Picture of the day

AP said:
A friend of my mother's (also British) married a Brit REME officer and was in BAOR during the early '50's - she spoke of German women spitting at her while she was shopping. On the other hand my family was in Soest in the mid '50's (father was Cdn Army) and there was absolutely no apparent animousity. It was a wonderful place - in fact much better treatment of Canadian's in W Germany than in France fwiw. I have never heard of a Canadian soldier or their families stationed there that didnt enjoy the people and the country - most would give anything to return.
Click to expand...

Talking with my 91 year old mom the other day, she was fondly recalling her time "on the economy" while stationed at 4 Wing. She said the German women were wonderful, and that when she entered a store to shop, they'd come over, take the child from her arms (me), and care for the child while she shopped.

We were at 2 Wing as well, and that I DO remember. I don't recall any animosity from the French, except toward the end when they left NATO and wanted us out. That didn't affect me as a 5 year old, though.
 
purple said:
Jeez, 50 years ago I was spit on for wearing a uniform in downtown Leftcouver.
Click to expand...

2nd that. Military people were below 2nd class citizens. Peace and love my ass. I had been called a baby burner on a couple of occasions (wrong army you dolt) and when people found I was in the army, they asked if I had been to Nam. Jeeze!!!. Not a good time to be in Canada in the army.
 
diopter said:
Hats off to the test pilots on this test. Hope they both had diapers on.
Click to expand...

Man, that looks like all the bad ideas rolled into one terrifying experiment. "And then, let's stuff the bomb bays of the B-36 with live cows! And then find a pilot whose wife divorced him and now he has nothing to live for! And maybe another F-84 can do live firing passes on the whole shebang while they're linking up!"

Nuts. Cool engineering, though. That QD setup looks sophisticated. And someone with pull sure liked the idea:
avparsit_15.jpg


And then the Goblin trapeze-based fighter...

10494270225_6ab0ff478e.jpg


f39849608359d7549b3efedf2874d39d.jpg


But before that, Mother Russia had some ideas...

6268320865_8f0d4cc57c_b.jpg
 
The Americans tried it with dirigibles.

The Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk was a light 1930s biplane fighter aircraft that was carried by the United States Navy airships USS Akron and Macon. It is an example of a parasite fighter, a small airplane designed to be deployed from a larger aircraft such as an airship or bomber.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_F9C_Sparrowhawk

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasite_aircraft

Flying aircraft carriers, an interesting concept that never went beyond the prototype stage.
 
points said:
2nd that. Military people were below 2nd class citizens. Peace and love my ass. I had been called a baby burner on a couple of occasions (wrong army you dolt) and when people found I was in the army, they asked if I had been to Nam. Jeeze!!!. Not a good time to be in Canada in the army.
Click to expand...

It was an OK time to be in the CF if you didn't mind the Trudeau #1 budget cuts...

This is my timing also, but I think it helped change an impressionable young kid (me) into a cynical guy who didn't GAF what others thought.
 
I served four years at BHQ near Soest. Their was an underlying contempt for all NATO soldiers and our 'tax free' status. I remember getting lost on the German train system trying to get to Sennelger with my parachute to jump with the Rhine Army parachute Association. Several young Germans went out of their way to get me on the right track, anxious to use their gymnasium English.

When I was 'repatriated' to another foreign country (Valcartier, Quebec), my German wife often came home in tears because no one would serve her when she was shopping. My German-born daughters would have had to attend a Francophone school as I was deemed an "immigrant". I had planned to be a career man, but that tore it for me. Six months later, I was a civilian.

Quebec can secede any time (PLEASE!), but I'd rather see the four western provinces go.


AP said:
A friend of my mother's (also British) married a Brit REME officer and was in BAOR during the early '50's - she spoke of German women spitting at her while she was shopping. On the other hand my family was in Soest in the mid '50's (father was Cdn Army) and there was absolutely no apparent animousity. It was a wonderful place - in fact much better treatment of Canadian's in W Germany than in France fwiw. I have never heard of a Canadian soldier or their families stationed there that didnt enjoy the people and the country - most would give anything to return.
Click to expand...
 
Mowing the lawn...

maxresdefault.jpg


The photographer would have needed some serious balls to get that shot. He'd of been hanging half out of the rear cargo door, as the Spooky banked through a gun-run turn.
 
God bless the DC-3/C-47. I don't know if humanity's ever made a more useful, long-lived tool. Fire, maybe, or rocks. Who could have predicted that they'd still be out there making money eighty years on?

The gunship role was a weird one, but they sure started something with that. Very effective system. Scary as hell to be on the receiving end. Must have been horrifically loud in the plane with everything firing and the doors open.

The coupled in-flight aircraft deal? The C-47 was there:

AF%20Photo%20292855%20C-47A%2042-23918%20%20Q-14B%2044-68334%20tip%20coupled%20right%20side%20in%20flight%20l.jpg


That's Bud Anderson in the Culver. Was there nothing that man couldn't fly?
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
That's Bud Anderson in the Culver. Was there nothing that man couldn't fly?
Click to expand...

I saw Bud Anderson fly the P51 at numerous Oshkosh fly-ins and heard him give a presentation. Yep, he was certainly on of the best. On the all time list of aviation legends I would rate him tied with Chuck Yeager for second and third after Bob Hoover of course.
 
Dark Alley Dan said:
Anyone up for a project?

15596844878_2a7bc82899_b.jpg
Click to expand...

The Dak has always been, and always will be, my "if I were a rich man" personal plane. Just such a beautiful aircraft, and strong as heck. I remember reading somewhere that no DC-3/C-47 has ever been lost due to structural failure (outside of being shot down). Considering all the modifications/hacks that have been heaped on the airframe over the years, that's a testament to just how sound the fundamental design is.

Think about the stress of a bank of those mini-guns firing, with the pressure being applied cross-ways against the airframe. How many aircraft could withstand the vibration and recoil without being rattled to pieces in short order?
 
diopter said:
Shows Russian humor. The Bomber is carrying a fighter which has the bombs.
Click to expand...

An extra 1000Kg probably helps to make sure you go down on release and not up.

That contraption with the B36 is so with counter to logic it has to represent a good way to waste taxpayer's money. Only if the control of the fighters was fully automated from onboard the bomber via a datalink could it have any hope of surviving turbulence, pilot error or darkness. And I sure hope the explosive bolts activated automatically if the travel limits of the hinge were exceeded in flight!

Still, from the worn off paint on the locking jaw, you can see they did manage to make the connection in flight sometimes.

If they wanted the bomber to control the fighters a datalink via a refuelling hose would have made more sense...perhaps the concern was also the fighter pilot's endurance on long range missions, which at B36 speeds could have been very long.
 
DC-3 had a structural failure out of Pickle lake A/P a number of years back. Wing came off outboard of engine. I saw what was left at the crash site shortly after. Results were fatal for crew of course Wing panel was separated from fuselage by more than a few meters. Ontario MNR were using DC-3's for a lot of fire crew charter work at that time. Direction came down no more BE-18, Norseman or DC-3 charters. HS 748's became the charter A/C after that. Had my last DC-3 flight in the mid 90's. From Kamloops to Powell River. Turbine conversions are not uncommon. USFS used at least one for smokejumpers out of Missoula Montana. See one parked occaisionally on tarmac at Oshawa A/P.

AN-2 parked there as well. Looks like a fat standard otter with an extra set of wings.
 
Soviet AN-2 - NATO reporting name Cub.

Can land damn thing almost anywhere, does not need much runway.........

I seem to remember reading the Soviets developed this A/C to deliver supplies and troops up to (or behind) the lines before they got into helicopters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom