Just some thoughts...

I went to an airshow today. Saw many flying restorations. I really appreciate them more now that I have been restoring the Sunbird.

Kinda sweet when you have a P-51 flying next to a F-18. Many, many planes that were abandoned derelicts now flying. Just like what we do, but on a much larger and more expensive scale.

Paul, i'm going to have to agree with you. A friend of mine has a Messerschmitt ME-109F that is like new. His dad aquired it during WW2 and brought it home. They pulled weapons off of it... never had been started, added fuel and she fired right up. Took it apart & shipped it home. It helps if you're a high Field grade officer also.

He(son)... took me for a ride in it about 15 yrs. ago, then he went to McGuire AFB for a show. Man what a freakin rush that was, although the swastika on the tail must have caused some visual problems!

Alan

Alan-

An ME109??? WOW. You never see those at air shows... That is awesome.

There were Spitfires, Hurricanes and an Avro Lanacater at this show. An ME 109 would have been an interesting add.

They even had a F4U Corsair and a F4F Wildcat. There was supposed to be a P-40, I have been dying to see one of those.

They did a cool Mig alley thing with an F4 Phantom and a MIG. Those F4s are old but AWESOME.

We even had a B2 and B-52 fly by. What a day!!!!

Paul.... i'm not quite sure of the exact model designation and i'd thought someone more versed in these would jump on me.

The ME-109F was a one seater fighter, so how the heck did I ride in it? Well this was a new type of night time fighter to combat the always present bombers. It had a stretched cockpit for two, with the added newer style radar for night flight/fighting, and its operator/gunner, as until then they hadn't had a system for nightime operations.

IIRC (?) the designation was: ME-109FN... for nacht/night. The F was indicative of the sixth version/generation of the original fighter ME109.

Like I said, "talk about sensory overload". Jets are on you before you can even see/hear them, but this just growls/whines at you all the way down!

Alan

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, I saw some Ukraine MiG-29s in Wilkes-Barre at an air show--my favorite jets after the F-14s. I once heard they are the only planes that can do the cobra maneuver, but that could just be some cold war era propaganda...

Seeing the F4U must've been quite a treat, my favorite plane of all time!