The A2A Simulations Community

Reading the threads about tail draggers and T-6's reminded me of a neat ride I had back in 1953 in a DEL. ANG T-6. A good friend of our family was a Captain in the DEL ANG and I had been pestering him for a ride in the 6. One summer day he was going a cross country from Wilmington's airport (where they were based) to Reading PA. And on to Boston MA. and return to Wilmington (ILG).
We landed in Reading did a fairly quick turn around and took off for Boston. Well the PA ANG had a squadron of P-51's based there and my pilot knew some of the guys in the squadron. About 5 minutes after we took off I saw the Captains head do a quick swivel around at something I didn't see but knew he had spotted something. A few seconds later I spotted a Mustang sitting in our 4 o'clock position and tailing us. What a great sight ! He stayed there for a few seconds then pealed off and disappered very quickly.
We continued our trip to BOS and return uneventually but that was a thrill to remember. Had never been that close to an fighter in the air, can imagine what it must have been like for a German fighter to look back and see a sight like that.
Sadly my friend was killed that same year in a F-86.

Who was your friend? I knew most of the 142nd pilots quite well. There were several killled around the period. Some near New Castle. Frank Stern in an 86 into the Gunpowder River and my best friend Jim Shotwell killed at New Castle in 55 in an 86A.
Dudley Henriques

Hi Dudley, He was Captain Frank Stern. I also knew Bill Hutchinson and Billy Livergood who was one of the original pilots in the DEL ANG.
Budo

Good old Frank. He had an Auto Seat Cover business at 8th and Tatnall. Remember him well.
Livergood was a real hot stick, perhaps a bit too hot really.
Bill was number 1 in a flight of 4 on initial to 19 after a fly over at some affair the guys were conned into doing and pitched out way too hard for an N model Jug. It dug into an accelerated stall during the break and departed asymmetrically over the top. He simply didn't have the room. There's a Dairy Queen (or was anyway) on the spot where Bill went in right across from where the main gate used to be on the Newport road. I hardly recognize the area any more from the old days.
I have a photo you might like to have of Frank, Shotwell, McCallister, and Walt Hannum with Dave's original Cindy Lind 86A. Go back channel to dudleyhenriques@gmail.com and I'll send it to you.


DH

Dudley, Billy use to date my sister and one night she had quite a reaction to a shot at the dentist and when Bill came to take her out he saw her condition and took her right away to the Delaware Hospital probably saving her life. Understand that at the time Bill was on his break there was a commercial DC-3 that had been cleared on the same runway so don't know if this had any effect on his concentration or not.
With Frank there is theories on what happened him, spatial disorganization (terminology), icing, severe turbulence. The accident report I read did not give final conclusions.
He was a neat guy. In his early days he would pull up to a service station ask for a gallon of gas and a road map to Texas. Whenever I'm down that way I stop and visit his grave and pay my respects to him. Budo

Seems we have a few things in common.
Jim Shotwell is buried in a church yard in Haywood Va. I was only a teen ager when he was buried and missed the funeral. Sixteen years later I came to the grave site not in a car but overhead flying a P51D.
The low pass I made over Jim's grave that morning woke up half the state as I rolled it over the church.
Reader's Digest carried the story in 1985. Turns out considering the Digest reader base it probably turned out to be the most widely read about buzz job in aviation history. ))))))
Knowing Jim as I did, he would have loved being in on THAT one!
Anyway, nice meeting you.
DH

Sorry to cut in Dudley and Budo. Glad you guys found some common ground over this thread! That's pretty cool stuff.



To answer your question, the tailwheel is connected via cables on the rudder. However, this tailwheel has a mechanism that allows it to become free castonring after the wheel turns about 90 degrees. It really allows for some tight manuvering. After you've done a very tight turn like that and you push opposite rudder, you feel the mechanism kind of pop back into place and then you've got full tailwheel steering again. Here is a photo of the plane:

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All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

Thank you very much indeed, that's a beaut'.

Perhaps it's just me, but does anyone else share the sentiment that tail-draggers - for the want of a better phrase; look right, especially whilst sat on the deck. Whereas tricycles seem a little odd, or perhaps unstable?

Green with envy,

John.

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~ Make love to the sky, don't shag it.

Interesting observation
Actually, each type is an example of what is arguably the most unstable platform man could design. Anything triangular gives you the old 3 legged stool deal and we all know how stable THEY can be
I'm actually in what might be the minority on which one is less stable. I prefer the tail wheel and believe it gives you a bit more time to react and correct considering a departure from a straight line at a given speed.
Of course this depends on the length of the arm and the closeness of the coupling. A Pitts S1S for example might just be a bit less "stable" than a DC8 !
Dudley Henriques

You, Sir; made me laugh out loud there, my brother turned a three legged stool many years ago, and it has pride of place in my bedroom. The number of times I've toppled off that whilst relaxing to some music, I felt perhaps my inner-ear was shot.

When I wrote the last post, in my mind a related phrase rung out in my head - I forget where I picked it up from - I've very possibly corrupted it a little, but hope the meaning is still there; "If it looks like it can fly; it will fly."

_________________
~ Make love to the sky, don't shag it.

We have a 3 legged stool our son made in high school many years ago. It's a beautiful job but I have spent the last 50 years trying to keep my wife from standing on it to reach the cupboard over the refrigerator!

DH

Well, today was my graduation from my course and I'm now endorsed as a tail-dragger pilot! Flying will never be the same for me. I've got a couple photos to share. One of which is because many people have said to me how when they learned tail wheel they had a nice big runway. This first photo will show you that I did not have that luxury all the time. This first photo is of the Sisters airport in Oregon. Most of the strips I flew out of were similar in size. This is the strip where I cut my teeth on my first attemts at takeoffs and landings.



The rest of these photos are just for fun. I thought they looked like classic pics from back in the day.

_________________
All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

Congratulations. I'm assuming that's a 140. Can't quite see the flaps. Beautiful airplane.
Dudley Henriques

Thank you, Dudley! Yup, it's a 1948 Cessna 140. Haha, it's got the very old style flap handle in between the seats that looks like a parking break.

_________________
All the best - Flyboy4612
Private pilot/tail-dragger endorsed

I remember that handle well. I had a student with sweaty hands slip and let go of it from full down one day. It slammed up sounding like a gunshot had gone off in the cockpit. Cessna kept that Johnson Bar handle on into the early 150's. Simple but effective.
The 140 is a beautifully flying little bird. The only idiosyncratic issue I had with them was the stand pipe in the tanks. If you were low on fuel doing takeoffs and landings you had to be a bit careful with the angle of climb. The fuel could angle the top of the pipe and the engine didn't like that a bit
I think they finally fixed the issue with an AD.
Dudley Henriques