| Author | Message | ||
     Doerman |
I saw this at my neighborhood airport yesterday and can't quite place what kind of aircraft this is. Any idea of manufacturer, vintage and model? | ||
| Redhatbuell |
Looks like a Grumman Widgeon. My dad used to work on its big brother the Albatross in the Navy. http://www.bush-planes.com/Grumman-Widgeon.html | ||
| Bcmike |
Made this vid of an Albatross while cruising on a local lake. A beautiful example. It's used as a vacation commuter by the private owner. Must be nice! Turn down the sound unless you enjoy inebriated banter! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDO6jw3u3_w edit.. Just to add a sidenote, this lake is home base for the Martin Mars water bombers. (Message edited by bcmike on August 10, 2010) | ||
| Doerman |
I saw it take off later. What a great sound the radial engines make! A Widgeon. Wiki says 200 or so were made from -41 to -56. So I saw a relatively rare aircraft. Thanks for the feedback | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
Some trivia... Remember ze plane in Fantasy Island? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ze_plane!_Ze_plane! | ||
| Doerman |
I do indeed! Cool! Thanks for the link! | ||
| Spiderman |
it is the long lost sequel to the Beatles 'Yellow Submarine', 'Yellow Aero-Plane' | ||
| Nevrenuf |
if it's the widgeon, then they made some changes to the wings and took off the pontoons??? | ||
| Gunut75 |
Looks like the plane in the Arnold movie, Commando. | ||
| 46champ |
The floats are retracted up to serve as wing tips. | ||
| Nevrenuf |
thats how much i know about planes. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
We have one of these at the local airfield. As rare as moon rocks  | ||
| Redhatbuell |
Beechcraft Starship. Very cool! Burt Rutan is a genius. http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/ Beech/starship.htm | ||
| Fran_dog |
Beechcraft Starship - very rear indeed. Many years ago I took a look around one of their demo planes, s/n 013. | ||
| Brumbear |
DUH it's a Yellow one   | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
"Burt Rutan is a genius." Scary clever. My late uncle built and flew a Rutan Vari-Eze. I was lucky enough to fly in it once when I was about 11 years old  | ||
| Spdrxb |
Ok since this is a rare airplane rare thread,I will add one. Its fitting that its on here because it shares the same model prefix as our favorite bikes.( hint hint) Its massive, only one is left in existance know what it is? You ohio guys and gals leave this one alone let other people guess....  | ||
| Slaughter |
We live in the Antelope Valley so I shouldn't name that particular North American aircraft above. Saw one in flight during a supersonic fly-over at altitude. Couldn't see the aircraft but you COULD see the shock wave as it formed HIGH in the air. Most impressive. Fitzhugh ("FITZ") Fulton was our test pilot at Scaled Composites when he retired from NASA. His business card had the SR71, B58, and this aircraft on it. NOT MANY PEOPLE will EVER AGAIN have a resume' such as Fitz. | ||
| Spdrxb |
Sorry wasnt trying to leave "people in the know" out. Was just thinking people in Ohio might have a backyard advantage thanks for not spoiling the fun Mr slaughter.... | ||
| Tom_b |
XB-70.. Only two were built. one left and it is in a museum.. was last flown in 1969 | ||
| Doerman |
Also named the Valkyrie. I saw it at the Dayton Air Force Museum. It is simply amazing. | ||
| Rsh |
The US Air Force/Nasa plane is a XB70 Valkyrie. I think the yellow plane at the top is a Grumman G-21A Goose or if it is a newer model, an Antilles G-21G Super Goose, which Antilles builds now. | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
"Also named the Valkyrie. I saw it at the Dayton Air Force Museum. " Amazing plane. That plane was the one I really wanted to see at the museum, but we never got there... We'll just have to come back again  | ||
| Hughlysses |
It is a cool plane. I saw an episode of "Wings" on the History Channel many years ago about it. Much of the plane is built of stainless steel to withstand the heat it would have generated during extended supersonic cruising. More info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_XB-70_ Valkyrie | ||
| Slaughter |
A local intermediate school is named after Joe Walker - arguably one of the best test pilots of his era. There was a publicity shoot setup with the XB70 and T38, F4, F104 and F5. Walker was in the 104. Moving in close for the photo, the 104 was caught in the strong tip vortex and Walker was rolled across the top of the XB70, shearing otf the verticals. Walker died in the air - IIRC, one of the XB70 ejected safely. The sequence is the famous last moments of the XB70 and Joe Walker filmed by Clay Lacy from the Lear.          | ||
| Reepicheep |
I had no idea the tragic history of that plane. Thanks for the story Steve! Its a heck of a thing to stand under there at Wright Patt. You can't even wrap your mind around it when you are standing underneath it. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
http://jalopnik.com/tag/ekranoplan/ Read up on the Ekranoplan, truly a whacki amphi beast. Set for carrying marine troops, jet transport operating at 150 ft off the deck, moving across the ocean at speed and under the radar. Cold War spooky at its best. The launchers are the same anti ship monsters that are on the Petya, Nanuchka and Osa patrol boats, they will eliminate a carrier; for added bonus, nuke tip capable. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Cool stuff. I really admired what the Soviets managed to do with aircraft. Nothing fancy, but they sure got the job done. Must have been some pretty fun wild wild west stuff for some really smart people to slap together. | ||
| Slaughter |
Burt got invited to the Caspian Sea to watch the Ekranoplan operate and took a bunch of videos for our engineering meeting. He said it really was built more rugged - in the context of a military ship. What impressed him MORE were the hotel rooms... GHASTLY - tile falling off the walls and instead of toilet paper, NEWSPAPER! (thoughtfully torn into strips and hung over a rack for the convenience of the guest) - he gave a video tour of his bathroom that took nearly as much time as the "Caspian Sea Monster" |
