Hmmm..do you like low flying aircraft?....then here ya go!

[KaiserM109]

I have heard P51s go by low and WOW, but I would really love to have heard the four Merlins in mutt_kahuna’s Lancaster (page 1) !!

A good friend of mine was an EWO on a Navy Reserve P2 Neptune years ago and told me a story of one of their cross country flights. They were bored and started talking to truckers over Kansas. After figuring out that their chat buddy was 30 miles ahead of them the dropped down to the deck and the conversation went like this:
(trucker) "What's your 20?"
(Neptune) "We're coming up on your back door."
(trucker) "Ain't nobody behind me."
(Neptune) "I'll give you a count, 10, 9, ... 1, ZERO" and they flew over him at 50 ft. The trucker almost went in the ditch, so they decided that they had better get back up to altitude.

 

[Another Ahab]

I have heard P51s go by low and WOW, but I would really love to have heard the four Merlins in mutt_kahuna’s Lancaster (page 1) !!

Agreed absolutely:

- We had a WWII Commemorative Fly-over here in D.C. earlier this Summer.

- And in that fly-over was a squadron of 4 P-51's

- The sound and the SPEED of those 4 was without comparison to all the other fighters that day.

But those were the Fighters. A low-flying B-17 and a low-flying B-29 "ain't" to be sneezed at neither (that was a S-W-E-E-T day)!

 

[KaiserM109]

... A low-flying B-17 and a low-flying B-29 "ain't" to be sneezed at neither (that was a S-W-E-E-T day)!

True, 4 big radials have a sound that only they can make. Fifi comes to air shows here once in a while.

 

[Another Ahab]

True, 4 big radials have a sound that only they can make. Fifi comes to air shows here once in a while.

Fifi?

 

[KaiserM109]

Fifi?

Google B-29 Frozen in Time, it'll make you cry!

 

[Another Ahab]

View attachment 578221

Google B-29 Frozen in Time, it'll make you cry!

Oh, Man, THAT'S the one; I remember the tail!!!

She came in at like 300 foot of altitude (well, probably more but it FELT like 300).

I didn't cry but I couldn't help myself from letting out a gut-solid rip-roaring Rebel Yell! She flew over, and it just came out of me!

What a treat. I count myself lucky to have once witnessed one of these beautiful machines in her element. Very cool.

 

[marchplumber]

Ain't nothing that sounds like a huge radial! Even more so, four of 'em!

 

[Another Ahab]

True, 4 big radials have a sound that only they can make. Fifi comes to air shows here once in a while.

View attachment 578221

Google B-29 Frozen in Time, it'll make you cry!

Oh, Man, THAT'S the one; I remember the tail!!!

She came in at like 300 foot of altitude (well, probably more but it FELT like 300).

I didn't cry but I couldn't help myself from letting out a gut-solid rip-roaring Rebel Yell! She flew over, and it just came out of me!

What a treat. I count myself lucky.

Ain't nothing that sounds like a huge radial! Even more so, four of 'em!

I'm going to tell you, that sound and the sight of those righteous aircraft made you feel like the Grinch on Christmas morning:

- I mean your heart just grows 10 sizes bigger all at once!!!
And it feels like pure majesty or something. Oh, it's great! Those birds are so beautiful in flight.

 

[mutt_kahuna]

I have heard P51s go by low and WOW, but I would really love to have heard the four Merlins in mutt_kahuna’s Lancaster (page 1) !!

Hmmm...ok...ask and ye shall get...TWO lancaster's flying togther!...1st time in 50 years!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60jRgKbuKi8

 

[Another Ahab]

Ain't nothing that sounds like a huge radial! Even more so, four of 'em!

You are ON the money, marchplumber; and after giving it all some thought I realized that to describe the sound to someone who has never heard it, it is:

- The Sound of Authority;

- The Sound of Getting Things Done;

- The Sound of Pure Power.

And to hear all that flying low over your head (as long as you know it's not coming to GET you), is an absolute rush!!

 

[frank8003]

I read all this, ........for long time GI
call me again when you see your both props in the water.........
then climb

Flying in ground effect reduces induced drag, parasitic drag remains same,
Reduction in power necessary to hold altitude when "ground effect" seen by wing.
Hide behind the waves, save fuel, have fun, bomb the target, or be able to get home.
Use what the birds use.
When aircraft or bird flies less than one wingspans distance from ground or water
than that flight becomes much more efficient.


A whole bunch of stuff got done before the internet.
So when you are clipping the waves, just pull it up a foot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiG8HTKRUMk

 

[Another Ahab]

Flying in ground effect reduces induced drag, parasitic drag remains same,
Reduction in power necessary to hold altitude when "ground effect" seen by wing.
Hide behind the waves, save fuel, have fun, bomb the target, or be able to get home.
Use what the birds use.
When aircraft or bird flies less than one wingspans distance from ground or water
than that flight becomes much more efficient.

That's great to get that explanation, frank8003; I've never clearly been given it before now:

- Years ago our Seabee detachment deployed to Rosey Roads NAS Puerto Rico back when flights were still military instead of commercial.

- So we're all in a C-130 and half-way there (i think we were off the coast of SC), the plane loses an engine.

- Pilot took the plane down to the deck, and from the few "portholes" or whatever they're called (USN here; not USAF), we could see we were flying REAL close to the water (I mean like ON it).

- Well, the hillbilly landlubbers among us got some kind of very excited about THAT.

- The Loadmaster mentioned something about "ground effect" (but never explained it), and since he didn't seem worried. I figured (personally) that we were all good. The prop was feathered, and we made the remainder of the flight on 3 engines.

- But those West Virginia boys were sweating that flight ALL the rest of the way to PR.
Let me tell you, it was SOME fun inside that C-130 from that point on until we were wheels down at Rosey!!

Now I know why we were SO low. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[frank8003]

I assure they are not forgotten.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-QUIzaDYSs

 

[frank8003]

There was thousands of them in the air at one time
To to do a job
Now there is only ONE
Take your military truck when she comes around to your area
Go fly, make a donation
Remember, it ain't the machines we strive to remember.........

The machines help us to remember THEM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvQip34469s

 

[camnite]

fixing to be two of them. doc in Kansas city is in the final phases of a restoration. its using the same hybrid 3350's that fifi uses, and its polished aluminum, not painted silver. looks freaking amazing from the photos.

 

[Another Ahab]

I assure they are not forgotten.

I am usually good for 3-4 minutes of video only; but went through this entire video without interruption, to the very end of it. Remarkable. Thank you, frank.

Some of that gun camera footage on the P-51's showed rockets. I didn't know we had those.

 

[Another Ahab]

fixing to be two of them. doc in Kansas city is in the final phases of a restoration. its using the same hybrid 3350's that fifi uses, and its polished aluminum, not painted silver. looks freaking amazing from the photos.

Any pictures?

 

[Another Ahab]

Remember, it ain't the machines we strive to remember.........

The machines help us to remember THEM

Amen.

 

[frank8003]

- So we're all in a C-130 and half-way there (i think we were off the coast of SC), the plane loses an engine...............we could see we were flying REAL close to the water (I mean like ON it)..............made the remainder of the flight on 3 engines.

It is now an anniversary.... NOW
Another aircraft to not forget
so as to NOT forget the people
how about 562 people, at once, or
How about three of our beloved trucks and a trailer full,
and 100 paratroopers
Been there
How about The C130 Hercules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF-iYsKoHY0

I jumped them 5 times in '69, even got to jump one time in the daylight!
When someone yells "Heavy Drop" from this thing they ain't kidding,
Trucks and trailers and all kinds of stuff comes down.

 

[Another Ahab]

How about The C130 Hercules

When someone yells "Heavy Drop" from this thing they ain't kidding,
Trucks and trailers and all kinds of stuff comes down.

Our Battalion flew a dozer once on a deployment in a C-130, along WITH part of the Battalion.; carry it all.

Loved them suckers; they would get it done.