# The Oldest Plane you have Flown In?



## Elmas (Feb 28, 2012)

as passenger or pilot?

From my side, C45, in 1971, as passenger, of course.


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## michaelmaltby (Feb 28, 2012)

Douglas DC-4 built in Long Beach CA in 1944. Operated by Nordair enroute to Resolute Bay NWT in October, 1966.

MM


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## A4K (Feb 28, 2012)

De Havilland DH 89B Dominie ZK-AKY, at Paraparaumu, New Zealand 1988.

Sat in the front stbd seat, so had a view into the cockpit the whole flight -loved every minute of it.


http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=6291219


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## SamPZLP.7 (Feb 28, 2012)

C-47 from 1937 in 2009.


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## Crimea_River (Feb 28, 2012)

Tigermoth at Duxford. Had the controls for 15 minutes or so.


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## FLYBOYJ (Feb 28, 2012)

Trimotor at Oshkosh as a passenger. Oldest I ever flown, 46' J3


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## tyrodtom (Feb 28, 2012)

Beechcraft Staggerwing, late 30's model. I sat up front, but I didn't touch the controls.


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## T Bolt (Feb 28, 2012)

DC-3 airliner at an air show about 10 years ago


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## evangilder (Feb 28, 2012)

1941 PT-13 Stearman as the passenger/photographer/ballast to shoot another Stearman with a T-6. I took this photo of the PT-13 earlier in the day. The funny thing is that most of the aircraft I have flown in for the last 6 years have been built in the 40s or 50s.


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## woljags (Feb 28, 2012)

1930's Foxmoth as a passenger and my most hated due to air sickness as it was a bad flight a JU52 [proberly spanish built] again as a passenger

de Havilland Fox Moth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## fubar57 (Feb 28, 2012)

de Havilland Beaver. Flew in and out of logging camps in the 70's and 80's. If I recall, 1947 was stamped on the engine of one of them.(might be wrong about the location).

Geo


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## Geedee (Feb 28, 2012)

Oldest I've been in is the Cavanaugh Flight Museum's Stearman. She was born in 1940 !. 

It was also my most expensive flight on account of I lost overboard a video camera that cost me £300 the day before I flew to the States !! 

I've also had two trips B-17 'Fuddy Duddy' (1945) and one in B-25 'Pacific Prowler' (1944)


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## syscom3 (Feb 28, 2012)

I used to skydive (in the 80's) from a DC3 that was built in 1939.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Feb 28, 2012)

The oldest aircraft I have flown in was a T-6 Texan at an airshow. Nothing special though, just straight and level and a few turns. Not sure what year it was built in either.


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## N4521U (Feb 28, 2012)

I got a ride in Jim Nissens' Jenny a long time ago. I liken it to riding on a motorcycle compared to a car. Wind and noise, fannnntasssstic!
Oldest at the controls of? Lockheed 10A, 1939 Ryan SCW, not sure the oldest of the two.


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## Park (Feb 28, 2012)

Stearman for me too, pilot and pax.


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## oldcrowcv63 (Feb 28, 2012)

Toss up between J-3 Cub (pilot trainee in 1962), T2V (T-33B, a Navy T-33 as a Fam flight, Pax-Crew?), R4D (PAX) or P2V (PAX), 

I really don't know which of these is the oldest as far as date of manufacture. Probaby the R4D: The most interesting of these was the P2V-7S or P-2H a photo of the same aircraft is shown below (taken in 1975) when it was visiting NAS New Orleans., LA. In 1963, the same aircraft suffered a mishap while attached to VP-17 and is shown in the second photo. I caught a 2.4 hour training hop in this aircraft when it was assigned to reserve squadron VP-69 out of NAS Whidbey Island as a joy ride in 1971. They transferred to P-3A shortly around 1975. I had left active duty the previous year.

In 2003, this same aircraft, apparently used as a privaely owned water bomber, crashed while flying up a cloud obscured California valley, killing the flight crew (No one else aboard). Bureau number: 147961


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## Capt. Vick (Feb 29, 2012)

Passenger in a (I believe) 1929 New Standard Bi-Plane at Old Rheinbeck Aerodrome in upstate New York. In a word: Awesome!


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## Glider (Mar 5, 2012)

T21 Glider, No idea when it was built but probably 1951-3 period. The T21 is the one in front, nicknamed the Barge because of its handling which was less than responsive. It was fitted with a horn to warn people it was landing, totally useless but a lot of fun.


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## Readie (Mar 5, 2012)

Air Atlantique Dakota, ex WW2. I was a passenger in it in 1982/3 at the West Malling airshow in Kent
John


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## Airframes (Mar 5, 2012)

Probably a Stampe SV-4, as pilot and passenger, in the mid 1980s, although not sure of its build date. Also flown Tiger Moth and ex-WW2 Cub, and passenger in DC3 (former WW2 Dakota) back in the 1960s.


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## daveT (Mar 5, 2012)

1929 Ford Tri-Motor airplane "Tin Goose"
It’s not the most comfortable thing to fly in, but it was one of the first of its kind
at Kalamazoo Michigan


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## GrauGeist (Mar 5, 2012)

When I was a kid in the early 60's, my folks and I took a flight to San Francisco from Long Beach and it was in a passenger prop job...can't remember much else except those radials winding up (who can ever forget that?) and in my late teens, I rode a few times in a B-17F and spent alot of time around family friends and thier warbirds at Chino and Fullerton.

I've been in a number of older civil A/C since then and most recently, I rode in Aluminum Overcast (B-17G).


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## wheelsup_cavu (Mar 11, 2012)

Boeing 737. 


Wheels


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## MIflyer (Mar 11, 2012)

The oldest aircraft I have flown in and also the oldest I have taken the controls of is a 1929 Waco biplane a friend of mine used to own. He also had a 1939 Luscombe 8A and I flew in that as well.

I have flown in a PT-17 but that was newer than the Waco.

My personal aircraft is a Ercoupe 415C that came off the production line on 18 Feb 1946.

The oldest operational military aircraft I have flown in would either be a USAF T-33A or a USAF C-118.


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## davparlr (Mar 11, 2012)

R5D (C-54), 1969. Navy flew me and other prospective pilots from Pensacola to New Orleans for flight physicals. Of course they could have done that in Pensacola but wanted to give us a thrill (?).


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## pbfoot (Mar 11, 2012)

C47, Harvard , Otter Beaver found out the Tiber moth I flew in was built in 36 and was Brit version


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## renrich (Mar 13, 2012)

An N2S, built in 1940 belonging to my brother. I did a few turns and tried to maintain course and altitude for a while. It requires a full time pilot. I also got my first ride in an airplane in about 1948-49 in a Cub which may have been maufactured earlier than 1940. Also flew once in a Luscombe Silvair. Not sure when it was built but my flight was in about 1955.


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## oldcrowcv63 (Mar 13, 2012)

davparlr said:


> R5D (C-54), 1969. Navy flew me and other prospective pilots from Pensacola to New Orleans for flight physicals. Of course they could have done that in Pensacola but wanted to give us a thrill (?).



No wonder you ended up in the AF!  Sorry we lost you from all those 6-8 month deployments on board USS Haze Gray and Under Weigh.  Pensacola's NAMI was a good place to go through a flight phsyical if you wanted or could survive thorough (in 1970 at least). If you didn't want them to look too closely probably better to go somewhere else. I sweated every minute of their process (eyes and allergies).


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## oldcrowcv63 (Mar 13, 2012)

renrich said:


> An _*N2S*_, built in 1940 _*belonging to my brother*_. I did a few turns and tried to maintain course and altitude for a while. It requires a full time pilot. I also got my first ride in an airplane in about 1948-49 in a Cub which may have been maufactured earlier than 1940. Also flew once in a Luscombe Silvair. Not sure when it was built but my flight was in about 1955.



Color me green. My mood ring is indicating great envy. Did he fly for the USN?


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## renrich (Mar 16, 2012)

No, he is a civilian general aviation pilot. Has a Saratoga also. He got the yen for a Stearman and took some lessons in a tail dragger and finally found this one, beautifully restored and won first place at Oshkosh one year. He has about 100 hours in the N2S and made his first landing the other day on the paved runway. They have a grass cross wind runway at the FBO in Llano, Texas. It was my first flight in a biplane with open cockpits. Gets windy. My first commercial flight was in an American Airlines DC6 coming back from basic training, Louisville to Dallas.


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## oldcrowcv63 (Mar 17, 2012)

renrich said:


> No, he is a civilian general aviation pilot. Has a Saratoga also. He got the yen for a Stearman and took some lessons in a tail dragger and finally found this one, beautifully restored and won first place at Oshkosh one year. He has about 100 hours in the N2S and made his first landing the other day on the paved runway. They have a grass cross wind runway at the FBO in Llano, Texas. _*It was my first flight in a biplane with open cockpits. Gets windy.*_ My first commercial flight was in an American Airlines DC6 coming back from basic training, Louisville to Dallas.



That experience is on my _bucket list_!


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## fastmongrel (Mar 17, 2012)

Air Atlantique Dakota about 10 years ago I think my ears are still ringing.

Scariest flight I have ever taken was in a god knows how old Illyushin. It looked a bit scruffy as we walked towards and it was filthy inside it but what got me worried was the luggage locker above my head that was held shut with what looked like electrical cable, my seat was patched with duct tape and half the cabin windows had misted internally with condensation probably because the vacuum in the window units had gone. Then as we taxied every panel in the cabin vibrated and rattled. Then the cabin started to smell of fuel and eventually we had to turn round and land because the port engine started smoking. The landing nearly put my spine through the top of my head and the brakes juddered as if we were landing on cobbles. I got off and was tempted to kiss the ground like the Pope. We hired a car and drove 500km rather than go anywhere near that barely flying wreck.


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## drgondog (Mar 17, 2012)

It would have to be a toss up because I don't have a/c serial number but somewhere in the following: J3, PT-19, T6 and C-45 with Gooney bird and P-51D-25 (latest possible C-47 was '44 I believe and the 51D-25 was built late 44) in same genre. I have been a passenger in C-97, DC-4, B-17F and G. The DC-4 and B-17F was (and G probably) ~1943 plus a Bell Model 13 from late 40's.


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## herman1rg (Mar 17, 2012)

A Tiger Moth at Cambridge Flying Group quite a few years ago, 

This plane
"G-AOEI is the oldest. Built by de Havilland at their Hatfield factory in1939 this aircraft served with RAF No 81 Squadron in France during 1940 as returning to England just before the Dunkirk evacuation."

Cambridge Flying Group | The Fleet


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## dogsbody (Mar 18, 2012)

A 1931 Travelaire. Got to have the controls for a while, too. Here's the place:Barnstorming.com












Chris


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## gumbyk (Mar 18, 2012)

I've been passenger in a 1941 Stearman, and flown a 1943 Tigermoth. Noisy, windy, cold, and the most fun you can have with your pants on!


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## ccheese (Mar 21, 2012)

In the early 50's I was attached to a Composite Squadron (VC-62) at NAS Norfolk. We had two B-17's, two B-25's, half a dozen B-26's, SNB's, SNJ's, one PBY-5a, a couple R4D's (C-47's), one R6D, several TBM's (with the lower rear position removed) several F4U-s and an old PB4Y-1. I flew in everything we had (except the F4U). Got to fly tail gun in a B-36 from Wheelus AFB in Tripoli to Rome and back. Also flew in PB4Y-2's. My favorite aircraft. Flew front seat in a Stearman, too.

Charles


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## oldcrowcv63 (Mar 21, 2012)

CCheese, That's quite a list! How do you remove the lower crew position? Just make it an empty shell? Have clambered around inside a TBF/M wreck, but can't remember where  seemed pretty roomy. Are you planing to attend the VMAM May show this year?


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## Rob Knox (Mar 21, 2012)

As a lad, I flew in 3 different Tiger Moths. Dad used to compare airshows, and I was just Lucky.
In the Army I was a Helicopter Aircrewman, I flew in Hueys for half of that time. Gotta love that.




Short Final 'Cane Toad LZ' Avu Avu Guadlcanal 2003


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## iron man (Mar 21, 2012)

This one:

Ex USAAF C47A-40-DL, serial number 42-23970, ex RCAF 656. Pinocchio conversion, used at CFB Cold Lake, Alberta. Named "Dolly's Folly". Visited Vancouver Airport, 1978. Last NASARR training mission flown at Cold Lake on 14 January 1983. Made its last operational CAF Dakota flight on 1 July 1983, while with 402 Squadron, CFB Winnipeg, Manitoba. Had been in Canadian military service for over 46 years when struck off. Stored at AMDU, CFB Trenton by November 1990. On US civil register as N21BF, registered to Basler on 16 December 1997. Reported at Basler Turbo Conversions LLC, waiting for conversion, still there, stored outside, in 2011.









Grand Prairie to CYOD...In 1982.

There's some history for ya...8)


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## Trebor (Mar 22, 2012)

Photos: Travel Air C-4000 Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net this bird...on the best weekend of my life built in 1929


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## ccheese (Mar 23, 2012)

oldcrowcv63 said:


> CCheese, That's quite a list! How do you remove the lower crew position? Just make it an empty shell? Have clambered around inside a TBF/M wreck, but can't remember where  seemed pretty roomy. Are you planing to attend the VMAM May show this year?



Beats me how they removed it, it was just a hole and a good spot for stowing bags. (or booze). Doubt that I can make it to VMAM, the doc has me on a short leash.

Charles


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## oldcrowcv63 (Mar 24, 2012)

ccheese said:


> Beats me how they removed it, it was just a hole and a good spot for stowing bags. (or booze). Doubt that I can make it to VMAM, the doc has me on a short leash.
> 
> Charles



Sorry to hear. Assuming I can make it, I'll take lots of photos and post 'em.


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## nuuumannn (Mar 24, 2012)

> I flew in Hueys for half of that time.


 Now, there's one heck of a great old aircraft! 

NZ built Tiger Moth and a D.H.89 Rapide at Duxford, Don't know which one was oldest.

I've lay in the cradle of an accurate reproduction of a Wright 1902 glider for kicks.


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## SamPZLP.7 (Aug 20, 2012)

Travel Air 4000 from 1929


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## futuredogfight (Aug 20, 2012)

An L-5 Grasshopper.


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## norab (Aug 27, 2012)

1939 Taylorcraft as a passenger in 1968


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## wheelsup_cavu (Aug 29, 2012)

wheelsup_cavu said:


> Boeing 737.
> 
> 
> Wheels


I stepped back in time a bit since March. 8)

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/off-topic-misc/i-flew-b-25-a-33565.html


Wheels


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## snowmobileman (Nov 1, 2012)

1939 1942 Grumman G21A Gooses. Still my favorite! Not my picture, just one I located of the aircraft.


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## futuredogfight (Nov 1, 2012)

PT-17 Stearman trainer


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## zoomar (Nov 7, 2012)

DC-3. Central Airlines flight from Stillwater OK to Wichita KS in 1959 as a child. I suspect the plane was built in the 1940's


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## Conslaw (Sep 22, 2013)

For me it was also a DC-3, a charter from Grand Bahama Island to Miami in about 1974. The plane seemed ancient, yet it was probably only 30 years old at the time. There are a lot of 737s flying now that are 40 years old.


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## gumbyk (Sep 22, 2013)

oldcrowcv63 said:


> That experience is on my _bucket list_!



If you make your way down here, the flight is on me!


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## HBPencil (Sep 25, 2013)

A Tigermoth would probably be the oldest aircraft I've flown in, I got to have control for 10 minutes or so and the pilot talked me through a loop, some rolls and step turns etc... although as I was 14 I had trouble moving the rudder bars much. A DC-3 and Grumman Goose I've been a passenger in would be close behind the Tigermoth in ages me thinks.


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## parsifal (Sep 26, 2013)

I think for me it was the Westland Wessex. At the time i was doing my SAR recovery training and thought nothing of it. Only more recently have I come to appreciate the pedigree of this aircraft


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## Glider (Sep 29, 2013)

A couple of weeks ago I was walking through London and a Ju52 in pre war colours flew overhead, very low and very slow. What he was doing there I have no idea but wouldn't I have loved to be in her.


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## Readie (Sep 29, 2013)

I have 2 to offer.
A joyride in a Tiger Moth and a flight in the 'Air Atlantique' Dakota.
Both really enjoyable experiences.


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## TerribleT (Oct 17, 2013)

DH82A 10 hours ab initio to solo - never went in one again and don't want to LOL


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## The Artilleryman (Oct 17, 2013)

In the Spring of 1954 when I was six, our parish priest took me, my Dad, and little sister for a plane ride. He owned a Cessna 170. It was the day of my little brother's baptism. After we landed we sat in the car and watched my Dad take a flying lesson, shooting touch-and-goes, in a J-3 Cub. His instructor was a P-47 pilot in WW2. Adios, Larry.


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## gerrit (Oct 17, 2013)

Grunau Baby In 1971 . I was 15 years and learned to fly sailplanes at 14. Started to fly in Röhnlerche and Ka7. After that Blanik, M 100 and Finaly Grunau Baby a plane of 1939!!. It is now hanging in a museum. At 16 I learned to fly motor planes with Grashopper,Piper cub planes who were used in WW2 and sold to local clubs here in Belgium. After that we aquired a chipmunk from the RAF and I learned acro with it. Also dubbled in a Tiger Moth Stampe Vertongen. I stopped flying at 22 yrs due to bad eye sight. Shattered all my dreams to become military pilot...from Tiger Moth to Marchetti to Fouga to ...the ground. Now I fly giant scale warbirds and still look to the sky!!!


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## gerrit (Oct 17, 2013)

Grunau Baby In 1971 . I was 15 years and learned to fly sailplanes at 14. Started to fly in Röhnlerche and Ka7. After that Blanik, M 100 and Finaly Grunau Baby a plane of 1939!!. It is now hanging in a museum. At 16 I learned to fly motor planes with Grashopper,Piper cub planes who were used in WW2 and sold to local clubs here in Belgium. After that we aquired a chipmunk from the RAF and I learned acro with it. Also dubbled in a Tiger Moth Stampe Vertongen. I stopped flying at 22 yrs due to bad eye sight. Shattered all my dreams to become military pilot...from Tiger Moth to Marchetti to Fouga to ...the ground. Now I fly giant scale warbirds and still look to the sky!!!


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## parsifal (Oct 17, 2013)

Im impressed. Very interesting


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## Aaron Brooks Wolters (Oct 17, 2013)

A 1955 Mentor.


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## Jeff Hunt (Oct 21, 2013)

1941 DHC-82C Tiger Moth CF-TBS

Cheers,

Jeff


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## gumbyk (Oct 21, 2013)

Jeff Hunt said:


> 1941 DHC-82C Tiger Moth CF-TBS
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Jeff



Is that the Tiger with the covered cockpit?


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## Jeff Hunt (Oct 21, 2013)

gumbyk said:


> Is that the Tiger with the covered cockpit?



Yes, Canadian built version as it tends to get a little chilly here for a good part of the year.








Cheers,

Jeff


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## gumbyk (Oct 21, 2013)

It just doesn't look right to me!


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## Jeff Hunt (Oct 22, 2013)

gumbyk said:


> It just doesn't look right to me!



From a purist point of view I agree but at -30 degrees celsius my perspective would probably change!

Jeff


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## Westfield Charlie (Oct 22, 2013)

I have to join the club of those who flew in the DC-3 as a passenger back in the mid '50's, (Eastern Airlines) as well as the four motor, triple-tail, TWA Constellation, same time. Also, my older brother, who was a fighter jock, (F-89 Scorpions and F-102 Delta Daggers) took me up in a Piper Cub Trainer in 1956 and stood it on its wing so I could get a good view!


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## davparlr (Feb 18, 2014)

Don't know the ages of these but I rode in some type of cub with side by side seating an uncle owned, probably in the mid-60s, then, in 1969, the Navy flew me to New Orleans for a flight physical in a R5D (C-54). They also took me up in a T-34 to either or both, impress me or see if I got airsick. Later I rode in a Navion to Santa Catalina and had a buffalo burger.


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## GrauGeist (Feb 18, 2014)

davparlr said:


> Later I rode in a Navion to Santa Catalina and had a buffalo burger.


That's a real kick in the drawers going in or out of AVX!

I haven't been to Catalina in years, sure miss the place.


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## at6 (Jul 17, 2014)

Got an hour in the At-6d Texan with aerobatics when I turned 50 in 2000. With my current heart condition, I will never experience that again.


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## Bernhart (Jul 18, 2014)

went up in a stearman back about 20 years ago, don't know how old an airplane it was, but assume it was at least from the 40's


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## CommanderBounds (Jul 18, 2014)

1938 Piper Cub at KSCG. Before he sold it the owner was asking $10 dollars for 30 minutes in the air so I accepted the offer and had a blast flying around! What a nice ol' bird it was too.


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## Marcel (Jul 22, 2014)

A Stampe SV.4b. Great little biplane, build in the 30ies


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## Ohm-men (Mar 4, 2015)

A Stampe SV-4b, build for the french air force in 1946. Flew it as a passenger about decade ago (in the front cockpit).
Behind the stick was a retired B.A.F. colonel (who used to train F-16 pilots) He showed me the ropes with this machine...They also had a Texan at the same airfield at the time.
Best fun I ever had!


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## soulezoo (Mar 4, 2015)

C-141B

Tail # 63-8088 "Golden Bear". First operational C-141 delivered in 1965. I was asst. Crew Chief on this plane for awhile and flew all around the world in her.


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## nuuumannn (Apr 7, 2015)

Went up in a Canadian built Fox Moth in September last year...






...and a DC-3 two days ago.


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## Old Wizard (Apr 9, 2015)

DC-3


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## Airframes (Apr 9, 2015)

Good stuff chaps.
I think Jan might be the winner on this one, as rumour has it he did the third test flight of the original Wright Flyer ................


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## davparlr (Apr 9, 2015)

soulezoo said:


> C-141B
> 
> Tail # 63-8088 "Golden Bear". First operational C-141 delivered in 1965. I was asst. Crew Chief on this plane for awhile and flew all around the world in her.



I don't remember this number and unfortunately I didn't keep records, but I did fly several 63-xxxx birds except when I flew them they were pretty new (8 years old(?)). I flew out of McGuire, where were you stationed.

I am sure the oldest plane could have been a piper cub type or Cessna 140, some kind of side-by-side tail dragger (I was very young). Then came a Navy R5D (C-54) and then a T-37.


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## Catch22 (Apr 9, 2015)

This B-25, built in June 1944.


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## soulezoo (Apr 9, 2015)

davparlr said:


> I don't remember this number and unfortunately I didn't keep records, but I did fly several 63-xxxx birds except when I flew them they were pretty new (8 years old(?)). I flew out of McGuire, where were you stationed.
> 
> I am sure the oldest plane could have been a piper cub type or Cessna 140, some kind of side-by-side tail dragger (I was very young). Then came a Navy R5D (C-54) and then a T-37.



Actually, I was stationed at Travis. But I certainly spent enough time in and out of McGuire. Especially when in KC-10's.


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## davparlr (Apr 11, 2015)

soulezoo said:


> Actually, I was stationed at Travis. But I certainly spent enough time in and out of McGuire. Especially when in KC-10's.



Only went to Travis a few times. We flew in country (Vietnam, Thailand) but we went North to Alaska on the way. Of course that was in the early 70s, in the overpowered C-141As


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## soulezoo (Apr 15, 2015)

I got to sit in Lefty Gardner's P-38 once in Reno. That was in '88 IIRC. I know that isn't the same as flying, but it's not quite the same as crawling on museum static displays either.


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## ScreamingLighting (Apr 15, 2015)

B-17G Texas raiders, built June, 1944.

Oldest aircraft I've been at the helm of (and only), the Cessna 172.


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## Old Wizard (Apr 22, 2015)

My second oldest was an RCAF Expediter (C-45)This was at Air Cadet camp in Abbotsford BC a long time ago.


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