Some pics from the 80's

[Eric Friedebach]

You may hear of a T-28. First don't
go near with clean clothes.

All that oil keeps one young looking. Better than Oil of Olay
and better smelling too, IMO.

A 20-something girl carded me for a six-pack of Blatz recently!

[Stephanie]

Stephanie, for DC-3 info, look for a long out of date book written by LtCol Carrol Glines Jr. and LtCol Wendell Moseley

Title is Grand Old Lady ( Story of the DC-3).

I will keep an eye out for it, thanks for the heads up!

[King]

You may hear of a T-28. First don't go near with clean clothes.

This weekend we had all the toys out of the hangar to play with. The T-28 had not been run in a while and the battery was low so we hooked the cart up and scavenged as much of the oil up as we could. It had just been washed and polished and was gleaming like the beautiful girl that she is.

Climb in, started cranking, catch a few cylinders and she fires up and promptly threw up down both sides........the line service guys just threw thier hands up and walked away.

Now the P-51, she looks hotter than ever............climb in, crank, goes through the blades, she poots a couple of times and starts purring. Clean as a whistle and ready for the dance. I can forgive a girl for pooting every once and a while.

Onto the T-33, she looks great and that new dress....wow, hit the button and she starts screaming and whining then a few deep rumbles about something or another and then she setles down for a nice evening out.

Aren't warbirds wonderful?

[Taigh Ramey]

Hey Eric,

Do you think that AT-11 is still around?

Any chance that you could send a copy of the photos of it to Bob Parmerter, the most awesome Twin Beech historian around? He loves to get these kinds of shots for his research.

Sorry to interrupt the silliness!

[Eric Friedebach]

Any chance that you could send a copy of the photos of it to Bob Parmerter, the most awesome Twin Beech historian around?

No problem!

I’ve talked to Bob a few times, but not for at least fifteen years. Good guy.

I’ll definitely dig through some things here; not everything is in one place or organized well.

[Taigh Ramey]

Thanks for doing that Eric. Bob is a great guy that the whole Twin Beech community owes a large debt of gratitude for his selfless work.

[O.P.]

You may hear of a T-28. First don't go near with clean clothes.

Climb in, started cranking, catch a few cylinders and she fires up and promptly threw up down both sides........the line service guys just threw thier hands up and walked away.

All that oil keeps one young looking.

Heeeehheeee, man, I love T28's! One of my favorite things is to invite mommy to let little Billy and little Sally to come on up and look into the cockpit....heeeeeeheee, they always get sent back with their airshow finery covered in soot and oil all along their front and left side, heeeheeee

Ahhhhh, good times, good times.....

[RickH]

O.P.. if you get off that much from the oil on the outside of a T-28 you must absolutely go nuts around an A-1 !

[Beachy]

You may hear of a T-28. First don't go near with clean clothes.

This weekend we had all the toys out of the hangar to play with. The T-28 had not been run in a while and the battery was low so we hooked the cart up and scavenged as much of the oil up as we could. It had just been washed and polished and was gleaming like the beautiful girl that she is.

Climb in, started cranking, catch a few cylinders and she fires up and promptly threw up down both sides........the line service guys just threw thier hands up and walked away.

Now the P-51, she looks hotter than ever............climb in, crank, goes through the blades, she poots a couple of times and starts purring. Clean as a whistle and ready for the dance. I can forgive a girl for pooting every once and a while.

Onto the T-33, she looks great and that new dress....wow, hit the button and she starts screaming and whining then a few deep rumbles about something or another and then she setles down for a nice evening out.

Aren't warbirds wonderful?

Oh, King -- Great description of the ladies! Just terrific!

[King]

Oh, King -- Great description of the ladies! Just terrific!

Sometimes I even think I have 'em figured out. Then I come back to reality.

And I'm talking about warbirds!

[Beachy]

Sometimes I even think I have 'em figured out. Then I come back to reality.

And I'm talking about warbirds!

I figured that. No one's yet figured out us women!

[King]

No one's yet figured out us women!

Yeah, ya'll are kinda odd at times, and I mean that in a good way.

[Beachy]

No one's yet figured out us women!

Yeah, ya'll are kinda odd at times, and I mean that in a good way.

We only appear that way.......it's just to keep you guys on your toes!

[EDowning]

Bill Greenwood Wrote:

Stephanie, you have the eye of a true artist. There really are 3 kinds of planes. The coolest are like the one you picked, they are pointed in front, usually have 6 exhaust stacks on each side, sound wonderful, and don't leak oil(maybe a little). Next are the fat ones, round in front, and covered in oil, frequently painted navy. Believe it or not some of these actually fly pretty good, they just sound funny. Last are ones with no props. They smell like a diesel garbage truck and sound worse. Their pilots freqeuntly wear their flight suits in the bar after the show, but believe it or not a lot of these planes even have air conditioning! There are a few other types, hardly worth mentioning, except you can ride on them or fetch parts for the real planes.


If you see something huge and round, it's not a 28, it is a Trynoskyradierasorus, good for scaring natives in 3rd world countries.

I had the accessory side panels off the Skyraider today and I had a great idea. I was looking at that big ole starter that it takes to turn over that 3000hp R3350 and occurred to me that I should just pull it off the back of the engine and replace it with one of them cute little "Merlins". It would make that quaint little popping and whirring noise a Spitfire makes, and then almost immeadiately you would get real 3350 engine sound to drown it out. Best of both worlds. I could save a little weight and get Bill off my back for not having anything that's merlin powered.

I think it would probably turn it fast enough to get started, but I still need to work out how to keep the stack fires from setting off the 40 gals of oil in the tank above it. Guess I'll have to put in another call to Gary Austin.

[retroaviation]

I had the accessory side panels off the Skyraider today and I had a great idea. I was looking at that big ole starter that it takes to turn over that 3000hp R3350 and occurred to me that I should just pull it off the back of the engine and replace it with one of them cute little "Merlins". It would make that quaint little popping and whirring noise a Spitfire makes, and then almost immeadiately you would get real 3350 engine sound to drown it out. Best of both worlds. I could save a little weight and get Bill off my back for not having anything that's merlin powered.

I think it would probably turn it fast enough to get started, but I still need to work out how to keep the stack fires from setting off the 40 gals of oil in the tank above it. Guess I'll have to put in another call to Gary Austin.

Man, I thought you liked me, Eric. Guess I was wrong. First of all, if you're gonna attempt to get a Merlin to have enough horsepower to turn over a 3350, then you better get a call into Dave Zueschal, Dwight Thorn, or Rousch's research and development team. While you're at it, have them figure out a way I don't have to retorque the heads and adust the valves every time it runs. Geez!

One of the best quotes I ever heard was when I worked at one of the best restoration shops in the world (my opinion). We frequently had Mustangs in the shop and we also frequently had tourists come through the shop as well. Naturally they all say something like, "Boy, those Merlins sure do sound good!" And this one time, without missing a beat, the owner of this shop (who is normally not one to come up with a zinger like this) said, "Yeah.......they sure sound good leaving."

So Eric, for the sake of our friendship, please don't ever consider getting one of those Merlins. Don't even scare me like that. They are cute though......like an engine, only smaller.

Gary