Have you flown in a vintage aeroplane?

[KilroyCD]

Lots of great stories there, and I could post quite a few more of my own, but having done quite a bit of aircraft photography over the past twenty-odd years, I've had the pleasure of flying on many vintage types. One of my favourite flights was an air-to-air sortie with a Spitfire Tr.9 (owned by Bill Greenwood) at Oshkosh. My ride for the photo shoot was the P-51D owned by Ed Shipley at the time. After shooting the Spit, we then joined up with the Spit and two other P-51s for another photographer to shoot. It was an unsual sortie, ending up on both sides of the lens. Here's a photo of the Spit Tr.9 from that shoot.

 

[KenS]

Ford Tri Motor in Summer of "65"

Summer of "65" I traveled from Seattle WA to Bangor ME. On the Boston to Bangor leg I ended up on a Ford Tri Motor. What a trip...

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Anyone fly in a vintage commercial airplane?

 

[KilroyCD]

Anyone fly in a vintage commercial airplane?

I flew on a few, but they were already vintage by the time I flew on them. DC-3, Ford Tri-Motor, Stinson SM-6000B Tri-Motor, deHavilland DH-89 Dragon Rapide, all on pleasure flights, not commercially scheduled flights.

 

[RetroToday]

Cool question,

You're probably not going to believe this, but I have only flown in two planes, and both were vintage! (pre 1945)

1. DeHavilland Beaver - flying along with a fishing camp owner / friend a number of times over the years
2. Douglas DC-3 - Flew down to the big EAA airshow in OshKosh, Wisconsin in style!

At one point in the DC-3 flight to Wisconsin we stopped at customs. It was a memorable added touch when the crew put a few of us to work when they asked us to push the tail of the plane while they turned it around at the airport gas pump.

I'm probably going on a trans-atlantic flight early next year, it will be swell to travel on one of those new fangled jets, finally!

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

That must have been fun. MK had brought to our attention a cross country vintage train experience, where you could ride in a period train from let's say Los Angeles to Chicago. I would say they ought to do the same with a period commercial airplane, but I imagine it would be very expensive considering gas. A vintage car is one thing, but a large plane is a whole other ballpark.

 

[Diamondback]

It's also problematic getting a propliner over the Rockies, because the high-octane leaded avgas they needed for high-altitude flying isn't available anymore. Thank the EPA...

I talked to a group in Kansas City that has a flyable Lockheed Constellation while I was visiting their museum, and they said they've wanted to take it on tour on the Coast, but can't get her over the Rockies.

 

[dostacos]

Lots of great stories there, and I could post quite a few more of my own, but having done quite a bit of aircraft photography over the past twenty-odd years, I've had the pleasure of flying on many vintage types. One of my favourite flights was an air-to-air sortie with a Spitfire Tr.9 (owned by Bill Greenwood) at Oshkosh. My ride for the photo shoot was the P-51D owned by Ed Shipley at the time. After shooting the Spit, we then joined up with the Spit and two other P-51s for another photographer to shoot. It was an unsual sortie, ending up on both sides of the lens. Here's a photo of the Spit Tr.9 from that shoot.

My dad's favorite plane was a P51, he was offered a ride but business interfered so he offered the ride to a doctor that he worked with. My dad kidded him saying if there is a problem the pilot will say JUMP, JUMP, JUMP and you will need to bail out of the plane. the doctor asked what if he had a question after the pilot said jump 3 times? My dad told him he would be alone! the funny part was, they did have an engine failure and did have to jump

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Does a Boeing 720 or a DC-8-63 count? lol

 

[staggerwing]

1927? Vultee
1930s Boeing Stearman
1930s Rearwin Speedster
1930s Taylorcraft
1930s J3 Cub
1930s Douglas DC3
1940s North American T6
1940s Beech 17
1940s Waco
1940s Cessna 140
1940s Cessna 170
1950s Beech T34
1950s Beech Bonanza
1950s Locheed Constallation
1950s Piper Comanche
1950s Cessna 180
1960s Beech Debonaire
1960s Douglas DC8
And many mre that I can't remember at the present.

 

[KilroyCD]

1927? Vultee
1930s Boeing Stearman
1930s Rearwin Speedster
1930s Taylorcraft
1930s J3 Cub
1930s Douglas DC3
1940s North American T6
1940s Beech 17
1940s Waco
1940s Cessna 140
1940s Cessna 170
1950s Beech T34
1950s Beech Bonanza
1950s Locheed Constallation
1950s Piper Comanche
1950s Cessna 180
1960s Beech Debonaire
1960s Douglas DC8
And many mre that I can't remember at the present.

Because of 20-odd years of aviation photography, I've had the pleasure to have flown in many vintage types. Looking back at my notes, here are some I've flown in (and believe me, I'm not trying to brag. Looking at my list still astounds me!):
1929 New Standard
1929 Ford 4-AT-E Tri-Motor
1931 Stinson SM-6000B
1940s Stinson 108
1940s AT-6 / SNJ (several variants)
1942 Fairchild PT-19
1943 Fairchild PT-23
1943 Fairchild PT-26
1943 Vultee BT-13
1943 deHavilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide
1943 Douglas R4D (DC-3)
1944 P-51D
1944 B-25J
1945 B-17G
1945 PBY-6A Catalina
1950s Grumman HU-16 Albatros
1950s deHavilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk
1950s Aeronca L-16
1950s Cessna L-19 / O-1 Bird Dog
1950s T-28C Trojan
1961 Cessna 185 Skywagon (serial number 2)
1960s Cessna O-2 Skymaster

 

[staggerwing]

Kilroy:

That's a great list. I completely forgot th 02 - I have several hundred hours in the various military and civilian variants. The B17 and Catalina sound like fun.

 

[Quigley Brown]

During a press day for an air show in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, some years back I got strapped to the top wing of a Stearman biplane and flew around. The pilot wouldn't let me take my camera with me, though. My dad was there, too, and he told me afterwards not to tell my mom what I just did.lol

I also got to be a passenger in a Red Baron Pizza Stearman and he did some loops which was pretty fun.

 

[KilroyCD]

Kilroy:

That's a great list. I completely forgot th 02 - I have several hundred hours in the various military and civilian variants. The B17 and Catalina sound like fun.

The B-17 and PBY rides were real fun, as they weren't ordinary flights. On the B-17 flight (at Geneseo, NY), the Army Golden Knights jump team was on board for a practice jump. We were airborne for an hour and a half, most of the time with a P-51 tacked on our wing (many photos taken) for tv news shots of passes over Rochester airport, then up to jump altitude for the Golden Knights. Once they jumped, it was eerily quiet, despite the engine noise and wind rush.
The PBY flights were from Oshkosh on my friend "Connie" Edwards' PBY-6A, "splashing and dashing" on Lake Winnebago. Getting water landing and takeoff shots from the waist blister was thrilling, to say the least. Then there was the time I almost got dumped out the emergency hatch when Dennis Buehn (who was piloting at the time) suddenly banked the bird when I was standing up through the emergency hatch taking photos (my torso from the waist up was through the hatch on top of the fuselage)! Scary, but thrilling...

 

[staggerwing]

Kilroy:

Is aviation photography your full time profession? Have you published any compilations of your pictures? I (and I'm sure some of the other folks here) would love to see some of your work.

 

[KilroyCD]

Kilroy:

Is aviation photography your full time profession? Have you published any compilations of your pictures? I (and I'm sure some of the other folks here) would love to see some of your work.

Aviation photography is a hobby of mine, and I have been published in several magazines over the years (mainly EAA publications). I was working on a compilation photo DVD with a friend, and it is complete, but it has trouble playing back on older DVD players. Still working out the bugs.
-Chris

 

[LEUII]

I've been fortunate to fly in several vintage planes. Off the top of my head here are a few:

J-3 My solo
Tri-Pacer
N2S
PT-19
PT-17
02-S
DC-3
C-47


I was fortunate to grow up around a lot of great old birds.

 

[RAF Man]

I have flown in a few aircraft that are now vintage.
DC-3 in 1964, 1976 and finally in 1980 from Freeport to Fort Lauderdale (Red Baron Airlines!)
DHC-1 Chipmunk RAF in 1988
Grumman Mallard Sea Plane in 1980 to Nassau
Handley Page Herald (a twin engined turbo prop) in 1967
Vickers Viscount in 1967 and finally in 1984.
Vickers VC-10 RAF Many times from 1988 and still in service.
Boeing 720 in 1973 to Split in the FYR
Boeing 707 TWA Washington to JFK in 1978 and finally El-Al in 1981.
Douglas DC-8 KLM in 1974 and 1981.
Boeing KC135A Stratotanker USAF lots of smoke from water injection engines.

The classic models of Boeing 727,737, 747 are now around 40 yrs old along with the first Lockheed Tristars and DC-10s so I suppose these are now technically "vintage" too.

 

[KL15]

I'm working on getting a ride in a Supermarine Spitfire. I'll keep you posted if it works out.

 

[staggerwing]

I've been fortunate to fly in several vintage planes. Off the top of my head here are a few:

J-3 My solo
Tri-Pacer
N2S
PT-19
PT-17
02-S
DC-3
C-47


I was fortunate to grow up around a lot of great old birds.

LEUII:

I'm familiar with 02 A and B models (USAF), but not an 02-S. Is this a variant, or something entirely different?