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Posted by M636C on Sunday, September 16, 2018 2:24 AM

Overmod

 

(Watch for the streamlined 2-8-4!)

I think the locomotive illustrated in the video is one of the two Kolomna 4-6-4s 232 Nos 1 and 2 which dffered in boiler design. The headlight centered in the red star low on the nose was a feature of these two locomotives. The streamlined 2-8-4, IS20-18 had its headlight higher up, incorporated as part of a shield carrying the name "J Stalin".

I recall a rise in interest in Ekranoplans in the late 1990s despite which, their high drag meant that as before, they were not an economic proposition.

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Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 1:47 PM

Firelock, great film with the Albatrossosses. Albatri. Airplanes! 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 7:20 PM

You're welcome '54, and just what is the plural of "Albatros" anyway?

Albatros'?  Albatrosses? Or as you said, "Albatri?"  It's a mystery.

Anyway, for a little more "retro,"  here's a lovely film of a replica SPAD 13, Italian built, and in the markings of Maggiore Francesco Baracca, the top Italian ace of World War One with 34 victories. 

OK, it's not Hispano-Suiza powered so the nose doesn't look quite right, but you know what?  So what!  It's gorgeous!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74FbQLb-AqY

Oh, at about 1:39 into the film, that gazebo-like structure on the ground by the grove of trees is a memorial on the site where Baracca died in 1918.  Shot down by an Austrian two-seater?  Ground fire?  No-one is sure to this day. 

 

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Posted by Backshop on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 8:19 PM

I'm on a military history website and a few years ago, we had an informal poll of what WW2 aircraft would personally want to own.  You'd never guess the overwhelming favorite... (scroll down)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PBY Catalina.

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, September 18, 2018 9:12 PM

Backshop
I'm on a military history website and a few years ago, we had an informal poll of what WW2 aircraft would personally want to own.  You'd never guess the overwhelming favorite... (scroll down)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PBY Catalina.

My father-in-law (RIP) was part of the crew on a PBY stationed somewhere in the Carribean.  His recurrent story was how they managed to sink a Japanese sub while on patrol.  I wasn't aware that Japanese subs made it into the Carribean - German yes, Japanese no.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 7:01 AM

It's possible.  If his patrol squadron was based in the Canal Zone, he may have also flown patrols over the Pacific.

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 7:40 AM

I was in my yard one day when I heard the unmistakable sound of two radial engines climbing out.  As it appeared over the trees into my view I saw that the aircraft was a PBY, still dripping from its touch-and-go on a nearby small lake.  Good thing it was only a touch and go - I'm not sure the lake is long enough for a full takeoff run.

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 7:54 AM
So, get a pilot multi-engine license, find an old PBY (aka PLAYMATE) move to the Caribbean, life is good. Sorry, got lost in dreamland.
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Posted by Jones1945 on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 8:14 AM

M636C

 

 
Overmod

 

(Watch for the streamlined 2-8-4!)

 

 

I think the locomotive illustrated in the video is one of the two Kolomna 4-6-4s 232 Nos 1 and 2 which dffered in boiler design. The headlight centered in the red star low on the nose was a feature of these two locomotives. The streamlined 2-8-4, IS20-18 had its headlight higher up, incorporated as part of a shield carrying the name "J Stalin".

I recall a rise in interest in Ekranoplans in the late 1990s despite which, their high drag meant that as before, they were not an economic proposition.

Peter.

 

Yes, that was the Soviet 2-3-2K aka Kolomna 4-6-4s, the engine itself was brand new but the passenger cars behlind her, just like other streamlined steam engine in USSR, was some very shabby equipment. 

 

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Posted by M636C on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 8:29 AM

tree68

I was in my yard one day when I heard the unmistakable sound of two radial engines climbing out.  As it appeared over the trees into my view I saw that the aircraft was a PBY, still dripping from its touch-and-go on a nearby small lake.  Good thing it was only a touch and go - I'm not sure the lake is long enough for a full takeoff run.

 

 

I had a similar experience in 1972 in Rockhampton, Queensland. I was still in bed late on a Sunday morning when I heard the sound of twin radial engines. By rolling over I could look out the bedroom window and saw a PBY with its undercarriage extended heading for a nearby airport. I threw on jeans and a t-shirt over my pyjamas an d drove pretty quickly to the airport where I was able to photograph the aircraft taxiing in. It was registered in Canada and was equipped with cable loops for mineral suvey.

More recently, a preserved  PBY has appeared on occasion at air shows and military commemorations.

Peter

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Posted by M636C on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 8:42 AM

BaltACD

 Backshop

I'm on a military history website and a few years ago, we had an informal poll of what WW2 aircraft would personally want to own.  You'd never guess the overwhelming favorite... (scroll down)

PBY Catalina.

 

Conversely, several ships were sunk off the East Coast of Australia in 1945 by a U-boat, which successfully found its way back to Germany around VE day. But I'd doubt that the Japanese had the ability to mount submarine patrols in the Carbibean. I thiink the U-boat had carried some critical equipment from Germany to Tokyo, and was just taking care of business on its way home.

The German submarine was able to visit Japan and occupied countries for fuel and repairs on its Pacific patrol. I don't think the Japanese had any such facilities in the Atlantic or Caribbean...

Peter

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 5:00 PM
M636C, Seems to me that a lot of the PBY's in the Sou. Pac covering for the 380th, 22nd, 43rd & 90th B/Gs in WW2 were RAAF crews. Especially during the Balikpapan missions.
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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, September 19, 2018 7:04 PM

Firelock76
You're welcome '54, and just what is the plural of "Albatros" anyway? Albatros'? Albatrosses? Or as you said, "Albatri?" It's a mystery.

Not particularly.  It's a German word, for a German plane.  And the German plural is "Albatrosse" (Or, as some like me who love WWI aircraft would fudge, "Albatros-Maschinen" since the name is for the type.)

Unfortunately for lesser pedants, any sort of Latin plural for a word obviously derived from Arabic is worse than pointless.  Public school boys should have known better.

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Thursday, September 20, 2018 6:34 AM
Being a 'public school boy' didn't help me. English class was not exactly my finest hour of the day. There were other far more interesting 'things'.
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Posted by M636C on Thursday, September 20, 2018 7:11 AM

BOB WITHORN
M636C, Seems to me that a lot of the PBY's in the Sou. Pac covering for the 380th, 22nd, 43rd & 90th B/Gs in WW2 were RAAF crews. Especially during the Balikpapan missions.
 

The Catalina was very important to Australia in WWII.

Apart from extensive use for reconnaisance and anti submarine patrols, they were used by Qantas for flights between, if i recall correctly, from Carnarvon in Western Australia to Sri Lanka (called Ceylon then). These were very long non stop flights and the few passengers were given a certificate called "the order of the double sunrise" (presumably this occurred eastbound). These flights replaced services via Singapore and India after the Japanese occupation of Singapore.

The preserved aircraft is painted black with blue and white roundels representing an RAAF aircraft.

Peter

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Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, September 20, 2018 10:08 AM

I was at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome many years ago and during the air show, the aircraft were away from the field so there was the "ground show" involving the old tank, trucks and so forth. While people were looking at that, from behind right over the grandstand and flying low was the Albatross in full chat! Man that was something! It had a varnished, woodgrain forward fuselage like the one in the youtube film. Gotta get back there someday. 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Thursday, September 20, 2018 6:05 PM

Got to give the Old Rhinebeck crew credit, they were the first to replicate an Albatros, in their case it's a D-V model. 

I know there's an original Albatros D-V in the Air and Space Museum in Washington, there may be others somewhere, but I'm not sure of that.  Possibly in some European museums?

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 7:53 AM

Peter,

 

That would represent one of the "Black Cat" night bombers with radar.

 

Bob

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Thursday, September 27, 2018 3:06 PM

What about the Hughes H-4 ?  If WW-2 had continued ?

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Posted by switch7frg on Thursday, September 27, 2018 3:58 PM

Wink Bob I understand ,could  it be the blond haired sweetie in front of you with  the "pig tails"?? Ah yes those were the days. I  walked my blond haired sweety home along the "Pennsey RR " in Dayton Ohio. Her are still my sweety after 63 yrs.

Y6bs evergreen in my mind

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Posted by SD70Dude on Thursday, September 27, 2018 7:44 PM

blue streak 1

What about the Hughes H-4 ?  If WW-2 had continued ?

You mean this monstrosity!?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hhaAhCjLfGk

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, September 28, 2018 6:54 AM

blue streak 1

What about the Hughes H-4 ?  If WW-2 had continued ?

 
A bit unlikely, we probably would have seen a few more JRM Mars flying boats in service.
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Posted by 54light15 on Friday, September 28, 2018 11:37 AM

I thought it was called the HK (Hughes-Kaiser) 1? Or is the H4 something other than the Spruce Goose? 

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Friday, September 28, 2018 11:54 AM

Same plane, but Henry Kaiser left the project partway in, leaving Hughes Aircraft to finish it alone. 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Saturday, September 29, 2018 6:48 AM

I just got the October/November issue of "Air & Space: Smithsonian".  It includes an article about the best movie about the Air Force ever made:  "Twelve O'Clock High".

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Saturday, September 29, 2018 7:10 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH

I just got the October/November issue of "Air & Space: Smithsonian".  It includes an article about the best movie about the Air Force ever made:  "Twelve O'Clock High".

 

Definitely a great movie.

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, September 29, 2018 3:56 PM

"Air Classics" magazine had a great article about the making of "Twelve O'Clock High" over thirty years ago.

Here's an anecdote from the same...

At an Air Force Association premiere party for the film General Curtis Le May said he hoped all the usual technical goofs had been avoided but he doubted that would be the case.  Two of the producers involved in the film said there was only one thing wrong in the film but they bet the general he wouldn't pick up on it.

Long story short, Le May loved the film, saying "By God, there weren't any mistakes in the film, although I never would have believed it!"

What did Le May miss?  The addition of the whining sound of the attacking German fighters.  In a B-17 you could see them, but you couldn't hear  them.

A bit of successful dramatic license.

I'll tell you, not only is "Twelve O'Clock High" the best Air Force movie ever made, it's one of the best war movies ever made.  It's timeless.

Here's a taste, BGen. Frank Savage works over LtCol. Ben Gately, all shot in one take.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOGl_7a2nWU

 

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Posted by Leo_Ames on Saturday, September 29, 2018 8:09 PM

I'd personally vote for this one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Force_(film)

Twelve O'Clock High also spawned a successful 60's television series that straddled the switch from black & white to color programming (Which I'm sure several around here have watched). Doesn't share the realism of the film though and never really tickled my fancy, unlike so many other black & white hits from the first 15 years of American television.

Watched the full run on tv a few years ago on I believe MeTV, and probably won't be returning down the road to view it again (It's a classic 20th Century Fox tv series, which means it's not commercially available on DVD since they've largely only have released current-fare for their tv series outside of M*A*S*H and a handful of other exceptions). 

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Posted by Firelock76 on Saturday, September 29, 2018 9:21 PM

I remember "12 O'Clock High" the TV series from the 60's quite well.  Not as good as the movie but considering it was made for TV, and considering the limited budgets TV shows had to work with back then, I thought it was pretty well done.

I didn't like when they got rid of Robert Lansing as General Savage and replaced him with Paul Burke as Colonel Gallagher!  Bad move.  The idea was they wanted someone with more "youth appeal."  Huh? Didn't they realize that to most kids (like I was at the time) anyone over 20 is ancient?  And besides, us kids weren't stupid, of course General Savage was old, he was a general, he was supposed to be old!  Although when I look at pictures of Robert Lansing as Savage now he doesn't look as old as he used too!  What happened? Scary...

Anyway, here's a clip...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-8Md9l-3Z8

Some people don't remember what it's like to be a kid!

And "Air Force" is pretty good as well.  A great ensemble cast including John Garfield, Harry Carey, George Tobias and others.  Not to mention those sweet-looking pre-war B-17C's and D's.  There's only one of those in existance now as far as I know, "The Swoose," and here's the story, with a bit of a surprise in it.

https://travelforaircraft.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/b-17-shark-fin/

And here's the Kay Kyser song where the name "Swoose" came from...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dme2bRVtbWg

The only thing that mars "Air Force" is the wartime propaganda bits, but hey, it was the era, and you have to make allowances for that. 

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Posted by 54light15 on Sunday, September 30, 2018 3:45 PM

Let's not forget "Dawn Patrol" from 1938 with Basil Rathbone, Errol Flynn and David Niven. Like "12 O'clock High," it's about the strain on a commanding officer sending men out on extremely dangerous, often deadly missions. 

Anything with John Garfied is worth seeing. We're all familiar with the Bogart and Bacall classic, "To Have and Have Not?" Watch Garfield in "The Breaking Point." it's the same story under a different title and closer to Hemingway's book than Bogie's picture, great as that one is. I think Garfield is more realistic as a Hemingway character than Bogart, but "The Breaking Point" doesn't have Lauren Bacall doing that little dance at the end. Yow! 

 

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