Scudrunners

Sitting here thinking about all the different aircraft I have flown over the decades and the Paris Jet popped into my memory.

It was a really neat little machine even though its performance left a lot to be desired.

Any of you guys flown one?

What were the interesting machines you flew?

Forgetting about modified and homebuilt aircraft that were
simply terrifying ...

My favourite eccentric factory aircraft that I have flown
would have to be the PT-22 Ryan and the Piaggio Royal Gull.

If I had to pick one for the most batshit crazy, it would be
the Piaggio. The PT-22 was just what happened when they
took a nice little civilian airplane and tried to make a military
aircraft out of it. The Kinner radial had lots of character. Maybe
too much, for most people.

The Piaggio was a twin, geared, pusher tailwheel flying boat amphib
that was out of C of G with full fuel and a pilot. Definitely too
much character for most people. I loved it, even if the sheriff
was in hot pursuit all the way to Belize with the enraged ex-wife
screeching in the background, because her AC pilot husband took
off with the maid. You know. Just another day in Canadian Aviation.



After we finish talking about factory/certified aircraft, there are
some pretty memorable homebuilts / modifieds!

Did you ever fly the Fairchild Cornell Colonel?

It sort of looked nice gut was a real slug to fly.

I never got a chance to fly the Gull but would like to.

Oh yeah. The PT-19/23/26. It had this unbelievably smooth inverted 6
ranger 440 engine. It was also unbelievably heavy and that 200hp engine
struggled mightily with that wooden fixed pitch prop. My old friend Larry
Loretto used to fly one, and he carried around a fine-pitch prop that he
would change on the ramp before he needed to climb. When he was done
climbing, he would put the coarse prop back on it for faster cruise.

Larry might have been a four-bar, but he was my kind of four bar. The union
hated him. Larry loved to fly. Great hands and feet. You have no idea. Also
Larry knew what he knew, and unlike many pilots, he also knew what he didn't
know. Funny story about the 727. This is Larry on the left, at my Wedding #3
which I think TC finally concluded their investigation into. Larry was impressed
because at my wedding, I was able to not once but twice - to demonstrate that
it wasn't a fluke - join up on a jet in a biplane.



Following is my 17 year old son teaching himself aerobatics in the PT-26 Cornell.
I think I was flying the Ryan in the formation takeoff at CYND? I forget.



Someone taught the kid to get the nose 'way 'way up before rolling. :^)

Every 17 year old should fly a beautifully restore Cornell FOUR TIMES his age!!





Cornell was a sweet old airplane. No gyroscopic (yaw left/right) when you
raised and lowered the tail because of the wooden prop blades - see PMI.

I checked myself out in it, of course. Docile as a cow.

Pro Tip: Every once in a while, take out the lock wire / cotter pins on the
prop bolts and give them a touch with a wrench. See, wood shrinks over
time. Don't crush the goddamned wood with 300 ft-lbs of torque, just snug
them all to the same torque. You will be amazed that they will move, esp
a year or so after the wood prop is new.

There were several cornell's hanging around the "old" brampton flying club circa 1960, sadly out all the ones tied down only one flew occasionally. Wonderful aircraft and I would loved to flown one. I can remember visiting orangeville airport and there was a harvard parked there, with only 50 hours under my belt and all in J3 the old harvard looked very scary and intimidating, same feeling when I say my first norseman parked in the grass on floats at cranberry lake just across the river from pembroke. They also had a dornier working out of there for wheeler, that was a strange looking aircraft.

Those props wouldn't last very long down low, would they?

the old harvard looked very scary and intimidating

The RCAF had my father do his primary training and solo in a Harvard in 1951.
I have no idea why. There are probably worse ab initio trainers, but I can't think
of one right now.

Oh yeah, the Tutor. I remember a while back, someone in the Air Force went
totally apeshit and decided that kids didn't need to learn to fly a prop aircraft
before they went onto jets, and started kids out on the Tutor.

I am not making this up. First fucking hour of dual was in a jet. That was back
when men were men, and sheep were afraid. Speaking of batshit crazy, eh?

I remember flying a Harvard for the first time. Decades ago. Great noise, but
what a heavy pig. It needed another 1000 hp, or to lose 1000 lbs. Nose went
up, the speed died. No vertical. No roll rate. Crazy. I think you could probably
do better aerobatics in a 172. Here ya go:



I suspect that guy saw Fandango one too many times, and didn't know Truman Sparks
was a fictional character:

haha - great tune and as for the buck 72 it doesn't sound stock. I'm thinking some kind of engine mod with constant speed prop and an engine with exhaust stacks
I had an instructor for my unusual attitudes who liked to tell me to look up for a recovery and the 172 was on the top part of a roll - haha - he was a great guy and a very good teacher - he also had the rep of rolling a Norseman on floats. Last I saw of Ron he was living on the strip at grand bend and hanging a self overhauled engine in a 140-my kinda guy.

And now for something completely different:

Bad Man Looping Bonanza

PS. I'd be reluctant to add the weight of a c/s prop to a 172 ... better bang
for your buck is to select a fixed-pitch metal prop that will give you 3300 RPM
at 160 mph or so. High compression pistons and cold air induction with light
parallel valve heads on a O-360 should give well over 200 hp. Sounds wonderful.

Gut the interior, and remove the radios and the flight instruments. Lightweight
starter, alternator and battery. Every pound you can shave improves the vertical.

all you need is the weight of a 4 mile to the inch map or 2 --

Larry was one of my favorite guys to talk to about flying because he was first and last a great pilot.

He gave me a black OAS hat to wear and I keep it in my car and have almost worn it out.

Getting back to unusual airplanes the Anson Mk 5 was one of them.

Being made out of wood they were perfect for magnetometer work and Austin Airways had three of them, I spent many hundreds of hours flying them and they were great flying machines.