B29 Overheard

[PILOON]

I flew the T-28 B and C models in Navy flight training.
Wright R-1820 (1350HP - 3 blade prop)..... the best sound, and a wonderful throb when taxiing.
Absolutely a blast to fly.....and they paid me to do it!
The C model was the carrier version, and I did landings and take offs aboard the USS Lexington.
That was truly the cat's axx for a nearly fearless 20 year old.

After 39 years of being paid to fly, my flying life is now behind me also.
I play with my tractors now......for no pay,....... and I enjoy TBN every single day!

Between my aviation debut and tractors I had an avionics facility, followed by becoming a FBO then becoming a Cessna dealer. Had both Canada and US mechanic tickets and flew about 4000 hrs always under a private pilot ticket even though my AC was full IFR.
Crossed Canada and flew over 3/4 of US states. YUL to FLA many a time.
Oh many a good memory. A dream was to have a PA18 on floats at my water font.
Actually had (briefly) a PA12/180hp on floats (minor damage) that I purchased for $4k.
Within 2 weeks a knock at my door announced he was there to purchase my PA12!
When he plunked $10k in cash I declared it 'SOLD'.
Not bad a short term investment!

But things sure have changed.
Back 'in the days' I'd hear 20-30 AC overhead daily going north to fish or hunt.
Now only a rare one and more often a military chopper..
Fuel costs, AWD's etc. sure have taken their toll.
A Cessna that burns 12 gal/hr. or a Beaver @ 22 gals sure has diminished flying.
All to say an overhead AC is still music to my ears!

 

[Jstpssng]

During the Cold War I was startled when a B-52 flew very low over my car as I traveled in far out rural Kansas. The whole car shook. Haven't seen one since, but occasionally hear a vintage B-17 . Those jet engines don't sound pretty like the piston engines. The North American B-25 plant was near where I lived during WWII. I get a thrill every time I hear those sounds. Get some Galaxy's now and then around here.
Cheers,
Mike

We used to see that a lot, back when Loring AFB was operating. Some people didn't like it but I thought it broke up the monotony of a day. One project I was on, the guys on night crew said the pilot would lock in on the big spotlight we had, and fly so close the light would rock from the vortex. On two occasions I found debris from the flyovers; once a cargo door which must not have been secured, and on another occasion i found the rear half of a bomb with corresponding hardware, which must had been ripped off when the pilot got too low.
I didn't know who to report it to so passed it on the the client's project manager, who laughed and nothing came of it.

 

[fried1765]

Between my aviation debut and tractors I had an avionics facility, followed by becoming a FBO then becoming a Cessna dealer. Had both Canada and US mechanic tickets and flew about 4000 hrs always under a private pilot ticket even though my AC was full IFR.
Crossed Canada and flew over 3/4 of US states. YUL to FLA many a time.
Oh many a good memory. A dream was to have a PA18 on floats at my water font.
Actually had (briefly) a PA12/180hp on floats (minor damage) that I purchased for $4k.
Within 2 weeks a knock at my door announced he was there to purchase my PA12!
When he plunked $10k in cash I declared it 'SOLD'.
Not bad a short term investment!

But things sure have changed.
Back 'in the days' I'd hear 20-30 AC overhead daily going north to fish or hunt.
Now only a rare one and more often a military chopper..
Fuel costs, AWD's etc. sure have taken their toll.
A Cessna that burns 12 gal/hr. or a Beaver @ 22 gals sure has diminished flying.
All to say an overhead AC is still music to my ears!

I'm an old guy too, so in my opinion a Beaver on floats is the best of all, for Canada & Alaska use, though a Grumman Widgeon would be a delight to have.

 

[MossRoad]

When I was a kid, my dad worked a couple towns over in Elkhart, Indiana. There was a small airfield between Mishawaka and Elkhart called Sportsman Air Park (I think). There, surrounded by cornfields, was a Lake aircraft dealer. Probably 6-10 Lake Buccaneers sitting there at any given time. I've seen a few of them land and take off on a larger lake about 20 miles north of there at my grandparents' cottage back in the 60s and 70s. I've always thought that would be a fun aircraft.

 

[bcp]

I want one of these, set up as a motorhome.

dc3 floats at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

I want one of these, set up as a motorhome.

dc3 floats at DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo. Privacy, Simplified.

duckduckgo.com

Bruce

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

You know what else has unique sounds?

C5 Galaxy and the Goodyear Blimp.

Used to live on the east coast across the bay from Ft Monmouth in NJ and every Armed Forces Day they did very low level flyovers in the C5 (from McGuire AFB) and it was like a solar eclipes and an earthquake at the same time, incredible.

 

[MossRoad]

I always thought Cessna Skymasters sounded unique as well...

 

[BravoXray]

When I was a kid, my dad worked a couple towns over in Elkhart, Indiana. There was a small airfield between Mishawaka and Elkhart called Sportsman Air Park (I think). There, surrounded by cornfields, was a Lake aircraft dealer. Probably 6-10 Lake Buccaneers sitting there at any given time. I've seen a few of them land and take off on a larger lake about 20 miles north of there at my grandparents' cottage back in the 60s and 70s. I've always thought that would be a fun aircraft.

That would have been Midway Airport, where the Meijer store is now on US33 and CR13. I saw a B17 land there WAY back in the late 50s. Dad heard one was coming in and took me along to see it. They flew it out a few days later, I guess it finally got airborne when it jumped over CR13. Spent a lot of time there watching planes of all type come and go. Even saw my first ultralight there. My best friend lived nearby, and I must have seen him there at one time or another, but never got to really know him until 30 years later.
This picture is from a chopper, with US33 in the foreground, with planes parked right out next to the road. Was a great place for a kid to hang out.

 

[MossRoad]

No it wasn't the midway airport. That's down by Dunlap, between Elkhart and Goshen. I used to drive by that daily. There was an Ericoupe tied down there. The one I'm talking about was between Mishawaka and Elkhart, on Day Road.

 

[cqaigy2]

Turn up the volume and enjoy the sound.

I swear i could even smell the exhaust from the startup.

 

[MossRoad]

North of Day, west of Bittersweet. Two 2000' runways running NW-NE and SE-NW.

 

[MossRoad]

I swear i could even smell the exhaust from the startup.

You know you got something when you need people manning fire extinguishers on startup.

I've seen that on a lot of old radials.

I got to ride in a Beech 18 from here over to Chicago and back one night. Freighter. Loud in that one.

 

[BravoXray]

No it wasn't the midway airport. That's down by Dunlap, between Elkhart and Goshen. I used to drive by that daily. There was an Ericoupe tied down there. The one I'm talking about was between Mishawaka and Elkhart, on Day Road.

Okay, yes that was Sportsman airport. One of the hangars was still there 10 or 15 years ago before they started building houses along that area of Day Road.

 

[BravoXray]

You know you got something when you need people manning fire extinguishers on startup.

I've seen that on a lot of old radials.

I got to ride in a Beech 18 from here over to Chicago and back one night. Freighter. Loud in that one.

There was a Beech 18 that an museum organization at Goshen Airport owned a while back, I did some avionics work up in the nose, behind the panel, that was fun getting my big ass stuffed in there. A couple of days later, I got to set in the right seat on a test flight to see if my rewire job worked. Even with foam earplugs and and ANR headset, it was still loud in there. Of course you're setting just behind the arc of the props.
Someone at Goshen just recently bought an 18 and was doing takeoffs and landings for a couple of hours one afternoon when I was at my hangar. Good thing avgas is only $4.60 a gallon.

 

[MossRoad]

No it wasn't the midway airport. That's down by Dunlap, between Elkhart and Goshen. I used to drive by that daily. There was an Ericoupe tied down there. The one I'm talking about was between Mishawaka and Elkhart, on Day Road.

Here's a pic from an old TOPO map that shows it.

 

[MossRoad]

And Midway was not a place you wanted to be on Palm Sunday, 1965...

 

[MossRoad]

Okay, yes that was Sportsman airport. One of the hangars was still there 10 or 15 years ago before they started building houses along that area of Day Road.

Yep, no trace of it left. All houses.

 

[Hay Dude]

We have an annual small air show in my town. Same guys bring their warbirds out and fly them around. Absolutely fascinated with the WW-II Vought Corsair fighter. It has an enormous radial engine that sounds incredible.
The pilot flies it overhead like ~200 ft over your head, nice & slow and the sound of the radial engine literally thumps your chest. He will do a few of the fly overs, then mash the stick, pick up speed and climb over the tree line.
Doesn’t sound amazing the way I’m describing, but to be there and see it in its Marine Corps paint fly low over you with a 2000HP radial engine is something I can’t describe.