On the Ramp Right Now!

Had this fellow stop by yesterday for some 100LL on his way from Rockford, Illinois to Memphis, Tennessee.

Flown by a former Phantom Driver, it's a privately-owned T-28, unlike some of the more common "Foundation-Funded Planes" we usually see.

An interesting detail is the tiny light fixture on each gear leg (most visible in the photo of the nose strut).  This allowed night-time confirmation to LSO's and instructors that the student pilot did, indeed, have his landing gear extended.

I got a ride in one of those once...shame we didn't get off the ground (mechanics test ride, taxi only). When my brother worked at the airport a T-28 owned by the owner.

I was in high school.

Phil

Here's my old T-28


http://www.horizonrcflyers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1548

A picture of the other side of the T-28's Cyclone:

Anyone hear from Kim lately, liked his posts, and this topic is great.

He posted something on Facebook yesterday, he might be working some crazy hours again.

Had this Navion stop through today.  Didn't get any info, other than it's a 1951 model built by Ryan.

Pretty Classy Ride.

Someone made a BIG C/L Navion kit back in the 50's/early 60's.  My Dad had one given to him... "partially built". I was young... 1966 I was 6 years old, and was my 1st recollection of the MASSIVE framed wing on a shelf in the basement. It was almost two 36" shelves wide... It was never finished. Anyone remember what kit it may have been?

May have been this one... only I remember the wing being bigger than 42"... it was like "twice" the w/s of his Veco Warrior.

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/sterling-models-navion-uc-kit-kit-137799116

Was it a Berkley Kit? Pretty sure they had one...but don't remember it''s span. I'll try to remember to check when I get home (Old Magazines)...

Found this one by Berkley in the February 1956 issue of Model Airplane News. It's designed for R/C, but maybe he did a conversion on it? A good-sized scale plane for the time.

Also spotted this color back-cover ad for a T-28....Cleverly disguised as a Jim Walker "Fire Bee" !

Kim wrote:Found this one by Berkley in the February 1956 issue of Model Airplane News.  It's designed for R/C, but maybe he did a conversion on it?  A good-sized scale plane for the time.

Kim, If my eyes aren't failing me... it says 68" w/s on that Berkeley-Navion kit. That "had" to be it. Can you imagine how big the "full-size" plans were... even with 1/2 wing panels!!! The fuse was probably at least 5 ft. long!

Thanks for digging that up!!

You're very welcome !

I just KNEW I'd seen that sucker somewhere, and it wasn't going to leave me a lone until I tagged it!

Yeah...as far as I'M concerned, a guy had to be a SERIOUS modeler to build something like that...and THEN trust an early radio not to re-kit the thing!!!

really... so true... too bad my Dad didn't finish it... I don't know how he got it. The kit must have been close to $20 when he acquired it in the mid 60's... He wouldn't have bought it new. Maybe if he "had"... he would have finished it. It would have been a C/L build... he had no radio experience/gear.
    His interest in the hobby diminished around that time... he had built/flown a Veco .35C powered Renegade, Sterling (.19-.35) Waco "Cabin" and a Veco (.35C) Warrior (which I now have)... He took an interest in Barbershop Quartet singing... which would become his hobby-focus for decades to come. He's only built one plane in the last 50 years... it was in the 80's...a beautiful white/red trimmed Sterling Mono-coupe w/O.S. C/L .25 power. Never flown... it's a "hangar-queen" in my Brother's shop! They tended to be "tail-heavy" models (as the Waco Cabin scale model was) and he had a brass "Harry's Heavy-Hub" prop-nut on it! I should go over to my Brother's shop... "break-in" the O.S... pick my Dad up, and do some roundy-rounds to Christen his bird... for "old times" sake!

Heck Yeah! Load whatever lead you got to in order to get that CG where it belongs and crank that sucker up ! If possible, get some stills and video for the Forum !

Ladies and Gentlemen...The Lake "Buccaneer" !




A man after my own heart..."Engine on a Stick"  !!!!!!



The little "bump" with air intake just forward of the pylon is a 100 octane-powered heater for the cabin.





The nose gear castors...steering by differential braking of the main gear.



"Trailing Link" Gear...prefered by F-18's and Buccaneers !!



The up-turned surfaces are trim tabs.  Monstrous in size, compared to the ones seen on Cessnas and Pipers, they are needed to off-set the pitch-down-on-power tendencies brought on by the pylon-mounted engine.



Gear in transit...heading for Florida...

Wow --- I'll bet those trim tabs can be drag buckets at times!!

Yeah...the Buccaneer, ain't a speed-demon!  The young airline pilot/owner, who also flies Cessna 185's on floats, told me that, "The Lake is one of those planes that does several things fairly-well, but no one thing REALLY well.  The useful load and speed make it basically a 'standard-wheeled Cessna 172 in the air'"

Of course I refused to accept this heresie, and countered with a highly-technical response, "Yeah...but it's SO cute!"    Durn young whipper-snappers don't know what's cool.  I was "imprinted" as a kid by some T.V. show that featured a scene where a guy and his girlfriend landed one in a lake, popped the canopy and dove out into the water for a swim.  I decided then, and still believe, there WAS nothing cooler!  Even approaching 60 years of age, I STILL resent it when real world numbers encroach on my fantasies...

My first "REAL" R/C model (one that I could steer with a stick, rather than a push-button) was a Jetco "Navigator".  Granted, the lead-heavy EK Logitrol Radio kept it from ever flying off water, but it was STILL cool anyway!  

"Engines-on-a-Stick Rule" !!!!!!



Paducah Airport 1976

Not a really big deal...we got A-36 Bonanzas all over the place...this one's paint just caught my eye, parked on the back ramp in the late-afternoon sun. A nice break from the standard white-base-with-color-trim scheme we see so much:

I'm a Bonanza fan... here's my late grandpa's Bonanzas he flew for CME.




My Grandpa was a Corporate Pilot and Field Representative for CME for over 25 years. I made this for him as a Christmas present some 20 years ago... I got the idea out of a Sporty's Pilot Shop catalog. Since he passed away, it has been sitting on my entertainment cabinet. A few weeks ago, I decided to bring it to work and put it in my office. I got him an Arch model too that same Christmas.

Rolled into work this morning to find this VERY nice De Havilland "Twin Otter" parked on the ramp.

It's Canadian crew is delivering it to St. Martins !!!

That's one of those things with props too small to move it. I flew from Fort Walton Beach, FL to Atlanta on a DeHavilland D-5 once. I saw a tag somewhere that said it had been built in the '40s. It looked sort of like that.

I dunno Rusty...these little rascals seem more than happy to hop off the ground, and climb like they're silly !!!