Warbird Information Exchange

Busy month of May -- flew the P-40 on 3 occasions, got checked out on the Mustang, and took the Fairchild here and there. I also have my boat, the old wooden ketch, about ready to haul back to the water and get wet...

This photo showed up in my inbox, from Doug Fisher. It's from an old aviation magazine.



What a great discovery! I love the period detail -- the small-log cabin with trapper's tools hanging on the wall, the hard-rock dock, the boys holding the wing away from the tree... thanks Doug!

Dave

What a sweet score!

Is that what is known as the "bandit" paint scheme?

Really nice find. Is there any date on, or with, the photo Dave?

Andy

Andy, it's from Canadian Aviation, Sept 1953. Yes, that's the original factory "bandit" paintjob.

And it's my first real clue to the colours of the airplane. There are traces of purple on the panel, so it might have been Cream-and-Maroon on the fabric.

If the photo was indeed taken during a wild rice harvest, it must have been from the year before. Wild rice is harvested in Sept, and there wouldn't have been enough time I imagine to get it into a Sept publication same year.

Dave

Just a quick note to say this is one of the top threads on WIX for me - please, keep it coming!

Dave, how's yer brother doing now that he's back on the planet? Sure miss all the noise he was making up yonder.

_________________
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas

PIC, Ford 6600 pulling Rhino batwing up and down the runway

Well thanks, Kurt. Very nice of you to say.

I'm feeling guilty about getting way behind on this thread. Busy Spring! But here's another for now....



It's from mid-May when I had a "dream-weekend" and flew the Fairchild, Harvard, P-40, Fox Moth, and checked out in the P-51. (more photos later)

sigh.... why can't all weekends be like that...

Dave

As for Chris, he's doing fine. He had the standard bone loss when he came back of course. And for the first month he wanted to sleep a lot. But not too many medical issues.

He's extremely busy now. He still has dozens of requests and proposals per day (sometimes per hour). He has had to hire a staff of people to sort them out for him.

But the events he chooses are good ones, and his talks universally well-received. This one, for "Ted Talks" was particularly good. https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_hadfiel ... d_in_space

He is represented by Speaker's Spotlight, who handle ex-Presidents and people like that. But he also visits school kids from time to time.

He and I just did a music video, believe it or not. It'll be coming our for Canada Day (July 01), that is if we get it edited in time. It was a blast! -- 3 days of filming at the cottage, with lots of guitar playing and slightly goofy behaviour.

Dave

"Hi - Uh - isn't this Chris?"

"No, this is Chris Hadfield's Speakers' Spotlight agent. Who is this?"

"Dave - I'm Chris' brother, I was just linking up to set up a date to do a music video together and just kick back, rela..."

"I'm sorry sir, do you know how many people we get claiming to be Chris' 'Brother'?"

"But I AM."

"Certainly sir. Have a nice day." <CLICK>



(Obviously I have things I should be working on instead of being silly.)

_________________
James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

Hah, good one, James!

Yes, it would be like that, but fortunately Chris stays accessible to his family. In fact we guard and screen for him, as you'd expect.

We had a good day at The Hadfield Summit, when I delivered him from Rockcliffe via P-40. He was the keynote for 500 young people during a tremendous day at VWoC.



Dave

Robin and I had a "date". Yes, we've been married for 33 years, but this was a new one on us.

I keep the Fairchild at Alliston and she keeps the RV6a at Edenvale. A nice sunny day was forecast, and we each wanted to go flying -- in our own airplanes. So we met at Lake Simcoe Regional for lunch.

Starting up and taxying after the very fine pizza they make there...







(I know, I know... that makes it a $200 hamburger....)

Dave

Dad had a good day July 01 at the Canada Aviation Museum. They asked him to start the Hind, using the Hucks he'd created.



It worked perfectly. Five starts and no snags. And on a couple of them the unit had to wind the R-R Kestrel for a number of revs before it caught.



Then, as covered in another thread on this forum, Dad flew in a B-17G, Sentimental Journey. As I have mentioned, he flew them for Kenting in 1960-61, and was very generously offered a ride during the ferry flight from Hamilton to Ottawa/Gatineau.

Now...

Then...


En route,



Happy guy!



Greeting Mike Potter on arrival.

So, recapping a bit, I got a Mustang checkout last spring. I posted a thread on the "WIX Hangar" page at the time, but I'll post a few extra photos here. It was a large aviation event in my life, and this thread has morphed into a kind of logbook for me, so I'll repost and add-to.

The start was last winter, when I attended the P-51 Groundschool at Vintage Wings, in Gatineau -- part of the "Warbird U" series we run. These are very thorough and formal 2-day class-and-cockpit sessions.



And then, as the flight date approached, it was grab the manual and learn the taps and dials.



And then sit in the cockpit and memorize the flight sequence (what goes where, when, to what number, and what happens if it fails). I was of course very serious, focused, and spent no time at all daydreaming.

My Instructor was John Aitken, Aviator Emeritus, and since it was spring, and we were rusty after the winter lay-off, he wanted to demonstrate some things in the Harvard before I launched in the Mustang. Now, I flew the Harvard years ago to qualify for the P-40 checkout, but not since. Too busy with many other types. I have a grand total of about 15 hours in it. But we did 2 flights; the first was stalls and spins, with me in the front seat, and next was a flight of circuits, with me flying in the back seat. I didn't have much time to prep, but swotted-up a few numbers, and off we went.

It's pretty much a rule -- before you check out in a fighter, you must demonstrate competency in a Harvard/T-6. The WWII process was a very good one.



Spinning the Harvard is fun -- you put the mixture to cut-off and shut the engine down so that as you spin it doesn't flood and cause more engine trouble in the recovery. Unusual! The spin of course is fast, and it winds-up and tightens, but the recovery is straightforward.

I also squeaked in a post-maintenance test flight in the P-40, just to work the bugs out. Here are 3 of the 4 aircraft I flew that on that "dream weekend".

Then, Flight-Day! I haven't got space for a full write-up on this thread, but I certainly gained a lot of distinct impressions. And I didn't have time for photos, much. My helmet-cam failed (actually, I failed -- thought I hit the "ON" button, but didn't actually get it pressed.)

Took a few cell-phone snaps just as back-up, and l'm glad I did.



That's a long pointy nose, for sure, but not as imposing as the P-40. Taxying and general visibilty is better in the P-51.

Dials in flight...





It flies smooth and fast of course. I went out to the practice area and stalled and looped and rolled. Surprisingly, it isn't as nice for aeros as the P-40. You need both hands on the ailerons for a fast roll at any speed (lots of resistance), and if you let the speed get back to 150 mph, any "pull" on the stick has to be exerted with care, or it'll flick. The P-40 has a much better roll rate, and can be pulled around much harder at low speed. Of course that's the trade-off with a laminar-flow airfoil, but the ailerons didn't have to be that way...

I came back overhead and did a basic airshow sequence of wingovers to the corner markers, and rolls. And confirmed that I'd rather do that sort of thing in a P-40. But for going places, the P-51 is far better. And it has none of the oil-radiator high-oil-temp issues most of the P-40 installations have these days.

The gear and flap systems are hugely superior to the P-40. None of the steam-train-engineer requirements. Flick a switch and down it goes.

Back to Earth...

Of course after shutdown there was the typical welcome...



And the evidence!



Dave

Dave....congradulations....U earned it sir!!!!!!!

Keep on enjoying chief and thank you for sharing

Michel