BBRex said:

---

aTm2004 said:

---

Oh yeah, it was hauling.

I've always said a fighter jet pilot would be the ultimate job in a dick measuring contest...

What do you do for a living?
<smug voice activated>
"I am a graduate of Princeton and Yale Law, and am an equity partner at <insert white shoe law firm here>."
"Well, I am a Harvard Med trained cardiothoracic surgeon who has been published 7 times."
<smug voice off>
"I just went to a state school, but I fly F-22s."

---

My dad was a UH-1 pilot in Vietnam, and I've always thought those guys win that contest. Using rotor blades to cut small limbs to fit into LZs, Pulling out troops under fire. No way to eject if things go wrong. It was amazing what they did.

---

There's a very real difference between cool and crazy.

jkag89 said:

---

Who knew you were old enough to help design Buffs.

---

Funny guy

GAC06 said:

---

aTm2004 said:

---

Oh yeah, it was hauling.

I've always said a fighter jet pilot would be the ultimate job in a dick measuring contest...

What do you do for a living?
<smug voice activated>
"I am a graduate of Princeton and Yale Law, and am an equity partner at <insert white shoe law firm here>."
"Well, I am a Harvard Med trained cardiothoracic surgeon who has been published 7 times."
<smug voice off>
"I just went to a state school, but I fly F-22s."

---

Never ask a man if he's a fighter pilot. If he is, he'll tell you and if he isn't you don't want to embarrass him.

---

I have a good friend who is a fighter pilot, and if he's out in a bar and asked what he does, he will answer the craziest thing he can think of. He will never say he's a fighter pilot because that's probably the least believable response. One time I was with him, and he said he was a rodeo clown and the lady bought it.

I got to see the Antonov 225 take off out of IAH once from a high-rise office building in Greenspoint and it was unreal (the plane/takeoff, not the office building).

Info online says it rotates at about 160 knots, so by the time we could see it I'm sure it was at 170-180 knots. But it's so ****ing big it looked like it was barely moving and was surely about to just fall out of the sky at any second.

I've been to a crap-ton of airshows and have seen just about all the other monstrous planes take-off/land/do fly-bys, etc., but watching that thing climb out was unlike anything else.

Subsea O&G kept those 2 pretty much flying constantly for years.

Ha! That's funny!

Here's where he went after he retired from the Army:



https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/helicopter-to-measure-background-radiation-near-las-vegas-strip-1922621/

https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/aerial-measuring-system-ams

AgLA06 said:

---

Subsea O&G kept those 2 pretty much flying constantly for years.

---

2?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225_Mriya

This says something similar, but different than what we were told by the company operating the original 225. The link states the second was completed in 2020, but what we were told was they had purchased all the spare parts which was several planes worth.

There are lots of Antonov planes, just only (2) 225s. Which while I new there were 2, only 1 225 was flying subsea equipment (so my memory was off a little there).

Huh. I never heard of plans to complete the old 2nd airframe

Cool shot of a Warhawk.

JB!98 said:

---

Cool shot of a Warhawk.

---

Seriously? Pics of a damn P-40 are now filtered????

JB!98 said:

---

JB!98 said:

---

Cool shot of a Warhawk.

---

Seriously? Pics of a damn P-40 are now filtered????

---

Somebody flagged my pictures of the blackbird. I took them, so no copyright issue and it was the only flagged photos in a big group of pictures. They weren't even consecutive, so I doubt it was accidental.

JB!98 said:

---

Try again. I grew up around these.

---

Is that top pic an early version or a TA4 Skyhawk?

Two seater would be TA-4

MarkoRamius said:

---

Two seater would be TA-4

---

It's a TA-4J and the bottom is a T2-C. Both from NAS Chase Field in Beeville TX.

aggieforester05 said:

---

---

DeHavilland DH.88 Comet, forebearer to the above-posted DH.98 Mosquito.

Goose83 said:

---

aggieforester05 said:

---

---

DeHavilland DH.88 Comet, forebearer to the above-posted DH.98 Mosquito.

---

One of the most beautiful airplanes ever made imo. I've had a picture of it hanging on my wall for at least 20 years now.

javajaws said:

---

---

What a propwash nightmare

Goose83 said:

---

aggieforester05 said:

---

---

DeHavilland DH.88 Comet, forebearer to the above-posted DH.98 Mosquito.

---

I can't explain why, but after the mustang and lightning the mosquito has always been a favorite WW2 aircraft of mine.

I've always wondered if it was amazing to fly like the lightning or just average like many do it all type of planes.

AgLA06 said:

---

Goose83 said:

---

aggieforester05 said:

---

---

DeHavilland DH.88 Comet, forebearer to the above-posted DH.98 Mosquito.

---

I can't explain why, but after the mustang and lightning the mosquito has always been a favorite WW2 aircraft of mine.

I've always wondered if it was amazing to fly like the lightning or just average like many do it all type of planes.

---

Those Mosquitoes were amazing: mostly plywood built on spruce braces put together with screws. They couldn't afford hydraulic landing gear so they used rubber blocks in springs for shock absorption and the plane could absorb a lot of punishment. They even built one version with a 57 mm gun in the nose to attack shipping/maritime targets.