Tommy Tomlinson King Of The Sky!!

[Jack Cook]

Tommy was something special. One of the greatest pilots every period!!

Tommy at the lead of the "Three Seahawks"

Taking off from Guam in a R5D as CO Naval Air Transport Pacific.

Landing a Helldiver on the Lexington

Prior to a high altitude research flight in a Gamma

Tommy & his Gamma

Pilot in command! One of the wheels at TWA.

Capt Tomlinson deputy commander Berlin Airlift

With the Gamma

Stop over in Silverton, Oregon where he would retire to decades later.

[John Dupre]

Has anyone done a tied together aerobatic act since the 20s or 30s? Would love to see it done!

[daveymac82c]

Holy cow, I didn't realize they were tied together until you mentioned it.

That is very death defying, to say the least. Something tells me that even if people wanted to do it today, insurance wouldn't be to interested in supporting the outcome.

Hhmm..... But, one could argue that there never was a mid-air collision since the airplanes had been touching since take-off.

Oh, and the Gamma, is that bird still around? If so, any recent pics, and where's it located?

Cheers,

David

[John Dupre]

I think it would be relatively easy to design quick release shackles so that the aircraft are not permanently tied together. It would probably require greater skill to prevent the shackles from releasing than otherwise. The hard part might be finding a runway wide enough for three aircraft to take off line abreast. I believe that before the war one RAF squadron tied all of its twelve aircraft together for a formation loop.

[Baldeagle]

I think the Eagles did tied together aerobatics at least for a TV show if not for airshows.

I did a tied together formation flight once in a Luscombe tied to a Piper J-4, we had a weak link and split up before landing though.....