My Dad Bailed Out Of This Exact 'Navy Museum' N3N!

Navy N3N on display at the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola Florida (photo: NAM)

AirPigz Naval Avaition Musuem MeetUp January 24-26, 2014

Click here to be aded to the email list for more details

 UPDATE: 1-7-14...  I took advantage of the bitter cold yesterday to give my home office a deep cleaning, and in the process I found the old photograph of my dad actually leaving the N3N! I knew we had one that showed him off the wing but thought it was lost for good. It's posted below the 'climbing out' pic.
 

 My dad, who passed away in 2009, retired from 35 years at United Airlines in 1987, and while he did bail out of the exact Navy N3N pictured above, he was never even in the Navy. He spent two years in the Air Force after graduating high school in 1947, but the post-war military didn't need pilots, and he wanted to fly more than anything else. He did wind up getting hired by United in 1952 as a DC-3 co-pilot, which led to a very satisfied career as an airline pilot... but how does this N3N fit in?

 In the 1970's, this N3N was owned by a United 747 Captain named A. L. 'Ed' Prose. My dad was a 747 co-pilot at the time, and he and Ed flew the non-stop Chicago to Honolulu trip together many times. My dad had also been jumping out of airplanes for fun since the late 50's, and he eventually talked Ed into letting him make a jump from the N3N. The picture below was taken from our Citabria flying formation with Ed to get some pix of the jump. This was about 1977 over the Hinckley Illinois airport.

Circa 1977: my dad climbing out and then jumping from the N3N... just for fun!

 So, while my dad did 'bail out' of this N3N, the airplane still had it's very capable owner/pilot at the controls : )

 In 1979, Ed donated the N3N to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola Florida where it was restored to Navy markings and put on display. My dad stopped by the museum many times to reminisce about the day that he, as a 747 co-pilot, made a jump from a 747 Captain's Navy N3N!

 I never made it to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, so this January 24-26, 2014 MeetUp will be my first time there. I know I'll really enjoy all the museum has to offer, but looking up at that N3N and rembering the day my dad made a jump from it will definitely be a highlight!

 Currently there's about 9 of us planning to meetup, but I'd love it if more were able to make the trip. Check out the basic post about the meetup and then click here to send an email for more info.

Video: Fascinating WWII Story Of Spitfire 944 And Lieutenant John S. Blyth (Must See)

 There are millions of fascinating stories from WWII, but not very many of them include 16mm film of actual events, and then connect directly with people involved in those events decades later. This short film is all about connecting the personal film footage shot in Great Britain during WWII by flight surgeon Jim Savage with the pilot of a photo recon Spitfire named John Blyth. Blyth had to make a gear-up landing in 1944, and his flight surgeon was on hand with his camera for the landing.

 This 14 minute video is all about the story that connected pilot John Blyth in 2005 with the film of his gear-up landing that he'd never seen before, film that had been shot during WWII by his flight surgeon Jim Savage who had passed away earlier in 2005.

 If you haven't seen this story, I encourage you to take the time now to do so. My understanding is that John Blyth, who as a very young man flew an unarmed Spitfire over German targets for photo recon, is still alive today... #thegreatestgeneration

Video screenshot: American operated Spitfire in WWII... and a fascinating story!

Join The AirPigz 'Naval Aviation Museum' MeetUp (Pensacola January 24-26, 2014)

Click the pic to check out the National Naval Aviation Museum website

AirPigz 'Naval Aviation Museum' MeetUp in Pensacola FL will take
place January 24-26, 2014 (Fri, Sat, Sun - come 1, 2 or all 3 days)

Click here to be aded to the email list for more details

 This is your official invitation to make a trip to sunny Pensacola Florida for the AirPigz Naval Aviation Museum MeetUp on January 24-26, 2014. You can join a handful of other avgeeks on any of the three days, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday... or all three if world-class aviation museums take you many days to truly experience, like they do for me!

 As we have done the last three years (the first two at the Air Force Museum and last year at the National Air & Space Museum) there's no charge to participate, but of course you need to cover your own transportation and accommodations. Museum admission is free and it's open every day from 9am to 5pm.

(click pic for 360 panorama!)  Naval Museum entrance with Blue Angels A-4 Skyhawks

 Click the link up above (or here) to get on the email update list for the details of the meetup. We'll communicate about accommodations, a basic daily schedule, and other details to help make your time there enjoyable. Typically about 15 people make the trip and everyone has a great time taking in the museum at their own pace and then gathering for dinner in the evening.

(click pic for 360 panorama!) Some of the diverse collection at the Naval Aviation Museum

 
 A quick and easy winter getaway to Pensacola is exactly what every avgeek needs, so get to making plans to join this 4th AirPigz museum meetup!

(note the happy avgeeks below from last year's event : )

Some of the group from the AirPigz Air & Space Museum MeetUp in January 2013

5 Year Anniversary For AirPigz! (State Of The Avgeek-Nation Address)

The entire AirPigz staff is feeling a bit stuck in the mud these days

 The experiment pointed toward 'avgeek world domination' known as AirPigz began exactly five years ago today. Happy Birthday? Well, it's been a long and difficult journey for everyone here at avgeek central, which of course means just me since there isn't any staff here. I wish there was, and in fact that was always the plan, but it's just never come together for that to happen. So, for right now I'm just gonna say it like this: Birthday!

 Being a one-man-operation is a huge pain... especially when the operation doesn't make enough money in a year to pay for the trip to OSH and a trip to Reno. And I sleep in the car and eat cheap on those trips! That means I have to work a day-job to support posting my regularly scheduled avgeekery. No surprise there as there aren't very many people who make a real living running a blog, but it's become a lot more difficult in the last two years for me. My day-job is as a ceramic tile installer and I work alone there too. Work was almost nonexistent when I started AirPigz in late 2008 but these days I'm constantly busy doing a very physically demanding job. I'm tired, worn down, and wearing out.

Like Freddy Flameout, I'm not giving up yet!  (photo: ilbasso via hobbytalk.com)

 
 AirPigz traffic remains strong with over 50,000 page views each month and well over 30,000 unique visitors each month, but I seem stuck in the mud. Lack of time and resources make it almost impossible to create more and/or better content, and growth well past these numbers just doesn't seem to be happening otherwise. More important is that I don't get a lot of feedback which makes me wonder a lot these days if all this effort matters at all. Add to that the fact that I have just emerged from the crushing financial crisis that ruled my life these past 5 years and I find myself wanting to sleep a lot. That part of my life was been a long and bloody war, and I feel shellshocked. 

 To keep the pig alive I wind up working on posts before work (like right now), sometimes during lunch, often in the evening, and very often late at night. For a while that's a lot of fun (for people like me anyway), but after several years of it, with no real income and not much feedback, it becomes a heavy load. It's one I'm still willing to carry, but I can see there will have to be changes for this to continue well into the future. Any normal, sane person would have given up on this a long time ago!

 As a young kid I had a plastic model of Freddy Flameout in my room that my dad built. I always thought it was cool just because it was so crazy, but now I see there's a lesson to be learned: don't give up. So I'm not giving up, just trying a little public complaining (aka honesty) instead to see if it makes me feel better : )

 I hope you have a great avgeek day!

Free Desktop CoolPix Of Thom Richard And Precious Metal At Reno 2013!

(click pic for hi-res)  Precious Metal and Thom Richard at Reno 2013

 I posted a version of this image as a CoolPix a few weeks back but I didn't offer it in the various desktop sizes as I sometimes do to make it easy for y'all to use it for a computer screen background... and then I had a reason to shape one up for a friend in the 1366x768 size the other day. After I did I thought maybe now was a good time to go back and get that done for anyone wanting a pretty nice pic of Precious Metal and Thom Richard in the new Reno 2013 paint.

 So, what you've really got here is a new CoolPix image above that's cropped tighter than the original and then below are the slightly backed out versions of the original image in the desktop sizes. (I hope that all makes sense : )

 I must say I'm a pretty big fan of what Thom has done with this Griffon powered P-51 in the last few years, and I think the Reno Air Races have been a lot more colorful and enjoyable with PM in the mix. And like Thom, I hold out hope that there's a collection of tweaks that'll make this airplane a potential front-runner in the future. One thing is for sure, it'll be a real adventure keeping an eye on the Precious Metal team!

Precious Metal at Reno 2013 desktop pix:

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CoolPix: Thom Richard In Precious Metal - Reno 2013 Gold Unlimited Race

(click pic for hi-res)  2 props, 6 blades, and a thundering Rolls Royce Griffon engine!

 My day job has me buried at the moment (and for the next 2 weeks) so I needed something impressive and quick to post this morning. I think this pic I captured of Thom Richard in the Reno Unlimited Gold Race on Sunday September 15th from pylon 2 will suffice!

 With lots of mods done over the last year, Thom had hoped that Precious Metal would be a true contender this time around, but the failure of the 'race engine' during a ground run shortly before leaving Florida for Reno meant it was major scramble time. The backup engine was installed and he just barely arrived to the races in time. And while they tweaked the lesser engine thru the week, there just wasn't enough there to put it near the front of the pack.

 However, with no failures during race week, Precious Metal looked good in the new paint working its way into 5th place. With another year of mods and more horses under the hood with that modified race engine repaired, 2014 might be the year we see this mixmaster P-51 become a serious contenda : )

Video: Ride Along With Steven Hinton In Voodoo As He Wins Reno Gold! (2013)

 We call Reno Air Racing the World's Fastest Motorsport for good reason. Check out this awesome video inside the P-51 Voodoo with Steven Hinton winning Reno Gold once again (after winning four years in the P-51 Strega) and note the airspeed info as it shows Voodoo racing at over twice the record qualifying speed at Indy! Steven averaged 482.074 mph for this race and the record Indy qualifying speed is a poky 237.498 mph. Go Reno! Go Fast!

 Keep in mind, as the video decription on the Vimeo page states, the GPS speed readout at the top left of the screen is probably not accurate if it's showing over 510 mph... G loading may be the cause of the slightly inaccurate numbers there. The 482.074 mph average speed is based on the time required to cover the 8 Laps and 64.1845 miles of the course.

(click pic to enlarge) Video screenshot inside the cockpit of Voodoo winning Reno 2013!

 I enjoyed this video for the amazing opportunity to see the race course view from the cockpit of Voodoo, but I also enjoyed it because the screenshot I provided for you (directly above) shows pylon 2 ahead and to the left, and I'm down there just to the left of the pylon judge's parked cars getting pictures like the one below! Pylon access is one of the most incredible opportunities on planet Earth and I'm so thankful for the experience. It's a special privilege only for people with Reno Air Race media credentials, and honestly it's the number 1 avgeek experience in my life if you don't count the ones that occurred in the air : )

 Low. Fast. Left. Reno!

(click pic for hi-res) CoolPix of Steven Hinton & Voodoo from this same Gold winning race!

Video Proof Of Why Oshkosh Is The World's Greatest Aviation Event!

 This 4 minute 11 second video gives you just a small slice of what took place at Oshkosh 2013, and yet the avgeekery seen in this just-released FlyWithEAA video is crazy huge. Try to imagine the other 95% that you aren't seeing here. Oshkosh is simply incredible.

 If you've been making excuses of why you shouldn't or can't be there, stop it. Stop it now. It's time to get serious about OSH14. You've got 10 months to get your plans in place, which translates to: there are no excuses. Rich or poor, near or far, there's always a way to make this trip work out if the desire is truly there. If you need help or have questions, send me an email. I'm here to help any way I can.

See you in Oshkosh... the World's Greatest Aviation Event!

(check out AirPigz OSH13 posts) 

 Video screenshot: one of about a million awesome Oshkosh 2013 moments!

CoolPix: Strega Passed Everyone But Voodoo In The Race For Reno Gold (2013)

(click pic for hi-res) Matt Jackson passing pylon 2 in the Unlimited Gold championship race

 Between recovering from the long drive to Reno and back (4,100 miles), plus getting back to my day-job, trying to keep my FLY Energy Bar project moving forward AND having some form of a life, it's been a challenge to keep AirPigz posts coming this last week. So today I'm taking the easy way out again and just posting one CoolPix image. It's Matt Jackson in Strega from pylon 2 during the big race for the Gold between the fastest Unlimiteds on Sunday September 15, 2013.

 Matt made it look pretty easy getting around everyone in the pack, except for that purple and yellow P-51 called Voodoo, the P-51 with the pilot that knows more about how Strega flies than probably anyone else, Steven Hinton. It was a great race on a perfect day and this picture seems to show that off pretty well. I was also happy to catch at least one Unlimited pic that included the pylon.

 I was having trouble getting the images to come out crisp with the more desirable slow shutter speed, so this one is cranked up a bit, and of course the prop isn't as blurred as we'd all like. I made some real progress on the quality of my images for this year, but wow, there's so much more practice to be done... plus money needs to be spent on one of those crazy huge lenses that look a lot like a megaphone! Still, this pic makes for a nice reminder of my time at pylon 2 during the Unlimited Gold Race at Reno 2013 : )

CoolPix: Midnight Miss III Up-Close As She Wins T-6 Gold At Reno 2013

(click pic for hi-res)  Dennis Buehn and pylon 2 on the last lap of his T-6 Gold Race win

 Way back in the late 60's my dad took me to the Reno Air Races (1967 thru 1970) when I was just a wee lad (born in 1961) and I still have memories of watching the Formula One racers, the Biplanes and the Unlimiteds... but when the T-6's raced in those days I mostly just thought hmmm, those guys are sure noisy and don't really go very fast! Well, now that I'm a lot older and a little wiser, I have more respect for the T-6's and their race efforts.

 I'll still have to admit that I don't pay close attention to the details of the T-6 Class, but that's mostly because there's only so much me to go around. I really don't do a very good job of following the details of the other classes either. There's so many racers and six different classes these days, it's easy to just pay attention to the biggest news. Anyway, the big news last Sunday in the T-6 Class was that Midnight Miss III and Dennis Buehn won the Gold. Given that this T-6 has placed first, second, or third in each year since 2009, I guess maybe 'big news' isn't exactly the right term, but I'm sure the victory was great news for the whole team! Congratulations!

 This CoolPix from the Gold Race on Sunday turned out pretty nice, tho I have so much room for improvement. I'd like to see a sharper image and a slower shutter speed for more prop blur. Those words are so easy to say but getting that done is sure a lot of work. However, the images I captured this year are a vast improvement over the last two years, so I feel pretty good overall. Getting the pylon in the picture adds to the image too, and that was my desire with where I chose to stand.

 I hope you enjoy the pylon view of the 2013 T-6 Class winner, Midnight Miss III.