Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire If you wear a CPAP, listen to this tonight and dream...

... you're taking a nap while your B-17 crosses the Channel on it's way to Berlin.

that actually wouldn't be too bad

we haven't done it lately but we'd often go to be with "distant thunderstorms" or "train sounds" on in the background

Thinking about being in a B-17 on its way to bomb Berlin doesn't sound like a very restful or peaceful scenario.

I'd rather think about being in a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation on my way to London and then on to Nairobi for a safari.






Cruise speed: 304 mph
Range: 5,150 mi
Burns about 480 gallons per hour at cruise.



TWA Lockheed Super Constellation

Pretty cool seeing those exhaust flames.
I don’t remember the exact percentage but in the T-28 NATOPS (operating manual), there was a mention that something like 5% of the thrust of its ~1400 horsepower was generated by the exhaust stacks. At idle it sounded sort of like the Chevy small block with the high performance, solid lifter cam.

I live a mile away from a small municipal airport that served as a training base for P-47 pilots en route to Europe.

Their USAAF museum makes it a popular spot for occasional fly-ins of vintage warbirds.

It's not unusual to hear the sound of a B-17, B-24 or B-25 flying above my house.

Nothing stirs the soul like the sound of those four Wright radial engines.

Now, please excuse me while I take my Howard 500 out for a little spin.




Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney R-2800-CB17 eighteen-cylinder two-row radial engines, 2,500 hp each
Propellers: 4-bladed Hamilton-Standard 24E60-7037A-50 propellers

Maximum speed: 410 mph (660 km/h, 360 kn) at sea level
Cruise speed: 350 mph (560 km/h, 300 kn) at 21,000 ft (6,400 m) (econ.cruise)
Stall speed: 103 mph (166 km/h, 90 kn)
Never exceed speed: 450 mph (720 km/h, 390 kn)
Range: 2,600 mi (4,200 km, 2,300 nmi)

Service ceiling: 35,000 ft (11,000 m)
Rate of climb: 2,550 ft/min (13.0 m/s)
Takeoff distance to 50 ft (15 m): 2,412 ft (735 m)
Landing distance from 50 ft (15 m): 3,575 ft (1,090 m)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_500

In case any of you guys are in or near Florida...

This was General Douglas MacArthur’s personal transport.

Airshow info: https://flysnf.org/aerospace-expo/the-connie-is-coming-to-sun-n-fun-50th/
April 9-14, 2024 | Lakeland, FL










General Douglas MacArthur’s Personal Airplane Flies Again
Eric Tegler | June 30, 2023 | Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ericte...al-airplane-flies-again/?sh=1a70ce906eea

also see: https://planesoffame.org/aircraft/plane-VC-121A



General Douglas MacArthur steps from his personally assigned Lockheed Constellation transport, Bataan, during the Korean War.
U.S. AIR FORCE

Interesting they all turn in the same direction. I thought in multiple engine applications you have counter-rotating propellers.
Not far from Lakeland may have to go see that.

Never been on a plane,
some of the best sleep I’ve ever had was in the bunk of a truck running 70mph on a rainy day.


Mrs. Buck and I joke that we would buy a Peterbilt for a bedroom if we were rich. Start the engine and sleep perfectly.

On multi-engine propeller aircraft (whether piston engine or turboprop), counter-rotating is more the exception rather than the rule.

List of aircraft with counter-rotating propellers:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-rotating_propellers


Here's me with a Piper PA-44 Seminole. The Seminole has counter-rotating props.
I'm not a pilot. I rode along with a friend on a weekend trip from Houston, TX to Chanute, Kansas. We went to visit the Martin & Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute.

I don't wear a CPAP, but I like listening to this at night.

Smear a dab of Vicks Vapo-Rub on the vent like my mom used to when I had a cold?

I have one of those humidifiers, or at least used to.