Any flight enthusiast?

@rljpdx From another thd…

Same here. I got a good look at one on a WW I replica aircraft at an airshow. Not as big as a Spit’s or ME 109, but still impressive!

You want to see for yourself how important prop balancing is… Take a flight on a small plane. I got a chance to fly a Piper 140 a couple of times when I was in the CAP as a kid. (no, I cant land or take off) Going down the runway 1st time, we started to get a vibration. I thought no problem, they must not bother to balance the wheels on a small plane. As we lifted off the vibration got worse! That’s when I realized it was the prop. But since we had an AF Captain at the controls and he didn’t seem worried, I should put on a brave face and not ■■■■ my pants. 44 Juliet, I’ll never forget that plane. Now that I’m back in state, I should go ask about it. They have a turbo prop now.

I also got to fly on a B 17! A much smoother ride than the 140 after they got the engines sync’ed! This was out of the FLA area on the early morning flight. I was standing in the top turret position as we crossed the coast climbing out east over the sea. When it occurred to me that this must have been close to what the original crew must have seen way back when, a chill ran up my spine the likes of which I will never forget. That momentary feeling of fear was almost overwhelming. I don’t know how they did it…

On top of that was the engineering of the day! All the control cables a passenger could just grab. (or lose a finger in) The ammo feed track and empty cartridge shoots. The side gunners position’s were plexy’ed over so you could not fall out, lol. The poor thing was put together with hand hammered parts. No replacements parts anymore. (sigh)

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