Jump to content

Aviation History


DogOnPorch

Recommended Posts

Stipa-Caproni 'Flying Barrel' (1933)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stipa-Caproni

300px-Caproni_Stipa_from_front.jpg.169c3fe475b91e5203684bc6dfd03c63.jpg

The dawn of the jet age came with this and similar machines. The slightly tapered barrel fuselage produced a venturi effect making for a more efficient tractor. But it simply wasn't efficient enough to justify all the ungainly aspects of the machine. Give it a few years...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

A great Canadian aircraft...airshow favorite of the day. 

The de Havilland DHC-4/C-7 Caribou

de-havilland-canada-dhc-4-caribou_6.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Canada_DHC-4_Caribou

Saw extensive use in Viet-Nam from early-on. Its raw power and unimproved-short field capabilities made it a natural for the job. Just over 300 made. Used by the CIA's "Air America" on occasion. Many other 'foreign' operators over the years...some still in use, I'm sure.

 

Edited by DogOnPorch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Douglas DC-8

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-8

I spent a lot of time aboard various versions of this aircraft as a yoot. More than the 707 which I didn't really see a lot of at Canadian airports I frequented. Air Canada-TCA and Canadian Pacific both used the DC-8. CP I believed leased a bunch of 707s at some point to take care of the soaring demand for jet travel. I'm sure Air Canada did as well...but these rigs were the luxury machine of the day for many major airlines. First class REALLY was...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Canada_Air_Lines

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

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

Model 43

DC81111-1G.jpg

Model 63 stretch...

McDonnell_Douglas_DC-8-63,_Air_Canada_AN

Trans Canada Airlines...proto-Air Canada

Douglas_DC-8-43,_CF-TJE,_Trans_Canada_Ai

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Witchcraft...one of the few B-24 Liberators still flying. A B-24J to be precise.  A later model. You can tell late from early models...generally...by the nose. If it has a turret...late. No turret...just glass...early. The Liberator was the less famous but more numerous partner to Boeing's B-17 Flying Fortress. Preferred in the Pacific Theater to the Fortress due to its better range plus ability to fit "Tokyo Tanks" in part of the bomb bay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_B-24_Liberator

 

 

Diamond Lil is the other airworthy example. It's dressed-up as an A model B-24. Very first run. Note the early-war US markings. They were changed as they could be confused with the Japanese Rising Sun "Meatball" markings in a pinch. "A" models were quickly upgraded to "D" models for the main production run. They sported the more powerful P&W R-1830-43 Twin Wasp supercharged engine. You can see the difference on the engine cowlings...later has the twin intakes.

55px-USAAC_Roundel_1919-1941.svg.png 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surviving_Consolidated_B-24_Liberators

 

Edited by DogOnPorch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

The Flying Tigers:  First American Volunteer Group (AVG)

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

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

Nationalist Chinese Air Force...the good guys. Not the Communists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Chinese_Nationalist_air_force_(1937–1945)

0ea1e72a3a92e155ab604c5d9c2871e1.jpg

P-40B_Tomahawk_Flying_Tigers_AVG.jpg

180px-Emblem_of_the_Kuomintang.svg.png

Contrary to popular myth, the AVG did not see its first combat until the 20th of December, 1941. While the Nationalist Chinese Air Force had been fighting the Japanese for years already, the AVG did not fight before Pearl Harbor as some seem to think.

The aircraft of choice was the P-40B Tomahawk/Warhawk...minus various items not found in the export version including radios and reflector gunsights!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_P-40_Warhawk

boyingtons-p-40b-of-avg-matthew-webb.thumb.jpg.6c85f4f4da2da08b11ff05d7a7977624.jpg

Pay was high for the time...and was about three times what one would make in the regular USAAC/USAAF. It attracted quite a few who sought both adventure and combat. Greg 'Pappy' Boyington perhaps being the best known of the group... 

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

On the 4th of July, 1942, the AVG was absorbed back into the USAAF...but the air war over China continued.

800px-Flying_Tigers_blood_chit_from_ROC_

 

Edited by DogOnPorch
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 1 month later...

  • Tell a friend

    Love Repolitics.com - Political Discussion Forums? Tell a friend!
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      10,712
    • Most Online
      1,403

    Newest Member
    nyralucas
    Joined
  • Recent Achievements

    • Jeary earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Venandi went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • Gaétan earned a badge
      Very Popular
    • Dictatords earned a badge
      First Post
    • babetteteets earned a badge
      One Year In
  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...