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onetrack

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Image Comments posted by onetrack

  1. What date is that ad, Peter? It must be early 1950's, as TAA's first Convair arrived in Sept 1948 and by 1954, TAA had purchased Vickers Viscounts, and the piston-engine aircraft era was soon to be relegated to history.

    Despite their drawbacks (noisiness and fuel consumption and higher maintenance costs), the Convair was a superb aircraft, exceptionally reliable, and the Convair 240 had a perfect record in Australia, with no crashes recorded.

     

    http://www.taamuseum.org.au/70Anniversary/70thTAAStory.html

  2. I don't know how many people realise that Bill Lear (he of the Learjet fame), remanufactured quite a number of Lockheed Lodestars into Lockheed Learstars. There were Learstar I's, and Learstar II's.

     

    Lear recognised the sound engineering of the original Lockheed design, but he realised with advances in aerodynamics and engineering a much more efficient executive transport could be produced.

    The Lodestars he reworked were completely re-manufactured and incorporated numerous modifications to increase speed and efficiency, and to improve the interior accommodation.

     

    https://www.flight-manuals-online.com/product/learstar/

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  3. Whenever I see a Lockheed Lodestar, I can't help but think of the nicknames they regularly acquired - Leadstall and Lodestall - thanks to their vicious and abrupt stall, that caught out many a pilot. They were also very unforgiving of out-of-range C of G, especially aft C of G. One of Australia's worst air disasters up until the 1960's was the 1949 Lodestar crash at Bilinga. 21 people died in that crash, there wasn't a single survivor. However, that crash couldn't be blamed on the aircrafts vices, it was caused by poor piloting and even poorer loading.

     

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  4. What a mind-blowing, trillion-dollar place. Just makes you realise the massive capabilities of the U.S. aerospace industries.

    Just this graveyard alone employs 550 people - all civilians.

    Unfortunately, the bus tours have been suspended indefinitely, at the request of the USAAF.

    No reason for the tour suspension is given.

    https://www.airplaneboneyards.com/davis-monthan-afb-amarg-airplane-boneyard.htm

     

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