Warbird Information Exchange

Just in case you were wondering what happened to Dave lately he's been busy. Checking out on VWC Lysander this weekend, these were shots taken during the taxi run before the weather closed in on us.
Also some shots of the Spitfire MKIX wings and bits getting ready to be mated to the fuselage shortly.

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“Try to fly in the middle of the air. The edges are filled with mountains and oceans and rocks and it’s much harder to fly there.”

No doubt some 5 gallon pails of ice water are on standby

This is really cool news.
Congratulations Dave
You deserve a cold beer after the cold soaking
I wouldn't be surprised, if pilots that are current on Lysanders, number in the single digits!

Spit wings are looking real close to coming out of the jig.
Well done to the artisans. (I've seen these wings a few times during progress & they're gorgeous)

Thanks for the update

Andy

Is that Bob Spence's Swordfish in the background, or a different one?

Yup,
That's the Swordfish Bob Spence restored.
I saw Bob at Tillsonburg in June. Really enjoyable man.
I usually see his son Pete a few times through the airshow season as well.
Great, fun, folks!

Regarding the Swordfish, keeping a Bristol Pegasus running is a real challenge. Parts support is a huge challenge.

Andy

Andy, I recently discovered that some models of the Pegasus and Mercury are almost interchangeable. The only difference is piston-stroke. This is good news for us, obviously. We need to get that Pegasus repair in gear.

Anyway, as Steve says, yesterday I floundered around the ramp, menacing all the corporate airplanes and innocent visitors as I learned how to taxi the Lysander. It's a "learned response" thing. The brakes are British on the spade-grip of the joystick, but the wheelbase is very long and the gear isn't very wide. This gives poor geometry for changing direction. Also they are pneumatic bladder shoe brakes. Very quaint. And the tail is enormously heavy, so you can't "bop" it around Andy like you can a Tiger Moth. And it's a geared engine that takes a while to spool up. I am sure there are times when you can land this aeroplane, but not taxi it.

So, I flew it today. Obviously I need to write it up properly, but impressions...

•the pilot's seat is a throne
•engine starts well and idles superbly, but is slow to accelerate
•the brakes suck
•taxying is difficult
•tons of power
•not enough elevator
•the elevator trim is cumbersome, but you need it a lot and often
•handling is like a transport airplane, not unresponsive, but heavy, except the rudders which are as light as a Fox Moth
•it's great to have John Aitken in the pax seat as on-board equipment
•it flies slow, but also goes fast, cruising at 160 mph
•hot in the cockpit -- typical British when it comes to pilot comfort
•there are corners of the envelope that can get you in trouble (slow speed, power changes)
•there is no manual control of slats or flaps. They are linked, and operated by airfoil lift alone.
•at typical touchdown speed the flaps and slats have not even fully deployed
•sideslips well
•it plops onto the grass and stops like a Tiger Moth
•runs straight on the ground
•creates a big smile after shutdown!
•leaks less oil than my Fairchild

I was too busy to take photos, but have a few, which I will post in a minute.

Dave

Jealous, jealous, jealous and green with envy. If you ever want to swap L-5 time for Lysander time, I'll trade you straight up!

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REMEMBER THE SERGEANT PILOTS!

Here we were the night before. I had flown the Fairchild to Gatineau for this event, then hid it in the hangar away from the pouring rain. But I was haunting the Lysander cockpit, going over the checklist.

Kind of looks like one is on steroids, right?



And it's a pretty cool camera platform I'm using.

But this morning the wind was slow to rise, so we headed off. As I say, both my hands were busy and I didn't get any aerial shots. And I couldn't use my helmet cam because the avionics in my helmet need repair.



But we returned...



.... and can actually re-use the aeroplane!

My coach for all of this was one of Canada's finest Instructor's, McKee Trophy winner and pilot par-excellence, John Aitken.



He's a brave, brave man to sit back there on a first flight, without any controls.

And it was his birthday today! I'm glad I brought him back for his party.

Dave

What a great day! Great pix!

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He bowls overhand...He is the most interesting man in the world.
"In Peace Japan Breeds War", Eckstein, Harper and Bros., 3rd ed. 1943(1927, 1928,1942)
"Leave it to ol' Slim. I got ideas...and they're all vile, baby." South Dakota Slim
"Ahh..."The Deuce", 28,000 pounds of motherly love." quote from some Mojave Grunt
DBF

Really cool Dave

Congrats.

This thing clearly classifies as a "contraption"!

How does one ever get the hang of flaps and slats that you have no real control input for?

Thanks for the description. I can believe that John was a great reassurance

What speed does she stall at? Do the flaps and slats pop out before that by themselves?

Andy

Please expand on this comment. I've heard elsewhere that it has some odd/dangerous characteristics, but don't remember specifics.

Hi Dave,

Could we get a status update on the Spitfire Mk IX and the Hurricane XII?

Thanks
Alan

The Lysander is one of my favourite plane. After seeing flying the Sabena Old Timer's one at an airshow here Belgium.

I have a book writed by the association including a small flight report of one of the pilots.
From his point of view one of the most challenging situation was the go around, when a fast increase of power could cause a dramatic increase of pitch, with a high risk of a stall.
And the second more challenging moment of the flight could be the boarding with a complexe sequence of step to reach the front cockpit.

I'm still hoping to see the Belgian Lysander flying in the near futur after its engine failure and rough landing in Brussels.

Congratulations to Dave for this achievement.

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Sorry for my bad English:-(

I'm sure Dave would agree with the "complexe sequence of step to reach the front cockpit."

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“Try to fly in the middle of the air. The edges are filled with mountains and oceans and rocks and it’s much harder to fly there.”

Unfortunately as Dave reported he didn't get to fly until yesterday when none of us were around to arrange a proper greeting upon his return. I'm sure we'd have been prepared if things had gone to plan on Saturday.

Dave, Glad to see that you got her in the air yesterday.

Terry

I guess he's just gonna have to make due with the beer then

Andy