1/2 mile down the road from here.

[Kraschenbirn]

Attachment 209045

Took this pic this morning on my way home from the fitness center. Just part of the Frasca collection. The P-40 is the one 'flown' by 'Wild Bill Kelso' (John Belushi) in the movie "1941". The Wildcat is an FM-2 (built by GM with a Wright R-1820 instead of the F4F's P&W R-1830). The Zero is one of the reconfigured T-6s from "Tora, Tora, Tora." All are airworthy and flown semi-regularly for airshows and veteran's gatherings.

Bill

[Greg G.]

Just love to see those old war birds fly, the sound of those engines is like nothing else.

[308Jeff]

There's a B-17 and a DC-3/C-47 flying in formation around here this morning. Always great to see those old birds in their element.

[timspawn]

"Eat lead *****" If you've seen "1941", you know what I'm talking about. Great movie.

[lucifers]

That last post would offend Al Franken ! "Eat lead heroic warrior of Japan" There all fixed !

[woodbutcher]

Oh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh."Those honorable little sons of Nippon"as a Marine vet used to call them.At least in mixed company.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Hardcast416taylor]

When I was a lad on the family farm and WW 2 hadn`t been over that many years before. A neighbor farmer and his Brother had returned from serving. One had served in the Corps in the Pacific the other in ETO in the Army. Neither talked about their service and both had an abiding dislike for Germans and Japanese till their passing years later.Robert

[Boz330]

When I was a lad on the family farm and WW 2 hadn`t been over that many years before. A neighbor farmer and his Brother had returned from serving. One had served in the Corps in the Pacific the other in ETO in the Army. Neither talked about their service and both had an abiding dislike for Germans and Japanese till their passing years later.Robert

My Dad's first combat was Guadalcanal and he didn't care much for the Japanese either. He mellowed some by the time he passed.
He had some interesting insights about the Wildcats and P-38s in the diary he kept while on Guadalcanal.


Bob

Bob

[smoked turkey]

Some of these later comments reminds me of an experience I had at a local garage quite a number of years ago. I took my Toyota pickup to the garage for an inspection or some work, don't remember which. The owner refused to do my work because of the Japanese association with my truck. He had also served during the time of Pearl Harbor. I respected his wishes and went on down the road.

[smokeywolf]

Kraschenbirn, we need to through some money in a pot and buy you a longer lens for your camera.

I have "1941" and "Tora, Tora, Tora" on DVD. Enjoy watching them every so often.

Dad ran a maintenance crew at Lockheed in about 1948 or '49. Said it was fun to watch the Air Force pilots pick up the P-38s. On take-off, they'd keep them on the ground as long as possible, get them up to maybe 100 ft off the runway then rotate to vertical and do a slow spiral straight up.

[Rick Hodges]

My father served in the Navy on a Heavy Cruiser in the Pacific. He was blown off his damaged ship in the naval battles around Guadalcanal.....watched as the Japanese machine gunned survivors. I never heard him refer to them as other than Nips or Japs.....with a tone of voice I never heard him use for anything or anyone else. My father didn't cuss, but the venom dripped from his voice using those words. He died in 1962....and his opinion had not mellowed one bit.

[GhostHawk]

I made it to Oshkosh once, back in 96. I'll never forget those days.

Love old warbirds.

I had a friend who was a firefighter at the Colombia Ms airport. He calls me up one morning and says listen to this. And I hear the unmistakeable sound of a B17 engine whining over, pop pop then settle into a smooth idle.

Ozark if your out there, I miss ya.

[Kraschenbirn]

Kraschenbirn, we need to through some money in a pot and buy you a longer lens for your camera.

Got a couple "long lenses" for my Canon...don't hunt any more but do wildlife photography instead...that shot was taken with my IPhone. Don't really feel like I need any more pics of Rudy's airplanes (collection numbers something like 50 birds, including three or four on 'permanent loan' to the EAA museum in Oskosh) considering that I've worked (EAA volunteer with an Airframe & Powerplant License) on most of them at one time or another over the last forty-some years. That's another thing that's fading away: Rudy's in an "assisted living" facility (Alzheimer's); neither of his two surviving sons have a real interest in the collection so I imagine it won't survive his passing by more than a year or two; and I haven't kept my A&P License current since I lost my FAA Medical Certificate to fly (as a pilot).

I first met Rudy Frasca ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frasca_International ) in 1970 when I returned to University of Illinois after separation from the Army. He was acting as an 'alumni advisor' to vets re-entering the education system. Had contact with him, off and on, ever since either thru the EAA or because my buddy kept his C-172 (that I maintained in exchange for flying privileges) at Frasca's airport.

[Kraschenbirn]

Some of these later comments reminds me of an experience I had at a local garage quite a number of years ago. I took my Toyota pickup to the garage for an inspection or some work, don't remember which. The owner refused to do my work because of the Japanese association with my truck. He had also served during the time of Pearl Harbor. I respected his wishes and went on down the road.

Sounds like my first R&R in Australia in 1967. Me and couple buddies got hooked up with a Sydney cabbie (don't ask "how", it's a long story involving an Aussie rules football match and a considerable amount of Watney's Red Barrel ) who had been merchant marine during WWII. Took us to a bar down by the harbor where his 'mates' hung out...to say that the 'sons of Nippon' were not spoken of kindly would be the grossest of understatement. Rules here prevent me from entering even mildest of their opinions.

Bill

[smokeywolf]

I have some old pics of my boys (when they were about 6 or 7) sitting in the nose gunner position in a B-25 Mitchell.

[AllanD]

Kraschenbirn, we need to through some money in a pot and buy you a longer lens for your camera.

I have "1941" and "Tora, Tora, Tora" on DVD. Enjoy watching them every so often.

Dad ran a maintenance crew at Lockheed in about 1948 or '49. Said it was fun to watch the Air Force pilots pick up the P-38s. On take-off, they'd keep them on the ground as long as possible, get them up to maybe 100 ft off the runway then rotate to vertical and do a slow spiral straight up.

There is a sound logical reason for them to do that and it has to do with how a P-38 behaves if one engine fails to make power.


A P-38 will Snap roll towards the dead engine and will pitch towards the ground while Inverted. It takes an Exceptionally skilled pilot to avoid the aircraft actively trying
To "face plant" him into the countryside.

What you are supposed to do Is reduce power on the Good engine (the one that is still making power) reduce flaps and Get the nose down than hope you have Someplace "cheap" do jettison any under-wing stores(bombs or fuel tanks) and enough airspeed to get it to climb to an altitude where you have some time to get it turned around and back on the ground.

It's all about something called "P-factor" and the aircraft having counter rotating props.
The propellers Rotate the top blade outwards toward the Wingtip. and this makes both engines "critical" it was done this way instead of rotating inwards because it both increased lift and made the aircraft a "more stable gun platform".


The interesting thing is that this can be changed easily enough by swapping the propellers and starter motors from each engine to the other
and rearrainging the spark wires, and rerouting some oil and hydraulic lines.

The Allison V12 is perfectly happy running in either direction, (CW or CCW)

[woodbutcher]

Hi Smokeywolf.The thing that you are referring to is a vertical slow roll.Not a spiral.Those are two different things.
Allan D.Re:Last paragraph in your reply.A bit more to it that that.As a CAMSHAFT only works one way.The easiest way to do what you suggest is to just change the engines from one side to the other.At one point during the war,there was a shortage of oposit turning engines,and so they just put two engines that turned the same way,with no problems.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Echo]

Hi Smokeywolf.The thing that you are referring to is a vertical slow roll.Not a spiral.Those are two different things.
Allan D.Re:Last paragraph in your reply.A bit more to it that that.As a CAMSHAFT only works one way.The easiest way to do what you suggest is to just change the engines from one side to the other.At one point during the war,there was a shortage of oposit turning engines,and so they just put two engines that turned the same way,with no problems.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

Plus one, for All Of The Above...

[18Bravo]

Drove by there everyday when I worked in Urbana a few years ago. The sound of those old birds flying overhead was something to behold.