Silberpfeil

One of my heroes - an old, bold pilot. May he rest in peace.

Good action report, 33LIMA! I've always been more than a little partial to the Tripehound. As I recall, Naval 1 had a pair of "twin Vickers" Tripes for testing, starting in July of 1917. Do you get a chance to try them out in WoFF?

Is the last one Pacific Park near Santa Monica?

Geezer & Stephen1918: I ran across a couple of "airport eye candy" pieces this past weekend (see my MAM Airshow post in The Pub for details) that I was not familiar with. The first (see photos below) is a Ford Model T with a Hucks aircraft starter attachment. Reportedly these were fairly common during the 1920's and 1930's. The second is a Thompson Brothers P505 mobile aircraft refueler which was generally in use for about two decades, starting from the mid-1930's. I submit these strictly for your use and do with them what you will - just airfield curiosities which you may wish to incorporate into your ground fleet!

Some pix from last weekend's "Biplanes and Triplanes" show for your interest. Albatros D.VA Avro 504K Bleriot XI (note the observer's rifle!) Curtiss JN-4D "Jenny" Ely-Curtiss Pusher Fokker C.I Fokker D.VI Fokker D.VII Fokker D.VII (Alb) Fokker D.VIII Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker Fokker E.III Eindecker Fokker F.I Dreidecker Fokker Interrupter System Halberstadt CL.IV Nieuport 11 Nieuport 11 S.P.A.D. S.XIII Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter

Thanks, Stratos - here's their website below. They have a lot of WWII aircraft, too, mostly flyers but also some static displays. And, their repair shop is pretty capable from what I've seen. I was impressed by the poor condition of an ex-Navy Beech 18 that is tethered to a large pallet (also see below) adjacent to one of their storage hangars - they told me they're going to rebuild it and I don't doubt they will! http://www.militaryaviationmuseum.org/

Link below falls into the "oldie but a goodie" category. For those who haven't seen it, lots of good advice and pix! http://www.doyletics.com/tidbits/militaryadvice.pdf

33LIMA - Are you sure that D.I isn't carrying two 13mm Parabellum MG15s in its Weapon Stations, or are you just that good of a shot?

Always appreciative of all the work that goes into your action reports, 33Lima! Good job!

Very entertaining - and perhaps some truth in there somewhere!

Good one, Erik! Everything I've ever flown in would have parts coming off at that speed...!

Nicely done - great details in all the models!

For your reference, I've got two of them just down the road from me...

See link below - with apologies to "Pips" Priller, of course - one of my favorite sequences from a great movie I saw when I was younger... http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+longest+day+youtube&qpvt=the+longest+day+youtube&view=detail&mid=4F62CEE7156BA970B4B14F62CEE7156BA970B4B1&FORM=VRDGAR

Sad to hear of the team's loss - prayers and thoughts for the family and friends.

Link below to interesting Business Insider article on number of aircraft by Air Force: http://www.businessinsider.com/military-aircraft-strength-of-every-country-2016-5?nr_email_referer=1&utm_content=BISelect&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Tuesday%20Thursday%29%202016-05-05&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select

I agree, Mike Dora, that the detail in Jimbib's link supports a disturbing trend. While individual platform capability has improved dramatically, we are getting closer and closer to the point where that capability is able to be compromised by a variety of non-traditional means. And, the specialized training for personnel and the increasing time involved with aircraft turnaround between missions due their complexity, coupled with the exorbitant expense of each, makes me a proponent of reversing the trends brought about by purse-string holding politicians whose only short-term interest is in getting elected!

Thanks, Jimbib. I hope you got a chance to select some of the other links embedded in the brief article - the air show pix from Davis-Monthan are especially nice!

If you haven't seen this, pretty interesting details of specific cockpits and flight stations: http://www.businessinsider.com/inside-the-cockpit-of-most-iconic-war-planes-2016-4?nr_email_referer=1&utm_content=BISelect&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=BI%20Select%20%28Tuesday%20Thursday%29%202016-04-28&utm_term=Business%20Insider%20Select Sample S.P.A.D. XIII C.1 cockpit in panoramic view:

Glad to have you aboard, Navy! Did you ever hear this one: USN Commander: Do you have change for a twenty, by any chance? USCG Ensign: I can probably help you out... USN Commander: That's no way to address a superior officer, Ensign! Now let's try it again - do you have change for a twenty? USCG Ensign: No, SIR! If you laughed, you'll work out just fine around these parts!

Some pix from today's show for your enjoyment. For those who are interested in such things, Virginia State Police clocked the "Shockwave" jet truck (sorry, no photos of that one!) at 313 m.p.h. as he ran from one end of Runway 26 to the other! However, that was only about half as fast as the F/A-18 the Navy sent up from Oceana. I don't think the local constabulary could have gotten their radar guns warmed up before he was gone - he reported 0.96 Mach (no kidding!) at the end of his high speed run!