I think the most interesting air show I ever attended was my last year in the air force at Edwards AFB, On the ground just to look was the XB70, the X15, a U2, B52 with the inboard engine for the C5 that they were testing, a number of old and new planes from WWII on. Plus on the ground the SR71. But the real show was the fly by, it was started with a U2 that took off then took a big turn and just as it came by they sailed away. Followed by a KC135 refueling a B52, then some WWII planes, planes from the 50's like the B58 and the show stopper was the SR71 who closed it out, took off flew around the area came back about 150 ft off the deck and when he got to the grandstand he turned it on its tail - we lost sight of it but could still hear it over us.

It was a hell of a show, many of the planes were one of a kind, I was lucky enough to see some of them fly while I was there. (XB70 was maybe the most impressive and the X15 although we got to watch the Black Bird fly many times, well take off and disappear.) There was a lot of excitement on those days when they flew, to bad there was months between flights.

fhunter wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:47 am You are speaking of Kelenken (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelenken)? This thing is big enough to make you its thanksgiving dinner.

Big Birds in South America, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, and places unknown.

Judging from my "Eras of Life", wall chart, they must have occurred when those lands were all Gondwana

way back in Jurassic and Triassic times.

PeopleKind killed off the Big Birds as they moved into a new area, as with much of the megafauna.

Or it was climate change, I forget which

Moi

flunter, when you visit California, be sure to see the La Brea Tar pits & museum.

sometimes the streets nearby erupt in natural gas flame. Roads on fire. C'est Los Angeles

The rise of I think was with the rise of mammals not dinosaurs

moi621 (imported) wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:47 pm Big Birds in South America, New Zealand, Australia, Africa, and places unknown.

Judging from my "Eras of Life", wall chart, they must have occurred when those lands were all Gondwana

way back in Jurassic and Triassic times.

PeopleKind killed off the Big Birds as they moved into a new area, as with much of the megafauna.

Or it was climate change, I forget which

Moi

flunter, when you visit California, be sure to see the La Brea Tar pits & museum.

sometimes the streets nearby erupt in natural gas flame. Roads on fire. C'est Los Angeles

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2015 3:17 pm Filmed in Oxnard California for one. I know we watched them flying those 6 zeros day in and day out.

One of those Zekes was flown by my squadron Commanding Officer. Kind of strange to see a Naval Aviator walking around a carrier with a Japanese battle flag patch on his flight jacket. But it was an authorized patch since he flew in the movie.

H1

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2015 12:00 pm the show stopper was the SR71 who closed it out, took off flew around the area came back about 150 ft off the deck and when he got to the grandstand he turned it on its tail - we lost sight of it but could still hear it over us.

It was a hell of a show, many of the planes were one of a kind, I was lucky enough to see some of them fly while I was there. (XB70 was maybe the most impressive and the X15 although we got to watch the Black Bird fly many times, well take off and disappear.) There was a lot of excitement on those days when they flew, to bad there was months between flights.

Wow. What a show! I envy you.

They did make the SR-71 open for watching at Beale just before retirement. I was lucky enough to get to watch a takeoff. He taxied to the end of the runway, went thru final checks and then hit the afterburner. You had to wear hearing protection and the sound was so strong you could lean into it. He cut the afterburner just before rotation (I have read that an -71 on afterburner would blow chunks out of the runway), rotated, lifted off, and hit the afterburner again and pointed the nose vertical. I started counting again - 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006, 1007 and the 106 foot long aircraft had dotted out.

Bad for the environment, but what a show! I love power like that. My mind was shouting, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO BABY, GO!

Y'all might appreciate this article on the -- Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress “Swamp Ghost” --

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/swa ... a1ce62a803

There's An 'Eerily Untouched' WWII Bomber In Hawaii You Need To See

In February 1942, after America's first heavy bomber offensive raid of World War II, a bullet-riddled U.S. B-17E bomber crash landed in a remote swamp in Papua New Guinea because it was running out of fuel.

The crew of nine survived, and over the next six weeks, battled malaria and heat exhaustion to make their way to safety. But the Flying Fortress was left for lost for decades. The plane has a pretty incredible story, and getting it back to Hawaii was no small feat.

After a half-century in the soggy marsh, this once-forgotten piece of history returned to its homeland in April 2013, and is sitting on display at Hawaii's Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor.

There are pictures that I can't bring over and more of the story at the link above.

Arab Nights (imported) wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2015 6:47 am Wow. What a show! I envy you.

They did make the SR-71 open for watching at Beale just before retirement. I was lucky enough to get to watch a takeoff. He taxied to the end of the runway, went thru final checks and then hit the afterburner. You had to wear hearing protection and the sound was so strong you could lean into it. He cut the afterburner just before rotation (I have read that an -71 on afterburner would blow chunks out of the runway), rotated, lifted off, and hit the afterburner again and pointed the nose vertical. I started counting again - 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004, 1005, 1006, 1007 and the 106 foot long aircraft had dotted out.

Bad for the environment, but what a show! I love power like that. My mind was shouting, GO, GO, GO, GO, GO BABY, GO!

Yep, that's the way I remember it, watched it happen many times.

Dave (imported) wrote: Sat Oct 24, 2015 9:46 am Y'all might appreciate this article on the -- Boeing B-17E Flying Fortress “Swamp Ghost” --

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/swa ... a1ce62a803

There's An 'Eerily Untouched' WWII Bomber In Hawaii You Need To See

In February 1942, after America's first heavy bomber offensive raid of World War II, a bullet-riddled U.S. B-17E bomber crash landed in a remote swamp in Papua New Guinea because it was running out of fuel.

The crew of nine survived, and over the next six weeks, battled malaria and heat exhaustion to make their way to safety. But the Flying Fortress was left for lost for decades. The plane has a pretty incredible story, and getting it back to Hawaii was no small feat.

After a half-century in the soggy marsh, this once-forgotten piece of history returned to its homeland in April 2013, and is sitting on display at Hawaii's Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor.

There are pictures that I can't bring over and more of the story at the link above.

Go to the link, what an incredible story.

Hay guys I thought this thread was Jurassic World and was disappointed. It was same old story.

Ernie of Maine (imported) wrote: Sun Oct 25, 2015 9:01 pm Hay guys I thought this thread was Jurassic World and was disappointed. It was same old story.

Yes, with bigger and better dinosaurs and a heroine in high heels.

But remember, all these "creature features" are roughly the same -- mankind messes with the proper order of nature and suffers because of that.

It is the plot of the original horror story -- Frankenstein by Mary Shelly -- and that is still the plot of movies to this day. Themessage being that those who mess with nature suffer: "Let the cursed and hellish monster drink deep of agony; let him feel the despair that now torments me."

The original Jurassic Park had a sense of awe to it because we actually saw representations of dinosaurs and it was so very new. Before that, Dinosaurs and other Godzilla-like monsters were men in rubber suits. AS much as I like the string of Godzilla movies, the seams show and the movements are human.

The second Jurassic Park -- The Lost World -- got hokey and silly with Jeff Goldbloom and the side excursion to Los Angeles.

The third Jurassic Park (which I just watched for the 47th time) is nice to watch but once again, man (or woman or kid) is playing with Mother Nature and wandering around prehistoric times.

Now Jurassic World returns to the original in that INGEN becomes a government conspiracy to create super soldiers from velociraptors and giant "Indominus Rex" war machines... I like Chris Pratt's character but I wouldn't want to smell him. I like that Bryce Dallas Howard is as tough as Chris Pratt's character and does it in high heels. And the two boys in the movie remain boys and not turn into heroes. The battle between the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Indominus Rex is done in nicely vivid color... I also like that big fish-like thing with teeth. It makes me want to adopt a piranha as a pet.

It's a fun movie to watch and just let happen with a large soda and an extra large tub of buttered popcorn.