Tag Archives: piston

Gweduck

When I photographed this amphibian, I thought it was a Goose or a Widgeon. It made a pass over Paine Field while I was waiting for the return of the Bf-109 so I grabbed some shots of it. It was only as I looked at the shots afterwards – particularly the engine installations – that I realized I didn’t know what it was. I looked up the registration as saw it was a Gweduck. This is the only example so far and it is based at Renton. I would love to see more of it – particularly if that can include some time on the water!

Collings Foundation at BFI

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The Collings Foundation made its annual visit to the Seattle area recently including flights from Boeing Field. The weather had been rather uninspiring but I figured I would head along and hope for some gaps in the clouds. The Mustang and the P-40 didn’t fly while I was there. The B-24 and the B-17 did though. Sadly, the B-24 only flew once. The discussion was whether Seattle being a Boeing town meant that everyone wanted to fly on the B-17, despite the rarity of the B-24. The clouds had a habit of parting at just the wrong time and place with good light up the approach and down the runway but not where I wanted it to be. Even so, it was still nice to see these vintage planes again.

Cape Air Ramp

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I have read a lot about Cape Air. They are a small operator in the New England area flying a fleet of (mainly) Cessna 402s. The reason I know this is that they have been heavily involved in the development of a new piston twin with Tecnam which they intend to use to replace their fleet. The first examples have started to show up but, for now, the 402 is still their workhorse. While I was sitting at a gate at Logan waiting for a flight home, we were right across from their ramp so I was able to watch the comings and goings of their planes. Seeing them mixing in with the big airliners was pretty impressive.

Husky on Floats

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Renton may be home to the 737 and to plenty of other aircraft but it also has a floatplane dock at the north end. A Husky was dragged over to the ramp during my Sunday morning stroll and dropped into the water. The pilot powered up and proceeded to water taxi around for quite a while, presumably while the engine was coming up to temperature. Finally he was ready to go and given acknowledgement from the tower that he could go if he wanted. A surge of power, up on to the step and then airborne and climbing away. No two ways about it, flying floatplanes is definitely cool.

Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender

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Do you ever see an airframe and think to yourself “That isn’t a real aircraft. It looks like something left over from a movie shoot.” That was exactly what was in my mind when I visited the Air Zoo museum in Kalamazoo MI. They have the sole remaining XP-55 Ascender. It looks like something that was included in Raiders of the Lost Ark with its unusual configuration. However, it is a genuine program that was part of US experimentation with unusual configurations in the hope of boosting performance.

A number of types were developed for this program but the arrival of the jets soon rendered the concept moot and they were cancelled. This sole example found its way to Michigan where it is kept in great condition (at least it was years ago when I visited so I hope that is still the case). It has a really cool look to it and, while that era is not my specialty, I am still pleased that you can come across some surprises from that period.

Low Sun on the Light Aircraft

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While waiting for the UPS 747, there was a bit of light aircraft traffic in to Paine Field. With nice low sun, I wasn’t going to ignore them. They all looked nice enough but I was particularly impressed with a Cirrus that came in sporting a custom paint finish. It looked particularly nice.

PJC-2, What Are You?

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I went to Paine Field to get the Air Tahiti Nui 787 which I wrote about in this post. As I walked up to Future of Flight, there was an unusual looking plane sitting at the hold running up the engine. I grabbed some shots of it doing its engine run and then as it lined up and took off. I couldn’t work out what it was. I thought it might be a Bellanca but I was wrong. A search when back at home tells me it is a Harlow PJC-2.

With lovely light, I was hoping to get it when it came back in. Unfortunately, it timed its return such that it coincided with the arrival of the 787 so they went to the left runway instead of the right. Never mind.

Stuka Time

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FHCAM opened up a new hangar at their museum facility in Everett. To coincide with the new opening, they unveiled a new addition to the collection. This addition was a Stuka. They had hinted earlier in the week that it might be a Stuka and I was hoping that would be the case. The other aircraft they were hinting at was the Me262 and, since we know they are close to flying their example of that, having a Stuka would be a significant addition. I was really pleased to see that was the case although the 18-24 months until it is airworthy will be a bit of a drag. Good things come to those that wait, though.

I put a fuller piece on GAR which you can see at the link below. Here are a couple of shots of the current state of the airframe.

Warbirds – FHCAM Stuka Unveiling

Eastern Front Veteran

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The FHCAM IL-2 Shturmovik has been airworthy for a while but I have previously only seen it on the ground. Skyfair was my first opportunity to see it flying so I was rather pleased. This is a pretty rare type and a new one for me so having it display was a treat. The sun was rather high when it flew which is a bit less than ideal for a plane with a dark paint scheme but that is a small price to pay. It flew a number of passes, all of which felt nice and close. Great stuff.

Dragon Rapide Before…

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The first plane I ever flew in was a de Havilland Dragon Rapide. It was at a small air show at Bembridge on the Isle of Wight when I was a small lad. My Gran said I could have a ride in one of the planes. There was an Islander which was the one I really hoped for. It was six pounds for a ride while the Dragon Rapide was five pounds. Gran didn’t have a lot of cash so the Rapide it was. Now I am so happy that my first flight was in such a type.

Consequently, I was a little excited to see one at Skyfair carrying out some pleasure flights. It had recently been repainted in new colors and it flew some passes as well as the normal take offs and landings. I got plenty of shots of it. Now I am even more glad I did as the aircraft suffered an accident a few weeks later at Abbotsford. A number of people were injured including its owner and pilot, John Sessions.

In some of my photos, it appears as if John is staring right at us. The pilot position is right at the front of the aircraft and it quite exposed so it is no surprise that John was one of those injured in the accident since the cockpit appears to have taken the majority of the punishment. I wish him and all of those involved a speedy recovery.