Warbird Information Exchange

Staggerwing Beech

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Fly Fast Make Noise!

TBD Devastator. Hopefully we can see one some day soon


:: Then i look at my avatar ::

definitely The Neptune.

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Jeff

Still would have to be the F-15...




No, the Northrop Reporter kind.

Gary, re. your fascination with British airplanes; think of this, the country that produced probably the most beautiful fighter, perhaps even the most beautiful plane, of course the Spitfire, also produced perhaps the ugliest, The Fairy Gannet. Anybody got one more ungainly than that? Have you been over there, lot's of great stuff to see. Unlike Midland they have green grass and no dust, just don't have sunlight. And don't eat the food, I suggest taking some Texas B-B-Q with you!

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

Well, to be perfectly honest, one of my all time favorite airplanes is the Transavia AirTruk. The reason I didn't list it earlier was that it's not a Warbird, and I was embarrassed to even mention it. But now that I've admitted to liking all of those British airplanes, then it made me think that the ol' AirTruk isn't so bad after all.

Now, this is an ungainly airplane......
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.s ... entry=true

Gary

Gary;
I agree with you!
As a young child, I thought the AirTruk was so cool!
It's as ugly as an A-10!
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

There is a Polish - Australian similarity in aircraft when it comes to the Air Truck? Both seemed to have a model developed with a similar ugliness. I like both!

Since this thread asks for just one, I did not expand my list, and won't do so, but a thread on ugly airplanes that we like nonetheless (and then, I can include one or two variants of the Spitfire) should be the place, right? : )

Saludos, y'all!


Tulio

I have so many favorite a/c but for me the one that has the most 'charisma' is the B-17 - and specifically the B-17F w/o the chin turret.

It led the bloody campaign of daylight bombardment in a more lethal environment that forced all other Allies into the night. So many 20 year olds died in this bird and so many returned that would not have survived in a lesser craft.

Regards,

Bill

So many favorites but this one is at the top for me.

Me-163, the Flying Egg? Who called it that? It was know as the "Fuhrers Fart" by the Germans.

Point taken, I now ammended the question slightly to........

What are the most charismatic warbirds to you?

so that people can 'fess up to all their dirty little aircraft Predilections.

Tulio & retroaviation, did you know that TransAvia (the Australian company responsible for the Air-Truk) marketed a COIN/light attack version of the Air-Truk during the '80s, I have an ad at home with an artists rendition of it complete with gun packs and under-wing stores in camo, I will try to dig it out. I think that this would make it elligable to be included.

P.S I missed out by a couple of weeks on a FREE Air-truk that just needed its annual , they now no longer have any value amongst ag operaters.

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Wow, has it really been that long since I last visited?

I've heard it being called the "Flying Egg" and the "Powered Egg" by the Germans. Never heard of the "Fuhrer's Fart" before, but I do like the sound of that one!

John

Gary, I must defer to you on the Air Truk, it makes a Gannet look comparitively sleek. It has a certain charm. Now I have wondered from an economic standpoint about spending $3Mil. on just one aircraft, even Fifi. How many Air Trucks can we buy for the same amount? As a 20 year CAF life member I want two, one each of the civil and the armed version, and as a guy who actually does the work you deserve a couple. I'd park mine on the ramp in Aspen where all the corporate snoots pull up in the G5s. Who designed these things, was it in some country with exceptionally strong marijuana?

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Bill Greenwood
Spitfire N308WK

"Charisma: the special virtue of an office, fuction, position, etc., that confers or is thought to confer on the person holding it an unusual ability for leadership, wothiness of veneration, or the like."

Because of this definition, I would have to choose the Grumman Wildcat. A not so special airframe ability wise, but because of the way it was pressed into service against more able odds, and the men who flew it, make this aircraft deserving of charisma because the men who flew it, and the way they flew it, make it deserving of worthiness and veneration

-Dennis S.
Greeley, CO

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"We must bond together and fight as brothers or we will all die as fools."

Not a bad choice....to that I would add the Curtiss P-40....both got it done when there was nothing better around, UNTIL there was something better around......both REEKED of personality and characteristic traits, flaws, plusses and minuses...both are collector's items today and considered classics....and both, despite my obvious preference for the F4U, are two of my favorite birds from that period of time.

M

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Mark Morris

Charisma?

Fury, without question. One of the few airplanes that even looks perfect when parked: I refer to it as looking like a perched eagle...

Another that doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet--a bit surprisingly--would be the Grumman Tigercat: almost a caricature of itself, with those giant engines on that slinky little airframe.

And then there's the F2G...especially in race trim...vavoom...

S.

(PS: would also give a nod to the DH Hornet, but there are none extant to be Warbirds today...maybe someday...)