WW II plane buffs?

In the early eighties Matchbox over-emphasized panel lines to such an extent that they were disparagingly referred to as trenches. I still bought and built as many of their kits as I could afford. (Between school and my part time job, helping on a milk-round, I put in more hours per week than I do now.)

I saw a Matchbox kit a few years ago but it was molded in gray only and was not from the same type of mold as I remember from the eighties.

 
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AgeGap said:
In the early eighties Matchbox over-emphasized panel lines to such an extent that they were disparagingly referred to as trenches. I still bought and built as many of their kits as I could afford. (Between school and my part time job, helping on a milk-round, I put in more hours per week than I do now.)

I saw a Matchbox kit a few years ago but it was molded in gray only and was not from the same type of mold as I remember from the eighties.

[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/thum_1813247e12c85c26e7.jpg[/qimg]
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Their multi coloured plastic was classic. There are plenty of Matchbox kits still available, in Revell of Germany boxes (including the 1/32 Spitfire F.22/24. After building a heap of them as a kid, I have a soft spot for them now and am building one every now and then to my 'modern' standards of skill and effort. Matchbox kits weren't perfect, but they did some interesting subjects, and were pretty good kits as kits. Basic, but went together well.
 
Damien Evans said:
Nothing looks meaner than an F-111
[qimg]http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/F111%20dumb%20and%20burn%20avalon%202005%20credit%20RAAF%20blog%20560.jpg[/qimg]
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Great shot, and something I never got tired of watching:D. At night you could feel the heat. The last time I saw one in 2008 is still in my top five or so displays I have ever seen; like no-one told the pilot he wasn't flying an FA-18, and knowing they wouldn't be around for much longer he wanted to make it memorable. Their time may have passed, but they will be missed :)
 
MG1962 said:
Back in 1988 at the Australian Airshow the Kiwis brought a bunch over for acrobatic displays - boy did they fly the pants off those things - exceptionally impressed with their skills that day
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Half of our A-4's were ex RAN by that stage so it would have been a bit of deja vu for the machines themselves. One of them has just gone back to the RAN museum permanently, possibly another to follow.
 
Just because... a few warbirds, not great image quality. This was in Maryland about ten years ago: an L-19 Bird Dog (I believe), a Connie, and "Memphis Belle", a B-17[G, I believe]. Connies are beautiful, graceful planes.
 

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Huttosaurus said:
The 50 or so that are on "display" are housed on a remarkably ugly set of steel shelves in our study. My kids (both under 5) are remarkably good about respecting the space, and building/acquiring a proper cabinet is on my to do list.

The rest that are 'retired' are stored in big plastic 90L roller bins with clip-on lids. There are other (likely better) ways of secure storing (like custom hacked to shape polystyrene or foam in individual boxes), but this is efficient, doesn't seem to damage them, and it can fit bigger models in too (like a 1/72 C-130). Plus there's too many of them to be lavish with the more complicated storage methods.

If they travel anywhere for a show they get treated like this:
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f341/saylittle/packedmodels.jpg

Appropriate size heavy cardboard box, lined on the bottom with bubble wrap to stop them moving laterally, and foam to hold them in place as a backup, with bubble wrap laid over and the lid closed to keep them safe if they bounce. Stopping them moving in the box is the main thing. These guys are reasonably delicate, but managed an 80 mile each way trip to a recent airshow in the back of someones car with no drama. This box in particular is a Fed-Ex laptop courier, and the foam came with it which was handy.
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Ingenious - very helpful, thanks :D

Yuri
 
sts60 said:
Just because... a few warbirds, not great image quality. This was in Maryland about ten years ago: an L-19 Bird Dog (I believe), a Connie, and "Memphis Belle", a B-17[G, I believe]. Connies are beautiful, graceful planes.
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Erm, Memphis Belle is an F, hasn't been flyable since shortly after the war, and is currently under restoration at the Air Force Museum.

From the nose art on the truck in the foreground, the aircraft is presumably Sentimental Journey, which I saw with some friends a couple of years ago. I don't have my photos handy at the moment; they're on my laptop, which is on loan to my cousin, and the back-ups are in the side pocket of the case. Here's one I found online.
 

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Captain_Snort said:
Seven pages and nobody has mentioned the Bristol Beaufighter or its slightly less beautiful, but very ingenious compatriot / successor the De Havilland Mosquito.
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<mops coffee from keyboard> Less beautiful? Eye of the beholder an' all that, but the Mosquito is achingly beautiful.
 
SpitfireIX said:
Erm, Memphis Belle is an F, hasn't been flyable since shortly after the war, and is currently under restoration at the Air Force Museum.

From the nose art on the truck in the foreground, the aircraft is presumably Sentimental Journey, which I saw with some friends a couple of years ago. I don't have my photos handy at the moment; they're on my laptop, which is on loan to my cousin, and the back-ups are in the side pocket of the case. Here's one I found online.
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You can't know that. That image could be faked. That's just what the government tells us, and they all could be conspiring with each other. You don't really believe what you're saying here; all the viewers can see that.

(shakes head violently) Sorry. Too much time arguing with FatFreddy88 on the Apollo hoax thread.


You're quite right. I had thought there was another B-17 that had been nicknamed Memphis Belle for the air show circuit, but that was all wrong. It's indeed Sentimental Journey (which served in the Pacific and as a fire bomber after WW2). I should have remembered; I volunteered at this air show.

By way of apology, here's another image from then, a Corsair (Korean War Hero, IIRC). Pretty fuzzy, but if I find better ones, I'll post some.
 

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sts60 said:
...I had thought there was another B-17 that had been nicknamed Memphis Belle for the air show circuit...
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There's the last B-17 in Europe, Sally B based at Duxford. I believe it played Memphis Belle in the movie and when I saw it flying two years ago it was painted as Sally B on one side and Memphis Belle on the other.
 
Huttosaurus said:
Perhaps compensated by both being able to be equipped with nuclear tipped air to air guided missiles or rockets :D. The F-106 was also modified to carry an M-61 in the weapons bay after entering service.

Other gun-less fighters/interceptors I can think of are the F-89 Scorpion (most of them anyway), the F-86D, both of which relied on unguided rockets. The Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat, and the Tu-28 Fiddler were also exclusively missile armed IIRC.

The RAF's Eurofighter Typhoon F.2's initially entered service with the gun deactivated, to save money and fatigue life. Removing the gun completely would upset the weight distribution, so it was installed, just not supported or used. Apparently it can be quickly reactivated, and there are plans to do so.
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The BAC Lightning and MiG-21 originally had guns, lost them to put electronics in place, and later regained guns in a new location.
 
sts60 said:
You can't know that. That image could be faked. That's just what the government tells us, and they all could be conspiring with each other. You don't really believe what you're saying here; all the viewers can see that.
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It's a hologram. Germany's war industries were actually destroyed by directed energy weapons. :rolleyes:
 
sts60 said:
You can't know that. That image could be faked. That's just what the government tells us, and they all could be conspiring with each other. You don't really believe what you're saying here; all the viewers can see that.

(shakes head violently) Sorry. Too much time arguing with FatFreddy88 on the Apollo hoax thread.


You're quite right. I had thought there was another B-17 that had been nicknamed Memphis Belle for the air show circuit, but that was all wrong. It's indeed Sentimental Journey (which served in the Pacific and as a fire bomber after WW2). I should have remembered; I volunteered at this air show.

By way of apology, here's another image from then, a Corsair (Korean War Hero, IIRC). Pretty fuzzy, but if I find better ones, I'll post some.
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As far as names for warbirds goes, my favorite so far is a T-6: Miss Information
 
The nose art on the Collins Foundation's B-24 gives an interesting twist to the plane's name (The Dragon and his Tail).
 
Delvo said:
Are there any examples other than F-4 of planes designed to carry only missiles and no gun? I know of none, but am mostly only familiar with more recent planes, which were designed sometime after F-4 got its gun(s) added.
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I recall the A-6 Intruder and FB-111 Aardvark have no cannon.
 
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