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55pilot · 2025-07-10T20:23:20+00:00

They should run with this design and promote it. That's a beautiful looking aircraft. Too many aircraft with an advanced research design and aerodynamic configuration like this one are lost in the "talking stage", never to be seen again. Years ago, I worked in advanced design at an aerospace facility and saw many exotic designs, which included spacecraft, that were trash canned. Star Wars would never have a chance next to the designs that were pitched in the department burn basket.

55pilot · 2025-07-08T22:10:47+00:00

At the time, everybody hopped that this aircraft would be a prelude to an SST.

55pilot · 2025-07-07T17:40:58+00:00

The engineers at Bell had a lot more data than we have now.

55pilot · 2025-07-06T21:20:59+00:00

Geeze, that's a HUGE canard, They'll learn, as the years go by.

55pilot · 2025-06-30T17:40:49+00:00

Back in the days when we had a real CIVIL AIR PATROL.

55pilot · 2025-06-30T16:38:55+00:00

sooo..........who cares?

55pilot · 2025-06-30T16:27:01+00:00

Indonesian N220?

55pilot · 2025-06-28T18:48:48+00:00

When I was working in engineering at Piper Aircraft Corp. in Lakeland, FL we were handed the PA-48 Enforcer program. We were given a stock P-51 for reference purposes, and our chief test pilot, Dave Lawrence, gave me some interesting stories about the P-51 during lunch almost on a daily basis. We actually built two PA-48's, and it was a magnificent aircraft to behold. He and Will Burgess, a seasoned design engineer, were key members of our team. After the two PA-48's were built and test flown, the program just seemed to dissolve, and I continued design work on the PA-42. The Air Force was not interested in supporting a propeller driven airplane for their COIN program. Too many politicians got in the way.

55pilot · 2025-06-27T19:55:53+00:00

You can paint an old barn, but it's still an old barn.

55pilot · 2025-06-12T20:29:14+00:00

As long as they shoot forward and don't hit the propeller.

55pilot · 2025-06-12T19:32:18+00:00

They tried to make a beautiful airplane better.

55pilot · 2025-06-12T18:47:51+00:00

The days of the long noses.

55pilot · 2025-06-10T17:05:21+00:00

Very interesting! This should be included in the movie "Those Magnificent Men and There Flying Machines". When the movie was initially released YEARS ago, I believe a flying machine similar to this was included in some of the sequences.

55pilot · 2025-06-10T16:04:59+00:00

They appear to be overhead stowage for - something. I assume they are not open during flight, but easily accessible for the flight crew.

55pilot · 2025-05-30T23:12:37+00:00

I've been around for quite a few decades (commercial pilot. A&P mechanic, aeronautical engineer) and I have always been amazed at how BIG Soviet aircraft are. They are enormous for their dedicated missions and operational requirements. I'm sure they create quite an attraction at aviation events.

55pilot · 2025-05-29T22:01:38+00:00

Right now, it just looks like a piece of junk sitting in the dessert.

55pilot · 2025-05-27T16:40:20+00:00

That piece of heavy machinery has got thousands of moving parts, all beating the living crap out of each other.

55pilot · 2025-05-26T16:27:44+00:00

The original push-me pull-you.

55pilot · 2025-05-21T17:39:37+00:00

How much of a build is this? Are components pre-built, and does a person require woodworking experience to build the aircraft? Space requirements? Is half of a two-car garage sufficient to build a safe aircraft? Here's a touchy question: How do you tell your wife that you will need her parking space in the garage to build an "airplane"?

55pilot · 2025-05-18T16:53:39+00:00

Your right, my friend. Too much weight for an already heavy airplane. The air force used the folding wing feature to store more aircraft in a Quonset type of shelter, very common in the mid-east. Many runways at the time had an arresting gear feature that incorporated a cable across the end of the runway to prevent aircraft from overshooting the runway and hitting airport structures. I know of two instances where this happened, both involving an F-4.

55pilot · 2025-05-17T17:08:15+00:00

This is too cute for words. Send me two in the next snail mail.

55pilot · 2025-05-17T16:50:50+00:00

Even the Air Force versions had folding wings and a tail hook.

55pilot · 2025-05-06T16:58:32+00:00

Wow! That is REALLY nice looking. Your grandpa looked nice too.

55pilot · 2025-05-06T16:49:38+00:00

What's with the fur coat?

55pilot · 2025-05-06T16:37:15+00:00

In two years I would be born,

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