Aviation Geeks unite?! Anybody else care about planes here?

[Santaman]

CH-53's are cool helicopters. I like the Super Stallion, also the SH-3 Sea King and the H34/S58 one was used in a TV series called Riptide, the screaming Mimi http://summithelicopter.com/mamamimi.htm

 

[BK613]

Speaking of helicopters, the CH-46 Sea Knight has had the most influence on me in seeing 'beauty' in the utilitarian nature of aircraft. After watching hundreds of vertreps*, you can't help but be impressed by the aircraft and the pilots who flew it.

*(VERTical REPlenishment. Here's someone's nice Youtube video showing the CH-46 in action (playtime 10:19))

 

[Santaman]

So what if you need something the size of a Herculesand have no airstrip?
You get a Mil Mi-26 Halo! interestingly it lifted a downed Sea King

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mil_Mi-26

Another one of my favorites is the Piasecki H-21 better known and the flying banana.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_H-21

As for more European helicopters, you can't get past the Gazelle and the lovely Aloutte III
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aérospatiale_Gazelle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aérospatiale_Alouette_III

 

[Marc]

As for more European helicopters, you can't get past the Gazelle and the lovely Aloutte III
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aérospatiale_Gazelle

The Blue Thunder from the 1983 film of the same name was a modified Gazelle.

 

[Mysterion]

Any fans of LTA? Airships? Blimps? Dirigibles? Am reading a couple of great books by William Althoff - Sky Ships and Forgotten Weapons which chronicle the airships employed by the US Navy from the 1920's to early 1960's. One day when I was really young - 3rd grade? - the Goodyear blimp flew right over my home and I've been fascinated by airships ever since. Would love to see a resurgence in their use.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Speaking of helicopters, the CH-46 Sea Knight has had the most influence on me in seeing 'beauty' in the utilitarian nature of aircraft. After watching hundreds of vertreps*, you can't help but be impressed by the aircraft and the pilots who flew it.

*(VERTical REPlenishment. Here's someone's nice Youtube video showing the CH-46 in action (playtime 10:19))

The CH-47 Chinook was not on my list upthread only because I didn't strive for a complete list. The CH-47 is beautiful IMO. The problem of torque balance is solved simply and elegantly for a vehicle whose function (in the case of the Chinook) is to carry a heavy load.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem_rotors

 

[NCC-73515]

Any fans of LTA? Airships? Blimps? Dirigibles? Am reading a couple of great books by William Althoff - Sky Ships and Forgotten Weapons which chronicle the airships employed by the US Navy from the 1920's to early 1960's. One day when I was really young - 3rd grade? - the Goodyear blimp flew right over my home and I've been fascinated by airships ever since. Would love to see a resurgence in their use.

The Zeppelin and Hindenburg must have been amazing to see float around back then

 

[scotpens]

Another odball
The X3 Stiletto, really "sharp" looking aircraft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-3_Stiletto

Unfortunately, the Stiletto was badly underpowered and had disappointing performance. It couldn't even exceed Mach 1 unless it was in a dive.

Speaking of helicopters, the CH-46 Sea Knight has had the most influence on me in seeing 'beauty' in the utilitarian nature of aircraft.

I've always been a fan of the Bell 206 JetRanger (the U.S. Army's OH-58 Kiowa) for its clean, sleek lines. It was the first helicopter design to take esthetics into account as well as function, to make it more attractive to business customers.

 

[BK613]

Unfortunately, the Stiletto was badly underpowered and had disappointing performance. It couldn't even exceed Mach 1 unless it was in a dive.


I've always been a fan of the Bell 206 JetRanger (the U.S. Army's OH-58 Kiowa) for its clean, sleek lines. It was the first helicopter design to take esthetics into account as well as function, to make it more attractive to business customers.

Yep, that is the one that Lois falls out of and Superman catches in the 1978 film. Thing about the Sea Knight though is that it doesn't look clean or sleek but boy is it agile.

Coming back from my second WesPac, the AirDet had some excess fuel to burn so the ship's crew got to go up six at time in our CH-46s. Now the ship I did this on was 570' long with a beam of 79' and always felt reassuringly big to me, but that perception changed when I saw just small it looked on that vast, vast ocean from a vantage point of 5000 feet.

 

[Santaman]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_H-5
Oldie but a really nice looking machine the Sikorsky H-5 always looked a little SF to me.

 

[Mysterion]

The CH-47 Chinook was not on my list upthread only because I didn't strive for a complete list. The CH-47 is beautiful IMO. The problem of torque balance is solved simply and elegantly for a vehicle whose function (in the case of the Chinook) is to carry a heavy load.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandem_rotors

Chinook is a really nice, smooth ride. Bitch standing under one t do a hot refuel, though. Very noisy.

 

[J.T.B.]

Used to work on Ch-53's.

That's a job of work!

I've always been a fan of the Bell 206 JetRanger (the U.S. Army's OH-58 Kiowa) for its clean, sleek lines. It was the first helicopter design to take esthetics into account as well as function, to make it more attractive to business customers.

That was what I though of when I heard the word "helicopter" as a kid.

Thing about the Sean Knight though is that it doesn't look clean or sleek but boy is it agile.

Yeah the Phrog could really move. Loved any chance to watch them.

Oldie but a really nice looking machine the Sikorsky H-5 always looked a little SF to me.

I like them but it always seems like something's missing without anything vertical on the tail. Nine-cylinder radial mounted horizontal!

Mickey Rooney liked 'em. Or HO3S, anyway.

 

[scotpens]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_H-5
Oldie but a really nice looking machine the Sikorsky H-5 always looked a little SF to me.

It does have a bit of a 1930s Streamline Moderne look. One was featured in the 1957 sci-fi flick The Land Unknown.

 

[Santaman]

Someone mentioned blimps and airships.. so what about one with a metal skin? The ZMC2 had a Alclad skin for its envelope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZMC-2

 

[J.T.B.]

Here's a question: I read somewhere, can't remember where, that because of the aerodynamics of its shape, the H-34/HUS could maintain controlled flight without a tail rotor. I have never found anything to confirm this. Anyone heard anything like that?

I had a friend who flew Hueys in Vietnam and he had no end of stories. Once when he was landing the tail rotor came apart just as the skids touched down.

"If you were still flying, was there anything you could do?" I asked.

"Yeah, you could kiss your ass goodbye!"

I laughed. "But really, was there anything you could do?"

"Yeah, I just told you, YOU COULD KISS YOUR ASS GOODBYE!"

 

[Santaman]

You have to understand torque, the engine rotates the rotor one way, that action will cause an equal reaction and will make the rest of the helicopter rotate the other way, no helicopter can maintain a controlled flight when the tail rotor or NOTAR system fails unless you immediately cut the engine power, that way you can make a controlled landing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorotation

This is how an autogyro works, the rotor of these aircraft are NOT powered by the engine and thus do NOT create a counter rotation because their rotor spins by the forward motion of the aircraft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro

 

[Marc]

I had a friend who flew Hueys in Vietnam and he had no end of stories. Once when he was landing the tail rotor came apart just as the skids touched down.

my dad flew in the Hueys during his Vietnam service and summed it up as "if the Australian choppers start leaking oil you worried, if the American choppers stopped leaking oil you worried".

 

[Santaman]

^^ That is the same with British motorcycles, when they stopped leaking oil you had problems..

 

[Marc]

found this from a thread on reddit (r/battlestations). Although the post had setup for racing sim, he's also setup for flight sim as well though doesn't say which simulator he flies.

https://imgur.com/a/voqVq6Z

 

[J.T.B.]

It does have a bit of a 1930s Streamline Moderne look. One was featured in the 1957 sci-fi flick The Land Unknown.

Speaking of '50s sci-fi flicks, here is the rather less-than-graceful McCulloch tandem rotor in Gog, 1954. Before the internet I had a really hard time finding much information about this helicopter. They had a flat six in the middle driving shafts to both rotors.