Warbird Information Exchange

I had a great opportunity to take photos of the Gathering of Mentors at Palm Springs over the weekend. Below are a few examples of the action, and a link to the galleries from the event.







http://www.vg-photo.com/airshow/psp2008/mentors.html

Enjoy!

Those photos bring back memories. I had some good formation clinics, practices, airshows, and pleasure flights with the T-34 group. Probably half my formation flying was with them. I'd like to do some more. I think Bill Cherwin's one wish is to fly into Oshkosh leading every T-34 in the world in formation. He'd probably want to get the Fuji built ones also.
Anyone who has up to $200k and wants a basic warbird might consider a Mentor, subject to investigating the ADs. It's not going to be passing any Mustangs, but it is a good sport airplane that does nice acro, can go cross country, and is the easiest plane to land I have ever been in. And it doesn't take a 2nd mortgage to annual the engine. It is NOT a good trainer for a T-6 or a fighter, however.
I notice the pilot only has one set of shoulder straps. It is a good idea to wear a parachute always, certainly for formation flying, just on that one chance it might be needed. Of course, maybe the straps just aren't visable.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

No, there weren't any parachutes in this group. We were flying at a level where it wouldn't have done any good anyway. Most of the guys, when asked about it basically said they were just different versions of a Bonanza, so there really wan't much of a need for it.

They are nice to fly in, pretty docile and if I could afford one, I would get one too. They sure are fun!

Parachutes have saved pilots that have gotten out as low as 600'(Pitts in an airshow with wing structural failure). At perhaps 1500' you might get out safely. A T-34 differs in several ways from a Bonanza, I have owned and flown both. First if you should need to exit the Mentor, the canopy slides back or blows back or the whole thing jettisons. In the Bonanza you'd have to climb over the right seat and it would be difficult to force the door open against the wind. Most of the time in the Bonanza you are not doing formation or aerobatics, or airshows, all situations which might call for a bail out in a T-34. I don't recall any bailouts from T-34s ever, but you need to sit on something, why not use something that might save your life and that of a passenger? Unfortunately in the case of the structural failures, the cockpit was hit and there was no chance to bail out.
PS Eric, Don't let those guys sell you any adjustable mortgages! And I really like that photo from above.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

My first warbird ride was in T-34B Mentor N99257 when she was assigned to the flying club at the old NAS Dallas. What a fun time that was! I learned about G's in that airplane. My pilot was the late Gordon Hargis. Some of you Mustang drivers might remember him, as he was a member of the Hollister group that operates Straw Boss II. He was also one of the pilots of AHM's Super Connie, N6937C Star of America.

Cheers!

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Port Charlotte, Florida

I hear what you are saying Bill, but they have regular padded seats in their T-34s, so no cushion is needed. I have flown in different warbirds both with and without chutes. I don't have a preference, but I might if something went horribly wrong. To be honest, the thought of jumping out of an airplane is not an appealing proposition to me.

This was my first time riding along in a T-34. I loved it. I will be shooting some more in August.

One thing I have never heard of or seen a parachute do is grab someone and toss them out of an airplane. I had a friend, a longtime warbird pilot who refused to use a chute in his Mustang, and yes he did acro and carried passengers, and flew formation. One day he had an engine fire which spread to the cockpit. The idea of bailing out became very appealing. Luckily he was in someone else's plane and had a chute which saved his life. His summary: fire very bad, chute good, much quieter and cooler. I carry one, I hope I never have to use it, and if I do I am clear minded and decisive enough. It is also a good idea to wear earplugs inside your headset as 34's are very noisy.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I'm with you , Bill ! My thought on a lot of things is better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. Works well in all kinds of situations.

We reassess and freshen the contents of the survival kits in the ejection seats of the F-4 and A-4 on an annual basis. We did it on the A-4 and one of the pilots asked us what we put in it. My answer was " a bunch of neat stuff you'll never see !!

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"You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass..."
Admiral Isoruku Yamamoto

In the spirit of " I don't need that" (seatbelt or parachute, etc) and "Nobody's gonna tell me what to do". There is a column in our local newspaper called NEWS OF THE WEIRD. It is stories hard to believe, but true. A man in Australia was stopped and cited 32 times for not wearing his seat belt. He even went so far as to rig up a false seat belt that actually looked like he was wearing one. He was killed in a auto accident, of course not wearing a seat belt.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I never said I don't need one. There weren't any available at the time and I don't own one. I'm not a pilot, I'm just a photographer, so I have to go with what is available. I do my best to be safe up there and do what I can.

A photographer!!! Why didn't you say so? Those guys are even crazier than pilots! Have you seen how much money they'll spend on the newest techno-photo-electro-tele gadget? Won't take any better picture than my 1975 Leica, but is fun to haul around. And of course you got to have the titanium case to put it all in. And you can debate how many pixels you got, like nutty pilots debate which oil to use. Let me tell you how crazy one of the top photographers is. He gets in the tail of a B-25, with only a seat belt between him and space, the cone having been removed. He'll practically hang out the window while some type A know-it-all creature fueled by primitive urges places a huge spinning 4 or 5 bladed sword 10 feet away. Of course those Mitchell engines never cough or miss, do they? And of course the guy flying the fighter is known for being real cautious, that is why he's got those RARA stickers on his car. Isn't RARA latin for timid?
Another story, one of the top warbird photographers was in the back of a T-34, flown by one of the top warbird pilots. The photo guy did not have parachute on, too restrictive, and loosened his seat belt in order to lift up and shoot out the open canopy. The target was a rare and beautiful fighter, flown by a top CAF guy, sliding in closer to the Mentor before banking away. Once as he overshot, the T-34 pilot saw it and dove to avoid the collision. As it went negative G, the pilot saw in the rear view mirror the photo guy rising up out of the back seat and about to go skydiving. The photo guy never released his grip on the camera, he would likely have gotten some great shots on the way down, before cushioning the camera impact with his body, but the pilot pulled the stick back just in time to reseat the photo guy. True story.
If you are gonna hang around pilots and photographers, God save your soul. We do like to see those pictures though since it is hard to fly a plane and snap it at the same time.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

I remember a Budd Davisson story where he was a photographer in an open cockpit 2-holer(don't remember type). He was working without a harness on and was twisting and turning in the cockpit to get his shot. At some point he inadvertently got the stick up his pants leg. He moved the wrong way and pitched the a/c into a sudden negative G situation and almost ejected himself out!

Steve G

I agree about the photo from overhead (looking down at the 4 ship formation) being a real keeper.
Many thanks for sharing some good photos for those of us groundbound.

When I was in college, I read a lot of articles by pilots who said the same thing. Some of them actually had to leave the airplane but they wrote that they hesitated..it was a daunting prospect to them.

Since I knew I'd be flying acro someday, I wanted to be totally comfy with the idea of taking to the chute. So I started skydiving. 29 jumps later, I had gotten up to 15 second freefalls and was packing my own chute. On my last jump I had my legs out the door, in the breeze, and had 5000 feet below me. One bump and I'd be tossed right out of the plane - but I was pretty comfy with it all. On a couple jumps a backflip was needed to get back to a stable position.

So these days, my expectation is that if I had to leave the plane, I wouldn't sweat the parachute issue.

expectation....or maybe hope

I don't feel the need to do any more jumping.

Saville, it is nice to read that you no longer need to put on brightly colored tight suits and get into confined spaces with a bunch of other sweaty men. Repent and ye may yet be saved.

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK