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I think most of our species has a streak of nostalgia running through us. If we're happy, healthy, and content with our current lot, there's no need for a "sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations." Though the times being lived may someday become the times one longs for in some unknown future.
Do I wish I could go back in time to be somewhere else? Nope, not now, not ever. Do I wish certain things would change in my current existence? Of course, I would like to see this virus-thingee banished to some dark memory, that it had never existed. I would like to have the people in my life who have passed on be with me once again. I miss them. Do I want to go back to when they were still alive? Not really.
Time moves on. We're only along for the ride and we can't change the past. All we can do is optimize the present. Make the best of things as they are, not how you'd wish them to be. Can one strive to improve things as they are? Of course, but there really are things in this world that are completely beyond our control. So we make do.
I went all thoughtful on a Bean's comment from yesterday.
I just love the sound of large piston engines. Whether radials or in-lines. Harkens back to a past that was so much simpler in a lot of ways.Yes, I get that...
So let's give those old birds a listen.
Wow, I've never seen some of those aircraft in flight! Right after noting how quickly the Spitfire got airborne, the Fieseler Storch came down the runway. She got airborne very quickly.
Twice.
Never seen a Sturmovik or a Rata in the air either, the Military Aviation Museum down in Pungo has a Rata which I've seen in person. (One of Your Humble Scribe's favorite places on earth, just so you know.) Here's proof -
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| Comrade Sarge with Soviet flying machine. |
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| And one without Your Humble Scribe blocking the view... |
Revisit cool places?
Absolutely.
Bonus Footage!
Now with engine start up and views from the cockpit, in the air!
More piston-engined goodness...
Be well!
I agree with Beans about the sounds of big piston engines, and standing next to Fifi when she started those big radials was goose bump making.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that I don't want to go back in time where a few of the normal childhood diseases I had would have put me in the infant fatality column.
Watching the Rata take off gave me that instant furrowed brow and I hit the pause button.
I's sure it's just a coincidence that the Rata looks like Gee Bee racer. I don't have the aeronautical knowledge to make a strong case.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Gee_Bee_Model_R_Super_Sportster
Years ago there were two P-51s based at Philly's Northeast airport and our church is very near that airport. I didn't pay much attention to the sermon one Sunday morning when I heard large piston engine sounds and looked over to see them both flying.
Another good post.
Yes, the Rata does bear a resemblance to the Gee Bee. When I snapped the photo of the Rata down at Pungo, one of the docents mentioned that they had trouble finding pilots to actually fly the Rata. A lot of engine for such a wee bird!
DeleteWow, who would have thought that one of our allies had engaged in such nice things as spying and international corporate espionage...
DeleteLet's do a side-by-side comparison... or something...
Year of design: Gee Bee - 1932 I-16 - 1933 hmmmm...
Engine: Gee Bee - P&W I-16 - P&W some difference in hp, but the GB was significantly lighter than the i-16.
Engine Cowling: GB - NACA inspired I-16 - NACA inspired
And so on and so on.
Must have been parallel evolution, because the Soviets never ever stole anyone's designs...
Well, Commies gotta Commie.
DeleteThat museum in Pungo is amazing. Even more so is the fact that one person owns all the aircraft inside.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad he didn't waste all his money!! I mean, whats more important than an aircraft museum?
DeleteCoffee Man - And most of the birds are flight-worthy!
DeleteSTxAR - They had to see off a couple of their birds, they used to have a B-17, so they could maintain what they had.
DeleteAircraft museum good, with flight-worthy aircraft? Great!
Okay, so I have a question. Why do you guys insist on calling that little Gee Bee wannabe a Rata? That nickname came from the Spanish Civil War.
ReplyDeleteThe Nazi backed Nationalists (Generalissimo Franco is still dead) called it the Rata - Rat
The Communist backed Republicans called it the Mosca - Fly
And the Soviets called it the Donkey or Burro
I always liked the Mosca name, the Fly, cause it really could. I read that it could do a complete aileron roll in 1.5 seconds. WOW.
It's just the name I've always heard and used since I was a lad.
DeleteNo other reason.
But Franco died in 1975. That was like when OldAFS was 50 or something...
DeleteHa. Ha. Ha.
Delete(Seriously, you're a funny guy Beans.) I was only 22 that year.
Holy crap! That was a long time ago!
yeah, it was a long time ago. I was just learning to drive the old Apache with dad. I'd probably already read aboot the Spanish Civil War and the "test lab" it was for the next war.
DeleteNothing beats and old round engine for that curb sex appeal. I seriously thought about buying one of these quite a few years ago. (and pulling a Wilbur and Orville to learn to fly it...) https://youtu.be/Tli5NG4HBsQ
Saw one of those flying over the base in Germany, gave me a start it did. Last time I'd heard of those I was in Korea. Apparently the Norks have/had a bunch of them.
DeleteGood thing the Cold War was over! (Saw my first MiG-29 there as well, taxiing out to take off. Ugly on the ground, lovely in the air.)
Late to the game on this one.
DeleteThe reference to Franco brought up my wife's (then single) stay at a Spanish college. The dorm room she was in was suddenly entered by an advance security force going through the entire dorm. At least she was fully dressed at the time.
Franco would be going by shortly and they were checking everything.
Before leaving the room, they ordered her to not take any pictures of the motorcade, then left.
Of course she took a picture :)
Frank
Ah dictatorships, gotta hate 'em.
DeleteI can hardly wait until I can get to the pc to watch the videos.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you enjoy them.
DeleteHey AFSarge;
ReplyDeleteNostalgia is popular, for me is to go back to the 1980's, besides the music:) The world was a stable place, we knew our place in it and things under Ronald Reagan were optimistic. Thanks for the videos of the various warbirds, and my favorite museum is the Air and Naval Museum in Pensacola, they let you walk up and touch the airplanes:) I still want to find the time to go toward your neck of the woods and check out that Armor museum you mentioned in a blogpost.
The armor museum is well worth the trip. Once we get out of Sparkling Isolation I need to get back up there.
DeleteHere is an interesting Storch side note. In this book--
ReplyDeletehttps://www.amazon.com/Zemkes-Stalag-Hubert-Zemke/dp/1560980184/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2N75O3G414PGC&dchild=1&keywords=zemke%27s+stalag&qid=1587571797&s=books&sprefix=Zemke%2Caps%2C197&sr=1-1
--Hub Zemke relates his duties post war. While at Rhein Main airfield, he got wind of six Storchs stashed on a nearby farm. He procured a mechanic, fuel and oil, and off they went. He found flying the Storch to be a delight. The end result was that he got all six flown over to Rhein Main and Stars and Bars painted over the crosses. They were all tethered in a neat line near base operations and became known as "Zemke's Air Force".
It was an excellent liaison aircraft. Much used by Rommel and other Panzer commanders.
DeleteNostalgia is a wonderful thing. I have a fondness for sharpened weapons from a more elegant era, along with the business suits that accompany said weapons. And the ground transportation units that carried such.
ReplyDeleteActually have to wield said weapons while wearing said suits while on said hay-burning transports? Fugedaboutit.
Same same with guns.
And with cooking stuffs. I will gladly use recipes tweaked to my modern palate whilst not using the cooking equipment of a by-gone era. Give me my induction cooktops, electric ovens and stoves, blenders, mixers, shakers, splatterers, coolers and freezers. And modern knives, for as soulless as they seem to be, also don't cost an arm and a leg and also stay sharp for longer and need less overall care.
Same with just about everything in modern life.
For as fubared as this modern world is, the fact that we can run around in our isolated palatial abodes like idiots over a seasonal flu bug that for the most part is only whacking a very small percentage of the population is a fantastic and amazing thing. No more deadly child illnesses or sickly seasons, no deaths by household animals (pigs, pigs used to be a significant cause of child deaths up until the modern era,) no freezing to death due to inadequate clothing or heating or insulation in the house, no barely living on what little food one had in good times...
Yeah, nostalgia's all grand. Until you actually live it.
Ask someone in the Third World how that like that BS. Many still live that way!
DeleteMarvelous post OAFS! Thanks. What kind of a group would love to listen to thirteen minutes or so of old airplanes taking off? This group, of course. Wonderful. Miss Jeanie said "what's that?" and "Please turn it down." I educated her about what was going on and she actually liked it too. Not enough speaker power on my laptop to do it justice.
ReplyDeleteI know, I can't opening up the volume "throttle" until someone mentioned that was not a good idea.
DeleteConsidering the source, I turned it down. Your Missus is more understanding of such things I gather.
My tired old desktop speakers continue to soldier on, but will "buzz" with distortion if pushed too hard. I cycle my last generation PC's out to my workbench in the man cave. I plug the sound into the "aux in" on this system that I bought new long ago--
Deletehttps://www.amazon.com/Remanufactured-Teac-Wall-Mountable-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B000FOP0EM
On more than one occasion, I've had a neighbor come over just to see what the hell kind of engine was running in our garage.
Hahaha!
DeleteThe first time I heard a P-51 I was about 10 years old.
ReplyDeleteYep, hooked for life on that beautiful music a Merlin sings.
One time at the "Planes of Fame" airshow in Chino, CA I saw a B-17 escorted on a low pass over the field by four P-51's.
Damn near brought a tear to my eye.....
That would cause me rather a thrill as well!
DeleteI think my first Mustang was around that age as well.
You can always get the sound you want with a slight modification! Think of it, the Merlin engine on a Cessna 172.
ReplyDeletehttps://coconutpizza.com/products/car-turbo-exhaust-whistle
Now that would be something.
DeleteAlmost like putting baseball cards in the spokes of a bicycle!
Pungo is great, but our neighbors at WestPac Restorations have some cool toys as well. Really nice when the're doing run-ups outside facing away from us so we get the noises and the smells!
ReplyDeleteThey've also got a nice website where you can see what they're working on.
DeleteMinus the sounds and smells though...