger]

those a-10s fly over my house at low altitude (tree top level) every now and then. my house must be along one of their flight paths lol. fuzzy bunnyers are noisy   

From Selfridge ANGB?  They fly A-10s constantly out of there.

[schwanzlurch]

those a-10s fly over my house at low altitude (tree top level) every now and then. my house must be along one of their flight paths lol. fuzzy bunnyers are noisy

i second this! living nearby a base, the A-10 'driving school' is around occasionally; there seems to be a roundabout directly over my garden. ^^

[LaurenEmily]

I hate flying, planes are scary.

[KOS_Baconman]

This one is pretty sweet:

 

[comic_sans]

Chuck Yeager was a badass, BTWs.

 

I read a book about him for a biography I had to do for school in 4th or 5th grade.  Apparently his wife invented the colored condom!

[ticklemyiguana]

My favorite SR71 thing is this: http://oppositelock....tory-1079127041
 
Also, amid, if you get a gloster meteor, you will just blast ass all over every single classic car person in the world, and I endorse this dream.

If you haven't read this, this is a funny story. Take a few minutes.

[Bergwein]

I hate flying, planes are scary.

 

This is why you play Predator.

[OdinTheWise]

From Selfridge ANGB?  They fly A-10s constantly out of there.

yes, i live a few hundred miles from the base, so they dont come by too often, but when they do holy fuzzy bunny. it is always tree top level. they have been trying to close that base for years.

[SS396]

The A-10 Thunderbolt is my spirit animal.

Just a little correction, technically its a Thunderbolt II. The Thunderbolt is a P-47 (aka the Jug) that was also used for close air support in WWII to which the A-10 was named to pay homage.
https://en.wikipedia...-47_Thunderbolt
 

We also got to hop in an Apache helicopter and fuzzy bunny around on the training sim they used for various aircraft, but probably due to security reasons, we weren't able to see the B-2s.

And I'm sorry Jeff, but the B-2 is nothing compared to a B-52, its cool and all, but the BUFF can hold way more. Theres a common saying that when they park the last of the B-1s and B-2s in AMARC (desert long term storage), the pilots will all get into a B-52 and fly home.

Also, was that the AVCATT simulator by L3? I got to fly in it once when it was parked down in near Pima Air and Space museum at the National Guard base.

Spoiler

 

[JeffMagnum]

And I'm sorry Jeff, but the B-2 is nothing compared to a B-52, its cool and all, but the BUFF can hold way more. Theres a common saying that when they park the last of the B-1s and B-2s in AMARC (desert long term storage), the pilots will all get into a B-52 and fly home.
Also, was that the AVCATT simulator by L3? I got to fly in it once when it was parked down in near Pima Air and Space museum at the National Guard base.

Spoiler

I mean regardless of their actual usefulness compared to older-gen bombers, they're crazy to see in person. They looked futuristic and majorly imposing when I saw them out on the strip from a distance during the tour, and the extremely dark and oddly-shaped flying wing silhouette was always creepy to see in the air especially since they had no visible exhaust or contrails and were very quiet for their size. I don't think I have a favorite aircraft or anything, but B-2s are something unusual that I've seen irl on a lot of occasions due to being fairly close to Whiteman.

Like this but blacker in person and higher up



And yeah, I'm pretty sure it was since that looks familiar, but it was so long ago that I could be wrong.

Edited by JeffMagnum, 21 October 2015 - 02:17 AM.

[SS396]

And yeah, I'm pretty sure it was since that looks familiar, but it was so long ago that I could be wrong.

 

Well, if it was packaged in that two semi truck trailer setup as a mobile system, then that was it.  I don't know of any others that were created by the big simulator companies like it.  

 

You would of flipped out if you saw all the workstations stacked up in the cabinets behind the pilots in each cockpit module.  The way the gauge displays worked by mirrors and projectors was simply amazing.

 

Yeah, a B-2 does look pretty ominous but so does a B-52 when its heading right for you.

 

**RIP headphone users**

Spoiler

 

That sound will always bring back memories.  I'll always remember on the really really foggy days hearing them start up sorties in the mornings.  When the base closed down it was easily noticed that the sounds you were used too weren't there anymore.

[OdinTheWise]

so.... when i was a wee lad, my family was on vacation out west and we hear a jet coming. this was no ordinary jet aircraft, it a B-1b. it was not doing an ordinary flight either. it was doing one of those ultra low altitude flights and they were following the road. as it was flying over us it kicked the afterburners and went full throttle. 

the b-1b is my favorite bomber. so sexy 

 

[OdinTheWise]

[phed]

cool thread.

 

i fixed tv's for war back when i was in the navy

 

cockpit of an f14a tomcat.  the top display is the vdig indicator (also houses the hud) below that is the pmdig indicator.  spent so much time fixing those pieces of junk...  it's not easy keeping a 30 year old hot rod in the air.  

 

edited for fuzzy bunny pit

Edited by phed, 25 October 2015 - 05:51 PM.