Ever ride in a warbird? Or fly?

Hey

Just saw this thread

Was a crew chief on A-10's....no never got to ride one...lol
Rode a F-16.....pretty much a rush......and a crush if ya know what I mean. Also did airshows for the air force......got a coupla rides.....T-34 mentor...is that right???..will have to look at references......three of us crew chiefs were strapped in and they took us on the practice flight for the show......ran through the whole aerobatic routine.....three planes...formation...very cool....


just re-read some posts.....guess while I was an air cadet in England I was winched up in a rescue helicopter...givin them some practice for the real thing........ya know.....run out in a craggy rocky cliff area...pretend to be injured and they come find ya and of course perform the rescue!!!!...lol

Does the back end of a C-141 count???....don't know how many hours in the back of there during deployments........

not yet, but in another week i will be able to say yes!
i have a one hour ride in a Texan next saturday.

i'm planning on a small breakfast & a light lunch. :-)

Well, the plane wasn't moving, but I got the chance to scrunch up inside the ball turret of a B-17 last fall. I was able to talk the crew into letting me get inside and close the hatch. They spun the turret around by hand for me, and it was the coolest. I am a pretty thin guy at 150 pounds and 5' 8.5" tall, and it was tough to crawl inside from outside the plane. Once inside with the hatch closed, it was pretty comfortable, but that would get old fast. You pretty much just curl up in a fetal position and look out between your knees. The gun sights are right infront of your face. There is absolutely no room to stretch and the main controls are above your head. I am sure the blood would run out of your hands after a short while. It started to get hot in there pretty quickly, but I can't imagine how cold that would be at altitude. It would be terrible to have your electric blue bunny suit quit working.

All in all, I had a grin on my face for the rest of the day. I would include a picture, but I don't have a site to host the image.

Don't know if these count as warbirds but i have had one flight in a Royal Navy marked De Haviland Dragon Rapide and four flights in Dakotas....Gregers

Two flights in the backseat of a F-16B model..... 9 G's and mach 1.3.....WHAT A RUSH!!!!

I got to climb through a CAF B-17out in Chino, California once. Planes of Fame air show.... Best $2.00 I ever spent.... Oil stains and all!!! The plane was called "Sentimental Journey"... Anybody rember that one?

Spent an hour over Southern Ontario a couple of years back in the Canadian Warplane Heritage's Lancaster. Well worth every cent I spent. I can't describe the feeling.

I've had the privilege to sit in and crawl through a number of warbirds and military jets.

I just saw Mike Potter's Spitfire do the fly-past at the Juno Beach Ceremony here in Ottawa on 06 June. Boy do I love the sound of a Merlin at 1,000 feet, reverberating off the concrete buildings surrounding the Cenotaph. Unreal...

Mr. Swaddling...did you help in the restoration / repair of Mr. Potter's Spitfire after the gear collapsed while he was landing a couple of years back? There were a few pictures of the accident in the Ottawa Citizen. I've also seen all his other planes parked at Avitat at Uplands. Quite the collection.

I also briefly met Mr. Potter at the National Aviation Museum last Canada Day. A group of us were sitting at a table and somehow the topic of the C.W.H. Lancaster came up and I made mention of experiencing the deafening noise of the four Merlins in the Lanc and I said I couldn't imagine what it would be like for him in the cockpit of his Spitfire. He simply smiled. I knew what he meant.

A friend's father was in the R.C.A.F. in the late 50's and early 60's and he had been selected to fly in the Arrow program but before he got to do that, his orders were changed to instruct at CFB Cold Lake. He wasn't a happy camper.

Whaz up,
My first ever flight was in a B-25 w/ my dad back around 92 or so. What was really cool was that I sat in the bombardiers spot the whole entire fight which lasted about an hour and a half.
In my senior year of HS, I joined the local Air Museum which not only gave me hands on experience w/ restoring but also flying.
As of now I have about 60hrs flight time in the SNJ w/ about 25ish(unoffical) hrs of stick time in the front office(thank you Col Shultz).
I also have flight time in a PT-26,PT-17 and a Fleet biplane(forgot its variant).
If ya ever go up make sure its in an open cockpit a/c. The wind in your face, now thats flying.
Whats so cool about being associated w/ a vintage a/c grp is that I'm the youngster of the bunch LOL...
So w/ me being the youngest member, everybody focuses on me and shows me the ins and outs of restoring and maintaining warbirds.
To express my feelings, the sounds and the smells I think this sums it up the best.
I'd rather be flying...!!!!!!!
Flaps up,Mike

QUOTE: Originally posted by murph Spent an hour over Southern Ontario a couple of years back in the Canadian Warplane Heritage's Lancaster. Well worth every cent I spent. I can't describe the feeling. I've had the privilege to sit in and crawl through a number of warbirds and military jets. I just saw Mike Potter's Spitfire do the fly-past at the Juno Beach Ceremony here in Ottawa on 06 June. Boy do I love the sound of a Merlin at 1,000 feet, reverberating off the concrete buildings surrounding the Cenotaph. Unreal... Mr. Swaddling...did you help in the restoration / repair of Mr. Potter's Spitfire after the gear collapsed while he was landing a couple of years back? There were a few pictures of the accident in the Ottawa Citizen. I've also seen all his other planes parked at Avitat at Uplands. Quite the collection. I also briefly met Mr. Potter at the National Aviation Museum last Canada Day. A group of us were sitting at a table and somehow the topic of the C.W.H. Lancaster came up and I made mention of experiencing the deafening noise of the four Merlins in the Lanc and I said I couldn't imagine what it would be like for him in the cockpit of his Spitfire. He simply smiled. I knew what he meant. A friend's father was in the R.C.A.F. in the late 50's and early 60's and he had been selected to fly in the Arrow program but before he got to do that, his orders were changed to instruct at CFB Cold Lake. He wasn't a happy camper.

QUOTE: Originally posted by murph Spent an hour over Southern Ontario a couple of years back in the Canadian Warplane Heritage's Lancaster. Well worth every cent I spent. I can't describe the feeling. I've had the privilege to sit in and crawl through a number of warbirds and military jets. I just saw Mike Potter's Spitfire do the fly-past at the Juno Beach Ceremony here in Ottawa on 06 June. Boy do I love the sound of a Merlin at 1,000 feet, reverberating off the concrete buildings surrounding the Cenotaph. Unreal... Mr. Swaddling...did you help in the restoration / repair of Mr. Potter's Spitfire after the gear collapsed while he was landing a couple of years back? There were a few pictures of the accident in the Ottawa Citizen. I've also seen all his other planes parked at Avitat at Uplands. Quite the collection. I also briefly met Mr. Potter at the National Aviation Museum last Canada Day. A group of us were sitting at a table and somehow the topic of the C.W.H. Lancaster came up and I made mention of experiencing the deafening noise of the four Merlins in the Lanc and I said I couldn't imagine what it would be like for him in the cockpit of his Spitfire. He simply smiled. I knew what he meant. A friend's father was in the R.C.A.F. in the late 50's and early 60's and he had been selected to fly in the Arrow program but before he got to do that, his orders were changed to instruct at CFB Cold Lake. He wasn't a happy camper. Hi Murph I was not involved with the repair and rebuild after the accident. Mike called me up and wanted my opinion on SL721 which at the time was a powder blue. I suggested repainting it into an accurate wartime Canadian scheme. He put me in charge of the repaint and to make a long story short.......It is done and he is very happy with it. He is having a presentation at the Air Museum in Ottawa on Aug 4th and I will be there with my wife for a week. Maybe we can meet up? Cheers Bob S. Sorry for the previous response as I am not familiar with the forum here yet. Send me an e-mail direct and I'll send you a couple photos.

here is an old pic of me in 1992 onboard (inflight over massachusetts) the All American B-24J

Same flight..notice Nine-o-Nine B-17 at low close 5'oclock

I flew a T6 Texan about a month ago. It was a great ride. I did about 10 minutes of aerobatics and then my stomach said enough. While we were going back to land a p51 mustang came ripping by. Gave me a real sense of the difference in aircraft out there and why the Texan was mainly a trainer.

hey guys; it depends on what is your meaning of a warbird; I've had rode on C-47, P-51(Stump Jumper), and the ole Yard Dart(F-16D), the later I also received my 9G pin and got sick about 5 times during the ride but that's the fastest I've ever been, the Stang was a great ride too it was at a Pueblo CO airport back in '81 and what a blast I also rode the Gooney Bird at that show too( it was okay but not the Stang) my dad had this co-worker who was a Col in the Confederate AF and he flew the Stang I'd really wanted to hich a ride on the White Lightning(P-38) but they wouldn't let anyone ride it, but at least I had one of my fanatsies realized,

I have flown in an N3N trainer back in 1997. A lot of folks mistake it for the Stearman, but it was actually built by the Navy back in the early '30s. Had a great time. I even got some stick time in it (about 20 minutes). This was AFTER watching each of my two sons get to fly in it (cost me $60 each, but it was worth it!!), and, seeing the grin on thier faces, I decided I was going up also. Because I'm an adult, MY flight price was $90!! Oh well. Some things you only get to do once.
When I was in the USMC, I got to fly in a CH-46 SAR a few times, a CH-53D, and a UH-1N Huey. I worked I-Level maintenance on DECM equipment at Cherry Point for MAG-32, which has the ONLY AV-8B Harrier training squadron in the US (TWO-SEATERS!!!), but were us guys that worked on the planes allowed to get a free ride? HELL NO!! I had always wanted to go up in a TAV-8B, but was always told no. Oh well.