Silberpfeil

It's just a girl I knew a long time ago, dear...

Impressive video - with all that capability, I can't quite imagine what it's like to fly one of those, but I wouldn't mind finding out!

From this morning's AvWeb Flash E-zine, a B-52H named "Wise Guy" was delivered to Barksdale this past week from being parked a little over ten years at Davis-Monthan. This is the second B-52H to escape the boneyard, and when fully refurbished, "Wise Guy" will become the 76th B-52H in USAF service. The article also included an interesting video on the B-52, but the audio part could have been done a lot better! See the link below:

Nice job, Stephen 1918 and Von S, for bringing FE2 its first stealth aircraft model!

I'll bet that was some pretty fancy stick and rudder work...you were fortunate you were still able to drop the gear! A good candidate for "the Second-Luckiest Pilot" award!

Just a little too pricey for me, but for some of the CA high-rollers, the link below takes you to a website advertising "possibly the last unrestored P-51D" (former Guatemalan AF) along with many spares including twenty Merlin powerplants. Lots of detailed pix of aircraft and spares: https://www.platinumfighters.com/p-51d-n38227

First "official" flight of the XP-82 Twin Mustang near Douglas, GA following rebuild and partial restoration - video link trailing.

Sorry for being a little late to the Bleriot XI party. There are currently two replicas (FAA-registered as N913BL and N791X) at MAM - the pix I forwarded were of N913BL at an airshow a couple years ago, and you can see N791X in the photo adjacent to the placard and I've included a hangar shot of it below (especially note the original-style wing suspension). N791X was rebuilt after a crash-landing and was formerly registered as C-FBLW in Quebec where it was originally constructed. All three of those registrations can be searched on and the aircraft background and some photos of each are available online.

Geezer - For your use, trailing are some close-ups/detail shots of the Bleriot XI that I pulled out of the archives. Mike Dora - Is Mike Lockhart still working at Rhinebeck Aerodrome?

See the video below - Lt. Jean-Francois Martin of Le Gendarmerie de Montagne is my choice for "Second Best Pilot"!

Nicely done, Stephen 1918 (again!). Your models always work "right out of the box" and this FE2 flyer appreciates that!

Glad to hear from you again, 33LIMA, and I'm anxious to read the ending of this action report! I've also got a new rig running Win10, and while a little curious about BOB2's popularity (the current pricing certainly seems reasonable enough!), have not pursued it because of the compatibility issues. However, there's plenty of case space and I've been thinking about a separate Win7 boot drive (for a couple of reasons) so perhaps that will resolve itself. As thorough as you are in your reporting, you may have seen the trailing comment page regards running BOB2 in Win10: https://a2asimulations.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=48817

Very nice, Crawford! What is the translation at the bottom of the card?

Glad to have you back, Geezer, and a Happy New Year to everyone at CA!

Interesting and good lookin' model, Stephen1918! Is the rear gunner tuned up to get maximum hits on his targets?

Maybe this is old news to some of you, but I had never heard this piece of aviation folklore: During the late-1950's and into the mid-1960's, the New York Central Rail Road owned and operated a modified North American B-25J Mitchell (44-30996). The railroad acquired it as surplus for $3,000 from Davis-Monthan, and then re-configured it into a combination passenger and freight carrier (registered as N 9991Z). It was painted in the same gray-and-black scheme as its locomotives (trailing are a pair of photos I scanned out of a magazine, along with captions). It eventually became a casualty of the railroad filing for bankruptcy and was sold to private owners, and then re-sold and registered in the Philippines where it was destroyed (on the ground) during a cyclone in 1970. Some of these tales you can't make up...

See below - when I can keep it on target, I think the Lewis variant does a better job than the Hotchkiss, and you should think about removing that spinner to get better cooling of the cylinders!

Trailing was picked off of AvWeb's Flash e-zine this morning: The Naval Air Station at Belle Chase regularly uses New Iberia, LA (KARA) as a refueling stop. I was flying my Piper PA‑32 into KARA to get fuel for myself and contacted the Tower. Tower: “Piper Three Five Eight One Whiskey, enter a left base for Runway 34. You are following two F‑18s on a 15‑mile final.” I saw the jets and could tell that if I kept my current speed I would be close to their jet wash. Me: “Eight One Whiskey, left base for 34, slowing down for the F‑18s.” F‑18 pilot: “In your dreams.”

Good job, Stephen1918! Finally got this addendum downloaded and installed - everything loaded up neatly and plays well in my dedicated FE2 Galicia2 installation. Some very interesting new and (some) improved eye candy, and appropriate-looking terrain elevation modifications! So busy flying over the new digs and looking around I nearly got shot down due to lack of attention to the bad guys!

Trailing pix from this weekend at CAK on one sunny but cool afternoon in between all the rain! What a mix of aircraft and in almost every condition you can imagine - just about something for everyone. MAPS has taken on restoration of several of the pieces from the now-closed Florida Military Air Museum, and also continues to truck in hulks from private buyers (like the OV-1 Mohawk). Pretty interesting to see if you're in the area!