Awesome Bell & Ross Aviation Inspired 'Time Instruments' (Watches - $$$$)

Fabulous Bell & Ross BR S 39mm Diameter timepiece: ~$3,000 - BellRoss.com

 There's no doubt that I have never (ever!) in my life been in the market for a $3,000 watch. However, that doesn't stop me from thinking this is one sweet little time instrument. You can be sure I'd be ordering one yet today if I could afford it. And believe it or not, an hour ago I'd never even heard of Bell & Ross! But in this last hour I've learned that this French company started in 1992 designing watches that were built for them by another company... and then in 2002 they began building the timepieces themselves at a facility in, of course, Switzerland. And the BR S Heritage above is actually one of their smaller cockpit-instrument-inspired watches at just 39mm in diameter. They have a very extensive line of awesome timepieces that can be viewed on the Bell & Ross website. 

 I'd also like to add that this is not a paid ad in any way. As I mentioned above, I really just now learned of the company... somewhat surprisingly via an ad on facebook. After a quick look at their website, I decided that these meticulous products need to be shared with my avgeek friends, especially since Christmas is right around the corner! I'm guessing you might still have an empty slot on your Christmas list that's just perfect for an impeccable aviation-oriented watch.

 After I looked over the watches available on their website, I decided that the BR S Heritage connected with me the most. I'm drawn to its extreme simplicity, and the fact that its design is so strongly tied to the good ole steam gauges that I am still in love with. Plus, the craftsmanship on these watches is stunning. I suppose any watch that retails for $3,000 to $7,000 range is likely to be built at these hyper-high-quality standards, but I have quickly connected with the design and style of the Bell & Ross watches already far more than I have with any others I've seen.

 So, regardless of whether you could seriously consider buying one of these watches, I highly recommend you stop by their website and do a little dreaming : )

BellRoss.com

Short Bell & Ross promo video featuring some ultra cool footage of the French Sud-Ouest Trident interceptor aircraft from the early 1950's. The fascinating Trident featured a rocket motor mounted in the fuselage and two turbojet engines mounted at the ends of the rather short wing. 12 examples were built but it was never put into production. It sure makes for some cool imagery to go with the stunning aviation-themed Bell & Ross watches - Enjoy!

Sud-Ouest Trident interceptor from the early 50's featured in the Bell & Ross video above 

Caption Contest #78 - Ends Wednesday 11.21.12 At 9PM EST

 Between more everyday construction-related work for me lately and my ongoing struggle with some pretty serious sciatic nerve pain, it's been a challenge keeping AirPigz fresh and moving in the right direction... tho I have been fortunate to have stayed out front on several great aviation stories in the last 6 weeks and traffic here at the pig has been rather fantastic! I'm running at the highest 'non-spike' average ever, and more people seem to be finding out about my effort to achieve Avgeek World Domination : )

 But I don't get there without you coming right along with me. And again today you get the chance to be an active part of the fun. Even better, if you submit the winning caption you'll snag a bacon sandwich at Oshkosh 2013) in the official AirPigz Caption Contest.

 So here's the deal... you've got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EST to submit your clever/funny/cool captions. Then, I’ll pick the best 5 and put ’em in a poll for everyone to vote on for all day Thursday and Friday so we can find the winner. 

 The Rules: 

1) Max of 3 submissions per person

2) Submissions go in the 'comments' area 

3) Game ends Wednesday at 9pm EST 

4) Keep it clean!

 Then, anyone can cast their vote starting Thursday morning and running thru til 9pm EST Friday. The winner will be posted Saturday morning 11-24-12. And remember, any landing you can walk away from is a good one!

HELP! Save The Airship Ventures Zeppelin NT (And AirPigz Too)

A little photoshop excercise to bring the Zeppelin NT and AirPigz together 

 Yesterday was a really sad day for the Zeppelin NT operated by Airship Ventures out of Moffet Field near my birth city of San Francisco... financial hardship brought all operations to an abrupt standstill. When the airship was on tour across the country in 2011, including its fabulous stops at Oshkosh and Indianapolis (I rode Eureka in Indy!), it was wearing the Farmers Insurance graphics, but that sponsorship deal ended many months back. It's this kind of advertising revenue that makes an operation like this possible, even if still questionably profitable. This beautiful Zeppelin airship named 'Eureka' has worn many different sponsor graphics in the four years it has been in service, and has also safely taken over 20,000 passengers for a ride. But without a corporate sponsorship deal, the company has found itself unable to continue operations.

 It appears that there's still a week or two for an angel to come forward and make a sponsor deal to keep the airship flying. If you're in a position to see the value in spending $5 million to $6 million to have your company logo on the largest flying billboard in the world for a year, then please go now and check out the Airship Ventures sponsorship page.

 Even better, why not invest the cash to keep this one-of-a-kind airship operation in business (there are only two Zeppelin NT's in the world, this one, and one in its home country of Germany) and then put the AirPigz logo on the side like my photoshop graphic above shows. This would keep Airship Ventures operating here in the Unites States and would also provide a much needed boost to my quest for AirPigz to achieve 'Avgeek World Domination'. I realize this idea is a pretty tall order, but I'm sure there's at least one very nice, very wealthy person out there who would give this some serious consideration. After all, it's only money : )

 Seriously tho, I really do hope that a sponsorship deal somehow materializes. Otherwise this amazing airship that's been operated very professionally for four years will simply be dismantled and sent back to Germany. It's fairly easy to understand how the recession has made an airship operation difficult to succeed with, but added to that is the reality that sky-rocketing helium prices have complicated the process even more. However, a fresh sponsorship deal should allow things to get back to 'normal' for at least another year.

 I admit that I can't graph it out on paper, but I really do believe that airships are somehow good for people... good for the world. And the Zeppelin NT has proven itself to be a fantastic, safe, and successful airship. I sure hope someone steps forward to #SaveEureka.

(AirPigz will likely survive even if someone doesn't pay for the logo to be put on the side of the Zeppelin airship, but right now would be a perfect time for you to consider donating to my work here... the donate link is to the left of the title of this post - thank you)

Without a sponsorship deal in the next 2 weeks, Airship Ventures will close permanently

Poll: Is The Gee Bee R-2 One Of The World's Most Perfect Airplanes?

The Gee Bee R-2 racer from the 1930's (with the tighter fitting cowl than the R-1)

 It's true that I'm a bit obsessed with the Golden Age of Air Racing at the moment... and not just because I posted a video with some amazing actual footage of the 1935 National Air Races, but also because I'm working on developing a mainstream business that actually ties in peripherally with the airplanes from that era. That business will hopefully be a kickstarter.com campaign sometime in the Spring, and you can be sure I'll be letting you know about it so you can be a contributor to its success!

 But for now I thought it would be interesting to see if you agree with me that the Gee Bee R-2 is one of the world's most perfect airplanes. And no, the poll isn't configured wrong, but if for some reason you aren't able to find the answer you were looking for in the poll, feel free to leave your disagreeable thoughts in the comments area : )

HD Video: Ride Along With Matt Younkin In The Airshow Twin Beech!

 Here's a truly fabulous video uploaded a couple days ago to the Learn To Fly Canada youtube page that features an interview with pilot Matt Younkin, his crew chief Jeff Gibbs and then the most exciting part is the ride with Matt from the cockpit (and a few other HD cameras) as he performed his first ever airshow in Canada back in June at the 2012 Hamilton Airshow in Mount Hope, Ontario. The video runs a little over 28 minutes in all, so if you're in a hurry skip up to the 11:30 mark where you'll pick up with Matt making the long taxi out to get in position for takeoff. You'll notice on the taxi he pulls a couple strips off a roll of duct tape... I was thinking, hmm, what's that for? You'll just have to watch to figure that one out : )

 The way this video puts you right there with Matt in the cockpit of the Twin Beech as he horses the big ole gal around the sky is just fantastic. Plus, the classically styled Twin Beech with a really cool retro looking paint scheme and two perfect Pratt & Whitney 450hp radial engines making lots of music almost puts you right back in that Golden Age of Air Racing that I posted about yesterday. I know I sound like a broken record (I guess that would be a skipping CD these days) but airplanes were just way more awesome back in those days!

 Anyway, the video is a great piece of work done by (or maybe for) the people at LearnToFly.CA and definitely gets a 'must see' rating from me. You might also be interested in checking out my AirPigz Podcast #8 - Matt Younkin & Kyle Franklin: Sons Of Legends from February 2010 where Matt shares some details on what it's like flying the Twin Beech aerobatically, including the very challenging night shows he does as well. The interview includes a great chat with Kyle Franklin too. If you know much about Matt and Kyle, this podcast will certainly stir memories of Matt's sister Amanda Younkin Franklin (who was Kyle's wife) - a beautiful person and a great wingwalker for Kyle who tragically lost her life after a long battle with the injuries sustained in the forced landing and fire at the airshow in Brownsville Texas back in March 2011. Amanda is gone, but she will never be forgotten.

*   *   *

Screenshot showing a relaxed Matt putting the Twin Beech thru lots of unusual atitudes!

Video: Actual Footage From The 1935 National Air Races In Cleveland

 
 This video tells some of the story of the 1935 National Air Races held in Cleveland Ohio where 65,000 people gathered to watch the daring men and their flying machines. I find it pretty amazing that there is quite a lot of actual film footage from this race this video! 1935 was an interesting year for the races as the designer of the aircraft that won the Bendix cross-country race (from Burbank California to Cleveland) as well as the two closed course races was the same man, Benny Howard. This was the first year for Howard's DGA-6 Mister Mulligan, the large 'cabin' airplane which had been specifically designed for the long distance race, and it was even flown by Benny on the eastward trek. By using oxygen and flying at a high altitude of 22,000 feet, the slower Mister Mulligan was able to beat Roscoe Turner and his faster single seat Wedell-Williams racer by making the long trip non-stop... and amazingly Mister Mulligan won that 8-1/2 hour race by only 23.5 seconds!

 In the closed-course Thompson Trophy Race (the equivalent of the Unlimited Class of racing at Reno today), Harold Neumann flew the same Mister Mulligan and won when race leader Roscoe Turner had engine troubles. It was pretty amazing that the 'big' airplane had won both the long distance race and the closed course speed dash... tho Mister Mulligan definitely owes the Thompson win to Roscoe's unfortunate engine troubles. That big 4-place cabin airplane would normally never be true competition for a single seat racer like Roscoe's Wedell-Williams. But Benny Howard's big racer proved so successful overall that is became the basis for the Howard DGA commercial aircraft that became popular as an executive and rich-man's aircraft offering both speed and comfort in the late 30's and 40's.

 The other race at the 1935 National Air Race was the Greve Trophy Race that limited engine displacement and typically featured smaller aircraft. Benny Howard's DGA-4 'Mike' was flown by Harold Neumann to victory giving Benny a sweep with his aircraft (and a race win as pilot to boot), and Harold Neumann two wins as pilot in two very different aircraft. An amazing year for these two men!

 Harold Neumann went on to become a pilot for TWA. After 30 years, he retired in 1966 and then bought a 2-seat Monocoupe and painted it white to look like Mister Mulligan... he named it 'Little Mulligan' and was a regular at fly-ins and airshows with it thru the late 60's and into the 70's. My dad and I were fortunate to spend an afternoon with Harold at Fond du Lac airport in the early 70's while we were on our way home after Oshkosh. Harold was such a gentleman to be around, and I was pretty much in awe of the man that had been such a successful air racer way back in the mid 1930's!

 I'm pretty sure I would have been happier if I had been born in 1910 and had been able to be right there in there middle of the Golden Age of Air Racing. Aviation was advancing so fast at that time, but there was also an element of passion and an amazing style that has never been equaled by our modern times. And as you can see in the video, there was a lot of class in these men as well... note how genuinely Roscoe Turner is congratulating Harold Neumann after Mister Mulligan had beaten Roscoe twice, in both the long and the short races. Classy people are awesome!

 Hmm, maybe we need to stir up some replica air racing, Golden Age style! Wow, leather clad pilots, grass runways, perfectly styled aircraft and lots of noise and oil! I'm definitely gonna have to do some thinking on that idea : )

Screenshot showing Benny Howard's Mister Mulligan (right) and 'Mike' And 'Ike' (left)

Thank You. (Veterans Day 2012)

Honoring ALL who have faithfully served the United States in the armed services.
(past and present)

Thank You.

Veterans Day 2012

Video: Take An Hour Journey Deep Into A British Airways 747-400

 I really didn't expect that I'd be in the group of people feeling upside-down on Wednesday when I posted that Skip Stewart video on election day, but I am. In fact, very much so. I've got more to say about that in a minute, but first...

 Here's a really well done one-hour program from the BBC called Engineering Giants. This episode, which was originally broadcast across the pond back in the summer, is titled Jumbo Jet Strip-Down and it takes you on a journey into a 'D-Check' on British Airways 747-400 'Victor X-ray' (registration G-CIVX). You get a look into the inner workings of this massive airliner that most of us don't ever get to see. The D-Check is the most comprehensive maintenance inspection for an airliner and requires a massive number of man-hours and maintenance workers. It's truly fascinating to see the 747 in a way that helps you understand the incredible amount of engineering that went into its design (originated in the late 60's) and then to see the excellent maintenance personnel taking on the huge task of making sure this jumbo jet is ready to keep flying for many years to come.

 I highly recommend you find an hour to take it all in. It's way better than most of the mind-rotting crap on TV.

 ADVISORY: conservative political rant follows, read at you own risk!

Click to read more ...

Video: Let Skip Stewart Turn Your Election Day Upside Down! (Must See)

 This video was just uploaded on Skip Stewart's youtube channel today, election day (November 6, 2012) and it's awesome to say the very least! And since this election is sure to make some people feel very upside-down tomorrow, I figure this video can help us all feel that way right now... you know, so we can all be in this together : )

 You might be familiar with Skip Stewart flying his highly modified Pitts he calls Prometheus very low to the ground in a knife-edge (like the pic below), but if you watch the video above you'll get to see what that looks like from the cockpit right after takeoff! What's even more interesting is that this is just the third flight on a new set of wings he's testing out for the airplane. It's a pretty hardcore workout for a new set of wings! And be sure to check out the instruments during some of the maneuvers... like how fast the big needle sweeps the altimeter on one of the vertical climbs (3:30) - wow!

 It appears that these wings are on the 'extra' airframe Skip has, and they aren't yet painted to match the primary airframe. They'll get paint and moved over to the airshow airframe for next season after they've been fully tweaked here. So I suggest you select the 720p HD option on the video, tighten your seatbelt, and hang on to your lunch as you go for a very intense ride with Skip Stewart. Oh, and don't forget to vote today!

Skip Stewart and his hot-rod Pitts 'Prometheus' in a low knife-edge in 2010 (photo: wiki)

Video: Happiness Is A Piper Cub And A Roll Of Toilet Paper!

 It's true that dropping a roll of toilet paper and then making multiple passes to cut it with the prop is wildly fun from any old-school airplane, but the Piper Cub is especially well suited by being able to have the right side window and door wide open during this cheap thrill exercise. This video does a great job of showing the giggles that can be generated with just a Cub and a roll of toilet paper. This is best watched in 1080 HD and fullscreen : )

Video screenshot of the toilet paper being properly attacked : D