CoolPix: Summer Dreamin' - Rutan Boomerang At Oshkosh 2012

(click pic for hi-res) Unique view of a most unique aircraft: the Rutan Boomerang at OSH12

 The combination of some bitter-cold winter air in my part of the world, along with not-enough-hours-in-the-day (too much day-job work to get done) led me to this unique view of Burt Rutan's Boomerang that I captured at Oshkosh 2012. I needed something quick to post and I wanted it to remind me of warm summer days... wow, this Boomerang pic hits the spot perfectly!

 Burt put this incredibly unique mid 1990's airplane in the hands of Scaled Composites employee Tres Clements who headed up a crew that restored the one-of-a-kind aircraft to airworthy condition in 2011. It was a fabulous treat to see the airplane at OSH11, and it felt like an old friend was back again at OSH12. It does my heart good to see people sitting in the grass using the Boomerang for shade on sunny summer day in Wisconsin. That's just one of the thousands of reasons why Oshkosh is the greatest place on Earth to me.

 You can learn more about the airplane at RutanBoomerang.com - and of course I recommend you click the pic to open up this CoolPix so it fills your screen. A closer look means you'll likely notice the airstair door, the windshield-plug-door for cockpit access (along with the retractable foot step forward of the wing), and the off-center nosewheel... which is not only off-center of the main fuselage but probably isn't really on the airplane's centerline. At least I don't think it is. Truthfully, I'm not sure Burt even knows where the true centerline of the Boomerang is! 

 Anyway, a great pic of an incredible airplane at the world's greatest aviation event : )

Poll: New American Airlines Paint - Sail Or Fail?

(click pic to enlarge)  New American Airlines paint unveiled 1.17.13  (photo: American)

 So here's the deal... you've got a huge fleet of airliners with a boatload of new ones on order, and you're trying hard to take an iconic airline boldly and effectively into the very uncertain future. You've got one big chance to to make a visual statement that reinvigorates both the employees and the customers, what do you do? This? Really? Hmm.

 Following the very mushy footsteps of my beloved United Airlines, American bunts as far as I'm concerned on creating a new look for the airline. Especially since the base color for the airplanes is more of a white instead of the strong silvery hue like the illustrations suggest (see a real 737 in the new paint here) - and that new logo strays too far from the old, bold eagle in my mind. 

 So I'm voting a 'fail' in the poll below, but what do you think?

The new logo and paint for American Airlines... do you like?  (illustrations: American)

Me With Darryl Greenamyer's Conquest 1 At Reno 1968! (+ NASM MeetUp Reminder)

(click pic to enlarge)  Me at age seven and in love with Conquest 1 at Reno 1968

 This little Kodak picture (that I cropped down a bit) scanned in fairly well, tho if you click the pic to view it larger you'll see that it wasn't really meant to go big. But I think it's a pretty amazing image... that's me as a seven year old kid at Reno in 1968 in awe of my favorite racer, Darryl Greenamyer's modified F8 Bearcat. And tho the airplane was named Conquest 1 for the speed record attempt in 1969, my research indicates that technically it was just Bearcat No. 1 at the time of this pic in 1968. Btw, Darryl did indeed set the speed record on August 16, 1969 at Edwards Air Force Base with a speed of 483.041 mph (average of four passes).

 I'm not only excited that I found this pic from my avgeek youth, but I'm gonna see this exact airplane at the upcoming AirPigz National Air and Space Museum MeetUp on January 25-27 in Washington DC! Conquest 1 is actually on display at the newer of the two NASM facilities, the Udvar-Hazy in Chantilly Virginia about 25 miles from the National Mall museum facility in Washington DC. We're still a week away from the museum MeetUp so you've still got time to make plans to join the fun. Check out my previous NASM MeetUp post for more details. Currently it looks like 12 to 15 people will be attending on one or more days (Fri, Sat, Sun - January 25-27, 2013) but there's always room for more avgeeks!

Click the pic to go to the NASM Udvar-Hazy page about Greenamyer's Conquest 1

 The pic above shows the airplane in modern times on display at the Udvar-Hazy looking just as it did when it was donated to the museum back in 1977. I'm old-school in my Conquest 1 adoration, so I'm not a big fan of the yellow paint, but you can be sure I'm gonna tingle when I stand in the presence of this amazing aircraft. It's kinda interesting to note that the pic of me from 1968 and the pic above from the NASM website are remarkably almost the same perspective.

 As I was doing a little research on the Conquest 1 name to be sure I got my info correct, I stumbled across an incredible plastic model built by a master modeler name Russ Camp who passed away back in 2010. His detailed LargeScalePlanes.com forum post about modifying a Bearcat kit is still up for viewing and it's fascinating to go thru the 8 pages of posts seeing the project take shape. As the picture below shows, his work on the Conquest 1 model was simply fantastic. Click the pic below to go to the forum post to see the project from December 2009 take shape.

Click the pic to see the LargeScalePlanes.com forum post on this amazing plastic model

 And I have one last pic for you to check out... it's my March 2009 post: Reno Air Races 1970 Darryl Greenamyer And Conquest 1 from back in the days when being in the pit meant you could get this close to an Unlimited racer while the engine was running! Wow, now that was an awesome America! #neverthoughti'dsayitbutireallymissthe70's

Awesome Top Gun Video Imagery... Red Star Style (Su-33)

 This is a fabulous collection of Sukhoi Su-33 video imagery operating off of the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier and it definitely gives off a strong Top Gun vibe. I always find it interesting to see operations like these from different cultures as it typically shows how much alike we all are as people as we work toward protecting our National ideals. I'm guessing the rush these pilots feel flying their somewhat old-school Su-33's is exactly the same as the rush an American pilot feels in an F/A-18. However, I doubt there's ever been a rush felt any bigger than the Su-33 pilot in this: Video: Sukhoi Cobra Carrier Approach - Advanced Maneuver!

 An interesting side note here is that only around 24 Su-33's were built, so it's actually a pretty rare aircraft. It was developed out of the Su-27 land based fighter of which almost 700 were built.

My First Design For The Precious Metal P-51 Paint Design Competition!

Top view of my first concept for the Precious Metal paint design competition

 I love Unlimited Reno air racers and I love awesome and effective graphic images, so having the opportunity to submit some ideas to the Precious Metal 'new paint scheme' design competition is pretty much a piece of aviation nirvana for me. I'm extremely pleased with how this first concept turned out, but it'll be interesting to see what everyone else thinks of it. I just submitted it to the Precious Metal Magazine facebook page where all the entries are posted, and I'm excited to see the responses I get.  I wait, this is the internet right? Maybe I'm not so excited after all : /

 My understanding is that the wings will be getting filled and profiled on Precious Metal, so there's a need to paint them going forward. The gold and silver on the wings in my first design is meant to be an impressive metallic paint (possibly with a mild chameleon effect in the sun) and the fuselage is still polished. The idea is to really pick up on as many 'precious metals' as possible.

Bottom view of my first concept for the Precious Metal paint design competition

 I've been a believer for a long time in the idea that race aircraft at Reno need to have the best possible paint schemes to take the races up to their highest level. Paint (and vinyl) is such an easy way to create excitement, intrigue, and possibly most important, attention. In my opinion, this design I've come up with does all that... and I'll admit that I hope you agree.

 I'm especially pleased with the asymmetrical paint on the bottom of the wings. Checkerboard on the entire bottom is still pretty cool, but it's also old-school cliche and it runs the risk of not really being noticed. But by having it on one wing only, it pretty much demands that you take notice and hopefully makes a much bolder statement that says this airplane is focused on that checkered flag! Seeing the airplane run the course from the pits or the stands with that checkerboard wing would be awesome! I also like that it gives the airplane a very different look on the ground depending which side you are on.

 Side view of my first concept for the Precious Metal paint design competition

 The side view is intentionally understated somewhat, but only in the drawing. The fuselage is still polished in my scheme (my graphic skills are pretty limited so it's kinda hard to tell) so all that awesome shiny polish would still make the view from the side amazing.

 So what do you think? Is this a hot paint scheme for Precious Metal?

Video: Keyboard As An Elevator... The Flying Piano! (RC)

 There seems to be no end to the number of everyday items that can be turned into a wild-n-wacky RC flying model, including a grand piano! And what a great flying piano it is too. With a slab keyboard for the elevator (it's split, not sure if it's elevons) and a profile piano man for the rudder, this lightweight electric has a lot of wing area and performs quite well, especially at high angles of attack. The video is well done too which makes it all the more fun to watch. But if you're not a fan of piano music you might wanna turn the speakers down.

 This is definitely one of the world's most unique biplanes : )

  Video screenshot: when tuned right, this flying piano has perfect pitch : )

Oshkosh 2013 Gets Stung By Jerry Yagen's Mosquito?

(click pic to enlarge) Jerry Yagen's Mosquito recently restored by Avspecs in New Zealand 

 AVweb had a story yesterday about how the EAA was going to stand firm on their policy of not paying appearance fees to have specific aircraft attend the annual convention and fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This has become an issue because it appears that Jerry Yagen, the owner of the Mosquito recently (and impeccably) restored by Avspecs LTD in new Zealand, has said he won't bring the Mosquito (and his new-manufacture Me 262) without being paid to do so. Hmm, really? Normally I'd just hear this news and then let my opinion rattle around inside my head, but as a guy who has covered this Mosquito extensively in the last several months here on AirPigz, I decided I have something to say.

 I'll start with the EAA. I have had my issues with the Experimental Aircraft Association over the years, (don't get me started, some of these issues are big ones to me) but in the end, I don't know of any other organization that has done so much for the true love of flying. I first joined in 1970 when I was 9 years old... I started scratch building an airplane on my own when I was a junior in high school and I've been to well over 30 Oshkosh events over the last 40+ years. The EAA and Oshkosh are good great for aviation, so I'm going to have to side with them in this issue with the Mosquito.

 I'm going to assume that the AVweb story is accurate, and as such, I have a hard time wrapping my I-bust-my-butt-for-30grand-a-year head around the idea that Jerry Yagen (who has more cash wrapped up in the Merlins on that Mosquito than I have spent in my entire 51 years on Earth) can't see fit to spend just a little cash to do what warbird owners have been doing for years and years... pay to bring their airplane to Oshkosh so us meager little commoners could admire them. Please don't misunderstand, this isn't class envy on my part... I have no problem cheering the fact that Mr. Yagen has had the opportunity to generate the kind of wealth that allows him to own an incredibly large collection of extremely expensive and rare aircraft, but to demand to be paid to show one or two airplanes at the world's greatest aviation event is just a bit stinky to me.

 I'll add that I have been also working my butt off the last four years in my spare time with AirPigz.com in an effort to bring the beauty and fascination of aviation to a younger generation. I understand the value of investing time and money in things that can have a positive impact on others. And, while it takes very little money to run this website, it does take a massive amount of time and energy on my part... and as many of you know, I still haven't figured out a way to generate any real income off the 25,000 plus people (and growing) that visit this website every month. It seems that if I was to use Jerry Yagen's approach, I'd just tell y'all pay up or I'm done. Well that's not how I operate. (and yes, it's very true that I did just over a week ago ask for some financial support for the my 1,000-hours-a-year work here on AirPigz. I raised $170, which brought the total income for the website in 2012 up to about $600) 

 My opinion on the Mosquito issue is in no way an attack on Jerry Yagen, but it is request for him to take another look at the principles (and financial realities) involved here and reconsider the value of spending the loose change it would take to put Avspecs' beautiful work on display at Oshkosh 2013 for the aviation world at large to enjoy and appreciate.

Thom Richard Wants YOU To Design New Paint For Precious Metal! (Entry Deadline 1.31.13)

(click pic to enlarge) Precious Metal at Reno 2012 - she'll look different at Reno 2013!

 
 Thom Richard is not your average Unlimited racing owner/pilot... oh wait, there's no such thing as an 'average' Unlimited racing owner/pilot! My point is that Thom has a very unique style, and he seems to have more fun while playing the part of a contender in the world's fastest motorsport. And now, to add to the fun, he's got a paint scheme design competition going on to find the best new paint for Precious Metal!

 This is an exciting time in the life of Precious Metal. After having the best showing in her career at the races in 2012, Thom continues to hone her shape and to tweak the details to get more speed out of her. It's clear that for 2013 Thom Richard and Precious Metal are definitely gonna be one to watch! 

 This paint design competition excites me on several levels. First, I love dreaming up cool paint schemes, so you can be sure that I'm gonna have at least one design to submit by the January 31st deadline. Second, I believe paint is one of the most important parts of an airplane. That might sound silly, but whether you're talking about a Reno racer or a two-seat trainer, great paint design is an easy way to attract attention. Racer owners want you rooting for their team (and supporting it), and flight schools want you to have a burning desire to fly. Great paint can have an impact on both of those. (I've been saying for a long time that General Aviation needs to figure this one out!)

 Click the pic to go the facebook page with the contest rules and blank drawings
 

 Anyway, if you're into graphic design and gorgeous P-51's, here's your chance to make something big happen. Click this link for the facebook page for the new Precious Metal Online Magazine with the contest rules and blank drawings. You can also see some of the first designs that have been submitted on this page. The winner will get a General Admission and a Pit Pass to the 2013 Reno Air Races as a guest of the Precious Metal Team, and there are swag prizes for 2nd and 3rd place. Interestingly, the winner will be announced on February 9, 2013... which just happens to be my birthday! I'm gonna work very hard to try to fetch up a really cool birthday present this year! I don't need the Reno access, but I'd sure love to see a paint scheme I designed on a real contender for the Unlimited Gold at Reno 2013!

 Go Precious Metal!

Video: Forget The Beatles, The Best Music EVER Comes From The Mosquitos!

 The Historical Aviation Film Unit has just uploaded a new video of the incredible Avspecs Mosquito making some of the best stereo Merlin music ever! Forget the Beatles, it's all about the Mosquitos now! Even tho I'm a hardcore old-school radial engine guy, I have to admit that there just is no sound made by man that's better than the Rolls Royce Merlin V-12 engine... and the concert with two of them bolted to the wooden airframe of the de havilland Mosquito is just pure perfection. Some day I'm gonna publish a top ten (and also a top 100) aircraft of all time, and the Mosquito is most likely gonna be on that top ten list!

 So do yourself a favor and stop reading my words and listen to this fantastic video!

 After you've enjoyed the awesome sights and sounds of the video, you might wanna check out these Mosquito links:

Mosquito posts on AirPigz

Avspecs LTD facebook page

CoolPix: NASA X-15 And B-52... Pioneers To Space! (With Desktop Sizes)

(click pic for hi-res) Climbing toward space: X-15 from the B-52 cockpit (image: NASA)

 I've had a really awesome X-15 and B-52 cover pic on the AirPigz facebook page for the last month or so that's actually a crop-down from one of the two X-15 images in this post: To The Edge Of Space And Beyond! X-15 CoolPix 2Fer... and tonight I thought I'd offer up another really cool NASA image from back in the 60's that just seems to be dripping with a very high cool factor. The only version of this image that I found on the net is actually a little on the rough side with not the best resolution and lots of spots etc. So I cleaned it up some in photoshop and decided it looked good enough to be both a CoolPix image and a desktop image in four of the most common sizes (see below).

 The 'final frontier' has actually been a household topic lately since I got my wife season 1 of the original Start Trek series on DVD for Christmas. We got rid of cable a few months back to both save some money and get the crap that is modern TV out of the house, so having 29 episodes of Kirk and company is a really nice way to spend an hour or so each evening. I never really watched the original Star Trek when I was a kid (or as an adult) but I've found this to be pretty darn interesting. But in the end, Start Trek is just fantasy... when I look at a pic like the one above, I see reality. Real people putting their one-and-only life on the line, and doing things that were pushing the envelope far and fast past where we'd been before.

 It's people living maximum adventure in the true pioneering spirit. And this picture just really seems to embody those incredible early days of the journey into the final frontier. I hope you enjoy (and appreciate) this look back at America in the 1960's... the brave and strong aerospace America!

X-15 and B-52 desktop pix:

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X-15
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