Video: Fascinating 1995 Story Of The 'Kee Bird' B-29 Salvage Attempt

 There are so many interesting stories from the world of aviation that it's easy to miss some of the really fascinating ones. One such story for me is seen in this video about the 1995 attempt to recover the B-29 Kee Bird from a frozen resting place in northwest Greenland. The effort was led Darryl Greenamyer, a man who has had a most incredible life in the sky. He was my hero when I was a kid watching him race the F8F Bearcat known as Conquest 1 at Reno in the late 60's. His experiences include flying the SR-71 at Lockheed's Skunk Works, over 40 years of air racing, and unusual projects like working to set speed records in a modified F-104. Those stories I knew about, but a long lost B-29 in Greenland, and the effort to bring it back home... somehow, that's a story I had missed.

 This video is a segment from a 1996 NOVA special on the salvage attempt titled B-29 Frozen In Time. This is the last segment and it runs 10 minutes. If you really want to experience the entire story, you can click this link to go to the full listing of all the segments on youtube.

 To get as far as they did in retrieving this incredibly rare aircraft, only to lose it as they did is disheartening to say the least. But seeing the level of self-control as they watch the airplane burn is a real lesson in realizing that there's only so much we can control in this life.

Video screenshot of the B-29 Kee Bird on fire during the salvage attempt in 1995

Planes, Trains And Automobiles: The 2012 Chicago Auto Show (Feb 10-19)

(click pic to enlarge)   The Chevy 'Code 130R' Concept for a small 4-seat muscle car

(27 pix)

Chicago Auto Show website

 The Chicago Auto Show is currently underway (Feb 10-19) at McCormick Place near downtown Chicago. My wife and I drove to Chesterton, Indiana about 1-1/2 hours from home and hopped on the South Shore train. Not only does riding the train eliminate some stressful parking issues, it stops right at McCormick place, which makes this a very nice and easy journey. The train itself is a rather pleasant transportation experience... and for me, my love for aviation is built on a foundation of a love for the machines we humans build to move our bodies around. That's why being able to ride a train to go to a major national auto show makes for a really nice day for me! (btw - what car do I want the most? the answer is all the way at the bottom of the page)

 I believe we've seen the automotive and aviation industries crossover quite a bit more in the last 30 years. The auto industry has turned more toward the aviation mindset of using advanced lightweight materials and technologies in an effort to reduce weight and increase efficiency. And clearly they've taken air-management (aerodynamics) very seriously for the same reasons. And with aircraft like the very popular Cirrus SR20 and SR22, we've seen the aviation industry lean over into automotive-thought when it comes to interior design. I think we're also likely to see even more of this in the future, along with the possibility of integrating such cabin comforts as air conditioning that's far simpler and more car-like in the future.

 All things considered, I find looking at new production cars and dreamy concepts to be a great inspiration for where I'd like to see the aviation world go. There's a lot of passion on display at an auto show... and for me, aviation is about 80% passion. That's why general aviation aircraft from the 1940's and older are far more interesting to me - I feel a real passion for flight in their design. Ultimately, I believe that designing with passion in mind is going to be the most effective tool in re-invigorating the general aviation industry. When we figure out how to design and build airplanes that people are willing to sacrifice other parts of their life for, then we'll see growth. At least that's my opinion: )

 I've pulled 27 of the best pix from my Chicago Auto Show trip for you to check out here and have included some caption info. If you're in the Midwest and able, I hope you can work in a trip to the show - it runs thru Sunday February 19th and adult tickets are just $11 - you can buy online or at the show. Hours are 10am to 10pm except for the last day, Sunday the 19th, which is 10am to 8pm.

 There's no better way to shop the current offerings from the manufactures than at a show like this. Being able to hop from car to car making comparisons based on what you believe is important in car design and function is fantastic. And seeing a collection of far-out concept cars sure gives me the kind of day-dreaming experience I'm extremely fond of!

(click any pic to enlarge)

 
 This Code 130R concept car from Chevy has some sweet retro styling but it's meant to be a thoroughly modern small 4-seat muscle car. With rear wheel drive, 150hp turbocharged 4 cylinder and six speed manual, this cutie should be about the most fun you can have with a 40mpg car. No details yet on when something like this might become reality.

Click to read more ...

Video: New On The Airshow Circuit: The Boeing 737?

 Here's something you don't see everyday... in fact, you probably shouldn't ever expect to see two 737's flying a pretty tight formation with a large collection of propeller driven aircraft! Yet, here's the video proof that it has indeed happened. Further research indicates this took place in 2009 at the Virginia Airshow in Durban, South Africa. The 737's are old -200 models from South African Airways, and the two small forward aircraft are WWII era T-6's with the remaining collection of aircraft being Piltaus PC-7's from the South African Air Force's Silver Falcons aerobatic team.

 As with any kind of formation flying, this looks much easier than it is! All things considered, this is a very impressive (and safe) display of mixing large and small aircraft in the same formation... but I wouldn't expect to see anything like this on the airshow circuit - ever!

Video screenshot showing the 737-200's in formation with 7 other aircraft!

Caption Contest #68 Winner - Army Surplus Edition

 There was a rather large number of captions submitted this time around, which is great of course. A big thank you goes out to everyone who got in on that. It's always a challenge for me to try to pick the best five for the poll... and this time around I almost didn't include the one that wound up winning by a landslide! Congrats and a bacon sandwhich at OSH12 go out to 'Jeff Howell' for his Army Surplus caption - great job!

 Pictures like this are a good reminder of the effort put forth by Americans to build the machinery for victory in World War II. This is actually a pretty small collection of aircraft, but it gives me an idea to put together a post soon with images that show the massive numbers of aircraft being produced in various factories. Keep an eye out for that, and for another Caption Contest before long...

Video: Soaring Isn't Just Awesome - It's AWESOME!

 Do you like gorgeous slender airplanes, beautiful mountains and great camera views? Well then this video is right up your alley! But you might wanna turn the music down if you don't like a rock music background. It's well worth watching even if you've never paid attention to soaring before.

 I was so fortunate to be raised around soaring back in the 70's due to my dad's love for it, and that included getting to solo a Schweizer 2-33 on my 14th birthday! Later that year I was flying a high performance Schweizer 1-35 that my dad had bought to go along with the Citabria (tow plane) that we also had. Those were the days - 14 years old and flying such an amazingly beautiful airplane!

 But getting into (and staying into) soaring takes a little more effort than many forms of flying. I certainly experienced this as it's been a long time since I've flown a sailplane. The need for a good location for either thermals or ridge lift along with the fact that you usually need a community of people to make everything work out well means that soaring operations are typically pretty far in between. But they are out there, and modern aerodynamics have pushed the performance higher than ever before as well.

 I'm hoping to emerge far enough from my financial crisis of these last three years to finally get current in powered aircraft this summer... and if things go really well, I'm gonna be looking for an opportunity to get current in a sailplane as well. I hope seeing a video like this might spark the same desire in you to go flying on silent wings! : )

Me on my 14th birthday (1975) right after my first solo in a glider/sailplane!

Still age 14 preparing to go fly the Schweizer 1-35 high performance sailplane

Note the N numbers with my initials on our Citabria and Schweizer 1-35 in 1975!

'Name The Plane' - ID MAKE And MODEL For Free Bacon! (2.8.12)

(click pic to enlarge)

GAME OVER - correctly ID'd by John Conway as a Lockheed U-2

 I'm amazed how often this game doesn't even make it to 30 minutes. John Conway got the correct answer in about 15 minutes. This sweet U-2 is at the Air Force Museum... it's a pic I took on Sunday January 29, 2012 at the AirPigz Air Force Museum MeetUp. Congrats John for winning a bacon sandwhich at OSH12!

_   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _   _

 It's time for another Name The Plane challenge... all you gotta do is ID both MAKE and MODEL to win a bacon sandwhich prize at OSH12 - so, if you've got sharp aircraft ID skills, be the first person to ID both MAKE and MODEL of this aircraft to be the winner!

 Your answers must go in the 'comments' area in this post, and as always, please don't use the shotgun approach to answers - only put up truly educated guesses that you've arrived at via really thinking it thru.

 And I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but to win, you have to give me both the MAKE and MODEL! : )

Video: Organic Variable Geometry Wings... With Killer Landing Gear!

(both videos are selectable to 720p HD)

 This first video is only 21 seconds long but wow, what an impressive 21 seconds! It's a slow motion capture of an Eagle Owl in the final stages of landing right in front of the camera.  In my opinion, the advanced aerodynamics on display will never be matched by us mere mortals... God is truly the Master of the Skies! I hope you're like me and you watch this video over and over picking out more details of both the unimaginably complex variable geometry wings, and the menacing killer landing gear! Wow!

Video screenshot of the awesome Eagle Owl and its killer landing gear!
 

The video below is a little longer at 52 seconds and has some stunning footage of Bald Eagles putting that killer landing gear to work. The slow motion capture reveals details that are otherwise missed with these stunning birds.

 All I can say is I'm really glad these birds don't ever get big enough to pick mankind as their prey!

Caption Contest #68 - Ends Wednesday 2.8.12 At 9PM EST

 With the Super Bowl now over, the next logical thing to do is to take an avgeek moment and come up with a funny caption for the pic above! The best part is that the winner will snag a bacon sandwich at OSH12!

 I saw this old WWII era pic posted on facebook over the weekend and decided we should be able to have some fun with that. I guess we'll see : )

 So, you've got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EST to submit your clever/funny/cool captions. Then, I’ll pick the best 5 and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on for all day Thursday and Friday so we can find the winner. 

 The Rules: 

1) Max of 3 submissions per person

2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area 

3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EST 

4) Keep it clean!

 Then, anyone can cast their vote starting Thursday morning and running thru til 9pm EST Friday. The winner will be posted Saturday morning 2-11-12. Tails up!

Super Bowl Sunday And My Past Aerial Pix Of Indy's Lucas Oil Stadium

(click pic for hi-res)  Downtown Indianapolis from the Farmers Airship - August 2011

 With football's biggest day now in our lap, and the start of Super Bowl XLVI (that's 46 for the non-Romans among us) just hours away inside Indy's awesome Lucas Oil Stadium, I figure this is a good time to re-share two aerial pictures I was blessed to be able to capture of downtown Indianapolis in the last two years. The first one above is the most recent, taken in August 2011 from the Farmers Airship, the modern and amazing Zeppelin NT. For more pix and the full post, please check out: I Rode The Zeppelin! - The Farmers Airship In Indy! (Short Post). I'm still planning to put up the long post on this ride which will include some video, but too much work to do and not enough time means I haven't got that done yet.

 The second pic (below) was taken from the B-17 named Yankee Lady back in June 2010. It was an incredible flight I was able to go on during the 2010 Indy Air Show that had us flying over downtown for 30 minutes or so and then making a pass right over Victory Field ballpark that's located very near Lucas Oil Stadium. For more info on that ride-of-a-lifetime with more fabulous pix of Indy from the B-17, please check out: 2010 Indy Air Show Pic Stream #3 - B-17 'Yankee Lady' Ride! I'm noticing that I also planned to expand that ride into a more detailed post... I guess I've got some work to do!

 Anyway, these pictures of downtown Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium were really just byproducts of two simply stunning rides that I was able to participate in. And I'm glad that Super Bowl Sunday has come along to give me the reason to share them with you once again... which has also given me the chance to re-live two perfect rides in a couple of very different and fascinating flying machines : )

Lucas Oil Stadium and Victory Field in downtown Indianapolis taken from a B-17!

Video: GoPro HD And The Extreme Werth Brothers 'Tail Grab'

 In mid January, the youtube account for GoPro cameras posted this short and awesome video of Billy and David Werth demonstrating their well-practiced 'tail grab' where Billy flies his Pitts inverted low enough for David (a very experienced extreme motorcycle rider) to reach out and touch the rudder! It's definitely the kind of thing that we like to say: Don't Try This At Home!

 I figured today is a great time to post the video since the Super Bowl is this Sunday In Indianapolis, and Indy is where Billy operates out of. And if you don't know, Billy spends a large portion of everyday in the air as he's a regional airline pilot; a KC-135 tanker driver in the Air Force Reserve; an aerobatic instructor, performer and thrill rider giver with his Grayout Aerosports operation; AND he's half of the Red Eagle Airsports Team! Whew.. makes me tired just thinking about all that flying! In addition to his Pitts S2C, he's also recently added a Christen Eagle to his hangar, so he'll fit in a little better at Red Eagle this year : )

 I'm planning to get some time with Billy in the Pitts this spring to give me both a chance to get the cobwebs cleaned out of my taildragger skills and to do some real aerobatic flying. I learned to fly in a Citabria when I was just 13 but never really did any aerobatics other than just the basic spins and loops. Some very-unusual-atitudes time in the Pitts will open up a whole new world for me. I can't wait!

 Lastly, if you are a little freaked out about how low the Pitts is in the video above, I'll point you over to the post (with video) I put up back in September showing the tail touch. I put up a long and detailed comment to the concerns shared by a reader... hopefully it'll give you some important background info. Also, I talked with Billy today and he mentioned that GoPro had loads of video from which to choose their short clip, and while none of the other passes had him anywhere near this low to the ground, the one they chose did.

 I can definitely tell you that Billy is not a reckless thrill-seeker, but of course there are some very real risks involved with these kind of extreme displays. In the end, we may not see anymore of the inverted tail grab... so I say watch the video and simply enjoy an excellent, extreme display of flying and motorcycle riding by the wild Werth brothers!

Screenshot from the GoPro HD video - This Is Extreme!