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Tag Archives: taildraggers
The North American P-51D Mustang
One airplane which has always mesmerized me was the North American P-51D Mustang. Truly, the airplane and the pilots who flew her into combat were in a class of their own. When I started flying in 1971, I came across … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History
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Tagged .50 caliber Browning machine guns, Air Force, air shows, airplanes, Eighth Air Force, flying, grueling missions, incredibly higher return than Wall Street, inexperienced pilots, judgment, long range bomber escort, military service, Mustangs for sale, Packard V-1650-7, pilots, professional pilots, race pilots, taildraggers, the National Championship Air Races in Reno, The North American P-51D Mustang, torque rolls, Trade A Plane, World War II
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3 Comments
A Guy Named Joe
Here in Central Florida, there once was a guy named Joe. Joe was a fairly well known aviator, antiquer, and homebuilder. His day job was flying Lears and DH-125s for a bank; his passion was flying antiques and homebuilts. Timing … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal
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Tagged 1929 Command-Aire biplane, A Guy Named Joe, airplanes, antiquer, aviator, barnstormers, Central Florida, Cessnas, Drane Field, flying, homebuilder, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, open cockpit biplanes, Piper Cubs, St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft, Waco cabin biplanes
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1 Comment
Building Time
Today’s young pilots face the same age-old number one question as pilots in the last century: namely – how do I get a job? Of course, as it was in the Twentieth Century, so it is in the 21st. New … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General
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Tagged airline industry, airplanes, Alaska, banner towing, Building Time, bush flying, Catch-22, charter flying, checkrides, chicken and egg conundrum, commercial pilot positions, flight instructing, flying, flying jobs, flying skydivers, great time building, how do I get a job?, inexperienced pilots, insurance criteria, judgment, learning to fly, mountains, Part 135, professional pilots, sightseeing flights, taildraggers, the menial jobs of aviation, training aircraft, working for a living, young pilots
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4 Comments
The T-cart
Yesterday’s blog was about The Perfect Flying Machine. Today, it is about a very similar flying machine. The reason it is very similar is because the same aeronautical engineer, Clarence Gilbert Taylor, designed today’s airplane, the Taylorcraft. After the big … Continue reading →
The Perfect Flying Machine
Every time an airplane makes the news, someone makes a comment about the “Piper Cub.” Now the airplane might have been a Cessna 210, a Beechcraft A-36, maybe even a King Air, but for many in the public, if the … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying
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Tagged airplanes, Beechcraft A-36, Boeing 700 series airliner, Bradford PA, Cessna 210, Clarence Gilbert Taylor, Continental A-40 engine, Continental A-65 engine, flying, J-2 Cub, King Air, learning to fly, Piper J-3 Cub, student pilots, taildraggers, Taylor Brothers Aircraft Corporation, Taylor E-2 Cub, The Perfect Flying Machine, the “Piper Cub”, training aircraft, William T. Piper
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1 Comment
The Cessna 170
One of the very best airplanes produced in the United States is the Cessna 170. Cessna manufactured more than 5000 copies of the model starting in 1948 until production ceased in mid-1956. The airplane came in three versions: the straight … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying
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Tagged airplane you fly, an honest 100 knots, best airplanes ever produced, Cessna 120, Cessna 140, Cessna 170, Cessna 170A, Cessna 170B, Cessna 180, Cessna 185, Cessna 190, Cessna 195, Continental C-145, Continental O-300, crosswinds, four-seat airplanes, great family airplane, gyroscopic precession, recipe for disaster, taildraggers, takeoffs, The Cessna 170, three-point landings, useable fuel, useful load, “barn door flaps”
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3 Comments
Airplane smell
My logbook starts early on a Saturday morning on the last day of July 1971, the year I graduated from high school. I had been driving around out in the country looking for an old man named Charlie and he … Continue reading →
Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing
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Tagged airplane smell, airplanes, fabric airplanes, first flight lesson;, learning to fly, old airplanes, taildraggers
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