Have you flown in a vintage aeroplane?

[Forgotten Man]

New to this chat here... I wanted to just say that I've flown in a 1941 Beach 18 last June at Eagle Field... only cost $40. and they took us up for about 15 minutes... FUN! I loved the sound of those two radials... the open windows... the fresh air coming in as the pilot did touch and goes... FUN! Nothing like a vintage aircraft!

 

[LEUII]

That 02s was a plane used by the Forestry Service. It was a 'b' that had a couple of mods done on it. A little more power, STOL, smoke generator, and a couple of other minors. I think that name was something they just came up with themselves. It was a loud ride!

 

[Ecuador Jim]

One of the lucky ones!

Hi Folks,

Back in the late nineteen-sixties, there were three or four Ford Trimotors still flying. I managed to fly in two of them. The first was at an airshow in South Carolina and the other one was at Oshkosh, a couple of years later.

As I recall, they were very slow and very noisy, but not uncomfortable.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. I soloed in a 1943 Piper J-3.

Atticus

My father was in Naval Aviation, and I had the chance to rides in a Tri Motor when I was a kid, also a PBY and DC-3. Taildraggers and amphibians were a real kick!

 

[Feng_Li]

As a child, I once got to ride in the tail gunner's seat of a B-29 and swing the machine gun around.

 

[Grit]

It's also problematic getting a propliner over the Rockies, because the high-octane leaded avgas they needed for high-altitude flying isn't available anymore. Thank the EPA...

I talked to a group in Kansas City that has a flyable Lockheed Constellation while I was visiting their museum, and they said they've wanted to take it on tour on the Coast, but can't get her over the Rockies.

With that Connie it's not the octane, but the lack of turbochargers, which were removed to extend time between overhauls for those pricey engines. Without the altitude-compensating turbos the Connie would have a difficult time staying up high. But you can get vintage aircraft over the Rockies on 100-octane low-lead, as evidenced by the Collings Foundation's annual tours across the U.S. with their B-17 and B-24.

It's always something...but at least they're keeping that Connie aloft. Yay!

 

[The Wingnut]

Why not go through New Mexico, instead of straight across? Much lower AGL through there. Warmer weather, too.

 

[Copper]

I got an afternoon's training in a DeHavilland Tiger Moth a couple years ago. It was not modernised at all beyond a small gauge-hole nav/comm. It was hand prop only to start and no brakes just a bronze tail skid - so grass strips only.

It was the best flying experience of my life - even better than my first solo.

There is a place in New Zealand on the South Island that does nothing but restore and train in old DeHavillands. You can still get your type rating in a Dragon Rapide there too.

 

[Feebeeps]

I once climbed inside a B-17g and sat at the various stations. It was great! Also, they have a huge air force museum right near me with many vintage planes. Sadly, I have never flown in anything older than perhaps an out of date 747

 

[Matt Crunk]

I used to fly quite a bit in a friend's '38 J3 Cub. He'd bought it newly restored right after high school and was taught to fly it by it's previous owner. He kept it at a little country airstrip and flew it for a couple of years before he even bothered with getting his private ticket. Those were the days.

-MC

 

[Big Man]

When I was about 10 or 12 years old I got to fly in an old bi-plane. I have no idea what kind it was, except that it was black with yellow wings. [huh]

We took off from a little grass airstrip and flew around the county for about half an hour. Making tight banking turns in an open cockpit plane was a lot of fun now, but at the time scared the crap out of me. there was just an old canvas seat belt pulled tight (I had to keep pulling on it to stay tight). I vividly remember thinking I would fall out, but boy, what a story to tell now ...

 

[Gary Crumrine]

I was, during ten years of youthful indescretion, in law enforcement. My partner's birthday was approaching and I knew he was fond of old biplanes. Arrangements were made for him to passanger in one. We arrived on the appointed morning to see the Stearman already out of the hanger. Moments later a tall, lean, black haired young beauty wearing a tired A-1 and boots laced up to her knees left an office across the parking lot and began gliding, with seven-league strides, towards the plane. She was the pilot and my partner was, once again, in love. And that, friends, was as close as I ever got to flying in a vintage plane.

 

[Luddite]

As a lifelong vintage nut, I've flown in various historic aircraft, and due to my previous career in aircraft restoration and maintenance I've been involved very closely with the operation of many aircraft from Bleriot XI to Tornado F3. My father was a photographer, so I got to sit in, crawl over and talk to the crew of many fascinating vintage types (and very narrowly missed out on a trip in a B17). But, the most authentic Vintage experience I had was at Fantasy of Flight, Kermit Weeks' operation in Florida. The flight I took in the front seat of a New Standard D25 was not so much a wonderful trip over the Florida country, but more a short hop back to the Barnstorming era. Thoroughly recommended, even for non-vintage aircraft types. The Deco terminal building and diner, and Golden Age relaxed atmosphere really set the scene.

 

[Diamondback]

I once climbed inside a B-17g and sat at the various stations. It was great! Also, they have a huge air force museum right near me with many vintage planes. Sadly, I have never flown in anything older than perhaps an out of date 747

Hill AFB, right? Someday when I'm in the area, I need to get off the interstate long enough to swing by and check them off the list... along with seeing the Ogden Union Station complex... (IIRC, Hill has a B-52; I have a list of every BUFF on public display and I'm marking them off as I get chances to see them.)

 

[Feebeeps]

Yes, at the Hill AFB air museum at the Roy exit. Way kewl, I didn't think anyone would know what I was talking about! The B-52 is pretty good and they added a few new planes the past few months. If I ever have the money to buy or make a WASP uniform, I plan to take a series of photos with the planes.

Union Station is great and 25th is coming along pretty well, could use more respectable business with a vintage edge. My university had prom at the station about two years ago and it was supposed to be vintage but probably 60% actually dressed up. It was great though

The theatre I want to buy ($800,000 anyone?) is on 25th just up from Union Station. Let me know if you are down this way, k?

 

[Diamondback]

fftopic: Roger that, dear lady. 'Course, it may be kinda unsettling since my two priorities down there are Hill and the Browning Museum... not to mention I go straight from "American Caesar Mini-Me" to "full-house geeky Poindexter" when planes are involved--sure you'd want to suffer that?

Of course, it'll probably be a few years--I generally roadtrip about every five or so, and the last was around '05, Utah leg being Twin Falls->Promontory (via the Lake's north shore and dirt farming roads, no less!)->Moab->Four Corners.

Any good Thai places down there that can do Phad Thai without the fish-sauce?

 

[Mojave Jack]

Yes, at the Hill AFB air museum at the Roy exit. Way kewl, I didn't think anyone would know what I was talking about! The B-52 is pretty good and they added a few new planes the past few months. If I ever have the money to buy or make a WASP uniform, I plan to take a series of photos with the planes.

Union Station is great and 25th is coming along pretty well, could use more respectable business with a vintage edge. My university had prom at the station about two years ago and it was supposed to be vintage but probably 60% actually dressed up. It was great though

The theatre I want to buy ($800,000 anyone?) is on 25th just up from Union Station. Let me know if you are down this way, k?

That's nice to hear that the Hill Field Museum is doing well. I was in school at the Air University at Maxwell AFB with one of the curators there. I've always wanted to get up there to see that museum and just haven't found the time. With good reviews like that, now I'll just have to make more of an effort!

Diamondback, have you been to Maxwell to see the Buff on static display there? It's right in the center of the AU campus. I used to walk under it twice every day on my way to the chow hall. If I remember right, it was one of the planes that participated in Rolling Thunder. I may be mistaken on that, but I seem to remember something to that effect on the information placard.

I have a great shot somewhere, too, of the Buff at Lackland when I was there for my wife's boot camp graduation. Actually, it's just the main landing gear wheels!

 

[Chas]

I had a ride in a DC 3 once. Scared the bejesus out of me, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. Long live the Dakota!!

 

[Diamondback]

Jack, haven't been anywhere in the Southeast except Orlando and Tampa yet--didn't even get a chance to swing by Lackland while I was in San Antonio. Downside of traveling with relatives...

I'm actually a frequent visitor to the Air U website, and I'm thinking, since a number of their students' papers were cited sources for one of mine, that I should submit an updated version of it for their collection... (this is the one that a Seattle Museum of Flight trustee thought worthy of addition to the museum library and archives)

My list was from the B-52 Association website at www.stratofortress.org, just in case there are any other BUFF-junkies out there...

 

["Doc" Devereux]

I've had the joy of a Dragon as well, as part of a birthday present for a friend last year (I wasn't sending him up without making sure there was a seat for me!), and it was an absolute joy. I've also had an even greater pleasure: a 1928 DH-60X Cirrus Moth from the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden. That was, without any doubt, the best thing in the world.


Oh, and Luddite: are you perchance a member of the Shuttleworth Mafia? The Bleriot's a bit of hint...

 

[mike]

my dad offers terrific flight experiences in a WW2 era C-47 that actually flew in the D-Day invasion and you get assigned the name of someone who actually flew in that plane on D-day
ze'vebsite

And if you click on the video, that's my dad's voice, and yes, he used to work in radio