willedoo

That was quick, Peter. The last one is interesting. It looks like someone's plonked a Seafire/Spiteful canopy onto a contra-rotating P-51. The tail & rudder doesn't look like a P-51 variant, though. Cheers, Willie.

How about this one: [ATTACH=full]1851[/ATTACH] Cheers, Willie. [ATTACH]18442[/ATTACH]

I've been trying to figure out why there's so many photos of it at Glasgow International & Prestwick. Going by the rego database, it's owned by Raytheon. They've got a plant at Glenroths, to the east of Glasgow, so maybe they enter the country at Glasgow & then fly on to Fife airport near Glenroths. Sounds a good theory anyway. A G-520 Egrett. You almost got away with it Peter, but mnewbery busted you on the 'N'. And then Siz got on the case with the rego and that was it. Sorry about cheating. I looked up the database. Cheers, Willie.

Maybe 'M' , Isle of Man. I wonder if that's Scotland in the background. There's very similar looking houses near Prestwick.

Had to scratch around a bit to find this one - looks like a Blohm & Voss BV-141. Cheers, Willie.

That's amazing.

Thanks for stepping up to the plate, Siz - I've always wondered about that and never bothered to find out. Haven't checked it out thoroughly, but I'd guess Dave and Peter are on the mark. Apparently the Yak-130 has Zero-Zero ejection seats providing through-canopy escape. From Irkut's website -' Each cabin accommodates an ejection seat with the through-canopy ejection capability to ensure safe emergency escape.' From www.redstar.gr: 'LIFE SUPPORT AND ESCAPE SYSTEMS "Zero-zero" type ejection seats allow crew to leave the aircraft in emergency through the canopy glass at airspeeds ranging from 0 to 1,050 km/h and all altitude range of aircraft. The canopy glass is fragmented by pyrotechnic cords of the glass breakup system after ejection has been initiated.' Cheers, Willie. PS - the redstar website quoted above is Greek, but has an English version by clicking the British flag near the top right of the page. It has a lot of good photo galleries in amongst the links.

Yak-130 helmet cam at Le Bourget 2013. Cheers,Willie.

I'd have to agree with you about cockpit videos, Dave, and likewise, thanks Peter - very interesting. Cheers, Willie.

July 3 - A Bangladesh Army Bell 206 crash landed in the Dhamrai district injuring two military officials. http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/07/03/army-helicopter-crashes [ATTACH=full]1844[/ATTACH] July 4 - A Libyan Air Force Mil Mi-35 crashed during a flyover at Benghazi Airport at a cadet swearing in ceremony. Two of three officers on board were killed and a third suffered severe burns. http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/breaking-news/two-die-in-chopper-crash-at-libya-airshow/story-fnihsg6t-1226674567311 [ATTACH=full]1845[/ATTACH] July 7 - An Israeli Air Force F-16l crashed into the Mediterranean during a routine flight. Both pilots ejected safely. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jul/07/ml-israel-plane-crash/#axzz2YPnFG7rI [ATTACH=full]1843[/ATTACH] July 11 - A Pakistani F-7P crashed in the Mianwali district of the Punjab Province during a training flight. The pilot ejected safely. http://www.geo.tv/article-108850-Pilot-ejects-safely-as-PAF-fighter-jet-crashes-in-Mianwali [ATTACH=full]1846[/ATTACH] July 15 - A MiG-21 of the Indian Air Force crashed while landing at Uttarlai airbase in Rajasthan's Barmer district, killing the pilot. It's the second MiG-21 lost at Uttarlai airbase in a six week period. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/iafs-mig21-fighter-plane-crashes-in-rajasthan-pilot-killed/1142054/ [ATTACH=full]1848[/ATTACH] July 19 - A USAF Northrup T-38 Talon crashed near Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas after an apparent bird strike during a training flight. Both pilots ejected with minor injuries. http://www.christianpost.com/news/t-38-crash-near-sheppard-air-force-base-in-texas-video-shows-wreckage-photo-100516/ [ATTACH=full]1854[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]18428[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]18438[/ATTACH]

Well, don't quote me on this; it's just my possibly incorrect understanding of it. The speed of sound varies depending on altitude and is largely influenced by absolute temperature. Temperature decreases with altitude causing the speed of sound to decrease as well. At subsonic speeds the compressibility effects which effect the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft's surfaces is neglible. Flight speed alone is not a reliable indicator of compressibility effects because the behaviour of air depends on altitude. However, referenced to the speed of sound, it provides a reliable indicator of the effects of altitude on the aircraft's aerodynamics. This is known as the Mach Number; mathematically it's airflow velocity over speed of sound. Transonic flight is the range between subsonic and supersonic, the point from which the first portion of airflow over the surfaces reaches the speed of sound, up until the entire airfllow over the surfaces is at the speed of sound. Critical Mach is the lowest speed at which some airflow reaches the speed of sound.This is the start of the transonic transition period, where all the fun and wierd stuff happens. The aeroplane is travelling slower than some of the airflow over it's surfaces, causing drag inducing shock waves which prevent supersonic speeds in level flight. Later designs with thinner, swept wings etc. reduced the amount of shock waves on the surfaces. The other downside from Critical Mach onwards until the more stable supersonic flight is the adverse affects on control surfaces, lift, and inadvertant pitch up or down, caused by the shock waves increasing in size & changing direction. I don't know much about the Starfire, but I'd be guessing it would be like the Sabre & the later model Mig-15/17's where the airframe design was capable of supersonic flight, but unable to achieve it in level flight due to lack of engine thrust. This comes back to earlier comments about the engine intake shock wave detaching forward causing drag. Hence the later designs of axially translated shock cones and variable ramps. Probably can't add much more without knowing a bit more about the Starfire's design. Just as a side note, the very early MiG-15's had a design problem which made them behave very badly at high subsonic/ pre-transonic speed. In typical Russian fashion, they wired it up to deploy the speed brakes whenever it reached a speed just below that. That way they kept flying them operationally for quite a long time until the design flaw was fixed. Cheers, Willie.

As far as I know, there were a few subsonic jets that achieved supersonic flight in a dive. It would be interesting to read their stories and find out what went into the test flights leading up to the actual event. I would suppose a lot would depend on the individual design as to whether flow separation around the control surfaces would present a big problem. For a subsonic aircraft to obtain that speed in a dive, the two biggest problems would be loss of elevator control and flow separation at the intakes causing engine problems. But I guess in a dive a lot of the problems encountered in level flight would be reduced somewhat. Normally a subsonic intake is maximised for anything up to high subsonic speeds. In level flight at transonic to supersonic speeds, the intake shock wave would tend to detach forward as a bow shock and reduce thrust due to the increased drag and pressure loss. Perhaps the momentum of a dive negates that factor allowing the speed to be attained. Also, I wonder if the angle of attack of the dive tends to carry away the disturbed air around the elevators, allowing better control than what would be possible in level flight. Starting the dive at 45,000' like that should have one advantage as well, the speed of sound would be about 20% less than at sea level. I'd guess most subsonic jet fighters in those early times would have attempted it ; how many achieved it would be another thing. Cheers, Willie

Congratulations, Dexter. That sounds like a very memorable trip as well. Cheers, Willie

Australian Aviation is having a garage sale of books, prints and models at Canberra on Saturday, 29th. June. http://australianaviation.com.au/2013/06/800-books-for-sale-at-aa-garage-sale/

Interesting article & quite a development in the story, thanks Geoff. It's amazing to see the condition it's in considering all those rocks about the site - even has the tail wheel intact. Cheers, Willie.

Last week 'Reach for the Sky' was aired on the TV, starring Kenneth Moore in the role of Douglas Bader. It got me thinking of the other allied double-amputee fighter pilots. I previously knew about the Russian/Ukranian pilots, but not the other British pilot, Colin "Hoppy" Hodgkinson. He has an autobiography called 'Best Foot Forward', which could be worth reading. There's a story, whether true or not, maybe it's in his book, anyway he was supposed to have an aversion to ditching in the Channel with his tin legs (understandable). So what he did was fill his legs up with ping pong balls for flotation, not a bad idea when you think about it. At one stage, he climbed to 30,000 feet and performed a severe evasive maneuver after hearing what he thought was the sound of gunfire, but it turned out to be just the ping pong balls exploding in his legs due to the pressure differentation. I gather there were quite a few pilots flying with one leg. These are the WW2 double amputee pilots that I know of; possibly there's more: Douglas Bader needs no introduction. Lost his right leg above the knee, left below the knee. Pictured with his Hurricane. [ATTACH=full]1818[/ATTACH] Colin Hodgkinson, lost both legs learning to fly, then transferred from the Navy to the RAF to become a Spitfire pilot. Like Bader, he lost the right leg above the knee, the left below the knee and ended up being a POW after crash landing due to an oxygen failure. Went on to fly Vampires later in his career. [ATTACH=full]1819[/ATTACH] Colonel Alexei Maresev of the Soviet Air Force, HSU, a Russian, and the best known of the Soviet amputee pilots. Like Douglas Bader, he was the subject of a book and a movie. He was shot down in a Polikarpov I-16 behind enemy lines in 1942. The crash broke the bones in both of his feet. He eluded capture for 18 days by first hobbling and then crawling on his hands and knees. By the time he made it back to the Soviet lines gangrene had set in and doctors had to amputate both legs below the knee. 11 victories, including 7 after losing his legs. Pictured in front of a Lavochkin La-7 [ATTACH=full]1820[/ATTACH] Captain Zakhar Sorokin, HSU, a Ukranian, of the Soviet Navy. A fighter pilot with the Soviet Northern Fleet Air Arm. After scoring his fifth and sixth kills in a Mig-3, he had to crash land his plane in the Tundra. It took him 6 days to get to the nearest village, but his feet were severely frostbitten and had to be amputated at the ankle. Wearing the prosthetics he returned to combat flying and shot down 5 more German planes before the end of the war. I think he ended up flying P-39 Airacobras. Pictured in front of what looks like a MiG-3. [ATTACH=full]1822[/ATTACH] Another Ukranian Naval Pilot was Major Leonid Belousov, HSU, of the Soviet Naval Air Arm. He sustained injuries in a pre-war crash and lost both legs due to complications, four years later, in 1942. Like Bader and Hodgkinson, he lost the right leg above the knee & the left below the knee. He flew 300 sorties and scored 3 victories. [ATTACH=full]1823[/ATTACH] It would be hard enough flying with one leg. Cheers, Willie. [ATTACH]18422[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]18431[/ATTACH]

Sorry to hear of your loss, Kaye. Always hard to lose a good canine friend. Tiger looks like a bit of a character. Cheers, Willie.

According to Google's Chief Engineer, Ray Kurzweil, humans will soon be able to upload their entire brains onto computers. http://rt.com/usa/google-kurzweil-singularity-brain-011/ Mine should fit on a Floppy Disc. Cheers, Willie.

Jeez, imagine the damage if she'd had Bundy Rum.

Some of them are a bit rough around the edges. Most tell you they are from Microsoft, but I had one call from a person with a very heavy accent from a best left unamed Central Asian country, who started the call with "Hello, I am from Windows". Cheers, Willie.

I didn't know we had any.

I'd never heard about it, but I'm currently reading "Darwin Spitfires- the real battle for Australia" by Anthony Cooper, recommended by forum member Spin in the book reviews. There's a brief reference to it early in the book. I think a visit to the hangar will have to go on the list. Cheers, Willie.

A few photos of captured Mitsubishi Zeros that were rebuilt by the first Technical Air Intelligence Unit (combined 5th Air Force, United States Navy and RAAF) at Eagle Farm, Brisbane, during WW2. The Zero and other Japanese types were test flown, evaluated, and used for agressor training as well. Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero in flight over Brisbane. The pilot is Captain William O Farrior, USAF. Image courtesy AWM. [ATTACH=full]1807[/ATTACH] Rebuilt Zero fighter at Eagle Farm, Brisbane, 5 Aug 1943, B-17 in background. [ATTACH=full]1808[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1809[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1810[/ATTACH] A bit more info : http://www.hangar7.org.au/ataiu.htm http://www.ozatwar.com/usaaf/atiu.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_Air_Intelligence_Unit Cheers, Willie. [ATTACH]18416[/ATTACH]

Thanks Peter, I'd say that's the one. I think it was a promotional video where I saw it. Cheers, Willie.

Not variable geometry, but wasn't there a powered glider with detachable wingtips to convert it to an LSA. It was farly recent, I think. Cheers, Willie.