Unxpected B17 flyby today.

[evangilder]

I work a stone's throw away from Camarillo Airport, so I get to see lots of warbirds regularly. I'm also not far from Point Mugu, so we see plenty of modern Navy aircraft as well. I was on my way home the other night and saw an ATAC Hawker Hunter go right over the top of me.

I was out at Camarillo on Saturday and will be posting some shots from that soon. Been a crazy last few days.

 

[HoHun]

Hi DBII,

>HoHum, is that an Bf 108?

It's a British aircraft, a Miles Messenger - but it was designed for a very similar role as the Bf 108, with very similar design parameters!

Note the large flaps of the Messenger ... it was built with STOL in mind. The Bf 108 originally had leading edge slats and (almost) full span flaps with spoilers for roll control - Messerschmitt obviously had had an eye on STOL as well, though this probably was a feature for the European aviations contests of the time and not mission-critical. (The production version reverted to a more conventional layout.)

I assume the Messenger with its very large flaps probably had better STOL capabilities, but I have not studied either aircraft's manual yet ... that would probably be an interesting comparison!

Regarsd,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Velius]

I go to school at TSTC , TX where there is a large airfeild. Every year in the late fall they hold an airshow here. If you take classes in the fall you can always hear (and if your outside, see) the radial warbirds practicing their routine in the air outside. We also get modern fighters too. I tell ya, EVERYTHING on campus shakes when they put afterburners on at low altitude!

Last year, there was a F4U, a F4F, B-25, A-26, a few A6M's with a Val, P-39, and for the modern jet- two F-16's! There were a few others too but I don't remember what they were. Anyway, it was quite a sight to see when they were here!

 

[DBII]

Velius, I am also in Tx. What is TSTC? Are you in Midland?

DBII

 

[HoHun]

Hi everyone,

Talk about unexpected ... here is the airship I photographed out of my office window today!

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[timshatz]

Lucky guy! Those old warbirds are outstanding!

 

[DBII]

Cool, Ho Hun. Goodyear use to have a hanger down the street from me. To bad the city let them move out over 10 years ago.

DBII

 

[comiso90]

Hi everyone,

Talk about unexpected ... here is the airship I photographed out of my office window today!

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

what are they advertising?

 

[DBII]

My best unexpected flyover was back in the early 90s. I was returning from the Lone Star Flight Museum after a vistit with my father and brother in law. We were about 20 minutes away from the museum when I looked up and said that looks like a Lancaster. Of course no one else saw the thing for about 5 minutes. They thought I was crazy. Then it flew over the truck. My father pulled off the road and we all jumped out trying to get pictures of it. After it passed, we jumped back into the truck and made an illegal u turn and went straight to the museum. Since we are members, we were able to get to where it was parked. We met the crew and they let us inside! I would not see the plane again until 2006.


DBII

 

[HoHun]

Hi DBII,

>Goodyear use to have a hanger down the street from me.

Wow, that must have made for some interesting traffic! Have you ever seen an airship in pitch oscillation? I'm asking because from another office, I once saw a blimp in a very slow but very pronounced pitch oscillation - it must have experienced 20 degrees nose-down and nose-up alternatingly. I think it was a hot and windy summer day ... so I wonder if that is a weather-dependend blimp "habit", or if it was a specific problem of that one blimp ...

Coincidentally, I had already had an airship land in front of that office (well, another window a couple of years back ... it was really a landing as it was a "hotship" (a motorized hot-air balloon) that was collapsed after landing. Or so I believe - it landed on an undeveloped plot right behind the building on the other side of the road, so I only got to see the "landing approach", but not the landing and ground handling itself! When I checked the landing ground after work, no trace was left of the hotship.

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[DBII]

I grew up watching it fly around Houston. I have seen it do some crazy things.

DBII

 

[HoHun]

Hi Comiso,

>what are they advertising?

"Otto - Alles Gute 2008" ... Otto GmbH is (as I just learn from the Wikipedia) the world's largest mail-order company, and the "nose art" represents their catalogue. "Alles Gute 2008" is sort of a weakish pun ... it means "Happy new year 2008", but also "Everything that's good in 2008", alluding to their merchandise.

Note that the registration is "D-OTTO" This means that the blimp is actually registered as a balloon and not as an airship, or it would have to be "D-LXXX".

When I first spotted the airship, it was actually coming towards me tail-on ... it wasn't very windy, so I guess the pilot was reversing for a landing. (There is a glider field behind the trees, and I guess he landed - or moored - there.)

Regards,

Henning (HoHun)

 

[Velius]

Velius, I am also in Tx. What is TSTC? Are you in Midland?

TSTC, Waco. I take aviation maintenance classes there. Everytime the warbirds do their routine, we have the best veiw since our hanger is right by the airfeild they use. All we have to do is walk out the main doors and there it is- a free airshow in clear veiw!

To add on to this thread of unexpected fly-bys, every year (or twice every year) the city does balloon races. One time, my dad and I went walking in a feild about a block away from my house. We then noticed 15 or so balloons comming our way at a low altitude. Evidently, we were walking in their landing area! We were the first people in the neighborhood to witness all 15 of them land! Heh heh heh, in a way, it felt like they landed there just to give us the free show 8)