For those who might be interested, here are some photos I took back 2 years ago before the pandemic, flying with the Condor Squadron here in Los Angeles on a flight from Van Nuy airport out along the coast to Santa Barbara and back on a beautiful fall day. This is why flying is fun.
Flying is indeed a kick. For those of us less addicted, what is the plane you're in? I feel as though I should recognize it but memory isn't working right now.
It's the famous North American T-6/SNJ, the advanced trainer of World War II and one of the most common warbirds for the fact that 12,000 were made, and the last one was taken out of service in the South African Air Force in 1995, plus it is (relatively) cheaper to operate. The toy of airline and corporate pilots, not like P-51s and Spitfires and such that are the toys of the 1 percent.
Grumman, now subsumed into Northrop, and North American, now owned by Boeing (who collects royalties for the "IP" of all North American designs from the model companies who do P-51s and B-25s and T-6s and F-86s). It's sad how the "good" companies get devoured by the not-good ("If it's Boeing, I ain't going") - like how all the good bookstores died and all we have is @#$##@!! B&N.
The problem is that "back in the day" people who ran airplane companies were "airplane guys" like Kelly Johnson or Dutch Kindelberger or Donald Douglas, who would have been offended to put out something that didn't work. Nowadays, the companies are run by MBAs who don't know the pointed end goes in front and think that "repair and revision" should be a "revenue stream" and included in the planning.
The bigger problem is that people who have no fucking clue about anything are the ones now in charge of nearly everything. MBA's are the spawn of Satan, followed closely by most JD's.
This is probably the closest thing to actual flying I'll come for a long while, so thanks for bringing us along for the ride! I cut my teeth as a sidekick to two just-starting-out pilots back in the day - the ship of choice was a crop duster, of all things! It was exhilarating. I often think of them and wonder what happened. This was just as Vietnam was cranking up big time.
Thanks! Great photos; see why you love it. I took one flying lesson in my life--white knuckled turn above the Atlantic Ocean mostly to be able to land my first husband's twin engine if I had to. There is a freedom and perspective in the old planes. As a reporter I got to fly in a WWII bomber (Flying Tigers). Thought of all the guys who did it for real.
I'm sorry to hear that. Your husband failed (as many airplane guys do) to give a proper introduction. First time I took my then-wife flying, she had your reaction. I thought about that and realized she didn't know anything about the airplane, so of course she was terrified. So I convinced her to take one more flight with me and if she still didn't like it I would never ask her to go again. This time, while I was doing the pre-flight, I was explaining what I was doing and why. I took her out to the end of the wing where she could see the airfoil, and I explained why an airplane flies (because the airfoil is longer on top than it is on the bottom - the distance from leading edge to trailing edge - so the air molecules on top "thin out" on their trip to the rear, creating low pressure. Because of osmosis, the air molecules on the bottom are pushing up because they're trying to get up there and even the pressure differential; thus you have "lift" and the wing flies. Then when we were in the air I explained everything I was doing to control the airplane. Then I let her take the controls. She did as I told her to do, and it worked! And she "got it." And three weeks later I took her out for an afternoon and by her third attempt she was landing the plane from the right seat with only a small bounce. When I joined a club that had an old 2-seat open-cockpit biplane, she really fell in love with it. If flying had been the only issue in our marriage, we'd still be married. But her second husband was also a pilot - by her choice.
Yeah, we were flying the "Fourth of July parade" since they couldn't have one. And the beaches were totally empty.
You have seen/heard these guys on holidays like Veteran's Day and Memorial Day and such, when they do formation fly-overs of the veterans cemeteries. You've likely heard them - the airplane has a very distinctive "ripping snarl" to its sound (from the prop tips going supersonic) and they fly the World War II "finger four" formation, which is distinctive even if you don't know what it is.
COOL! My son worked for Vince Gilligan on both shows, and I met him here in Michigan (he went to highschool here in Interlochen). What a great and gracious man!
Flying is indeed a kick. For those of us less addicted, what is the plane you're in? I feel as though I should recognize it but memory isn't working right now.
It's the famous North American T-6/SNJ, the advanced trainer of World War II and one of the most common warbirds for the fact that 12,000 were made, and the last one was taken out of service in the South African Air Force in 1995, plus it is (relatively) cheaper to operate. The toy of airline and corporate pilots, not like P-51s and Spitfires and such that are the toys of the 1 percent.
Thanks TC. For some reason I couldn't get Grumman out of my head.
Grumman, now subsumed into Northrop, and North American, now owned by Boeing (who collects royalties for the "IP" of all North American designs from the model companies who do P-51s and B-25s and T-6s and F-86s). It's sad how the "good" companies get devoured by the not-good ("If it's Boeing, I ain't going") - like how all the good bookstores died and all we have is @#$##@!! B&N.
Not sure I blame anyone other than the Board at Boeing for that mess since they turned it over to McD-Douglas management.
The problem is that "back in the day" people who ran airplane companies were "airplane guys" like Kelly Johnson or Dutch Kindelberger or Donald Douglas, who would have been offended to put out something that didn't work. Nowadays, the companies are run by MBAs who don't know the pointed end goes in front and think that "repair and revision" should be a "revenue stream" and included in the planning.
The bigger problem is that people who have no fucking clue about anything are the ones now in charge of nearly everything. MBA's are the spawn of Satan, followed closely by most JD's.
I couldn't have said it better or more clearly.
This is probably the closest thing to actual flying I'll come for a long while, so thanks for bringing us along for the ride! I cut my teeth as a sidekick to two just-starting-out pilots back in the day - the ship of choice was a crop duster, of all things! It was exhilarating. I often think of them and wonder what happened. This was just as Vietnam was cranking up big time.
Thanks! Great photos; see why you love it. I took one flying lesson in my life--white knuckled turn above the Atlantic Ocean mostly to be able to land my first husband's twin engine if I had to. There is a freedom and perspective in the old planes. As a reporter I got to fly in a WWII bomber (Flying Tigers). Thought of all the guys who did it for real.
I'm sorry to hear that. Your husband failed (as many airplane guys do) to give a proper introduction. First time I took my then-wife flying, she had your reaction. I thought about that and realized she didn't know anything about the airplane, so of course she was terrified. So I convinced her to take one more flight with me and if she still didn't like it I would never ask her to go again. This time, while I was doing the pre-flight, I was explaining what I was doing and why. I took her out to the end of the wing where she could see the airfoil, and I explained why an airplane flies (because the airfoil is longer on top than it is on the bottom - the distance from leading edge to trailing edge - so the air molecules on top "thin out" on their trip to the rear, creating low pressure. Because of osmosis, the air molecules on the bottom are pushing up because they're trying to get up there and even the pressure differential; thus you have "lift" and the wing flies. Then when we were in the air I explained everything I was doing to control the airplane. Then I let her take the controls. She did as I told her to do, and it worked! And she "got it." And three weeks later I took her out for an afternoon and by her third attempt she was landing the plane from the right seat with only a small bounce. When I joined a club that had an old 2-seat open-cockpit biplane, she really fell in love with it. If flying had been the only issue in our marriage, we'd still be married. But her second husband was also a pilot - by her choice.
Ha! Too bad I did not get your approach! I might have had more than one measly entry in my log book.
Amazing and, yes, I can see why flying is such fun. The near empty beaches and freeway -- priceless photos of the time. Thanks, TC.
Yeah, we were flying the "Fourth of July parade" since they couldn't have one. And the beaches were totally empty.
You have seen/heard these guys on holidays like Veteran's Day and Memorial Day and such, when they do formation fly-overs of the veterans cemeteries. You've likely heard them - the airplane has a very distinctive "ripping snarl" to its sound (from the prop tips going supersonic) and they fly the World War II "finger four" formation, which is distinctive even if you don't know what it is.
COOL! My son worked for Vince Gilligan on both shows, and I met him here in Michigan (he went to highschool here in Interlochen). What a great and gracious man!
He really is.