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 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-alaska-seize-pilot-plane-6-pack-beer/

the Lockheed Martin Patent archive?

https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/comments/1odazsl/what_should_i_do_with_lockheed_martin_patent

coolest thing I saw today

 Having served as Vice President of Sales for Stihl America (one of seven serving the United States and Canada) for many years, his last assignment before retiring was as a corporate product liability consultant, where he said he "got paid $50 an hour to educated $100-an-hour lawyers how to use a chain saw," then served as an expert witness in personal injury court cases.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10239267169851764&set=a.3247429238833

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.

https://covabizmag.com/real-people-race-airplanes

https://www.facebook.com/NCAROfficial

https://100.stihl.com/

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. 

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.   

and the words to a jingle come to mind, something about " how low can you go,

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CaliforniaPhoto/permalink/2853308188353791

SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc mother ship F-ZLAV carrying a Leduc 0.21 ramjet powered research plane circa 1953

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2026/06/sncase-se161-languedoc-mother-ship-f.html

 

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.

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.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=36421352794146071&set=a.170610946313714

"Snoopy I" a modified Convair B-58A Hustler nicknamed for its distinct 7-foot drooped nose, which housed the experimental AN/ASG-18 radar and AIM-47 Falcon missile system later used on the YF-12 and F-14 Tomcat.

https://www.facebook.com/travis.perrin.92/posts/pfbid0fTjPyyupNs5XGBwFJHZLoerRciYj9kmqSYax1qZR7C8PiZ98zM4tDirCDPPMjYEnl

amazing how much damage an A 10 has taken and returned under it's own power

https://dailytimewaster.blogspot.com/2026/05/battle-damage-like-that-and-it-still.html

The U.S. Senate has passed legislation authorizing the transfer of three historic Grumman F-14D Tomcat from AMARG storage at Davis-Monthan AFB to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

https://vintageaviationnews.com/warbirds-news/congress-maverick-act-could-bring-a-u-s-navy-f-14d-tomcat-back-to-flight.html

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. 

https://www.facebook.com/steelwheelskevin/posts/pfbid02gXRjPwhqzrpeRLgdn5rGXXssJSw7qB8Hv56GHwn7KzRsgbjXgqggHQJsGZ8hhLN2l

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.

https://www.facebook.com/sb2chelldiver/posts/pfbid0qhpx3AwKERpBJPY2wxLFndvGqRfzS27gJYM3yetrp14HGcvstj7eB8zRmfwuCn74l

taking off from Palomar Airport, flying down the coast over San Diego, in an ultralight (once he's in the air, change your video speed to 2x, and turn the audio way down)

it's been a while since I've posted a video about flying a plane... and this video is thorough about looking over a Grumman Goose and flying it, and then doing that thing most airplanes can't - landing on water. Very very cool video

 

A rare Douglas B-23 Dragon, once owned by Howard Hughes, is getting restored at Pearland Regional Airport in Texas. (thank you George!)

A total of 38 B-23s were built, serving initially as U.S. Army Air Forces medium bombers before being relegated to secondary roles during WWII, including reconnaissance, training, transport, and test duties.

 Several aircraft converted for transport use were redesignated UC-67s. Following the war, all surviving examples were declared surplus, and many entered civilian service as cargo and executive transports

After Hughes sold it, other owners included Gar Wood Industries, Rexall Drug Company, and Food Machinery Chemical Corporation.

https://vintageaviationnews.com/restorations/howard-hughes-owned-douglas-b-23-dragon-reemerges-at-pearland-under-restoration.html

A-10 Warthog nose art with humor

it looks familiar, and I can't recall if I posted it already. Nothing turned up when I tried to look for it

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=27089401330677403&set=pcb.3458961767601551

coolest thing I saw today? Bruce building a kit airplane in his garage.

 

Bruce is a cool guy, and did time in the Coast Guard, and got stuck at Adak Alaska for a year, keeping diesel generators going that powered Loran. 

Then he was an aircraft mechanic and inspector. 

His dad was a P38 pilot in WW2! 

World's Largest Wind Vane - a DC-3 in Whitehorse, Yukon

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1987655&page=41

Miss Burma from the Terry and the Pirates comic strip by Milt Caniff, survived the war with 270 missions

http://www.47thbombgroup.org/pictures/jimenez/index.html

https://americanarchive.iwm.org.uk/archive/media/media-47725jpeg

the nose art is the art of the 38th Bomb Group, the Sun Setters

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1323997859760096&set=pcb.1323998026426746

How cool... wine bottles for mission symbols!

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1323997886426760&set=pcb.1323998026426746