Warbird Information Exchange

Hi Wixers, Something I always fear, the bigger ones(geese, hawks, gulls) even in a Cessna 150. I'd imagine in a P-51 doing 250+ it could be real bad. Ever heard of any?
Thanks, Rob

Actually, my friend flying his N3N hit a large bird with the prop. Lots of feathers, poor bird.

I remember seeing something a few years back. I think it involved a Corsair. It got down OK but there was a good sized hole in the wing leading edge.

Had a close one with our N. Watched a hawk go wizzing by real close to our wing tip just outside the N.........just between the wings we figured.

Here is a Non-warbird story.......
One of our pilots was taxing to the hangar in one of the BE-1900D's that I used to work on. So within the taxi lights he notes a mouse running across the taxi way just infront of him.........seconds later a Owl "in reverse" mode filled the windshield and hit the #1 prop. When he told us the story, we did not believe him so we went and looked.....and sure enough there is this owl laying on the ramp...........so we picked it up and brought it to the hangar.....he was a little battered but deader then hell........so we propped him in the break room fridge in the freezer and had him perched on a day shifters Hungry Man frozen dinner.

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Long Live the N3N-3 "The Last US Military Bi-Plane" 1940-1959
Badmouthing Stearmans on WIX since 2005

Sounds like it would make a great meal. However I've heard they don't have too much meat, mostly feathers..

The LSFM Corsair had a bird strike earlier this year...hit at the 7 o'clock position on the cowling. There's a nice, fat dent in it as of two weeks ago, but seemingly no other damage.

Interesting story about bird strikes...a guy in my squadron hit a bird at 16,500' a week ago!! It went right down the engine intake and FODded out the engine.

Nobody would have believed it was a bird except that it is clearly visible on the HUD tape whizzing past at 420 knots. Thank God for 30 frames-per-second!

A bird strike is definately a bad thing in any airplane, but I feel a little better in the Sea Fury sitting behind 2" thick bulletproof glass. I had a friend take a bird several years ago in a bug smasher, and it looked like a cannon had gone off in the cockpit. Blood and feathers everywhere (including all over her). Another few inches to the left and she wouldn't be here today.

Two of my aircraft have hit Kangaroos while on the hop. Are they flying???

OD off to USofA and Canada Sunday...Chino/Palm Springs/Idaho/Red Deer/Toronto/Atlanta/San Antonio>>see you at an airport over the next couple of weeks...

Carl Schmieder and I were on final into a airport in Iowa a number of yrs ago on the way home from Osh and we hit a duck that had taken off from a small pond off the end of the runway. Since we were landing, we did not have alot of speed, but that duck gave it's all, it hit us 3 times, the cowling at about the 8 oclock postition, then the port stub wing just I/B of the attach angle cover, over the top of the wing and into the port horizontal stab. No damage, but there was blood and feathers all over the plane where it hit us.

Hmmm,

We were on final going into Nashua, NH a few years back. We saw the bird coming but he didnt see the Grumman C-1 closing fast. It hit on the pilots windshield and bounced off and went over the top, left a little smear and a few feathers but no real damage. It was a very big bird prior to that.

On a non warbird note.
We see them all the time at work, the best one I remember involved a Malibu. He went through a group of seagulls after takeoff from Block Island. One hit the LH wingtip lense and a wing got stuck in the lense right at the shoulder. It flopped on the top of the wing all the way to Bedford, and fell back underneath while taxiing to the ramp. All 25 inches of the wing dangling in as he arrived on the ramp.

We had to remove bits of shredded carpet from the engine of a BBJ a week or so ago. Those engines are TOUGH! After a borescope check and a good cleaning of the skid marks outboard of the fan blades, off it went.

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"Hindsight is usually 20% off!"

When I was in VA-128 at Whidbey, we had a A-6E hit a BIG Turkey Vulture while doing a low level route through the cascades on the way to Boardman at about 350 kts. Made it through the windscreen (Steve P. take notice) and goobered the pilot something fierce. B/N kept her flying while the pilot regained his senses and they came back to the rock. What a f*cking mess and oh the special smell. I'm just glad I wasn't the P/C.

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Don't touch my junk!!

ever see bambi get hit??? i've seen some pics of deer - plane collisions.... just ghastly to see, they definetely are tenderized, epecially after hitting the prop!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

Orrin Carr smacked a sea gull with his left wing during the Honduran Corsair recovery. Did some fair damage to the outer leading edge. I've got a pic of it somewhere around here. What's up with Corsairs and bird strikes?

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Rob Mears
'Surviving Corsairs' Historian
robcmears@yahoo.com
http://www.robmears.com

Evergreen's FG hit a goose on the right wing a few years back while giving a OR ANG Col. a ride. If I remember correctly, they then tried to give him the repair bill also.

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Don't touch my junk!!