Posted on 04/16/2012 1:58:33 PM PDT by Theoria
SkyRaiders! Yes!!
I HAD A PAIR OF THEM FLY CLOSE AIR SUPPORT FOR MY COMPANY ONE TIME. Got right down on the deck with us.
The aircraft that are being floated as light counter-insurgency strike aircraft are going to be turboprops. Modern turboprop engines can produce more power per pound than even the best piston engine, with far less complexity, easier maintenance, and easier access to fuel. (Jet fuel is actually easier to find than the leaded aviation gasoline than even light piston engines require...much less the serious high-octane juice that engines like the Merlin and Griffon were built for.)
The plane you’re thinking of is the Embraer Super Tucano, from Brazil. It’s already in use with several South American countries, and won the USAF competition though it’s tied up in court with the losing company, Hawker Beechcraft. If the court case gets resolved, the USAF Super Tucanos will be built in Jacksonville.
Interestingly, in the 1980s, Piper Aircraft *did* try to produce an upgraded, modern, turboprop version of the venerable Mustang for the USAF as a strike and counterinsurgency. They called it the PA-48 Enforcer. I’ve seen one of the remaining prototypes, it’s at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_Enforcer
}:-)4
Agree. What a waste. But then again in the postwar, if you could buy a Corsair at the Army-Navy store, would Piper Aircraft ever had a chance?
“There are only about 35 flying in the world. “
If he’s still alive, he would be 84, one of them is at Whitman Air Park in the San Fernando Valley belonging to Nelson Whitmnan.
When he returned from Korea his dad had a newly refutbished one waiting for him!
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks Theoria.Ground radar images showed that inside the crates were Spitfires with their wings packed alongside the fuselages. The Britons want to work to restore as many of the 20 Spitfires as possible and get them flying. There are only about 35 flying in the world.Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. |
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Fascinating... I did not know that.
I recall there were some old smokestacks next door painted white and orange. Made it easy to locate from the air.
It's been a loooooong time, so I hope by old brain isn't playing tricks on me.
That’s the airport.
The Whitmans not only owned it and lived in a neat home on top of the hill at the airport, they also produced concrete punping equipment.
I haven’t seen Nelson aince the 50s when I quit building and racing cars to get married.
I didn’t start flying until the late 70s but knew Nelson when he was a hotrodder in the early and mid 50s.
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