Caption Contest #73 - Ends Wednesday 4.25.12 At 9PM EDT

 My friend Jo (@futureshox) suggested this early 50's pic of the most awesome little Stits Sky Baby as a good one for a Caption Contest, and I sure agree! Seems like we should be able to have some easy avgeek fun with it as we work our way toward a winner of a bacon sandwich at OSH12 : )

 So, you've got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EDT 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 EDT 

4) Keep it clean!

 Then, anyone can cast their vote starting Thursday morning and running thru til 9pm EDT Friday. The winner will be posted Saturday morning 4-28-12. And remember, think big!

'Name The Plane' - ID MAKE And MODEL For Free Bacon! (4.21.12)

GAME OVER - correctly ID'd by @manp as an Aeronca Sedan

  As is often the case, it took just over 30 minutes to find a correct answer for the Name The Plane game. This time twitter follower @manp came up with the correct answer of an Aeronca 15AC Sedan. I sure hope @manp will be at OSH12 to claim his bacon sandwich prize! Btw, this pic of the Sedan (on floats!) was taken over at the seaplane base during OSH11.

 Thanx to all who played tonight... watch for more of the Name The Plane game in the future here on AirPigz. Follow @NameThePlane on twitter for updates about 30 minutes before the game is played (usually late on Saturday nights)

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 Every now and then, usually on a Saturday night, I throw up a little Name The Plane action here on AirPigz... and tonight it's time to play once again!

All you gotta do is ID both MAKE and MODEL to win a bacon sandwhich prize at OSH12 - 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!

 Your answers must go in the 'comments' area in this post, and 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! : )

Video: Red Bull P-38 Lightning At Duxford Flying Legends 2011 (mmmm)

 
 The videos from the youtube channel of Flying Machines TV are consistantly amazing, and this one of the Red Bull P-38 Lightning flying at the 2011 Duxford Flying Legends event in England is no exception. In my mind, the P-38 is one of the most beautiful and unique aircraft ever built. And while I'm usually all about having a 'stick' for controlling an aircraft, I find the yoke setup in the P-38 to be oddly fascinating... and the cockpit views of this flight show that yoke quite nicely.

 The Lockheed P-38: mmmm

CoolPix: Stearman Beauty In The Early Morning (OSH11)

(click pic for hi-res)

Words aren't really needed here... it's just an opportunity to soak in the shapes, colors, textures, and overall beauty of a classic aircraft in the early morning sun and dew. (be sure to click the pic for the hi-res version)

Enjoy.

Shuttle Discovery Makes Final Flight To Air And Space Museum (5 Videos)

Yesterday (April 17, 2012) while I was at the 70th Reunion of the Doolittle Raiders at the Air Force Museum getting pictures of the 20 B-25's gathered there, the Space Shuttle Discovery made its final flight... this one atop the 747 repositioning it from Florida to Dulles Airport. You probably already saw all about this in the news, but I thought I'd find a good collection of videos from the event and post them here. So here are the five videos I found that I think are worth your time to check out.

 The first one above is short and has a good views of the takeoff in Florida, plus some close in passes made with this interesting pair of flying machines.

 This video shows the pair making several passes over the Washington D.C area and is presented without any narration or other distractions. The destination of Dulles Airport brings Discovery to the Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy facility to replace the Shuttle Enterprise (the glide test Shuttle) that has been on display there for many years. Enterprise will soon be moved to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York.

 This video is a GoPro style view from the chase plane as Discovery and the 747 made their passes over the D.C. area. Definitely some pretty amazing views even if we never really get up as close as we'd all like to see.

 Video number 4 has the landing at Dulles and taxiing on the airport to the stopping point. It's not a fast pace after the touchdown but it does offer many great views of the pair while moving around the airport.

 This final video is actually my favorite even tho we never see the pair in the sky. It shows the loading of discovery onto the 747 prior to making the final flight to Dulles. This video is not fast paced either but if you're any kind of geek for Shuttle details then I think you'll find it a really interesting one to watch.

 I'm looking forward to the day when I can get to Udvar_Hazy and see Discovery up close and personal. I'm actually beginning to plan an AirPigz meetup sometime late in the fall of 2012 at the Air and Space Museum, so maybe I'll see you there too : )

70th Doolittle Raiders Reunion - 20 B-25's Gather At The Air Force Museum

20 B-25's on the runway behind the Air Force Museum on Tuesday April 17, 2012

(14 pix)

 The weather couldn't have been any better for the big gathering of B-25's at the Air Force Museum today for the 70th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. The B-25's arrived early in the morning, shortly after sunrise and in beautiful still air. These aircraft had been gathering for the last several days at Grimes Field about 30 miles northeast of Dayton in Urbana Ohio, but today was the day for them to come to the museum site and be put on display to help the public remember a courageous mission carried out by 80 men in 16 B-25's on April 18, 1942... a mission that was extremely risky and had more to do with building moral for the war effort back home (and showing the Japanese that America was both willing and ready to fight) than in actually inflicting a lot of collateral damage.

 I had hoped to be able to get deeply connected to the activities at Grimes Field and at the Air Force Museum for this large-scale (and possibly last) Doolittle Reunion, but as it turned out I could only make it to the events of today. I don't know if there's ever been more than 20 B-25's gathered at once in the past, but as you can imagine, the perfect weather, the Air Force Museum location, and the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid have made this a very historic event.

So here are a total of 14 images from today to give you an idea of what this event looked like. And if you aren't really familiar with the details of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, I recommend you check out this account from the U.S. Navy website, it's a great concise history of the event. The wiki page on the raid is also a good resource.

 This week's gatherings help us all to celebrate and pay tribute to the brave men who participated in the raid, including the five that are still alive today... I believe four of them are attending this reunion. Please check out this Air Force Museum page for more info on the events taking place yet this week.

The lead B-25, Larry Kelley's Panchito arriving shortly after sunrise on the runway behind the Air Force Museum. The air was still with a few high clouds and lots of sunshine. It couldn't have been any nicer for the mass arrival of 20 B-25's for this historic gathering.

The b-25 Barbie III just after touchdown with the awesome Air Force Museum in the background. After all 20 of the aircraft landed they were all parked wingtip to wingtip on the same runway.

The crewmembers from all of the aircraft gathered right after their arrival for some official photographs for the event. The bright sun and long shadows show it was early in the morning, and Champaign Gal looked great in that sunshine.

Click to read more ...

Caption Contest #72 Has A Winner!

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 The voting was really close this time between two captions, but this one from 'Marc' came out on top... congrats and I hope you're gonna be at OSH12 to collect your bacon sandwich prize : )

 Wouldn't it be amazing to see someone build a 30% scale 747! Tho I suppose if you did you wouldn't really put a T-6 canopy on it now would you? Oh well, it made for a little more avgeek fun as the Spring and Summer flying and airshow season is getting underway. Happy flying y'all!

Poll: Will Anyone Really Vote For The Tri-Pacer?

(click pic to enlarge)   Taildraggin' Pacer and milk stool of a trike Tri-Pacer (photo:wiki)

 Personally I think it was a huge mistake when Piper moved the third wheel on the PA-20 Pacer from the tail to under the nose in 1953 to create the PA-22 Tri-Pacer. The Pacer went from being a cute and stylin' short wing 4-seater to becoming the flying milk stool as the Tri-Pacer. But I wondered if there's really anyone out there that thinks the Tri-Pacer is actually more attractive than the Pacer.

 So, I whipped up this little poll to see what y'all think. From just a looks or attractive standpoint, which do you think is the better looking airplane?

Video: LiveAirshowTV.com Looks At The 'Air Racers 3D' IMAX Film

 As efforts to bring the Reno Air Races back for 2012 continue (see today's new story concerning NTSB recommendations) the recently debuted Air Racers 3D IMAX film has announced more locations for the film in the near future. And now, LiveAirshowTV.com has put together a 'first look' video about the film. Watch it to learn more about the races and more about the work that made the IMAX film a reality. It's a must-see!

 Also, keep an eye on AirRacers-TheFilm.com for more updates on upcoming locations where you can see the film in IMAX 3D!

Caption Contest #72 - Ends Wednesday 4.11.12 At 9PM EDT

 I'm working on an easier and better way to cook bacon at Oshkosh this year, and this is very relevant because the winner of this Caption Contest will earn a delicious bacon sandwich at OSH12. So if bacon is your thing, and you're gonna be taking in the greatest aviation event in the world this July, then I suggest you whip up a fab caption (or three) for this wacky pic! And if bacon isn't your thing... really? What's wrong with you? 

 So, you've got til Wednesday evening at 9pm EDT 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 EDT 

4) Keep it clean!

 Then, anyone can cast their vote starting Thursday morning and running thru til 9pm EDT Friday. The winner will be posted Saturday morning 4-14-12. Have fun, and happy landings : )