The Yanks are...........GOING!

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

If those numbers are accurate, it sounds like the B-2 is incredibly efficient for its weight. That is to be expected from the design, however, since it is among the most efficient designs possible for fuel. I fly a heavy so I can make some relevant comparisons without going into details.

Large jets burn a lot of fuel, but they are typically fairly efficient at it given due consideration to all relevant factors. Consider comparing a tractor trailer to a Toyota Prius Hybrid--hands down, the tractor trailer will always be more fuel efficient per mile per weight load, and the same can generally be said of larger aircraft.

I guess as an analogy, when the heavies are flying at airshows(especially privately funded)......they need to have a "heavy load" of viewers on the ground to keep the cost per viewer "wow'd" as low as possible?

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

I have posted this before, but if anyone here has an interest in aviation then a visit to the National Air and Space Museum on The Mall in D.C. is a must. It houses the original Wright Flyer, the Spirit of St Louis, the Bell X-1 and the Apollo 11 Command Module among other important historical aviation and aerospace artifacts.

*Ref: Roland White; Vulcan 607

I can honestly say that a visit to the National Air & Space Museum is an incredible and inspirational experience of human freedom and achievement.

It's like Christmas morning but with airplanes and rockets.

Our local museum here is small but of high quality.

They were kind enough to roll out a beautiful RNZAF P51D(with a cool provincial rugby coloured stripe scheme that was officially used in the 1950's) onto the tarmac for me to conduct a photo shoot.

We've also had the great opportunity to get up close and personal with a P40 restoration from a hanger full of bits to beautiful perfection.

We've got a growing cluster of Titan T51 Mustangs here locally. It's not the same thing, but it's such a cool looking scale copy. One's for sale incredibly cheap here and it's really, really tempting...but I'm finding it hard to find the time for paragliding at the moment.

[Mega]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Try this:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-28276162
Mike

[GRG55]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

Thanks GRG55.
If you like collections of important aircraft, you might stop by Dayton to the Wright Patterson Air Force Museum.

They don't have the original Wright Flyer from Kitty Hawk, but they have the Wright 1909 Military Flyer, the very first US military airplane bought by the US army, tail number 1. Wilbur Wright flew it teaching the first army pilots.
And about 300 other aircraft on display.

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil

Has been on my list of must get to for longer than I care to admit!
Thanks!!

[GRG55]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

...We've got a growing cluster of Titan T51 Mustangs here locally. It's not the same thing, but it's such a cool looking scale copy. One's for sale incredibly cheap here and it's really, really tempting...but I'm finding it hard to find the time for paragliding at the moment.

The pilot two hangars down from me had a Titan 51. Definitely cool looking in polished aluminium. He was a "two Mustang" owner. The other airplane in the hangar is his Cessna Citation Model 510 Mustang.

Last year he upgraded to an Extra 300 and sold the Titan.

At the 2013 EAA Oshkosh show Titan had on display a partially completed airframe they were modifying to handle a 12-cylinder BMW engine. They had the Bimmer engine dressed up, including custom valve covers, to emulate the original's RR Merlin powerplant.

What I can't understand is why there is such a variety of scale replica North American P51 Mustangs, and no really good scale replicas of the Supermarine Spitfire or Hawker Hurricane. Maybe its an "American thing"?

[lakedaemonian]

Re: The Yanks are...........GOING!

The pilot two hangars down from me had a Titan 51. Definitely cool looking in polished aluminium. He was a "two Mustang" owner. The other airplane in the hangar is his Cessna Citation Model 510 Mustang.

Last year he upgraded to an Extra 300 and sold the Titan.

At the 2013 EAA Oshkosh show Titan had on display a partially completed airframe they were modifying to handle a 12-cylinder BMW engine. They had the Bimmer engine dressed up, including custom valve covers, to emulate the original's RR Merlin powerplant.

What I can't understand is why there is such a variety of scale replica North American P51 Mustangs, and no really good scale replicas of the Supermarine Spitfire or Hawker Hurricane. Maybe its an "American thing"?

http://www.supermarineaircraft.com/mk26b-90

75%, 80% and 90% versions available

But pretty expensive compared to the rough equivalent T51

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We can even run the T51 down here as a class 2 microlight.

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I once has high trajectory long-term aspirations for an Eclipse 500 in the very early days, but both the aircraft development and the personal commitment for it were both pinging the insane needle.

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I've heard about the full size Titan Mustang replica with small size total cost of ownership for a while, but haven't heard/seen much substance behind it yet.

The only thing I've heard of is this hot rod:

http://www.thundermustang.com/kit-build-assistance/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papa_51_Thunder_Mustang

We did have one of the original hot rod kits down here at the airshows, pretty impressive specs, well beyond my limited low performance single(152/172/Tomahawk) and paraglider experience.