This Heritage Flight with a P-51 Mustang and a F-16 Falcon features the best of the best, old and new. OK, you may not think the P-51 was the best fighter of WWII and you may not think the F-16 is the best top of the line fighter today. but they are unquestionably both top of the line fighters of their day.
Wow! Precision Flying: these pilots are really talented.
F4U Corsair Attacking makes a distinctive sound which earned it the nick-name “Whistling Death” caused by noise from the engine and wing-root air inlets. The “bent wings” allowed deck clearance of its large 13′ 4″ propeller. And, the large prop allowed for a R-2800 Double Wasp, 18 cylinder double radial 2250 horsepower engine. Yep, it could out fight, out climb, and out run any prop driven enemy aircraft.
B-25 Betty’s Dream on a Bomb Run at AirVenture 2016! Betty’s Dream was restored and is currently owned by the Texas Flying Legends Museum from Ellington Field, Houston, TX along with several other WWII aircraft.
This Martin JRM Mars is Dropping 7200 gallons of Water on runway 18/36 at AirVenture 2016. You might ask: how do they get the water? Well, the Captain lands on the water normally, but keeps the the aircraft “on the step” at 60-70 knots. The Flight Engineer controls the power to keep the aircraft “on the step” and selects the scoops to the “down” position to inject the water into the tanks at the rate of about a ton per second. The 7200 gallon pickup time averages 25 seconds. When the tanks are full, the scoops are raised, takeoff power is applied by the Flight Engineer and the Captain makes a normal loaded takeoff. Pretty slick!
The Martin JRM Mars flying boats are the world’s Largest flying boats ever flown operationally. Although seven were built, only two remain flying, the Hawaii Mars JRM-3 pictured here and the Philippine Mars. They have been refitted as firefighting water bombers carrying 7,200 gallons of water. More images of this amazing plane will be posted later.
Oshkosh 2016 Begins today with Old Glory flown from the sky. I have seen this beginning to air shows dozens of times; still, I’m impressed every time. With partly cloudy skies and highs in the upper 80’s, it’s a beautiful start to AirVenture Oshkosh 2016. This week, Wittman Field will be the world’s busiest airport.
PA-18 on Floats Landing Yea, just squint your eyes a bit, dream a little, and think of a beautiful Alaska water landing in the middle of nowhere. Oh my, wake up today and land on a nice clear lake in Michigan.
