What’s Your Lottery Plane?

[Slick Goodlin]

A few weeks ago a bunch of us were gathered around the picnic tables at the airport and one guy mentioned he had to pop out and grab a lottery ticket before the store closed. As you’d expect, the discussion quickly turned to what we’d buy if we found ourselves many million dollars richer.

So what would you get?

[Nark]

I think a Cheyenne 400LS.

[Liquid_Charlie]

I would by several turbine boat like a goose or a mallard, quick commuter like a SP jet and of course a cub .

[Colonel]

I would buy several

Motorcycles are like that, too. :^)

If I wanted to suddenly dispose of a large fraction of a Billion dollars,
I would purchase a flight of four (no, make it five - I need spare) of
SU-27 and spares.

I would lose money gloriously, on every airshow! It would be wonderful.



I would modify the SU-27 so that I could roll a full 55 gallon barrel of smoke
oil into a compartment in the airplane before each flight, which would consume
it entirely.

Each flight (of four) would thusly consume 4 x 55 gal = 220 gallons of smoke oil
and if I couldn't make the airport go IFR for at least 15 minutes after I landed,
I would be very surprised. Say "hi" to David Suzuki for me.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I'd spend it on hookers.

[Colonel]

It might kill you, taking a stack of Benjamins to Vegas, but what a way to go!

Oh yeah. Minivan time. B1900 to run errands in. Rip out half the seats for cargo space.




Or maybe a BT-67. I like the door.



Don't think you can fly BT-67 single-pilot, so that's a non-starter.

I think the B1900 is single-pilot part 91?

[Slick Goodlin]

I’m shocked, nearly everyone at the picnic table was naming various fantasy WWII fighters but you guys are all picking sweet party barges. Me too, and this was my choice. Not only is it currently for sale but I wouldn’t even have to go through the hassle of importing it.


https://www.platinumfighters.com/lockheed-12-cf-lkd

As Mr. B the Gentleman Rhymer says; she’s styled on days gone past with just a hint of twenty first century ass. I dig it.

[Colonel]

Once again, the genius of Kelly Johnson.

At the University of Michigan, Johnson conducted wind tunnel tests of Lockheed's proposed Model 10 airliner. He found the aircraft did not have adequate directional stability, but his professor felt it did and told Lockheed so. Upon completing his master's degree in 1933, Johnson joined Lockheed as a tool designer on a salary of $83 a month. Shortly after starting, Johnson convinced Hall Hibbard, the chief engineer, the Model 10 was unstable. Hibbard sent Johnson back to Michigan to conduct more tests. Johnson eventually made multiple changes to the wind tunnel model, including adding an "H" tail, to address the problem. Lockheed accepted Johnson's suggestions and the Model 10 went on to be a success.

Johnson contributed to the design of the following Lockheed aircraft:

Model 9D Orion, First airliner with retractable landing gear, faster than any known military aircraft of the time. Won 1937 Harmon Trophy.
Model 10 Electra, flown by Amelia Earhart on her ill-fated around-the-world expedition in 1937. First aircraft to perform round-trip commercial flight over Atlantic Ocean.
Model 12 Electra Junior, upgraded version of Model 10. Won 1937 Bendix Trophy.
Model 14 Super Electra Upgrade variant of Model 10. In 1938, completed a world-record flight of 15,441 mi (24,850 km).
Model 18 Lodestar, competitor to famous DC-3. Similar operating cost, superior performance, smaller passenger capacity
PV-1 Ventura, militarized version of Model 18. Would often lead B-24 bomber formations, due to being equipped with its own search radar unit.
P-38 Lightning, the first fighter to exceed 400 mph, and the aircraft which killed Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.
L-049 Constellation, first four engine aircraft produced by Lockheed.
F-80 Shooting Star, the first successful American jet fighter. First west-to-east Atlantic crossing by single-engined jet.
T-33 and TV-2, trainer versions of F-80.
P2V Neptune, anti-submarine bomber.
XF-90, prototype penetration fighter. First USAF jet with an afterburner and the first Lockheed jet to fly supersonic.
F-94 Starfire, first operational USAF fighter equipped with an afterburner and the first jet-powered all-weather fighter to enter combat.
X-7, testbed for ramjet engines and missile guidance technology. Dropped from B-52 and assisted by rocket on initial flight phase, exceeded Mach 4.
F-104 Starfighter, first Mach 2 fighter to enter service.
F-117A Nighthawk, first operational stealth aircraft.
C-130 Hercules, turboprop military transport. Longest continuous production run of any military aircraft in history.
U-2, high altitude intelligence gathering aircraft.
Blackbird family: A-12, YF-12, SR-71, M-21, and D-21. First family of operational Mach 3 aircraft. Composed almost entirely of titanium. Johnson's second Collier Trophy (1963).
JetStar/C-140, first dedicated business jet to enter service.

Billions of people were on the planet in the 20th Century, but it would have been
very different without Winston Churchill, Alan Turing, Kelly Johnson and John Boyd.

Funny how a handful of people can so affect history.

[Slick Goodlin]

I would very much like to fly a Lockheed sometime. I wonder if the TCA one still flies and who I have to harass to hitch a ride on it.

Though to be fair when it comes to fantasy airplanes I bet I could be happy for a very long time with a Travel Air, designed and built by the pillars of light aviation in North America before they were famous for the companies that bore their names.

[Colonel]

A couple years back, Eric and I went to St Catharine's to do our ICAS renewal
(thank you, FSS) and as we were leaving, one of those beautiful Electras turned
final and landed.

You will have to forgive me, I thought it was a Beech 18 at first. While a Beech 18
oozes character, it is not my dream airplane.

You will laugh, but I think a dash 8 would be a great airplane to have around.



But the dash 8's not single pilot, so it's a non-starter, even though it carries an ok
load, is good short field, and is aerobatic.



The dash 8 is such an excellent aerobatic aircraft that a non-pilot (Richard Russell)
could fly solo surface acro in it, the very first time he ever flew an airplane.

Kudos, DHC!



If you live on the water, you'd have to get one of these: