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octane130

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December 9, 2010 at 5:23 pm in reply to: Historic Aviation Forum Theatre…Place Your Videos and Links Here…. #1121690

octane130
Participant

The Mighty Grumman F8F Bearcat

I just can’t get enough of this little fighter. Grumman took all of their experience with the previous “Cat” fighters and put it all into the ultimate piston-powered fighter, the F8F Bearcat. Engineering wise, they got it all right. Historically, this fighter is not well known because it didn’t participate in WWII and was soon outclassed by the newer jet fighters in the late 1940s. The only real combat experience this fighter saw was in Southeast Asia in the early 1950’s. But that didn’t include any air-to-air combat, where this little fighter would have excelled against all other piston-powered fighters of the day. However, the few remaining Bearcats existing today provide a wonderful insight into the ultimate in piston-powered fighter aircraft. The burly sound of this aircraft just gives you “goosebumps!” Take a look at my videos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W3f2LAZq2A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK2DGlvrGiQ

April 28, 2009 at 3:56 am in reply to: "Hot Buns" at Pampa Army Airfield, Texas 1945 #1191534

octane130
Participant

Here is another cute story from my Dad’s time at Pampa Army Air Field, Texas as an aviation cadet in 1945. It is actually another “Hot Buns” story but it wasn’t my Dad that was the direct subject this time; read on:

Pampa had a very popular African-American cook in the mess hall that loved to hitch joy rides in the aircraft whenever he could. On one of my Dad’s training flights in a B-25, the nose gear would not extend when it was time to land. In order to help keep the nose of the aircraft off the runway for as long as possible, the instructor pilot ordered everyone on board to get back as far as possible into the tail of the aircraft, including my Dad and the cook.

My Dad was so skinny that he was one of the few people that could actually crawl from the cockpit, over the top of the bomb bay and back into the rear fuselage of the B-25. This space was definitely not intended by the manufacturer for human passage. Those of you familiar with the B-25 will know what I am talking about. My Dad quickly crawled back from the right cockpit seat and into the rear fuselage with everyone else.

Upon touchdown, the pilot hauled back on the control column so hard that he dragged the tail skid on the runway for quite a distance. The cook was pinned back in the tail underneath at least my Dad and apparently a couple of other people. Unfortunately for the cook, his butt (i.e. bum) was pressed right on the bolt that attached the tail skid to the fuselage. The resulting friction-generated heat roasted this poor fellow’s posterior to the point that he actually had to spend some time in the base hospital. The crew visited him there and, as usual, he was in high spirits, ready to hitch more joy rides as soon as he could——Hot Buns No. 2, ha! .

Best,
– octane130 –

April 19, 2009 at 7:41 pm in reply to: I Got to Fly the Collings Foundation P-51C Mustang! #1200707

octane130
Participant

Check out the below link to a recording of the takeoff sound from the P-51 cockpit. I didn’t record this sound file, but I obtained it from an online acquaintence that took it during his flight and I edited it. This is a quite accurate representation. Turn the volume up on your computer sound system. If the plaster isn’t starting to flake off your walls, you just don’t have it turned up loud enough. Seriously, you will never be able to recreate the real sound from your computer, but this is as close as you will get. Have fun and thanks!
– octane130 –

Click the following link:
http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r224/octane130/Message%20Board%20Photos/?action=view&current=CollingsP-51CTakeoffCockpitSound.flv

April 16, 2009 at 5:02 am in reply to: I Got to Fly the Collings Foundation P-51C Mustang! #1204623

octane130
Participant

Check out the startup and takeoff of “my” P-51C Mustang at Burbank, California. Sorry, no in-flight video; I was way too busy expertly piloting this machine for the next 40 minutes and it required my full attention, ha! Click on the following link: http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r224/octane130/Message%20Board%20Photos/?action=view&current=P-51CBurbankMyFlightClip.flv
Best,
– octane130 –

April 11, 2009 at 1:54 am in reply to: I Got to Fly the Collings Foundation P-51C Mustang! #1209787

octane130
Participant

Best $3,200.00 I’ve ever spent, believe me. A lifetime of memories for a dedicated warbird enthusiast. I couldn’t believe how much freedom I was given to just play with this aircraft totally on my own for 40+ minutes despite being a non-pilot. Just wonderful.

Best,
– octane130 –

December 23, 2007 at 4:39 am in reply to: Whats the loudest fighter aircraft you have ever heard? #2530686

octane130
Participant

My list of noisy beasts is headed by the Concorde, followed in close order by the U.S. Marine Corps AV-8A Harrier in hover: yee-ikes!

December 19, 2007 at 2:32 am in reply to: Red Baron RB-51 Unlimited Racer Revisited #1244257

octane130
Participant

I hope I am not overdoing this Red Baron thread 🙂 , but I have another video about the Steve Hinton’s 1979 World Air Speed Record Attempt (piston) in the RB-51. This video presents the majority of the original television broadcast documentary which also featured actor Cliff Robertson doing commentary (Cliff was once an owner and pilot of a Spitfire IX). This is a really great video for unlimited racer and warbird fans. Enjoy the video!
Best,
– octane130 –

Red Baron Video Link….The Complete Story of the 1979 Speed Record Attempt:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO87ssbtY48

December 13, 2007 at 5:18 am in reply to: Red Baron RB-51 Unlimited Racer Revisited #1249478

octane130
Participant

Oh and octane, the Lockheed engineer you saw walking around the RB-51, was probably Bruce Boland. You can read his story here: http://warbirdaeropress.com/articles/Boland/Boland.htm

Ryan:
It really had to be Bruce. For all these years I didn’t realize I had been in such famous company. I was just some young guy that wandered up to the aircraft and was thrilled to be allowed to get to take a look at all the design data. Very sophisticated stuff! And thanks for the links to the Red Baron drawings.:)

– octane130 –

December 13, 2007 at 1:00 am in reply to: Multi-engine synchronisation #1249692

octane130
Participant

And here I was thinking all these years that logically multis have engines/props rotating one way (clockwise) on one wing and the other way (counterclockwise) on the other wing. Always seemed sensible to me in terms of trimming straight ahead.

The Lockheed P-38 has what we Americans (and maybe others) call “handed” engines. As viewed looking forward from the cockpit, the left engine rotates counter-clockwise and the right engine rotates clockwise. Very useful in counteracting torque effect on takeoff, etc.

I found that at least one other aircraft, the modern Piper Seminole twin has handed engines (opposite directions of rotation of the P-38 though). Does anyone know of any other aircraft that has “handed” engines?

Best,
– octane130 –

December 12, 2007 at 4:53 pm in reply to: Red Baron RB-51 Unlimited Racer Revisited #1250354

octane130
Participant

In consideration of Steve, family and friends, I’ve decided not to post the Red Baron crash video. Better to focus on positive things! 🙂

December 12, 2007 at 3:19 am in reply to: Red Baron RB-51 Unlimited Racer Revisited #1250837

octane130
Participant

I’ve added a link to a video that I put together that features Steve Hinton giving a talk at the monthly seminar at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California, on February 3, 2007 about his career flying the Red Baron RB-51 Unlimited Racer. This is great, historical stuff! The Red Baron met its demise at the Reno, Nevada Air Races in 1979. You simply would not believe that anyone could survive such a crash but, of course, Steve thankfully did.
All the best and enjoy this video,
– octane130 –
Steve Hinton/Red Baron Video Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39scr3LcxsI

October 19, 2007 at 6:44 am in reply to: Rare Bird North American O-47 #1315523

octane130
Participant

Below are some recent photos (supplied by another enthusiast) of the Planes of Fame Museum’s (Chino, Calif.) OTHER O-47 airframe that they have on hand. This aircraft may once again fly the skies of Southern Californa!

Best,
– octane130 –

October 15, 2007 at 5:41 am in reply to: Microsoft's Paul Allen's Me-262 Landmark Restoration #1322212

octane130
Participant

Another Me-262 story from Hans Busch, original Me-262 pilot:

As with most all WWII tricycle landing gear aircraft, the nose wheel on the Me-262 was not at all steerable, but rather was just castoring. This proved problematical in some instances (U.S. P-38s, P-39s and P-63s shared in this problem). I’ll have to check my Dad’s old flight manuals, but I believe that the Boeing B-29 had an actual small steering wheel for nose-wheel steering. I know for a fact that the later connotation, the C-97, had such a steering wheel.

If the nose wheel on the Me-262 got cocked too much during ground maneuvering, the nose wheel had to be straightend out first or damage could occur from further taxiing.

This apparently occurred frequently in the Me-262. Hans related that he occasionally encountered this problem and had to climb out of the cockpit, engines running, and manually pull and pry the nose wheel back into alignment himself before proceeding!

Best,
– octane130 –

October 14, 2007 at 8:09 pm in reply to: Red Baron RB-51 Unlimited Racer Revisited #1322595

octane130
Participant

Thanks to the generosity of an online friend (thanks, Anthony!), I have been recently provided with a bunch of video footage of the Red Baron RB-51. The below link is to a short video compilation of the Red Baron’s 1979 world air speed record attempt that I edited. This video is totally unavailable commercially and I figured that it had been long lost until my friend came up with this great stuff! The video has gone through several generations of past video reproduction technologies and it definitely shows, but it remains as probably the only Red Baron speed attempt video in existence. I have a lot more if viewers are interested; let me know if you want me to post more footage :).

The below linked video shows Steve Hinton flying the Red Baron near Tonopah, Nevada in 1979 in his world piston-powered air speed record attempt, which he achieved with an average speed of 499.018 mph. That is Steve Hinton speaking on the radio in this video. The rules stipulate that the qualifying aircraft may not ascend over 100 meters above ground elevation; however, it appears that Steve was never really over appoximately 150 feet above the ground on the measuring portion of the course. This is really, really hairy at these speeds, which went as high as 508 mph in this record attempt!

Enjoy the video!

Best,
– octane130 –
RED BARON SPEED RECORD VIDEO LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avcQOEpwq3k

October 14, 2007 at 5:18 am in reply to: Microsoft's Paul Allen's Me-262 Landmark Restoration #1323220

octane130
Participant

Here’s another story from Hans Busch, original Me-262 pilot:

Hans once experienced a right engine failure upon take-off. He was still on the runway, but had already past the “point of no return.” He was veering to the right towards a building and had to make the decision whether to go through the building or over it. Hans chose to go over it, although he didn’t have enough speed to maintain flight. He yanked the jet over the building, just clearing it, but the aircraft stalled, dropping the left wing. The jet impacted the ground really hard in a horrendous crash and cartwheeled through many revolutions. Parts of the aircraft were strewn over hundreds of yards. Basically, just the little cockpit section remained in one piece. Damage to Hans? Just a knocked-up kneecap; he was back on flight status in just a few weeks. The “meat wagon” arrived at the crash site, fully expecting to pick up the pieces of Hans. No such luck, Hans even insisted on sitting in the front seat of the meat wagon for the ride back. He attributes his survival to the fact that the Me-262 had a very strong cockpit section that was designed to be suitable for pressurization at a future date.

Best,
– octane130 –
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