What did you fly today?

[davegee]

I took my Corsair out for a couple of flights this morning, along with my F-35 V3 that recorded its 22nd flight today. For the Corsair, I brought along my printed copy of Elbee's excellent 500 lb. bomb and the scale Brewster bomb rack for another test flight. As long as you don't land gear up or partial gear down, there is no worry for the bomb and bomb rack! It doesn't seem to affect the plane with extra drag that I could tell and there is always lots of ground clearance in any normal landing configuration. The two small magnets on the rack that slide into corresponding holes on the plane fuselage hold it secure, even with a few moderate test maneuvers in flight.

The Freewing F-35 V3 that I have, everyone says it's easy for even beginners, but I am finding it a challenge for landings with its low drag profile, no flaps, and our very rough runway and high altitude and temperatures at this time of year. I thought my larger, heavier, Freewing 90mm F-22 wouldn't have these problems with its big wheels, but sure enough, it does, just not quite as bad. It's all a challenge, fun when things work out well, frustrating when you make a satisfactory touch down and then it hits a large fissure in the asphalt, catapulting it several feet into the air and crashing on the ground! I am hoping I get just the right touch with this airplane for landings at my field. I think grass fields with very short cut grass or a decent runway and it would not have all these problems. But there you go. It is what it is and we just deal with it and fly again another day!

Cheers

davegee

[Higherandhigher]

[Elbee]

Higherandhigher, Good lookin' T-28. Welcome to "the Squawk". Glad to have you onboard. Best, LB

[davegee]

Took my F-22 and F-35 out to the field today. Recorded my 18th flight on the F-35 and 7th flight on the F-22. Getting better and a little more confident flying both of them, still need a lot more flying under my belt as I try to get better. No damage on either today in their flights, so I've got that going for me!

The F-22 has a new printed more in scale double landing light on the nose wheel strut instead of what I call a "locomotive engine light" that comes with the kit. This print design comes courtesy of Fast N Light who did a great job on it. I still am waiting for some clear lens covers via Ali Express and they should be here in a week or so to finish the look.

I used to have my venerable T-33 as my "weather ship" and warmup airplane before flying my bigger EDFs. I flew a zillion flights on it since 2019 and finally retired it after a gear failed on landing. It was just plum wore out. I may still get it operational again someday by buying a ARF+ and putting all the inner parts from my T-Bird into that one. Not sure if I'll do that, or buy something else someday.

Both the F-35 and F-22 settle into a nice high-alpha attitude for landing so that is pretty realistic and cool. I hope to get someone else take some pics of it in flight someday.

Happy Flying,

Davegee

[Elbee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxWKOHPPNlM

davegee

Dave ran across this today, thought you might like the content as I know you love the subject.

Best, LB

[davegee]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxWKOHPPNlM

davegee

Dave ran across this today, thought you might like the content as I know you love the subject.

Best, LB

Thanks, Elbee! I recently saw some footage of this aircraft on display and flying at Oshkosh this summer. An absolutely beautiful restoration of this aircraft in the colors of Bonnie, flown by Col. Bill Dunham in the Pacific Theatre during WWII. He was quite a pilot, himself!

For modelers of the P-47, this is an excellent walk around video for razorback jugs of that era. With only a handful flyable these days, a real rare find.

Best,

Davegee

[testfly]

Having fun with the little stuff these days for sure!

[Quadflyer68]

I've been flying my first EDF jet for a couple of months now - it's awesome.
Ready for my 2nd one :)

[Lon]

Very pleased with my new F-16 V2 8s. I have a dozen flights logged on her now.

[davegee]

Beautiful morning to fly here, today. I took my Freewing F-15C up for a special flight, one to honor my good friend Gary Turnipseed (Lt. Col. USAF, ret.) after he passed away unexpectedly last week. Gary was a 1976 USAFA grad, and after graduation went through pilot training and was assigned to the F-15C aircraft. He stayed with the F-15 almost his entire 20 year air force career. He really loved that airplane, and actually flew the plane that Freewing used as a model for the aircraft that they still produce to this day.

I feel privileged to have had Gary as my friend for the past 20 years. He was an awesome guy. He will be interred at the USAFA cemetery in Colorado Springs.

Davegee

[f4u ausie]

May ur good friend rip dave

[Evan D]

Sorry for the loss of your friend Dave.

[boomer108]

I wonder if I might have had him on the end of my boom at one time or another during my 23 years as a boom operator. Sorry about your friend may God speed.

[davegee]

May ur good friend rip dave

Thanks so much f4u aussie. He was a good man. You would have liked him if you had ever met.

[davegee]

I wonder if I might have had him on the end of my boom at one time or another during my 23 years as a boom operator. Sorry about your friend may God speed.

I wouldn't be surprised if you did, Boomer.108. He served overseas in Europe during some of the wars over there in Kosovo and other places like that, among many other deployments in his 20 years on the F-15. If he were here today with you, I bet you guys could have found out pretty quick if you had "passed gas" on one of these sorties!

Thanks to you and Evan for your service.

Best,

Davegee

[davegee]

Got the maiden completed on my Flightline B-25J this morning. What a great flying airplane, and easy to put together! I think this will be one of my favorites to take out to the field when I want to fly a prop airplane!

A pic today at the field after the 5 flights I put on her. Callie's markings for this airplane, "Cactus Kitten" are in the mail today and should be able to be put on next week sometime.Also attached is a model of this aircraft how mine will look when completed.

Part of my interest in this airplane is to honor the crew of this aircraft lost in action near Saigon, Indochina (Viet Nam) on a bombing run on Japanese shipping targets in 1945. All five crewmembers were lost, unfortunately. They were part of the famous 345th Bomb Group "Air Apaches" that saw much action in the Pacific Theatre in WWII.

Davegee

[F106DeltaDart]

B-25 looks great Dave!

Took my 747 Shuttle Carrier and Spitfire out to St George, UT last weekend for the John Morgan Electric Festival. Was a fantastic time and got to meet a lot of amazing pilots and builders! It was also a beautiful field to fly at with some stunning landscapes.

[davegee]

B-25 looks great Dave!

Took my 747 Shuttle Carrier and Spitfire out to St George, UT last weekend for the John Morgan Electric Festival. Was a fantastic time and got to meet a lot of amazing pilots and builders! It was also a beautiful field to fly at with some stunning landscapes.

Outstanding, F106Delta Dart!! Your plane would be hard to distinguish from the real thing in your photos! I was wondering, do those side pieces that are placed perpendicular to the horizontal stabilizers, can you tell if they affect the performance over the airplane at all? I'm not totally sure why they were installed on the real plane, except I would guess they improved stability when hauling the space shuttle on top. Maybe you have a definitive knowledge in your research of why they added these parts.

PS: I remember being in the lineup a few times for takeoff at JFK, and seeing one of these AA airplanes in line ahead of us before they were removed from American's fleet and sold to NASA. That was around 1979-80, as I remember.

Keep up the great work! The 747 is one of my favorite airplanes, especially since I spent a majority of my airline career flying them!



Cheers

Davegee

[boomer108]

Who did you fly for?

[davegee]

Who did you fly for?

I retired almost 10 years ago from Delta.