The RAN Sea King was 30 years old. It flew in Iraq on combat missions as well as Timor etc etc plus a tour to the Gulf in 1980 when the Iraq/Iranian war started. [I was there]. Agree that historic helicopter “warbirds” need preservation. A Vietnam vintage AH-I Cobra is about to fly here. We already have a couple of ex-Nam OH-58 Kiowas together with a couple of Hueys in the air. How about a Sikorsky R-1 airworthy today???
I get hypoxic over 1500ft. The fuel burn does drop a bitif I go higher. I use 300 lts/hr for simple planning purposes on short trips. [My T-28 ran 200 lts/hr using same settings and I used to plan 120gph on my B-25]. I also cruise at 2000rpm sometimes. The engine loves it. We flew her 12 hours the other week and used only 5 galls of oil. My engine is a JRS overhaul with 260 hrs TSO. I had my TBM certified with a max takeoff weight of 5700kgs [12500 lbs] which is fine with full fuel and three pob. This allows unrestricted operations into most airports and the use of GA taxyways etc etc.
My Avenger is marked exactly from an aircraft [we have a photo of her] that flew from USS Essex in 1945 with Torpedo 83 [VT-83] part of Air Group 83 [AG-83]. The gunner from the original “Georgia Peach” is still living and I have had an email from him. Side numbers were for visual ID both in the air and for use in the carrier traffic pattern when the LSO would use the visual sighting f the side number to talk an aircraft in and it relevant to Air Groups and the first or second number indicated the unit or aircraft type. The same numbering could be seen on various aircraft from different carrier air croups [CAG’s].
Re the METAR, don’t like the wind at the time. Frankly some people take it too seriously and speaking from experience I have had a couple of bad judgement days but this has not had me land “gear up” by mistake…
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