Anyone likes airplanes ? Most beautiful plane ever...

[Level42]

Visited Aviodrome-Lelystad ( http://www.aviodrome.nl/ ) last week.

Of course I had the excuse that my 5 year old son like airplanes so much, but for me there was a secret reason: For the first timing seeing the Lockheed Constellation "in the flesh".

This one is the last of 5 (2 in US, 2 in Europe, 1 in Australia) that can still fly.



IMHO this is the most beautiful thing with wings ever built.

It was partially restored in Arizona, and then, believe it or not, flown across the US, Canada, Iceland, UK and then it's new home Lelystad, Holland !!!

Regretfully it was in maintenance and not outside. This plane has been in service as a crop duster after it was retired from passenger-service. You could still smell the very intense "perfume" !!! It's deep in the metal, no way it's ever getting out....

The people who got this thing flying again are both heroes and crazy.....flying a 50 year old plane is not without risks. Regretfully they don't do tour-flights with it, as I would sure book a flight. But it's too expensive. Insurence per flight is €60.000,- !!! They do want to visit airshows however and hope to fly in 2008.

Here's the full story in English about this fantastic Connie:
http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-connies_comeback.htm

Here are my pics: http://gallery.mac.com/andre.huijts#100045

[patrickl]

Yeah that's a cool plane.

I was thinking about taking my kid there too, but the entrance fee is pretty high. Is it worth it really?

[Level42]

It is pretty high, but worth it. I remember when it was still aviodome at Schiphol and there it was just a handful of planes thrown about under a dome. Now they've made more of a historic travel though time, starting with a "time-machine", balloons, experiments, wright-flyer, early fokkers etc. It's focussed on Dutch aviation of course. We spent about from 11.00 till 16.00 there, incl. seeing a 50 min. documentary they made about "Connie's Comeback". Even my wife thought it was fun...

[danny_galaga]

you have good taste in planes (",). not my favourite, but it does look beautiful. that would have been a bllody big crop duster!

oh, and see that little dome on the top, just behind the aerials? i saw that on a super constellation i was lucky enough to climb on board once. it was used for celestial navigation, sextant and all!

[DrumAnBass]

 DC-3 at Charlotte, NC flight museum:

[Level42]

oh, and see that little dome on the top, just behind the aerials? i saw that on a super constellation i was lucky enough to climb on board once. it was used for celestial navigation, sextant and all!

Thanks
Haha, yeah, it was funny, in the documentary you can see that the pilot (Frank Lane, an American pilot who clearly has flown Conny's when they were new  ) uses a portable navigation system during the crossing from the US to Holland ! Things have changed a bit

DrumAnBass: Yeah, the DC-3 is another favorite, I love the sound Still, it's just a little more common then the Conny IMHO... I love the paint scheme's of that time, that one is pretty simular to the KLM paint scheme on the Conny...

Ever seen a full orange DC-3 ?


http://www.dutch-aviation.nl/index3/1919-1939/index3-1939.html

Not a gimmick. In 1939 Holland was still "neutral" and German planes had shot at some KLM aircraft thinking it were military planes. So they painted them completely orange and in very large letters Holland  on them to prevent this from happening again....which didn't last very long of course....

[DrumAnBass]

Yah that Conny is sweet - and you are right - very rare. Love the cockpit design.

DC-3's are quite common, I just like that pic I snapped with the light on the aluminum and thought I would share it.   My father in-law is a pilot and he had to belly land a DC-3 when the landing gear wouldn't extend. The props schredded on impact and a chunk of prop almost took his leg off. Took 6 mos. of recovery but he was fine.

[boykster]

If you're ever in the DC area, go here:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/

Very cool place.....

[2600]

If you're ever in the DC area, go here:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/

Very cool place.....

Just be aware that the new Air and Space Museum extension is about 20 miles outside of DC.

[skippy]

If you're ever in the DC area, go here:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/

Very cool place.....

Great place.  I really like the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Oh.  It's a personal favorite.  I try to go at least once a year, amazing collection.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/

[boykster]

Just be aware that the new Air and Space Museum extension is about 20 miles outside of DC.

Yep, it's right near Dulles airport....the link I posted was for the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, not the one on the National Mall. 

[boykster]

Great place.  I really like the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Oh.  It's a personal favorite.  I try to go at least once a year, amazing collection.

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/

I've not been there, I'll definately have to check it out if I'm ever in Dayton....

[TOK]

I'm a WWII Warbirds fan, but that is a pretty plane. Check this out. This restaurant near where I live used to have a Super Constellation on the roof. It was the bar/cocktail area. It was a huge landmark for the little town. It was taken down and replaced by a gas station.

There is now a little model of the plane on top of the gas station sign... 3' or so in length. 


http://www.conniesurvivors.com/1-penndel_super_connie.htm

[DrumAnBass]

Wow that is awesome! Can't believe they tore that down!!!   

[TOK]

After being called Flannery's for a long time it closed and sat empty... It was opened years later as Amelia's. They repainted it an ugly two tone brown, but left the plane intact. That was the only time I was in there. After that place went out of business, it sat empty for a few more years before being  dismantled. There is a crane place right across the street, and it sat in pieces in their lot for over a year, 10 feet from the road.

I actually thought it had just been scrapped. I was glad to see it went to a museum.

I have pics of my car in the parking lot after it had closed, but it'd take me forever to find them, since they're in a huge bag of prints (the restaurant was pretty much falling apart at that point). I'll try and dig the pics out and scan them if anyone cares.

[AtomSmasher]

A stealth bomber briefly flew a few circles overhead today (I live kind of close to Edwards Airforce Base) and that was pretty neat to watch that giant black wing fly around.

[patrickl]

A stealth bomber briefly flew a few circles overhead today (I live kind of close to Edwards Airforce Base) and that was pretty neat to watch that giant black wing fly around.

I lived near a helicopter landing field and sometimes Chinooks would fly straight over my house. That's just the coolest sound *evar*

[tommy]

I think this comment will take this thread into a whole other unwanted direction about flying but after 9/11, i will never, ever fly again as long as i live. The terrorists did their job well and i will not go out like that, i just can't do it. 

Going through what those people went through is a hell on earth i never want to put myself in position to experience that no matter how safe they say things are or what the chances are that something like that will ever happen again.

These people are not done with us, unfortunately.

[boykster]

You're safer flying than driving.  But I bet you get into a car every day.

[danny_galaga]

I think this comment will take this thread into a whole other unwanted direction about flying but after 9/11, i will never, ever fly again as long as i live. The terrorists did their job well and i will not go out like that, i just can't do it. 

looks like they succeeded, then

[danny_galaga]

A stealth bomber briefly flew a few circles overhead today (I live kind of close to Edwards Airforce Base) and that was pretty neat to watch that giant black wing fly around.

I lived near a helicopter landing field and sometimes Chinooks would fly straight over my house. That's just the coolest sound *evar*

concorde used to land in the town where i grew up. hearing that thing take off is a whole other kinda sound! a B-52 is like an ultralight compared to that sound...

[tommy]

You're safer flying than driving.  But I bet you get into a car every day.

Yes, but you can't compare driving a car to flying in a plane. The difference in the amount of control i may have in what happens is 50% compared to 0%. I don't like those odds.

[Singapura]

Hehe, Lelystad my old hometown.  And I never visited Aviodrome  although I passed it almost every day. Ah well, now I can see the planes take off over the Singapore Straits.

[danny_galaga]

DrumAnBass: Yeah, the DC-3 is another favorite, I love the sound Still, it's just a little more common then the Conny IMHO...

and actually they are still used for work. i believe just in the US there are about 6 or so used for short haul transport. and there are still inventories of new parts!

[TOK]

I think this comment will take this thread into a whole other unwanted direction about flying but after 9/11, i will never, ever fly again as long as i live. The terrorists did their job well and i will not go out like that, i just can't do it. 

Going through what those people went through is a hell on earth i never want to put myself in position to experience that no matter how safe they say things are or what the chances are that something like that will ever happen again.

These people are not done with us, unfortunately.

Our mental state has changed. Nobody is taking over a plane armed with a razor knife ever again. This belongs in a P&R thread, not here.

[danny_galaga]

continuing the 'most' aircraft theme. i reckon this is the most pointy airplane ever made (",). pic taken when i was in kittyhawk, NC for the first flight celebrations. i talked to the owner. he said it is a dream to fly. it is turbo charged. the cowling is so tight that the turbo burns through the rivets butted up again it 

[shardian]

My father-in-law has a Beechcraft Bonanza. Note the shape of the rear:


Note: This is not a picture of his - I don't have a good pic.

[ErikRuud]

If you're ever in the DC area, go here:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/

Very cool place.....

I was in DC last summer, but I didn't know about that one. 

About 15 years ago I went here: http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/garber/  This is also very cool.


Two of my personal favorite aircraft is the Northrop F-5 Tiger II and the F-20 Tiger Shark.  For older planes. I like a lot of the Schneider Trophy planes.

[danny_galaga]

If you're ever in the DC area, go here:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/

Very cool place.....

I was in DC last summer, but I didn't know about that one. 

About 15 years ago I went here: http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/garber/  This is also very cool.


Two of my personal favorite aircraft is the Northrop F-5 Tiger II and the F-20 Tiger Shark.  For older planes. I like a lot of the Schneider Trophy planes.

schneider you say? heres a curtis i snapped in the smithsonian...

[Cakemeister]

They have a couple of Concordes (and a bunch of other neat planes) at the French aerospace musuem in Paris. I can say that I've been in a Concorde and it only cost me a couple of euros!

The French have always been pioneers at aviation.

[Level42]

Yeah and so were the British, the Americans, the Dutch and let's not forget the Germans (although their first great planes were actually Dutch, remember Red Baron (just to insert a slight arcade link) ?

Concorde was a cooperation between France and the UK. Shame the Americans couldn't stand that the Europeans were taking lead in supersonic passenger flight and thought up heaps of limitations to land in the US for it. It is an extremely beautiful plane IMHO. I've seen (and been in) the first built (test) Concorde that's in the UK in Yeovil in a museum if I remember correctly. I remember my first impressions as "what a tiny space in the cabin" and, "look at all the 60's style technology !"

There's a new "battle" now between Boeing and Airbus. Airbus went for the huge A380. Boeing doesn't believe in that concept and goes it's own way. Will be interesting to see who's right....