Navy Guys

[hblair]

Was down at Cape Kennedy over the weekend and saw a "warbird" museum next door. Stopped in to check it out, there weren't many warbirds there but there was an F4F being restored there. We got there 1 hour before closing and the lights in the hangar were already off, but I took a few snaps of the wildcat. The lady at the front desk said the plane was being restored by a few old grumman engineers. Nice looking bird although my pics do no justice...

 

[Ripsnort]

Beauty, thanks!

[chaunc]

Thanks..if you ever near Pensacola, Fl there is a nice acft museum there.  It is amasing how small the zero actually was.

[Mathman]

What I find amazing is how small many of the fighters from WW2 were.  Of course, this is coming from a guy who grew up drooling at the sight of an F-14 (still my all time fav, though another 'Cat has been gaining more and more as I read even more about the PTO).

-math

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"Any American fighter near Orote Penninsula.  I have forty Jap planes surrounded and need a little help."
-Ens. W.B. "Spider" Webb during the Marians Turkey Shoot

[Vermillion]

Hblair, I was down there about 4 years ago, when they were just starting the work on that old Wildcat. They've come a LONG ways since then  

Thanks for the pics

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Vermillion
**MOL**, Men of Leisure

[hblair]

I thought I had taken more of the F4F. Looks like thats the only one. I was surprised to see that the F4U corsair is a very small fighter. Looks even smaller than the ME-109. Just look at this picture of my son standing beside it!

 
 

[Saintaw]

Oh !  

I thought that was YOU !

(cfr an old picture Torque posted on this BB in 1999 ... could not find the link.)

Saw  

[JoeMud]

!!!??? that isnt a corsair..is it? cant be.

[hblair]

Yes Joe, surprising huh? I would've never imagined it being so darn small. It was barely big enough for me to get into.

[bloom25]

That's not really too surprising though.  Vought designed the F4u to take the most powerful engine then available and mount it to the most compact airframe possible.  I've seen a real F4u-5 at an air museum here in Oregon, along with a p38, b26, b25, b29 (airliner conversion, but very similar), p51, a26, and a few others.  What was impressive is that the planes are actually not static displays, they are flown regularly.  I managed to see the p38 and b25 flying together, the b25 even looped.    (I'm not joking.)  I guess the b25 handled quite well.

Out of all the planes there, I'd say the f4u was only about average sized.  (The p38 is surprisingly large, almost as big as the b25.)



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bloom25
THUNDERBIRDS

[Westy]

lol

And that aint no ordinary F4U either. I think it's one of the late war Uber F2G's to be exact.

 -Westy

[Dead Man Flying]

LOL Somehow I remember the F4U being significantly bigger than that when I saw one a couple of months ago.  Seems my mind is playing tricks on me as usual.  

-- Todd/DMF

[hazed-]

The F4 corsair at Duxford UK is a LOT bigger than that. its gotta be a scale model  
The Corsair had the biggest propeller ever used on a fighter at the time so that is definately not the corsair i know.I'd like to know what that one is.


hazed

[discod]

That F4U is definately a scale replica. The HOG was huge! I have seen several up close.  Here's an example:
   

[This message has been edited by discod (edited 11-29-2000).]

[hblair]

You guys are a bunch of bubble bursting weenies! We all know its a scale model. The funny thing is to act like its real, and trip out the guys who arent too sure!