Wanna be my wingman in a P-51? Here's your chance:

[trof]

"Red Dog flight is cleared for takeoff."
"Red Dog 1, roger."
"Red Dog 2, roger."

"Run 'em up, 2."
"Roger."
"Brake release on my head nod."
"Roger, 1."

"Here we go."
http://www.airshowbuzz.com/videos/view.php?v=022754bc

Go full screen for the full effect.
Happy flying, and keep that formation TIGHT!
Suck it IN!
I wanna see the whites of your eyes.

[Parche]

1. Only If I Can Change It To A Hellcat

As CMDR Eugene Valencia (USS Yorktown) once said...."If the F6F could cook, I would marry it"

[trof]

3. You're kinda picky, fella.

I'll give you the Hellcat and my 6 o'clock and still wax yer ass.
:evilgrin:

[Parche]

8. Hey Trof

I have Combat Flight Simulator, I am awesome good in the Hellcat.........:bounce: :hi:


signed

Fleet Admiral Parche

[trof]

10. I see your CFS and raise you the 106th Tac Recon Squadron.

117th Wing.

Have you ever, actually, physically, gone supersonic?
At the controls of an actual aircraft?
Ever been so high in an airplane that when you look up, at noon, you see black? The edge of outer space?

Felt the recoil of four 50 caliber machine guns on the airframe?
Flown as wing in such a tight formation that a misstep on your part would have meant the destruction of two very expensive airplanes?

And finally, successfully refueled behind a KC-135 tanker, at night, in a thunderstorm?

Real.
Not a sim.
:hi: ;-)

[Parche]

13. I see your 117th wing

and raise you a hop in a KC-135

When I was in the Air Force Minot ND AFB i flew a KC-135 hop to Carswell in Ft Worth
i was in back watching them refuel fighters over Montana, awesome experience
then the pilots had me up in the cockpit to land at Malmstrom in Great Falls
awesome experience...!!!! :hi:

[trof]

14. Never been on the donor side.

Just the receiver.
That's the hard part.
;-)

Minot-coldest place south of the Arctic Circle.
When were you in the Air Force?

[Parche]

15. Air Force

1982-1985 :hi:

[trof]

16. Good on ya. I was a few years before. '63-'71. My bird:

Republic RF-84F 'Thunderflash'

It had the right number of seats: 1
And the wrong number of engines: 1

Like, if you lost an engine you weren't a glider.
You were a brick.

[GOPisEvil]

2. Where do I sign?

That looks like fun. Love the P-51.

[trof]

4. Flew one once. It was a gas, as we used to say.

[GOPisEvil]

5. I bet.

It's one thing on my "to do" list. I know there are places I can ride as a back-seater, but it's expensive.

[Wcross]

6. Thank you soooo much for that Trof!

I really enjoyed it, never would have seen it if not for your post.

[trof]

7. Well, you're just very welcome. Merry Christmas.

[Redstone]

9. Nice, but it would have beeen better if they'd ditched the music, and just let us

listen to the Merlins. That would be music to me, indeed.

Redstone

[trof]

11. But, but the DRAMA!

;-)

[trof]

12. Just some ramblings...Formation was my favorite.

Scared the shit out of me at first.
But as I got more and more comfortable with my airplane, I liked it more and more.

It was a showoff thing, I'm sure.
Formation is the ONE thing you can do in an airplane that everyone else can SEE what a great job you're doing.

You can fly a perfect instrument approach, down to minimums, and the only ones who know are you and the final controller.

You can fly a perfect photo mission, and just you and the photo interpretation techs know.

Knock the eyes out of the target on a gunnery mission, and a few folks know about it.

But in a GOOD, really tight formation, especially at an air show, with a CROWD, EVERYBODY can see what a good stick you are.

Nobody ever said that fighter pilots have a deficiency of ego.
Nossir.
:-)

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. I've seen 51s in tandem formation

but never from that angle. That was suh-WEET. :thumbsup:

Three 51s live at the airport here. Used to be five, but two guys sold theirs. I once saw one of 'em, probably "Ridge Runner III" or maybe "Iron Ass" (now "Mustang Sally"), flying tandem with an F-86, which I believe was flown by Ed Shipley, who's flying wing in the video trof posted.

Nothin' like the sound of a Merlin engine, man. :D

[trof]

23. A little about formation terminology/position

For most of the clip they are in 'echelon' (or fingertip) formation.
#2 (the camera vantage point) is in 'right echelon' on lead's (#1) right wing.

In the latter part, #2 slides into kind of an 'in trail' position on #1. He's really much farther forward on lead than he would be in a proper trail formation.

In single engine jets, the #2 basically wants lead's tailpipe to fill most of his windscreen. 2 is stacked down just enough to keep his canopy out of lead's exhaust, but in tight enough so that he should land with his vertical stabilizer covered with the soot.

"If your tail ain't black, you were too far back."
;-)

[Beausoir]

18. That was fun!

[Bunny]

19. I'll push the drinks cart around, if you have an opening for that.

;)

[trof]

20. Naw, I want you for my crew chief!

:hi:

[LanternWaste]

21. Man oh man.

Man oh man. I can only imagine what it must feel like to have that much power in your hands. I'm jealous of anyone who has the opportunity to fly those old planes-- it's gotta be one helluva rush!

[cwydro]

22. Excellent!

Thanks for the ride!

[texas1928]

24. Love the music.

The second piece of music, I recognized right off. Band of Brothers, when they are taking off for Holland.

[trof]

25. My grandson's comments:

Jack is 5.
I sent the clip to his mom.
"Show this to Jack and tell him that Baba (that's me) used to do this a long time ago. Let me know what he says."

This is what he said:
1. Which plane is Baba in?
2. If they are fighter planes, who are they fighting?
3. Can you see our house from up there?
4. Did the people in Baba's plane fight for him? (I explained that when Baba
started flying people he didn't fight anymore.)
:rofl:
5.Could you see Baba in his plane when he was flying people around the
country from you house when you were a little girl?
6. Why is no one fighting?
(He has a very logical mind. If they are 'fighters', why aren't they fighting? Good question.)
7. Are they robot planes? (Jack is VERY into robot Transformers right now.)
8. Maybe if some of my friends want to be airplane fliers they can ask me
(Jack) advice.

[SPKrazy]

26. cool

:thumbsup:

[havocmom]

27. Oh man! PERFECT gift for my older brother and nephew!

Thanks for the coolest link in ages, trof!

:woohoo:

[trof]

29. Glad you like it.

[Schema Thing]

28. My uncle flew P-51's escorting bombers into Germany

He published his diary: Diary of a Fighter Pilot.

One anecdote I remember from his diary, pilots would sometimes ruin their engines coming home from long missions, because they flew upside down for too long in order to give their ass some relief.

My father was a "hump" pilot (China/Burma airlift, C-47/DC-3's).

[trof]

30. Used to relieve 'dead butt' much the same.

Normal missions were relatively short, about 1 1/2 hours.
That was as long as you could stay airborne with full internal fuel and another couple of hundred gallons in drop tanks.

But on air refueling missions you'd be up for 4-5 hours.
That cockpit would really get tight and your butt would get numb.
I'd pull up about 10-15 degrees nose high and then gently nose over until I was floating in the straps.
Did wonders for the gluteous maximus.

[Schema Thing]

31. apparently P-51's have oil delivery problems in that position?

I also remember him talking about cardboard (?) drop tanks, which often did not want to drop. I forget what he said was the solution for the tanks that would not let go, but as I remember it, it made landing a problem? (off hand, I can't think of why it would though)

[trof]

33. Yeah, I think they had negative 'G' limitations.

[trof]

34. Found it. 10 second negative 'G' limitation.

Structural Limits
Positive: +8.0 G
Negative: -4.0 G (10 sec neg G limit)
http://mustanghighflight.com/planespecs.html

[SPKrazy]

32. Wow

that is pretty cool

:thumbsup:

[Bombero1956]

35. nice post trof

I've always admired pilots and that's probably why I play the flight sim now. It's probably the closest I'll ever get to being a pilot. I was a member of a community group that put on an air show here in Massachusetts at Westover ARB. All the guys would fight for the privilege of working the Warbirds display. I remember a P-51 with Yosemite Sam on the nose, the name escapes me and a P-51D "Glamorous Gal" and a F4U Corsair that belonged to a Delta airlines pilot, but the neatest thing was when Fifi the only airworthy B-29 came to the show. They hope to have the air show again this coming summer, but they've canceled it twice now so who knows if this one will go off.