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Author Topic: The Most Fun Aircraft  (Read 6752 times)

Offline earl1937

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The Most Fun Aircraft
« on: September 30, 2015, 03:52:03 AM »
 :airplane: I know that there are a lot of guys in this great game who have flown real aircraft in their lives and it would be interesting to see what someone thinks as the aircraft which they had the most fun flying.
I have to go with the S-1 Pitts Special! A friend of mine who flew for Eastern Airlines, built one back in the early sixties and wow, until I got into that thing, I just thought I knew how to fly! LOL
You don't get into the thing, you "strap" it on! You get a lot of lessons in flight real quick as you begin that first takeoff roll. Tail comes up real quick and the ole toe dance starts until you get used to applying the power slow and steady. Climb out is like a rocket ship, compared to some the things I have flown! I couldn't ever fly that thing like some of the guys do in air shows, but anything I could think of to do was a blast to say the least. Tail slides are a blast, but don't think I ever learned how to do one correctly, but was lots of fun trying! 8 point rolls were fun, "square loops" were fun to try to keep the headings and altitude where it was suppose to be!
Landings were always fun and challenging, especially on that pasture runway we used to fly the thing! I couldn't get one picture to load correctly, so maybe someone will up load one for the guys who don't know what one of those things looked like!
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Blue Skies and wind at my back and wish that for all!!!

Offline Zimme83

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2015, 10:08:04 AM »
The competition isnt that hard but i say the Su-29 for pretty much the same reasons as Earl listed above.

A lot of engine power and superb handling. The plane just do what u tells it to do, without hesitation or trying to "fight back". No stick forces to talk of, a gentle pull on the stick and u pull 5-6G. I was of course not even close to the outer ends of the flight envelope for the plane but still.
I  :cheers: the Russians and their skills in designing aircrafts, its hard to do a better plane.

But the Pa-18 on floats offers a lot of fun too, in a very different way, the joy of leaving the controlled enviroment of airports and runways and use a "living" surface as water offers a lot of fun and an extra dimension to flying and u are more dependant on flying skills and "feeling" rather than standard procedures. 
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Offline colmbo

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #2 on: September 30, 2015, 10:41:18 AM »
The most fun?  Probably the one I happen to be flying at the moment. :)

The Mustang was awesome, goes where you point it…..it's a Mustang -- enough said.

The T-6 I really like.  You have to "fly it" instead of point it.  Makes you pay attention on landing.  Certainly a high point.

The B-17 and B-24 were….well heck, they're WWII bombers!!!

My 1/2 hour in a Super Cub was a high-light.  I would love to have a Cub to go play in….I could get into lots of trouble with one of them. :)

The airplane that brought me the most joy, that I miss more than any is my 1957 Cessna 182.  My wife and I had many great adventures with One Two Bravo….

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Offline Debrody

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #3 on: September 30, 2015, 10:56:35 AM »
Would never ever fly an aircraft.Im that much afraid of real flying, havent ever been travelling on a liner.
No kidding.
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Offline Zimme83

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #4 on: September 30, 2015, 10:57:28 AM »
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Offline earl1937

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2015, 12:03:14 PM »
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Offline earl1937

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2015, 12:50:41 PM »
Quote from: colmbo on September 30, 2015, 10:41:18 AM
The most fun?  Probably the one I happen to be flying at the moment. :)

The Mustang was awesome, goes where you point it…..it's a Mustang -- enough said.

The T-6 I really like.  You have to "fly it" instead of point it.  Makes you pay attention on landing.  Certainly a high point.

The B-17 and B-24 were….well heck, they're WWII bombers!!!

My 1/2 hour in a Super Cub was a high-light.  I would love to have a Cub to go play in….I could get into lots of trouble with one of them. :)

The airplane that brought me the most joy, that I miss more than any is my 1957 Cessna 182.  My wife and I had many great adventures with One Two Bravo….

(Image removed from quote.)
:airplane: Great pic and good comments! One of the other a/c that I enjoyed a great deal was the PT-26! It really wasn't all that hard to fly, but to a young kid like me, its was tops! All control surfaces were mounted on ball bearing race's and gosh, it was smooth....that old Ranger engine wasn't much for power, but it was reliable and we had a lot of fun with that bird for about 3 years before the engine developed problems and the owner didn't want to put any more money into it.
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Offline colmbo

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #7 on: September 30, 2015, 07:53:39 PM »
When I was learning to fly a guy was finishing a rebuild on a PT-19.  I remember the push-rods and torque tube control system.

I got a short ride and a little bit of stick time in the PT-19.  Also experienced my first roll on that ride.
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Columbo

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

Fate whispers to the warrior "You cannot withstand the storm" and the warrior whispers back "I AM THE STORM"

Offline danny76

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2015, 09:03:32 PM »
De-Havilland Chipmunk, RAF trainer when I was an Air Cadet, aged 13. Flew on an Air Experience Flight with a Navy Sea Harrier pilot, one of the most enjoyable and memorable times of my life, and I managed to retain my lunch  :banana:
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Offline earl1937

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #9 on: October 01, 2015, 03:57:04 AM »
Quote from: colmbo on September 30, 2015, 07:53:39 PM
When I was learning to fly a guy was finishing a rebuild on a PT-19.  I remember the push-rods and torque tube control system.

I got a short ride and a little bit of stick time in the PT-19.  Also experienced my first roll on that ride.
:airplane: I guess you remember the "knife" blade tip test on the main spar also! A lot of those old Pt series of aircraft were sold as surplus over the years and if it didn't pass the knife blade tip test, you passed on it to something else! LOL
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Blue Skies and wind at my back and wish that for all!!!

Offline bustr

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #10 on: October 01, 2015, 06:10:40 AM »
My father was friends with an IBM engineer who made his money reselling AS400's from his own startup company. He became well off in his 30's. He liked to collect and have refurbished planes like T34 and PT19. He was also arrogant and had a few minor fender benders with his rides. So the day his PT19 was ready, he fired it up and went off down the runway and flopped it into a corn field about a mile away from the field. He had a bad habit of not taking check rides or reading manuals. The FAA had warned him if he had another fender bender his license would be revoked for some time.

So the very day his PT19 took it's first flight out of the shop, he paid cash for a corn field near the airfield and over night a PT19 sized shed went up in the middle of the field. He also paid the farmer to plow the whole field under the same day the shed showed up to remove the slide path. And the farmer told the FAA "what plane would land in that field with that big shed in it" when they came around.
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Offline Busher

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #11 on: October 01, 2015, 09:22:33 AM »
I missed out on the Pitts but I have some hours in a Christen Eagle. Supposed to be less rudder twitchy on take-off and landing. Just pure FUN!
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Offline hitech

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #12 on: October 01, 2015, 12:26:10 PM »
I believe I like this one.



HiTech
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Offline Gman

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2015, 01:15:28 PM »
Those RVs are amazing for the $.  Still haven't been up in one.

A good friend here who ran Vintage Wings Canada (our largest warbird flying company) has a Citabria I quite like, and would buy.  Other than that, maybe one of those STOVL kitplanes, so many variants, but all would be a lot of fun.  Still think it's tough to beat HT's plane for the $ for a civilian. 
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Offline Brooke

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Re: The Most Fun Aircraft
« Reply #14 on: October 01, 2015, 03:24:37 PM »
For me, it was this one:

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