Aircraft & Aviation

[18 stoner]

Only just realised, I have not given credit to the museum we visited last week.

All of my pics here were taken on a wet and miserable day at The National Museum of Flight, on East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian, Scotland.

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight.aspx

As I know very little about aviation in general, this was a very nice and inspiring day out and made up for the weather.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I love military aircraft!

 

[18 stoner]

Another very significant gem;



And just so you US guys dont think it was all about our side of the pond, here's something special for you. It may not be a plane, but I think its easily as special to you guys as our wee spitfire is to us

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Good reminder Stig. No discussion of Delta Wing aircraft should exclude the Saab. Used a Rolls Royce engine though

Seriously, I liked Saab Vigen Aircraft so much, It swayed me into buying a Saab road car. One of the best cars I ever owned, and a great shame they were bought out by GM.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Funny thing, I'm not really that interested in Spitfires. I think they get so much press and attention, that they dont need mine.

f'rinstance, Brits never remember awesome planes like the first Typhoon -

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, said of the Typhoons; "The chief credit in smashing the enemy's spearhead, however, must go to the rocket-firing Typhoon aircraft of the Second Tactical Air Force. The result of the strafing was that the enemy attack was effectively brought to a halt, and a threat was turned into a great victory."

 

[18 stoner]

Very valid point Ed about the many, many other planes that were so signicant in the war, yet so few of them are even known of by the general public of today.

Pete.

 

[woodworkingboy]

One on the enemy's side.

The Mitsubishi Zero, once the best carrier plane in the world, known for it's long range and maneuverability in a fight.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

My favorite more modern bomber I got to see the mock up during development in the 70s. It was basically the complete plane and systems with cut outs and such so you could see the working systems. The B1. Very impressive to me at the time.
<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZPrQcT6U_F0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Dave Shepard]

Looks like a penguin.

 

[Tree Reb]

I just saw this tonight, probably not true but anyway.

We've got a few of them as well.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

That joke has always left a really bad taste in my mouth since the American warship shot down Iran Air Flight 655 whilst it was inside Iranian airspace.

 

[Tree Reb]

I don't actually remember that, there were a lot of things I didn't here about at that time.

I do remember Flight 007 though. Both very bad news.

 

[MasterBlaster]

A damn bummer for sure! Very bad news, to say the least.

And God bless America! Striving for excellence, not perfection.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Daft thing is, the US Marines dont have any F-18's. The F-18 (superhornet) is only flown by the US Navy and....... The Royal Austrailian Airforce.

 

[NeTree]

Not to mention very few military aircraft can transmit in the civilian air band.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

Thats very interesting Erik. In both the incidents mentioned, Military forces used radio to try to warn the aircraft before opening fire. (to no avail)
Difference between the two incidents was that the US warship was well inside Iranian airspace and territorial waters when it opened fire. The Korean airliner had strayed into restricted soviet territory.

 

[NeTree]

In both incidents, they tried to warn the aircraft on military air frequencies; after all, they thought they were military aircraft.

 

[Paul B]

Daft thing is, the US Marines dont have any F-18's. The F-18 (superhornet) is only flown by the US Navy and....... The Royal Austrailian Airforce.

And.... "Canada was the first export customer for the Hornet," from Wiki

 

[Thor's Hammer]

My bad Paul, I was confusing the F-18 Hornet and the newer FA18 superhornet.

 

[Paul B]

No worries Ed, its not like we have a lot of them.

 

[Old Monkey]

I thought this was cool.

 

[NeTree]

Sure is. At $5.85 a gallon for 100LL, they saved a ton of money. 200 miles for me is about 14 gallons.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I saw a couple of these planes on Tuesday night. I took a couple of pics with my new phone, but I think I will have to find an SD card for it to get them on the computer. Pretty impressive. If I'd have known they were going to be there, I'd have made the time to hang around and watch them for more than a few minutes.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Cool looking aircraft.

 

[Dave Shepard]

That one wasn't there, or was maybe still flying. I couldn't believe how many people were in there. I thought there were people climbing in somewhere else, they just kept pouring out.