willedoo

For anyone interested in turbines, here's a link to a 3 page U.S. article on cause & effect of compressor stalls in turbine helicopters, with a couple of case histories. Certainly a few issues there that aren't encountered in fixed wing a/c. http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_generic.jsp?channel=bca&id=news/bca/2012/02/01/BC_02_01_2012_p40-412057.xml&headline=Compressor%20Stalls%20%20in%20Turbine%20Helicopters

Certainly a wierd one, Peter. It's a bit hard to find information on it that's not in French. Did some digging & apparently a eleytron is a hardened forward wing found on some types of beetles & the forward wing is named after it. Found one photo which shows standard type ailerons on the main wing. Here's a photo showing the underside of the forward wing, http://www.airliners.net/photo/MAE/De-Rouge-Elytroplan/1360238/L/ It looks like the wing is pivoted & operated as a stabilator via cables & would work like a moving tailplane. It would be interesting to find out how or if it flew. Here's some of his earlier ones, with Google translate: http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://forum.aviation-ancienne.fr/t7239-charles-de-rouge-et-les-elytroplans&ei=7jw2T6DwGZHGmQXc_rWFAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CE4Q7gEwBQ&prev=/search?q=De+Rouge-Chabrillan-Bouffort+Elytroplan&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=628&prmd=imvns Cheers, Willie.

Not sure if this should be in the humour section, I probably wouldn't laugh if it was my airstrip: http://en.rian.ru/mlitary_news/20120207/171201110.html Cheers, Willie.

Certainly a bit of a mix there, it would be a nightmare tryng to maintain it all. I had an idea there's 60 odd Phantoms still operational, nice to see them still flying in some parts of the world. It makes you wonder how some smaller countries like Malaysia, Indonesia etc deal with the logistics of having US, Russian & sometimes Chinese aircraft in their inventory. Cheers, Willie.

Probably a bit hard to put a figure on it, there's always a difference to U.S. estimates & Iranian claims of how many are operational. I think it could be somewhere around 20 operational & 40 something all up. They originally ordered around 80, but I don't know how many were delivered. They would have lost a few over the years, I'd imagine. Fairly sure they all had the old F111 engines & not the GE's & heard this was one of the reasons we had to destroy ours. Cheers, Willie.

Photos of the Russian Knights Su-27 aerobatic team being escorted through Iranian airspace by F4 Phantoms & F14 Tomcats on their way home from the Bahrain airshow in January. Also along for the ride is Airforce IL-76MD, RA-78757 with tailguns removed: http://englishrussia.com/2012/01/30/the-russian-knights-flying-over-iran/#more-89562

1993, hard to believe it was that long ago. No wonder I haven't received any for a while. And morse code gone as well. Next thing you know they'll have portable telephones. Cheers, Willie.

Thanks, Michael, an interesting read. Always a bit sad to see these places go, especially one so iconic. Cheers, Willie.

Yes, Geoff, regards the hulk with the crowd, I'm fairly sure it's a graceful BE2, although that one looks a bit disgraced. The prop is 4 bladed & the right angled framework on top of each outer upper wing appears in some photos of BE2's that I checked out. It looks like I'm getting closer to being able to put a name to the pics, which will be good. All the help I can get is appreciated. Cheers, Willie.

I think you're right there, Geoff. Your link to the model images show a lot more detail than some of the real photos online. A few give-aways seem to be the radiator, tailplane, exhaust manifold & the rounded gunners station. Also the metal tubular framework above the pilot, supporting the wing. A German plane, it's definately not in Australia then. Looking at this image, http://imxcited.com/images_the_hun/photo_rumpler_civ.jpg I can see why the fabric is missing; someone has souivenered the Maltese Crosses from both sides. Looking at it closer, perhaps the photo of the burnt out German plane is a Rumpler as well. The exhaust manifold seems to be a clue. Cheers, Willie.

Thanks, Winsor, that would have to be it. Now that I've got a name, I can see on the BE2 Wiki page that it's the one. It would have to be one of the most graceful looking WW1 planes. cheers, Willie.

A few more scans of some old photos for anyone interested. Centered around the 5th. Lighthorse Regiment, Palestine & Sinai between 1916-1918 approx. Unidentified type of RAF aircraft. Possibly a Short of some type. [ATTACH=full]976[/ATTACH] Another RAF one on it's nose - quite a large roundel on the wing. Unidentified type. [ATTACH=full]977[/ATTACH] Don't know what this is. Captioned: 'After bombing Turkish HQ, Palestine.' British or German? [ATTACH=full]978[/ATTACH] One of theirs, looks fairly small. Type unidentified. [ATTACH=full]979[/ATTACH] This one's a mystery. No markings, the buildings & fence in the background look more like Australia than the Middle East. It was with the same batch of photos; possibly a training base here. Undentified type. [ATTACH=full]980[/ATTACH] Observation Balloon (sort of an aircraft, maybe) Captioned: 'Releasing an observation balloon, Palestine'. [ATTACH=full]981[/ATTACH] Cheers, Willie. [ATTACH]18106[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]18107[/ATTACH]

And if you're really, really bored, you can go to Volga's website & do a virtual loading yourself: http://www.volga-dnepr.com/eng/charter/fleet/an124/map/

Great link, thanks, Dazza. Cheers, Willie.

Found a couple at the Amarg boneyard, Arizona. http://www.360cities.net/map#lat=32.16503&lng=-110.84043&name=national-aircraft-inc-airplane-junk-yard-14-tucson&zoom=19 http://www.360cities.net/map#lat=32.1644&lng=-110.83961&name=national-aircraft-inc-airplane-junk-yard-7-tucson&zoom=18

A few old bangers here: a 360 degree click & drag view of Monino Air Force Museum at Moscow, with 2 other views in the left hand menu. In the main menu, ' explore / world map ' leads to a Google Earth style map showing all available 360 degree views. Haven't found any other aviation related ones yet, apart from the abandoned Il-76 at Sharjah, which has been posted previously, but there probably is some somewhere. Full screen mode is good viewing. Cheers, Willie. http://www.360cities.net/map#lat=55.8327&lng=38.18597&name=monino-2&zoom=17

Thanks, Bas, good advice. Cheers, Willie.

Would've been a bit of swearing & wrestling wth the controls going on. The old M models like that one would be 85 tonne minimum, 150 max on landing, a lot of weight going sideways. No wonder one of them grabbed his pushbike & took off. Cheers, Willie.

Aeroflot Ilyushin 76, RA-86863 almost does a ground loop:

I guess those screaming Solovievs would be enough to frighten any self respecting dog away.

Landing at Luanda Airport, as seen from the navigator's blister on an Ilyushin 76:

Thanks, Spin, top story. It's amazing the Thunderjet could get enough air sucking through the confines of the other barrel & jet. Cheers, Willie.

Stealth or disguise, it's probably all the same. So long as nobody hides the beer, that's the main thing. Cheers, Willie.

Article on a recent development in stealth research: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/cloaking-device-works-in-the-lab-20120126-1qjmm.html Not sure whether it is connected with the theories of plasma stealth: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_stealth Cheers, Willie.

Some images of Saab Drakens at an abandoned Swedish fighter base. http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2010/04/forgotten-swedish-fighter-fleet/