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

[XCV330]

At any rate it's a great movie if you're interested in that period. The pilots all wear guns, as air mail pilots were required in the US as well. In case somebody tried to rob the mail, I guess. In one part flying over a high mountain pass they put rubber tubes in their mouths to suck oxygen from a tank!

A short piece on the aerial photography:

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I'm just guessing but it could have been for wild animals as well, at some of the rural airfields. This wouldn't have been too uncommon. Air force crews were issued survival rifles as well for similar reasons. Probably the oddest case of that is the survival pistols that soyuz crew have been provided with. Initially they were given makarovs but later on got their own specially designed TP-82, after Alexei Leonov landed near a pack of wolves.

 

[J.T.B.]

I'm just guessing but it could have been for wild animals as well, at some of the rural airfields. This wouldn't have been too uncommon. Air force crews were issued survival rifles as well for similar reasons.

In the US it was a Post Office Department requirement, but your point is right. Here's what it says about a 1926 air mail pilot in The Only Way to Fly: The Story of Western Airlines, America's Senior Air Carrier by Robert Serling:

James, disdaining the coveralls, wore faded khaki riding breeches, high-laced boots, a heavy pullover sweater, and the usual .45—the armament, standard paraphernalia for air mail pilots, was supposed to be used to guard the mail in the event of a forced landing, but its more practical purpose was as an instrument of survival.​

Elsewhere it says the .45's were revolvers, so more than likely Smith & Wesson or Colt M1917's, which were sold off in massive numbers as surplus after WW1.

 

[Henoch]

Elsewhere it says the .45's were revolvers, so more than likely Smith & Wesson or Colt M1917's, which were sold off in massive numbers as surplus after WW1.

My father owned one of the M1917 S&W's and said his was issued to the postal service, but he didn't mention the air mail service.

 

[XCV330]

My father owned one of the M1917 S&W's and said his was issued to the postal service, but he didn't mention the air mail service.

Could have been a postal inspector. Mail carriers aren't allowed to carry firearms while at work.

 

[J.T.B.]

Air mail was a contracted service, so the pilots (or if they were lucky their company) would supply their own equipment. But apparently there were a few Post Office functions in the old days (pre-WW2) where personnel would be armed, and a lot of local post offices had revolvers in a lock box somewhere. They were their own security guards, in effect.

 

[Santaman]

Back to aircraft, an oldie bomber.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_B-45_Tornado
First operational jet bomber with the USAF and the first multiengine jet bomber in the world to be refueled in midair.

 

[Q2UnME]

For about 15 years, I attended just about every air show in the western NY area. My boys and I loved them. My personal favorites are the WWII area warbirds. P-51 Mustang, B-17 Flying Fortress, F-4U Corsair and P-38 Lightnings were always a crowd pleaser. I can't tell you how many models of them I built over the decades. I always loved the F-14 and F-15 deomstrations too (turn and burn, Baby!), though the B-1A and F-117 are awesome in their own right. I miss those days....

 

[Santaman]

^^ Cool

Another early bird, a tad strange but you can't say that they didn't try back in those days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Sperrin

 

[XCV330]

the Deaux-Ponts has been sitting around too much watching Netflix during quarantine, but one day it will work out, and that Lockheed Connie will notice him.

 

[BK613]

^^^ now have an aviation metaphor/simile/analogy for the TOS E (Connoie) vs. the JJPrise (Deaux-Ponts).

 

[Santaman]

I actually like that aircraft.

 

[publiusr]

I resemble that aircraft

 

[BK613]

Based on the typical location, one is tempted to ask, "Is that an APU or are you just happy to see me?"

 

[Marc]

the Deaux-Ponts has been sitting around too much watching Netflix during quarantine, but one day it will work out, and that Lockheed Connie will notice him.

The Deaux-Ponts had an elevator between the levels where as the double decker aircraft of today make you climb stairs

Though the elevator was probably easier to fit in than a staircase at the time the aircraft was designed and built.

 

[MANT!]

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[Marc]

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must have been fun loading the Blue Steel into the Victors given how low to the ground they are.

 

[Santaman]

Really nice aircraft though.

 

[Marc]

Really nice aircraft though.

the Vulcan and the Victor definitely weren't Buffs

 

[publiusr]

Wired did a piece on the Fenris airbreathing rocket. Skylon itself may take time, but quiet SuperSonics look to come down the pike.

Black Ice might be back on the table for Stratolaunch

 

[Santaman]

the Vulcan and the Victor definitely weren't Buffs

Yeah, very true, but BUFF is still flying around.

I think they used to name the A-7 Corsair "SLUFF", Short Little Ugly Fat Fella.