'Name The Plane' - ID MAKE And MODEL For Free Bacon! (10.6.12)

North American F-107 - 3 built in the '50's - one on display at the Air Force Museum
 

GAME OVER - correctly ID'd by 'tim' as the North American F-107

 I really thought my cropped pic below would last at least 24 hours in the Name The Plane game, but once again I was wrong. In just 25 minutes, 'tim' provided both the make and model: the North American F-107. Amazing job Tim! I hope you can make it to OSH13 to claim your bacon sandwich prize : )

 The F-107 is a very interesting aircraft, and seeing the one over in Dayton Ohio at the Air Force Museum is really, really cool. The airplane is in the R&D Hangar which allows you to get literally right up to it for close examination. I look it over closely every time I get over there.  

 You can learn a little more about the F-107 in my CoolPix post from December 2010: CoolPix - Modern Military: North American F-107 'Man Eater'. And thanx to everyone who got in on this short-lived Name The Plane game!

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GAME OVER - correctly ID'd by 'tim' as the North American F-107
 

 The Name The Plane game is returning at its regular Saturday night slot. If you didn't know, the game pops up with little warning (follow @NameThePlane on twitter for advance notification) and the first person to correctly ID both MAKE and MODEL of the aircraft pictured above will win a bacon sandwich at OSH13!  NOTE: Your answers must go in the 'comments' area in this post.

 Once again I've dug deep into aviation history with this challenge, and I'm specifically hoping that no one comes up with a correct answer in the typical 45 minutes or less. I'd be very happy if we get 24 hours out of this game : )

 All you gotta do is ID both MAKE and MODEL to win - so if you've got sharp aircraft ID skills, be the first person to ID both MAKE and MODEL of this aircraft to be the winner!

 As always, please don't use the shotgun approach to answers - only put up truly educated guesses that you've arrived at via really thinking it thru.

 And I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but to win, you have to give me both the MAKE and MODEL! : )

HD Video: London Heathrow Arrival Time Lapse - Busy Bees!

 I just found the youtube channel for Cargospotter and I'm loving it already! This recent video is a great place to you start as well... it's a wide variety of airliners on approach to London Heathrow done in a really entertaining time lapse - 17x faster than real time. It's perfectly framed and a lot of fun to watch as these busy bees flit their way into an orderly line. And that 747 approach at about 1:30 is the best argument yet for the idea that you should never text and fly! (seriously, what was the deal there?)

 I recommend you watch it in HD too ((hit play, then pause and select the 'gear' icon to change the video setting, then go fullscreen!) - then just sit back and enjoy the show : )

Video screenshot: you gotta see this 747's approach at about 1:30 - what the heck?

Video: The Affordable Sport Fighter - The Sonex 'Onex' Homebuilt

 I've been a fan of the Sonex Onex since it was just a concept... and as this video shows, the little single seat Onex has a long list of enticing qualities. With the first two of customer built Onex's now listed on the Sonex Aircraft completions page, we can expect a steady stream of additional completions to begin taking to the sky.

 The affordable base kit price of $12,995 (without engine) means a completed aircraft can be in the air for just a little over $25,000 when you include a brand new 80hp AeroVee engine. Check out the Sonex Aircraft kit pricing page for more info - scroll down the page for the Onex kit pricing info and options.

 The combination of affordable cost, fast-to-build 'matched hole' prefabricated parts, folding wings for storage in small places, and truly sport-fighter performance in the air makes the Onex a truly remarkable aircraft! I think we should all have at least One[x] : )

(this video is an excerpt from the Sonex Story video)

Video screenshot showing the ultra fun Sonex Onex in the taildragger configuration

CoolPix: Avspecs de Havilland Mosquito In The Air - Bravo!

(click pic for hi-res)  The amazing de Havilland Mosquito in the air in New Zealand

 Words aren't needed here... just click this CoolPix to open it up big and savor the amazing work done by the people of de Havilland over 70 years ago, and the restoration work done the people at Avspecs (and others) over the last eight years. The Mosquito is a stunning human accomplishment, and this is the only one flying in the entire world.

(Mosquito on AirPigz)

(photo: Avspecs open house Saturday 9-29-12: from a friend of AirPigz in New Zealand)

Poll: Should Goodyear Still Call Their New Zeppelin NT Airships 'Blimps'?

Zeppelin NT airships come to Goodyear in 2014, but are they 'blimps'? (photo: Zeppelin)

 The reviving of the relationship between the Goodyear company and the Zeppelin company is truly remarkable, as is the thoroughly modernized Zeppelin NT, or 'New 'Technology' airship, first flown in 1997. It's even more interesting that Goodyear will be replacing all of their iconic blimps with Zeppelin NT's in the coming years. The first assembly work begins in January 2013 in Akron Ohio and it appears that they expect the first of the new airships to be operating in early 2014. (learn more about the Zeppelin NT here)

 But there's one important distinction here... blimps don't have any rigid structure inside them, but the Zeppelin NT definitely has some rigid structure inside that big envelope that allows for the engines to be mounted up high on the side (rather than on the gondola like the blimps) and for an engine to mounted at the very aft end of the envelope. So technically, the Zeppelin NT is a semi-rigid airship, not a blimp. But Goodyear has indicated that they'll be calling the new aerial advertising platforms by the same blimp term that we've all grown up knowing. Usually I'm a real stickler for the correct use of technical terms like this, but this time around I'm totally cool with calling the NT's blimps.

 But what about you? Is this mis-used term gonna fly with you, or it it a big no-no? Or, maybe you just can't imagine anyone actually caring about it! Answer the poll question below to let the world where you stand on Goodyear and their big bags of helium : )

Video: The Amazing Sound Of The Avspecs Mosquito! (Plus 3 Fighters)

 There was an Avspecs open house over the weekend at Ardmore Airfield in New Zealand celebrating the completion of the 8 year de Havilland Mosquito restoration project for Jerry Yagen... it must have been an incredible experience for all who where able to attend. The Historical Aviation Film Unit was there and captured the awesome sound of the Rolls Royce Merlin powered Mosquito flying formation with a Merlin powered Spitfire and P-51 along with an Allison powered P-40. Wow! The Merlin must surely be the best sound ever made by man!

 The first pass made by all four airplanes has been altered to look more like we remember seeing WWII aircraft in films, and then the other passes are as we would have seen them if we were there at Ardmore that day. This is definitely a 'must see' video! I highly recommend you watch this video in 720p HD in fullscreen mode and with your speakers cranked way up. Repeat as need : )

(check out the Histortical Aviation Film Unit youtube channel)

Video screenshot of the Mosquito in formation with a Spitfire, P-51 and P-40

Reno Air Races & The Great Reno Balloon Race - Videos By The University Of Nevada

 Sometimes I just don't understand the internet. These two videos put out by the University of Nevada have been on youtube for a week now but have hardly been viewed... but these videos are fantastic! In my opinion they should have thousands and thousands of views by now. They are apparently part of a 'This Is Nevada' project and they each showcase an awesome aviation-oriented event that takes place in Reno during the month of September. For 2012, The Great Reno Balloon Race took place September 7-9 and then the Reno Air Races of course took place September 12-16.

 The production work in these videos is fabulous, with an excellent music background and near perfect editing. So I'm doing my part to try to crank up the numbers of views that these videos have. Any flavor of avgeek should be quite satisfied soaking up either the awesome speed and power of the Reno Air Races video, or the beauty of hot air balloons (the slowest of flying machines) in the video below - especially the first part of the video where they rise all aglow into to the pre-dawn sky. Wow! I think there's a pretty good chance you'll agree with me when I say that there's just something so very special about things that fly... and when a video does a great job of capturing that very special nature, you have a valuable tool to light the fires of passion in people of all ages for the amazing thing we call flight. Enjoy : )

The DH98 Mosquito Lives Again - Bravo Avspecs! First Flight 9-27-12

(click pic to enlarge) Mosquito flies after 8 year restoration (photo: Avspecs facebook)

 Here's an awesome pic from the Avspecs Limited facebook page of the Mosquito in the air near Auckland New Zealand on its first day back in the sky, Thursday 9-27-12. Could and airplane look more pefect than this?! The caption for the pic on their page: The DH98 Mosquito lives again! What a day! 3 flights and all home safe and sound.

 Bravo to all the people involved in making this dream become a reality. Lets hope that this is just the first of several Mosquito aircraft finding their way back into the wild blue yonder. 

 To keep learn more about the Mosquito project, check out these links:

Avspecs facebook page
Avspecs official website
Military Aviation Museum (owner) 
MosquitoRestoration.com
(builder of the molds for the Avspecs wooden fuselage and restoring another Mossie)

 And you might want to check the AirPigz Mosquito category for the other recent posts on this restoration as well as a few additional Mosquito posts from the past.

Video: Avspecs de Havilland Mosquito Landing Back At Ardmore On First Flight Day!

 The Historical Aviation Film Unit (New Zealand) has uploaded a video of the Avspecs de Havilland Mosquito from the first day of flying after their long and extremely detailed restoration. See my post from this morning on the first flight of the Mossie for more details. (if you're at the main page of AirPigz, it's the post right before this one)

 This video is of the airplane returning to Ardmore Airfield where the restoration was done and the first takeoff had been made a little earlier. The airplane spent some time flying in the Auckland region after departing on the first flight and made its first landing at Auckland International Airport. A pitot static system issue was resolved while at Auckland Int'l. The video that shows the airplane departing Auckland (that is included in this morning's post) is re-posted below in case you haven't seen it.  There will likely be no shortage of great videos to come here in the near future, but for all of us right now, anything that shows this amazing aircraft in the air is definitely 'must see'. Enjoy!

Stellar Achievement! Avspecs de Havilland Mosquito Makes First Flight!

Avspecs (New Zealand) Mosquito restoration first flight 9.27.12 at Ardmore Airfield

(7 pix and 3 videos - all photos from the facebook page of Ned Dawson)

 The massive restoration project of a de Havilland Mosquito by Avspecs Limited in Auckland New Zealand for Jerry Yagen and the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach Virginia has reached the ultimate goal... the Mosquito is back in the air! The first flight took place before noon Auckland time (Wednesday evening 9.26.12 in the US) and it appears to have been a great success. The airplane departed Ardmore Airfield and then landed at the Auckland International Airport. They did have some sort of pitot static issue that was resolved while on the ground and then the aircraft returned to Ardmore.

 The following photos give you a first look into the departure from Ardmore and the return back there. I've also included three videos that are very much worth your time. The first of the videos, the only one showing the Mosquito in the air, includes the takeoff at Auckland International on the way back over to Ardmore. Wow! The Mosquito is truly one of the greatest airplanes ever built. Much more info will follow in the coming days as this amazing effort is being and cheered by people all over the world!

Crew photo op after the first flight success of the only flying Mosquito in the world

Engines starting at Ardmore Airfield in preparation for the first flight since restoration

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