Caption Contest #74 Winner - 'Pancake Man' Superhero Edition!

 Yesterday's post about the flying machines in the awesome Marvel Comics movie The Avengers (in theaters now, check local listings : ) has us in a superhero kind of mood... and that's perfect for this Caption Contest winner! Cograts to 'Tailgear' for getting the most votes and securing a bacon sandwich at OSH12 for the effort. And just as important, Pancake Man finally gets some recognition!

 The Flying Pancake theme was used to good advantage in the captions offered up this time around, tho I'll have to say that the Round EZe concept was a great one too!

 The Vought V-173 Flying Pancake is one of the most unusual airplanes ever designed and built, and it actually flew pretty darn well. I've been planning to do an extensive feature on the aircraft but haven't got it done yet. Til then, you may wanna go check out some very nice pix of the recently restored V-173 at this Zone-Five.net modeling forum post. You might also wanna check out this page from the Dallas NBC5 TV station that includes a video and info on the V-173 from its recent arrival at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas where the restored V-173 will be on display for the next 10 years (on loan from the National Air & Space museum)

 More avgeek caption fun on the way on another Monday morning when the time seems right... watch for it.

Caption Contest #73 Winner - Blueprints Edition

 Congrats to 'Charles' for coming up with the winning caption this time around... I hope you'll be coming to OSH12 to claim your bacon sandwich prize! And thanx again to Jo (@futureshox) for pointing me to this retro pic of the incredible Stits Sky Baby. The world's-smallest-airplane from it's first flight in 1952 until the 1980's. The Sky Baby is one of the most unique airplanes ever built, and if you hop in your car (or airplane) and head to Oshkosh you can go check the little gem out at the EAA Museum. It's always one of my favorite items to inspect every time I go to the museum.

 I'll do a post one of these days looking at the history of the world's smallest airplanes over the years... but for now I'll just say that, in my mind,  the Sky Baby is definitely the best looking of the ultra micro flying machines ever made. And it's really cool seeing this picture of it complete but still only in the silver coats.

Thanx again to everyone for playing along with the AirPigz Caption Contest. More of this harmless avgeek fun will surface on a Monday morning before long!

Caption Contest #72 Has A Winner!

.

 The voting was really close this time between two captions, but this one from 'Marc' came out on top... congrats and I hope you're gonna be at OSH12 to collect your bacon sandwich prize : )

 Wouldn't it be amazing to see someone build a 30% scale 747! Tho I suppose if you did you wouldn't really put a T-6 canopy on it now would you? Oh well, it made for a little more avgeek fun as the Spring and Summer flying and airshow season is getting underway. Happy flying y'all!

Caption Contest #71 Scratches Up A Winner!

 Two things I've noticed about winning captions... they usually have few words, and oddly the first caption submitted often winds up as the top dog, pun intended here. So today we say congrats to 'Jason' who was the first of many to put forth a cat caption, and he did it with very few, very good words. The voting was close this time around, and it was a good thing I switched over to the other poll software so we wouldn't bump up against the vote cap. But in the end, Grumman's newest cat came out on top : )

 This means it's a bacon sandwich at OSH12 for Jason! I hope he's able to make it to the world's greatest aviation event and can stop by an official AirPigz 'bacon party' at CampBacon cuz this year the sizzlin' swine strips should be better than ever. And of course everyone needs to remember that free bacon is available to anyone who wants to stop by one of the bacon parties, it's just that gourmet bacon sandwiches are reserved for AirPigz game winners. All the bacon party details will be posted as we get closer to OSH12.

 And as always, thanx to everyone for playing along with the AirPigz avgeek caption contest. I might skip a week but there'll be more of this fun coming your way on a Monday morning before long - stay tuned.

Caption Contest #70 Has A Winner!

 A large number of submissions came in for this Caption Contest, and they were followed by an extra large number of votes in the poll as well. In fact, the free poll software I've been using has a limit of 100 votes and we hit that in just over 24 hours and that means whichever caption was leading at that point has wound up the winner. So we say congrats to 'Toto' for the clever twist on getting some fuel for your Luscombe. I hope you'll be making it to OSH12 to enjoy your bacon sandwhich winnings!

 I've always been surprised how only a very small portion of the traffic I get daily will get in on the voting in these polls. I guess lots of folks see this as just avgeek silliness... and to that I say: exactly! Anyway, thanx to everyone for submitting so many great captions and to all who voted. I really appreciate your participation.

 I'll switch over to my second choice for poll software, it allows for unlimited voting. Some of the other polls I've put up lately have hit the limit lately too, but this was the first time for a caption contest. Regardless, I'll be ready for the next game - and that will be coming up on a Monday morning before long : )

Caption Contest #69 Winner - Mower Power To Ya!

 The well-seasoned captioner known as 'Tailgear' comes thru with the winning string of words this time around - congrats! And may the power of a tasty bacon sandwich at OSH12 be with you : )

 You can find a little more info on this homebuilt Chinese Tri-Motor at this EAA post from a year ago. I didn't see any additional info on the ultimate success of the effort. Hopefully this flying machine(?) has been put on permanent display in the National Chinese Museum of Really Great Attempts That Should Never Be Tried Again (!)

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...

Caption Contest #67 Winner(s) - Split Decision!

 
 The short and sweet story is that we had a tie in the Caption Contest voting, so we've got two OSH12 bacon sandwich winners! The winner above is from 'Tican', and the winner below is from 'Victorinox' - congrats to you both! And thanx to everyone else for playing along : )

 If you don't already know, the airplane here is one of the Goodyear Inflatoplanes which explains why the wings are bent a little with these fine fellows standing on them. With no internal structure to damage, the wings just popped back into position after this extreme external load was removed. The Inflatoplane was a really interesting mid 1950's concept that did work, but obviously it never really caught on. You can learn more in this Fiddlers Green article.

 And, there'll be more of this avgeek tomfoolery coming your way on a random Monday morning before long - watch for it.

Caption Contest #66 Winner - Christmas Revenge!

 It's interesting how many times the first caption to come in (and usually just minutes after I put the contest up) is the one that nails the idea and winds up the winner. That's the case this time around as Jack Hodgson (from the world famous UncontrolledAirspace podcast - @jackhodgson) gets a little Christmas revenge against Santa. Even better than that, Jack has earned a big congrats and a delicious bacon sandwhich at Oshkosh 2012 : )

 A big thank you goes out to Jack and everyone who played along this time as we bring 2011 to a close. You can expect more of this creative avgeekery to continue as we plow our way into 2012!

Caption Contest #65 Has A Winner!

 It seems the best captions are the ones that are few in words, and of course clever with the wit. Glen Towler hit it spot on with this one... he's the winner of Caption Contest #65! I'll be cooking up a bacon sandwich prize for him if he's at Oshkosh 2012 : ) 

 As always, thanx to everyone for submitting and for voting. And watch for more of this wacky avgeekery to come your way very soon.