silly question......vintage airplane smell

[Nathan]

I have been to several aircraft museums. Every time I enter the hangar where the aircraft are on display, you get hit with that unique smell that those aircraft give off. Can anyone explains exactly what that smell is? Does the dirt/oil/use have some sort of interaction with the aircraft aluminum to give of that wonderful aroma? Im really not trying to be silly. I can sniff my airplane parts and get a good strong smell of it. Something about that smell and old airplanes. I need to invent a candle with the scent.

Does anyone know what Im talking about?


--Nate

[Speedy]

Of course. It's a combination of exhaust, oil, gas, hydraulic fluid, paint, solvents, glues, etc. Civilian aircraft probably smell that way too, but they have insulation and 'comfort stuff' that the constructors put in to shield the commoners from such vile smells.

Personally, I love it. Hacker and I grew up in the family L-17B with that smell. All the military aircraft I've ever flown have had it too. It's a 'workin' aircraft' smell. You know that smell anywhere, and to a military pilot it's 'home'.

[Nathan]

Of course. It's a combination of exhaust, oil, gas, hydraulic fluid, paint, solvents, glues, etc. Civilian aircraft probably smell that way too, but they have insulation and 'comfort stuff' that the constructors put in to shield the commoners from such vile smells.

Personally, I love it. Hacker and I grew up in the family L-17B with that smell. All the military aircraft I've ever flown have had it too. It's a 'workin' aircraft' smell. You know that smell anywhere, and to a military pilot it's 'home'.

Glad I'm not the only one. But, could the aluminum play some sort of part in the smell too? I can't say I ever remember the same smell in any car garage. Car's seem to have their own separate smell that, IMHO, is different then airplane smells.

[Chunks]

Can anyone explains exactly what that smell is?

Heaven!

Chunks

[Nathan]

Can anyone explains exactly what that smell is?

Heaven!

Chunks

LMAO!

[UC61K]

I totally agree! There is a certain aroma that surrounds old planes!
I have been involved with finding, restoring, flying antique and warbird airplanes over the last 30 years. Even the B-52G and C-130E/H's I worked and flew in have that certain "airplane" smell.
It's kinda like entering an old canvas tent at a re-enactment. Once you get close, you can smell that certain smell.

It gives you a kinda aviation euphoria.....

Hope it never goes away

Jim C
Midwest Aeronautique LLC
UC-61K USAAF# 4314964 / RAF# HB-690

[SaxMan]

Once you smell it, you know exactly what it is (even if it is your first time in a hangar). You'll never forget that smell, but it's almost impossible to describe in words. It's as appetizing to the olfactories an aviation enthusiast as the smell of a warm apple pie sitting on the window sill. It means "welcome home" in any language.

[Redtracer]

Zinc chromate tape!

[seabee1526]

...i need a shower....

[Mark Allen M]

Nathan, there's all kinds of great reasons why ....

[kalamazookid]

If someone could bottle that smell, I would spray it in my apartment.

[K5DH]

It's not just old airplanes. Old cars have "that certain smell". Old radios have "that certain smell" (and my hamshack definitely has it, since I restore old radios). Come to think of it, some old people have a certain smell, but I don't think it would be considered a good thing...

[GARY HILTON]

I have also noted the "airplane" smells. My earliest memory was at about 6 yrs old, when I ditched the family reunion in Marshall, Mo., to go to the small airfield there...close to 1960...The old Cessnas and the Bellancas, an Pipers all had the same aroma. And then there was the crop-duster there with it's own distinct odor.....To this day, when I stick my head inside an old Luscumbe, or vintage aircraft of that era, it reminds me of the switching my distraught mother gave me in front of everybody when I finally decided it was time to go back to the aunts house....On the other hand, warbirds (1940's to 1950's) have their own special smells that is all their own,....I have been told this as from the types of oils they used in their day....More modern jets have their own flavors as well...and the different nationalities of aircraft have their own smell as well....Why I can almost differentiate the smells between U.S. built aircraft, from Canadian built aircraft...The Northern built planes seem to have a more Mooseie smell to them...Planes built in Great Britton have a fish and chips odor....Auzzie planes smell like tanned kangaroo hides....German built...brats and beer smell...Russian planes, are pretty peculiar..they have a copied smell about them...like they were loaned or something (Chineese too)....and the French....well, maybe it's me, but I get the impression of my next door neighbors arm pits when he has been working in his yard all day....but that's just me. Now we can also go into the smell of the different grades of av-gas! Give me some old 130 octane any day! or even vintage 100 octane...I could keep an open container sitting at my bedside at night....maybe I used the ole Oklahoma credit card at the airport too many times?? Just sayin...

[Tomahawk]

Stale coffee, urine(fighters), vomit(transports), ozone...

[Myles]

I have noticed that smell, too. Years ago flying often in a friend's Harvard Mk. IV there was a noticeable, comfortable smell that was familiar. Growing up with a father and two brothers that worked on old cars for a hobby like Austin Healeys, or Morris Minors, Jaguars, etc., they had a smell that I would recognize years later. A smell that triggers pleasant memories growing up.

Jim Long
Santa Cruz, CA