Plane / Planes / Aircraft / Aeroplane / Airplane appreciation

Ah I see. Seems everything went as expected, quite a feat of engineering.

I found this insane story over the weekend; the endurance record for non-stop flight is 64 DAYS... set in 1959 by 2 blokes in a cessna refuelling twice a day from a truck.

https://disciplesofflight.com/flight-endurance/

While we are here, this can be my aero curio for the day...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_5390

Brown trousers? 😊

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Crazy story - those pics are from a re-enactment though

Yeah. I guess getting the air stewardess to do selfies might have been a bit rich.

If only if it had happened now... 😎

When I first saw this meme, posted by a military plane fanatic friend, I couldn't believe it was true.

After a bit of digging I can confirm that its 100% legit. Sadly it's an article about the plane being shot down.

https://www.africanmilitaryblog.com/2019/12/lnas-frankenstein-mig-23ml-flogger-shot-down-by-manpad?amp&fbclid=IwAR32NmgM8YMWU7UkmTGsah3TSUF9uPx3cqQHoC6HcTHlpv0y05x9FyZixMg

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I remember that happening at the time, how the captain survived isn’t much short of a miracle. Amazing.

I later studied that case at uni as an aircraft tech. Turned out someone filled the correct parts bin with the wrong screws. The tech duly fitted them but they were a few mm too short. It also highlighted a design flaw in that the window was fitted from the outside. If the window had been fitted from the inside, the window flanges meant it couldn’t have popped out under pressure regardless of missing screws. Scary stuff.

Agreed.

I find it bizarre the co pilot suffered Frost Bite but not el Capitan?

Fly past from this mornings coffee stop.

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I want a prize for identifying it from the first picture.

They still in operation or vintage flight?

50 years old? goodness, amazing. Where are you? can't get it from the pictures

Southern tip of Cyprus?

Austria? I remember the awkward Meinl logo from living there. Having said that, I don’t remember palm trees or cars driving on the left...

The USAF has no plans to retire the U-2, which first flew in 1955,
despite previous attempts to replace the aircraft with the Northrop
Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle. The service still
operates 33 examples of the Cold War-era spy plane.

https://www.flightglobal.com/fixed-wing/u-2-spyplane-fleet-gets-new-high-powered-camera/136832.article

Heh. Sounds like fond memories?

Skiing must have been good?

The powerlines? look US non?

Did no skiing- I lived at the flatter eastern end of the country But yes, very fond memories, particularly of long nights out in Vienna’s 8th district and some amazing gigs (Pixies, Loop, MBV)

At the risk of opening up pages of cheese-puns, if you look closely there's another (still functioning?) Cold War relic in the pics. Lovely stuff!

Those masts in the background - UK Sovereign Base area at Akrotiri?

At the risk of opening up pages of cheese-puns, if you look closely there's another (still functioning?) Cold War relic in the pics. Lovely stuff!

::pushes glasses onto nose::

Is that the British East Mediterranean Relay Station?

I have come across a fairly in depth book on the history of the Spitfire if anyone wants it.
It came from a warehouse clearance. I have attached a few images. If anyone is interested in it, let me know, otherwise it will probably just go to a charity shop.

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That'd be my guess.

I’d like it but postage would be a bastard I expect. Whereabouts are you, might be able to get a friend to house it until I see them next. They might not want to as it means another round of me boring them about the time I was lucky enough to fly in the two-seater

Ha! You and me alike!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurekb/48857662288/