AirPigz Podcast #11: Flight Journal Editor & Pitts Fanatic Budd Davisson

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 Budd Davisson is the Editor-in-Chief of Flight Journal magazine

 
Budd also runs airbum.com with tons of aviation content from the last 40 years

 
Budd also has over 30 years experience giving dual in the Pitts Special!

Interview with Budd Davisson - 1:00:52 

 Budd Davisson has been writing about his amazing flying experiences for 40 years now, and he's still going strong!  He keeps busy as the Editor-in-Chief of Flight Journal magazine, a fabulous publication and website with an emphasis on aviation history, including detailed stories on aircraft, people and events from military aviation.

 Budd also runs airbum.com, a website full of his pilot reports and photography from the last 40 years of his work as an aviation journalist.  It's a tremendous resource for all kinds of great avgeek info.

 And if all that wasn't enough, Budd has been running a Pitts Special flight school for well over 30 years!  He specializes in teaching people how to handle the Pitts in the landing phase, and in the process winds up making much better pilots out of them.  He'll pass 5,000 hours of dual-given this year - amazing!

 This interview was especially cool for me since I first starting reading Budd's great articles back in the mid 70's when I was a teenager.  The type of aircraft he wrote about, and the informative, personal, and fun style of his writing made him by far the most influential aviation writer in my life.

Budd Davisson is sitting in the front seat of the prototype two-place Pitts Special back in 1973.  Bob Schnuerle is in the rear seat with Bob Herendeen sitting on the wing, and then Tom Poberezny, Curtis Pitts and Gene Dearing.  We talk about this fabulous photo in the interview.

CoolPix - Modern Military: The Ferocious A-10 Warthog

(click pic for hi-res)

 The video I posted a couple days ago with a fabulous and rather large A-10 RC model powered by 2 small turbine engines really got me fired up (again) on the A-10 Thunderbolt ll (Warthog), so I went looking for a pic to make into a CoolPix.  This one seemed to capture the essence of Farchild’s tank killer pretty well, especially since the big cannon in the nose is hard to miss.

 The A-10 is an extremely unique aircraft that really stands out both visually and operationally when compared to traditional military hardware.  It’s full of great design and engineering that make it excel at the role of close air support for ground forces.

 The airplane was conceived in the late 60’s, first flew in 1972 and after winning the fly off against the Northrop YA-9A, it became operational in 1976.  715 Warthogs were built, with production ending in 1984, and the airplane is expected to remain in service for many years to come.

 I can feel the need for an ‘A-10 Week’ beginning to brew as this airplane has so many unique and interesting features to explore.  It’s also been a remarkable success story that probably needs to be celebrated… but for now, enjoy this awesome pic of this awesome, ferocious airplane.

Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotters (CARS): Lonely S-2 At Lampson Field

 We’re out in northern California living on my mom’s dime this week, which I should add is a pretty good gig if you can get it, and we took a little car trip yesterday over to Lampson Field not far from Lakeport, near Clear Lake.  I flew some Citabrias out of Lampson a really long time ago but have only stopped by a few times over the last 25 years when I’ve been out here visiting just to see what’s happening.  It didn’t take long to spot this big blue Grumman S-2 Tracker sitting on the west side of the ramp in an open hangar.  I knew this looked like a good candidate for being a CARS post, and was glad this time I was the Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotter! 

 It actually looks to be in pretty good shape tho obviously it needs a few parts before being flyable.  I did a little checking at the airport and was told that there might be some damage to the wing folding mechanism on one of the wings.  I also found out that it was part of the estate auction about a year ago related to items from Air Power that used to rebuild radial engines on the airport.  I did a little googlin’ and found this S-2 pic that indicates it may be the same airplane back in 1987 while in storage at Davis-Monthan. 

 There was also a second S-2 sitting outside with no engines on it looking even more lonely.  Hopefully the current owner will have the resources to get at least one of these unique little old school anti-submarine aircraft back into the sky... kinda looks like it'd be fun to buzz the neighbors with!

 Wanna be a Cool Aircraft Ramp Spotter?  Check out this CARS post for details

Grumman's little anti-submarine S-2 Tracker operated from the 50's into the 70's

Fabulous Fieseler Storch Flight Demo By Kermit Weeks

 Even tho my day at the Fantasy of Flight Museum was overcast with light rain, the daily flight demo was not held up.  Kermit Weeks, the museum founder, was on hand to demonstrate the Fieseler Storch that's on display at FoF.  It's a pretty cool museum that keeps its huge hangars doors open during the day, and then just rolls out one of the gorgeous aircraft on display and fires it up to show it off in the sky!  This was definitely one of the highlights of my FoF experience.

 Before the flight, Kermit (near the cockpit, facing the airplane) gives some interesting background info on the WWII German observation aircraft.  A good size crowd had gathered to listen and then watch it fly.

 One of the guys from the Pitcairn Autogiro crew was the lucky one to get to go along for a ride.  After the Storch fired up and taxied out, they let the people move out onto the ramp closer to the grass runway to watch.  Pretty much everyone went out to watch even tho there was a little light rain falling.

 

 The unique looking and sounding Storch was a real joy to watch as Kermit made several passes back and forth showing off the slow flying and tight turning capabilities of the airplane.

 Leading edge slats, big flaps, and ailerons that droop give the Storch some nifty STOL performance.  If I had a lot of money, I think I'd have at least one of these in my hangar for sure : )

 Right after the engine was shut down, the people were allowed right up to the airplane to get a closer look and to talk with Kermit.  He answered any and all questions.  It was obvious that the people really enjoyed being able to see the airplane fly and then spend some time with plane and pilot afterward... I know I sure enjoyed it.

 A nice look inside the Storch cockpit shows a roomy pilot's seat with some seriously good visibility out of all that glass.  All things considered, this is my idea of a nearly perfect cockpit setting.

 As the rain increased a little, under the wing became the popular place to be!  In addition to the Storch, the Pitcairn Autogiro can be seen in the background loaded on the truck getting ready for its drive back home.  

 The aerial demo is an extremely cool part of the Fantasy of Flight Museum experience and I know I'm really glad I had the chance to observe it.  The demo truly brings aviation to life for everyone to be part of... and that's one of the main objectives of the museum, to be a spark to light a fire of passion for aviation.

The Morane A-1 Tailcone As ‘Fantasy Of Flight Week’ Begins!

Entrance to the Fantasy of Flight Museum in Polk City, Florida 

 ’Fantasy of Flight Week’ begins

 I was at Sun n’ Fun in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday just over a week ago, but Sunday turned out overcast and rainy so I decided to scoot on over to Polk City to the Fantasy of Flight Museum.  I’ve actually known about this museum since long before it was built, but I’d never had the chance to visit, so I was pretty pleased to finally be checking it out.

 My dad had been there several times, including just a few weeks before he passed away in January of 2009.  He was a really big fan of the Gee Bee R-2 and Delmar Benjamin, so he’d stop by anytime he could to see the amazing R-2 that Delmar flew at so many airshows thru the 90’s.

 There are many unique experiences to be had at the museum, and thru this week I’ll be sharing a wide variety of the ones I had .  I’ll start off by saying that this really is a fantastic facility that’s definitely a must-see for any avgeek.  It’s especially exciting to know that there are plans for so much more to be built here as time goes by!

 So, I've decided to start off ’Fantasy of Flight Week’ in an usual way, by looking closely at a small portion of one of the airplanes on display.  First, I love what flying represents in the form of freedom... breaking the bonds of gravity while also giving us the most amazing opportunity to see God’s creation from above.  But I’m also a fanatic about ’design’, especially as it relates to flying machines.  Sometimes the smallest details can really get me worked up.

 That’s exactly what happened when I saw the tailcone of the Morane A-1 at FoF.  Here’s an airplane built in 1918, not far from 100 years ago(!) with a tailcone execution that stirs me big time in 2010.  It’s really a very simple design, just a smooth tapering cone down to a very small point.  But it’s a pretty rare design element.  Very few airplanes carry a circular cross section all the way thru the tail surfaces, and in fact a large portion of the aircraft from that early era had square or rectangular cross sections.

     
The 'pointy' tailcone of the Morane A-1

I love this fabric covered tailcone with metal faring underneath!

 I realize there’s a fair chance you’ll think me crazy for fixating on such an insignificant part of a French built fighter aircraft from WWI, but you’ll get over it.  I spent almost half an hour looking at it and I’m ready to go back and see it again!

 Another thing I really like is that this it reminds me of an airship tailcone.  I’m a bit of an airship freak as well, so this Morane feeds that fire a little too.  Another part of my fascination comes from the fact that this tailcone is fabric covered.  Seeing the shape of the stringers as they all taper down to a point and then covered with cotton and reinforcing tape just tickles my core in a way that’s hard to describe.

 I’ll finish off my odd little obsession with a mention of just how cool that tail skid is, and the metal faring that runs all the way to the aft point underneath.  Wow, all this coolness in 1918!

 The rest of ’Fantasy of flight Week’ won’t be quite this eccentric, but it will be entertaining as there was a lot to see.  Lastly I’ll say that this would be a good time for any other 'tailcone freaks' to stand up and be counted!  Leave me a quick comment to let me know you get what I’m talking about… and if you think I'm a kook, then please move along, nothing more to see here : )

Unusual round cross-section tapering to a point

  
WWI French monoplane fighter: the Morane A-1

CoolPix - Modern Military: 1960's Era OV-10 Bronco!

(click pic for hi-res)

 I woke up this morning with a craving for OV-10 Bronco!  I started digging thru the internet and came across this sweet pic and thought: yep, that looks like a CoolPix to me.  So I tweaked it a tad in photoshop and now here it is for you to open up nice and big and take a good look at one of the neatest little military aircraft ever made.  And don't forget that CoolPix images make pretty nice desktop backgrounds as well, that's part of the reason I make them available like I do.

 The OV-10 has a very interesting development history, as does the entire Light Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft (LARA) project that took place in the early 1960's.  You can see some detailed info and pix of many of the aircraft entered in that competition at this CombatReform.org page.  The original concept for the OV-10 was for it to be a very small lightweight aircraft able to operate from roads in a jungle setting.  A really small 20' wingspan was envisioned along with a 6.5' main gear stance, but as things progressed, pretty much everything changed.  By the time a prototype was built, it was much heavier and had a 30' wingspan.

 As the pic below shows, the prototype wingspan looks pretty short!  The wingspan was increased to 40' for production aircraft which meant any ideas that related to operating off of roads in really tight locations was just a distant memory.  However, the airplane still wound up being useful in a wide variety of roles in Vietnam.  The U.S. Air Force, Marines, and Navy all had variants of the OV-10.

 Comparing OV-10 production wingspan to the prototype aircraft

 Boeing now has the manufacturing rights to the OV-10 and is actually considering putting a modernized version back into production as the OV-10X.  Here's an informative Flightglobal story on the OV-10X from September 2009, and the picture below shows that visually it's essentially the same aircraft.

 Boeing illustration of a possible updated Bronco - the OV-10X

Video: Excellent Flying RC Model Of The WWII Era Miles M.39B

From 1943, the Miles M.39B Libellula

 I’ve been blessed with a lifetime of exposure to aircraft from all over the aviation landscape, but in my effort to generate interesting content for AirPigz, I continually come across airplanes I never knew existed.  For example, this British Miles M.39B Libellula.  It was preceded by the smaller single engine M.35 which also had a tandem wing configuration, but it had the forward wing on the fuselage top and the main wing at the bottom.  The M.39B as shown above was really a 5/8 scale proof of concept aircraft for what was meant to be a good sized bomber.  The M.35 first flew in 1942, and the M.39B made its first flight in 1943, but neither aircraft progressed beyond these two prototypes.

 While researching details about the airplane, I stumbled on to the UK video below from 2009 of a 29% sized (50 pound) RC model of the M.39B.  After some initial issues getting it set up properly, you can see in the video that the airplane appears very stable and in complete control... actually pretty impressive looking.  It’s also interesting to imagine a Long-Eze superimposed over the M.39B and realize that the aerodynamic basics are very similar.

 It’s just more cool stuff from the history of aviation, and from the work of modern aeromodelers.

CoolPix - Vintage Military: Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando Cockpit

(click pic for hi-res)

 Here’s a really neat picture of a Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando cockpit for another CoolPix entry in the 'Vintage Military' category.  Big versions of pictures like this are particularly good for spending some time studying how things are laid out.  I especially like how you can imagine how open this cockpit would feel since there are second row of windows at the knee and hip areas.    

 When I was a kid I learned quickly to tell a C-46 from a Douglas C-47 (DC-3) by looking for the crease that runs along the fuselage, the smoothly integrated cockpit windows, and by its chubbier overall look.  But back then I always thought the two airplanes were very similar in capability.  The truth is that the C-46 Commando is a bigger, more powerful aircraft with a significantly larger payload.

 Originally designed in the late 30’s as an airliner, the CW-20, as it was designated then, was meant to take what the DC-3 could do to a higher level, literally.  The CW-20 was pressurized.  That’s why the crease was there... it was part of a fuselage design to minimize pressurization stresses.  With the onset of WWII, the CW-20 quickly wound up as the unpressurized cargo aircraft we know as the C-46. 

 Ultimately ending up with two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 engines of about 2,000 hp each, the C-46 had a payload about twice that of the C-47, and it could take that load higher as well.  That led to the airplane being used extensively in the China/Burma/India regions in WWII flying over the Himalaya Mountains.

 Even tho over 3,000 of them were built, that’s a relatively small number compared to C-47/DC-3 production.  Plus, the much higher operating expenses of the larger engines made it difficult for the airplane to compete with the DC-3 after the war as a small airliner.  As it turns out, very few C-46’s remain airworthy today.

Curtiss-Wright C-46 Commando

Video: Spectacular XB-70 Footage Of Valkyrie #2 - 1965

 This is some rare and fabulous video history of the second XB-70 Valkyrie, including the rollout and some amazing takeoff footage.  It's kinda long at 9:34 but really well worth your time.  I'm amazed at the complexity of the main gear retraction that can be seen at the end of the first minute.

 At the six minute mark it's interesting to note the cockpit bobbing up and down due to the nose gear being mounted so far behind the nose of the aircraft.  Not only could that make for a bumpy ride being on such a long arm, but it must also have been a real challenge to be able to steer the airplane without running the mains off the taxiway.

 And OMGosh, the takeoff that starts at the eight minute mark is incredible!  This girl is all about angle of attack and power!  Such a stunning aircraft... another watershed accomplishment in the histiry of aviation.  I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did.

35 Pix From Early Saturday At Sun n' Fun 2010

Hot air balloons got the day underway Saturday at Sun n' Fun.  Balloons are such a great morning sight, especially when they drift right over the aircraft display area!  The winds were fine, but the balloons were definitely covering some ground.

Looking to the east as they make their way down range.  Citabrias and Decathlons from the American Champion Aircraft display area.

A couple of great views of a single seat balloon that was part of the morning launch.  The colors sure look great in the morning sun, and I think he was having some serious fun!

A 350hp, 4-blade prop Skybolt in the morning sun.

The true Ultra Lights were up early... and it was fantastic to see John Moody flying this Easy Riser!  I don't remember the year, but I do remember being part of a small crowd many years ago watching him up at Oshkosh in a field away from the main activities when he made the first powered flights.  The Ultra Light movement began that evening.

I'm not up on my specifics when it comes to powered parachutes, but this was a very colorful one enjoying the morning flying.

A weight shift Ultra Light trike looking good in the sunshine, and at touch down.

A Kolb aircraft powered by a Volkswagen engine with a speed reduction unit.  It sounded great and seemed to climb really well.

 

This Fleet biplane with a military paint scheme looked so classic in the morning sun.

I had a nice time talking to the owner of this rare Call-Air airplane.  The 125hp, low wing and strut-braced taildragger definitely has a unique look.

He specifically pointed out the prop to me... it looks like wood, but it's really a metal prop PAINTED to look like wood!  Seriously, you could not tell it wasn't a wood prop - amazing paint job.  The 'metal' leading edge is all paint too.  A very cool little detail to this unusual aircraft.

 Cessna 195's and an Airmaster nestled together and looking really sharp.

Shortly after, the Airmaster taxied out.

Also had a great conversation with the owner of this beautiful Farchild 24 (he's on the right).  It's such an awesome classic design.

This big old Stinson Detroiter was great to see.  I never get tired of seeing the design and engineering of aircraft from the early age of aviation. 

 

The Pitcairn Autogiro is pretty much beyond words.  What a beautiful and amazing flying machine!  It flew early in the morning and then they were doing a little work on it here afterward.

Another rare and unusual aircraft - the Anderson Greenwood AG-14.

A Vans RV-12 LSA.

  

Little Toot homebuilt... I'm not certain, but I think this one was originally built in the early 70's.

The PiperSport LSA.

A mean screamin' machine!  Pitts Model 12.

I'm pretty sure this Commemorative Air Force Curtiss SB2C is the only one still flying.  It's fantastic to see that it's still looking great and flying regularly.

Here it is with the wings folded up.  That's a lot of airplane!

Great view of the rear seat / gunner position with all the windows opened up.