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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ulose!bob
From: bob@ulose.UUCP ( Bob Bismuth )
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Re: most beautiful airplane ...
Message-ID: <111@ulose.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 20-Jul-85 11:14:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: ulose.111
Posted: Sat Jul 20 11:14:18 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jul-85 21:00:36 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: CADMUS Computer Systems, Lowell, MA.
Lines: 56


Hmmm, the most beautiful plane ...

Seems like most people are hung up on the military, transport or
production single engine monoplanes.  Maybe I'm odd, but I really think
planes look better with a tailwheel and preferrably two wings.

Military craft certainly have those fast smooooooth lines, but their
shape is almost always purely a phallic derivation.  Also, I can't
help agreeing with whoever made the posting conerning their use -
whatever they look like, their job is killing people.

As for transport, seems to me that the DC-3 says it all.  I'll watch
one land any day - much more interesting than watching jets expand
their wings with all sorts of lift and drag devices, only to then burn
more rubber landing than most private planes have on their wheel hubs
to start with.

Production single engine?  Well, regarding struts, the Cessna Cardinal
is not the only strutless model they produced.  The old 195 is
strutless, looks hideously fast and has its gear in the *right*
configuration.  Modern Pipers, Mooney's and Beechcraft I can't really
appreciate.  Aside from the *wrong* gear configuration, planes in each's
family look so alike that I can really only tell the twins from
singles, and both of those from V-tail Bonanzas.

Biplanes.  Their real beauty is much the same as that of steam engines
- almost everything is there because it is functional and keeps it
going in any attitude.  Anyone who has heard the radial in a Stearman
is sure to believe in their beauty.  What pilot doesn't get a bit
dreamy about seeing him/herself, clad in goggles, silk scarf and flying
jacket, 3-pointing a Waco, Stearman, American Eagle, Parks, or Great
Lakes onto a soft grass field?

While watching a 707 do a roll is an experience I wish I could have
shared in, watching a pilot who knows aerobatics just enjoying
him/herself in a biplane is worth every minute.  A Pitts or Christen
Eagle can be captivating, but if you've never seen an old Navy Stearman
trainer pulling rolls or hammerheads, you've got an experience waiting.
They're big enough to see at any altitude, and their size and slow
turning engine add a dimension that is impossible to describe in words.

It's really summed up in something I heard at our local field not long
after a brand new Great Lakes (N7GL - the feature plane, not so long ago
of Private Pilot, AOPA Pilot, etc.) became a resident.  It was a busy
Saturday with lots of weekend aviators shooting touch-n-go's.  As I
walked down the flight line I heard the Lakes on final.  Stopping to
watch his approach and landing I stood next to a small crowd of plane
watching parents and their kids.  As N7GL greased it in, a father
turned to his 7 year old and said, "See that was a REAL airplane!"

   --  bob

**  Comments intended as personal opinions only. Any flames or criticism
    of others' opinions are unintended and should please be excused.
    Everyone's opinion freely accepted. **