Showing posts with label airplane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airplane. Show all posts
Thursday, September 03, 2026
The Convair Restaurant, Erie, Colorado in the 80s
The restaurant was made from the carcass of a Ports Of Call Denver CV 990 (a charter outfit) that had been stripped for parts and junked.
It was located at what was then known as Tri-County Airport, and there was a ramp outside where you could taxi up for a "fly in" dinner.
The airframe had been completely stripped, so the inside was fitted out as a long, skinny dining room, with the cockpit set up as a booth that would seat eight people. The kitchen was in the building underneath, along with a bar and lounge. Food would be sent up to the plane via a very finicky dumb waiter.
The restaurant was only around for a decade or so. It closed up in the late 80s, and the plane was scrapped in the mid 90s.
Monday, August 10, 2026
The National Museum of Forest Service History officially opens in Missoula, celebrating America’s conservation and aviation heritage, and they have a Tucker Sno Cat
The centerpiece of the 31-acre campus is the striking National Conservation Legacy Center, a mass-timber structure designed as both a museum and an exhibit in its own right. Constructed using more than 800,000 board feet of wood donated by timber companies across Montana and the Pacific Northwest, the building features dramatic tree-like columns and an architectural design inspired by the forests and mountains of the American West. Inside, visitors can explore immersive exhibits tracing the history of conservation in the United States through themes including forests, watersheds, wildlife habitats, wilderness, fire management, and public lands stewardship.
The facility also houses a research library and a climate-controlled repository preserving more than 55,000 historical artifacts and archival materials related to the U.S. Forest Service and America’s conservation history.
For aviation enthusiasts, one of the museum’s standout attractions is the Forest Discovery Trail, where historic aircraft illustrate the critical role aviation has played in protecting America’s forests. Among the highlights is Neptune Aviation’s Lockheed P2V Neptune Tanker 12, donated to the museum in 2023 after decades of service as one of the nation’s premier aerial firefighting aircraft.
Originally built as a U.S. Navy maritime patrol aircraft before being converted into an airtanker, Tanker 12 flew thousands of wildfire suppression missions during its career with Neptune Aviation.
Its permanent display tells the story of aerial firefighting and the evolution of aviation’s role in safeguarding America’s public lands.
The arrival of Tanker 12 represented a fitting partnership between Neptune Aviation, long headquartered in Missoula, and the National Museum of Forest Service History.
The aircraft now joins other outdoor exhibits, including a historic fire lookout tower and ranger cabin
What's even cooler, is that since they are a LONG way from everywhere else, they have put their extensive collection online https://forestservicemuseum.pastperfectonline.com
Sunday, August 09, 2026
Saturday, August 08, 2026
Thursday, August 06, 2026
A crated Spitfire went to Sydney Technical College as an instructional airframe in 1949, but went unused, and sat outside where it weathered damage and vandalism (thank you VolksRob!)
This aircraft was the last Spitfire acquired by the Royal Australian Air Force. It was built by Supermarine in England in 1944, test-flown and then shipped to Australia. The Air Force took delivery of the aircraft in April 1945, but with World War II drawing to a close it was not required on active service and was set aside in 1949
1961–1972: The airframe passed through private hands in Sydney, including A.J.R. "Titus" Oates and later warbird collector Sid Marshall at Bankstown.
1972–1982: It was loaned to the Camden Museum of Aviation at The Oaks near Sydney, where it was made taxiable
1982: Col Pay acquired the Spitfire and moved it to his base in Scone, NSW.
1985: Following an intensive three-year rebuild of its weather-worn fuselage and structure, Pay successfully flew the restored fighter on December 29, 1985, marking the first airworthy restoration of a Spitfire in Australia
1982: Col Pay acquired the Spitfire and moved it to his base in Scone, NSW.
1985: Following an intensive three-year rebuild of its weather-worn fuselage and structure, Pay successfully flew the restored fighter on December 29, 1985, marking the first airworthy restoration of a Spitfire in Australia
Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Tuesday, July 21, 2026
The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review an Alaska bush pilot's claims that state authorities have tried to illegally seize his $95,000 airplane after a passenger brought a six-pack of beer on a flight bound for a dry village. It's simply govt overreach
taking his 1969 Cessna would violate the Eighth Amendment's "Excessive Fines Clause."
Read this article... it's worth it. Good for him to fight this bullshit, and get it to the Supreme Court who NEEDS to put the govt back in check
Tuesday, July 07, 2026
Friday, June 26, 2026
coolest thing I saw today
and I want to let you know that it's the 100th Anniversary of Stihl ! Still family owned !
The partnership started simply, with a 10-by-10-foot STIHL booth at championships, funding for minor improvements and a paintjob for One Moment.
But what Phelps saw at the 2015 championships inspired bigger plans. Participants and spectators numbered upward of 150,000, even though online presence was virtually nonexistent, and the races were untelevised.
When Phelps discovered title sponsors were planning to stepdown in the near future, he pitched STIHL execs on a major sponsorship. They responded with an overwhelming yes. The first STIHL National Championship Air Race was held in Reno in September 2017.
I grew up in the Upper Penisula of Michigan, that's way the hell up there, where it snows every winter, and in the 70s and 80s, going to the forests, to get deadwood, fallen trees, for dry wood to burn, and cutting up live trees (known as green) for drying until the next winter, was almost universal with everyone that lived there.
Sure cuts down on the cost of heating when you only have to pay for a chainsaw, an old truck, and gas and oil for both.
Sure cuts down on the cost of heating when you only have to pay for a chainsaw, an old truck, and gas and oil for both.
And I never saw anyone use any brand of chainsaw, that wasn't a Stihl. Of course, other brands existed. But I didn't know that.
Same with fishing reels. I only knew of Zebco. Snowmobile boots? Sorel. Never saw anything made by any other company.
Friday, June 19, 2026
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
the story of a life of a C 131
Peru days anti narcotics.
It was an LBJ plane.
The U.S. State Department used a specific Convair 580 (also designated as a VC-131H) for counterdrug and logistics operations in Peru, operating under the bureau of international narcotics affairs.
This aircraft, registered as N7146X (serial number 54-2815), was transferred to the Peruvian National Police in 1990, where it was registered as PNP-025.
Registered as N8448H before delivery to the USAF as C-131D 54-2815 in 1954.
Converted to a CV580/VC-131H in 1966 then to the US Navy in 1978.
To the Department of State Bureau of Narcotics as N7146X then to Policia Nacional del Peru as PNP-025 in 1990.
Returned as N7146X and stored at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ in 1993.
Left in 1996. To the United States Marshal Service as N723ES then to the IFL Group in 1998.
Converted to a fire bomber for the Province of Saskatchewan as C-GSKQ in 2008. Still operational in 2025.
Original Airframe: The plane began its life as a U.S. Air Force C-131D.
Conversion: It was heavily modified into a turboprop CV-580 (VC-131H) configuration.
Original Airframe: The plane began its life as a U.S. Air Force C-131D.
Conversion: It was heavily modified into a turboprop CV-580 (VC-131H) configuration.
State Department Service: Operated under the Bureau of Narcotics (now the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs) in the Andean counterdrug theater, after which it transferred to Peruvian police operations.
Later Usage and Status
After being returned to the United States in the mid-1990s, the aircraft was subsequently used by the U.S. Marshal Service (registered as N723ES) and eventually underwent conversion to become an aerial firefighting tanker in Canada.
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Monday, May 11, 2026
Wednesday, May 06, 2026
The Howard DGA-6 was a pioneer racing plane, and the only airplane ever designed for the specific purpose of winning the Bendix Trophy.
The plane was designed and developed by Ben Howard and Gordon Israel, who later became an engineer for the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation.
OUTSTANDING WW2 history! Truk Lagoon, April 30th to May 1st, 1944, in the Caroline Islands
Carrier strikes in the area had left several U.S. aviators downed inside the lagoon, a place still firmly within enemy territory. In response, a Vought OS2U Kingfisher floatplane from the USS Indianapolis (CA-35) had been dispatched on a rescue mission and had recovered a downed pilot, but while loading him aboard the plane, the Kingfisher was swamped and capsized.
Another Kingfisher from the battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55) piloted by Lt. j.g. John A. Burns with Radioman Aubrey J. Gill, saw their capsized compatriot and landed to pick up the three aviators. The Kingfisher could have just taken off with one downed pilot on board, but with three, it was too overloaded. Burns made the decision to taxi out of the lagoon and rendezvous with the lifeguard submarine USS Tang (SS-306) who took the three men aboard.
But Burns wasn't done yet.
After delivering his first three rescues, Burns took off for the lagoon again. Over the next few hours, he located seven more downed airmen scattered across the choppy waters. As he kept picking up survivors with no hope to take off again, Burns packed men into the fuselage, onto the wings, and even towed one of the downed aircraft's rafts to carry all the survivors.
He taxied for five hours through heavy seas, finally returning to the submarine. By the time they rendezvoused with the Tang, the Kingfisher was nearly out of fuel, listing badly from a leaking pontoon, and battered by the waves. The survivors as well as Burns and Gill all were transferred by raft to the sub.
Once the survivors were safely aboard the Tang, the damaged Kingfisher was sunk by gunfire. For his extraordinary persistence and resourcefulness, Burns was awarded the Navy Cross.
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