WWII War Birds - pics and video

wbaad said:
Safety and modern radio equipment makes sense, but some 70's avionics and modern EFIS display in the middle take away from what it is IMHO. Insurance and regs have nothing to do with those.

Like putting a red dot sight on a single action army.

Just my dumb observation :)
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While I agree with the basic sentiment I wouldn't want to trust my life to British electrics. Having driven British cars that is just downright foolish.
 
With apologies to anyone who actually likes old British cars. :)
One retired Swiss member of my Swiss rifle club stated he owes his ability to to sell his auto shop and dealership for a whopping big amount to all the work on Jags, MG, Triumph, Aston and RR. Not sure if he work on Vauxhall, or just send them to the scrap yard right away..

http://www.mez.co.uk/lucas.html
 
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The Hurricane is another fine looking machine. Got to love the sound of the Merlin.

wrt modern avionics, i'm all for some minor additions to increase situational awareness and overall ability to fly more often. not saying you need to have a full IFR-certified install but a decent RMI, HSI, basic TCAS and GPS are good to have. you don't need to hack up the panel too much to put those in. thankfully under the experimental certificate of airworthiness the owners are able to modify things as they see fit as long as it's done to a certain standard.
 
I attended the Oshkosh air show in 2000. While I loved the sound of all the Merlins, the sweetest sound came from the P51s. Why do they sound different? I grew up north of Centralia air base. We used to have all kinds of Harvards and later on, Chipmunks. We were in their low level flying zone. Once when my sister and I were hoeing in the bean field, a Chimunk buzzed over so low that my sister lay down in the bean row. At the last minute he notice a skinny elm tree at the end of the field, pulled up, hit the throttle and staggered over top of it. I can still pick out the sound of a radial engine when I hear one.
 
bushwhacker said:
I attended the Oshkosh air show in 2000. While I loved the sound of all the Merlins, the sweetest sound came from the P51s. Why do they sound different? I grew up north of Centralia air base. We used to have all kinds of Harvards and later on, Chipmunks. We were in their low level flying zone. Once when my sister and I were hoeing in the bean field, a Chimunk buzzed over so low that my sister lay down in the bean row. At the last minute he notice a skinny elm tree at the end of the field, pulled up, hit the throttle and staggered over top of it. I can still pick out the sound of a radial engine when I hear one.
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American built under license with a few of their own modifications.....?
 
bushwhacker said:
I attended the Oshkosh air show in 2000. While I loved the sound of all the Merlins, the sweetest sound came from the P51s. Why do they sound different? I grew up north of Centralia air base. We used to have all kinds of Harvards and later on, Chipmunks. We were in their low level flying zone. Once when my sister and I were hoeing in the bean field, a Chimunk buzzed over so low that my sister lay down in the bean row. At the last minute he notice a skinny elm tree at the end of the field, pulled up, hit the throttle and staggered over top of it. I can still pick out the sound of a radial engine when I hear one.
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Chipmunk seems to have left quite an impression. Radials as on the Harvard and now more frequently encountered Beaver(non-turbo) do have a very distinctive sound. Out here on the Wet coast the float Beavers are always overhead. More and more are being converted to turbo.
 
The Grumman Firecat (former Trackers) have a wonderful engine note from their Wright R-1820s. Hearing on take-off with a full load of retardant... awesome!

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Here's a C-47.
 
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