Have you ever experienced an old WWII multi-engine airplane taking off, as an observer on the ground?
My job, these days, takes me to within a half mile(as the crow flies, as it were) of a small local airport and Military Aviation Museum. This museum has several WWII aircraft that are fully functional and airworthy that they fly now and then. Today, I could hear, no, I could feel it as a multi-engine plane took off. I had no concept of how loud a propeller driven airplane could be. I mean, I’ve seen a B1B taking off from Nellis AFB and that was pretty loud, but I was far enough away that it merely interrupted conversation. I’d never actually been near, I had no concept of how loud, how utterly bone shaking these things are, even with some trees and buildings in between. I just wish I could have had a better angle to see it from so I could say what plane it was.
Been to EAA several times including the WWII 50th anniversary.
The Avro Shackleton with 4 engines each with contra rotating propellers was pretty impressive.
How would you describe it @N9IWP? I’ve seen a c130 take off and I would say that the sound was more “tenor” and less bone shaking where today was more baritone or bass and just … I could feel it in my chest. That’s how it was
This wouldn’t happen to be Addison airport in Texas, would it? The Cavanaugh Flight Museum is located there, and part of the Commemorative Air Force used to be located there as well.
I used to work a little less than a half-mile from the south end of the runway. You better believe we knew it when they’d take the old warbirds out for a spin, especially the bigger ones like their B-24.
I’ve been around a fair number of warbirds, and they’re always impressive. I like the sound of radial engines in particular, and they’re becoming more and more rare.
For raw sound, a jet in afterburner is really something. At my first airshow I saw an F-15 demonstration and shuddered at the thought of what it must be like to see one of those coming at you in anger. Later I saw a Harrier fly, and it was like attending a rocket launch - the ground shook, babies were crying, etc.
But then there are old jets. If you’re able, go find somebody who has a Fouga Magister. I was on a ramp once when one was firing up and went to take a photo, only to quickly retreat because the whine of those straight turbojets was so oppressive. Couldn’t get within 50 yards of it, even covering my ears. Later I watched a MiG-15 and a T-33 take off, which rattled the windows. I got to fly each of those jets later, which I think I’ve written about here before.
The sounds of aviation are really great. Although these days I tire of the whine from the APU on my bizjet.
Here’s a video of my flight on the (ill-fated) “Nine-0-Nine” out of Moffet Field. Actually the engines weren’t as loud as I thought they’d be. The older gentleman sitting across from me was shot down returning from a B-17 mission over Germany, made it back to the UK and later trained B-29 crews.
Did a couple short hops in a gooney - Dad had us kids snugged in sleeping bags as they didn’t really have great interior heating, and I can say that for a kid the jump seats were purgatorial. So we nested on the floor between a couple pallets of gear. [the benefits of a 60s era army brat?]
Then I lived under the flightline of NAS Oceana [Virginia Beach] nothing like jets pulling touch and goes all day all week =) and under the flightline for NAS/NOB Norfolk [Virginia] with both fixed and rotary wing aircraft taking off all day and all night. Ah, end of Cold War Navy wife =)
And I have been up in a CH53G in Germany, second seat while ‘contouring’ [nap of the earth flying - pretty much full speed less than 3 meters off the ground - worlds loudest and most dangerous roller coaster] See, helo crews had a habit of taking up the ‘girlfriends’ for a contouring run and making bets on how fast they will scream =) I grew up flying, my parents owned a plane and both were licensed and my first time up was when I was 3 days old. I don’t scare in planes. They didn’t know what to do with a girl who was laughing and asking to go again =)
I worked for a while as ground crew on the Chuckie (B-17). On one trip, the owner verified I was multi-engine rated, and let me take the left seat for 20 minutes. So I actually have logged time in a B-17G, although just in cruise. I figure I have about 20 hours in her as a passenger (wife has a few trips too). There’s no sound like that of 4 radials roaring, and it’s very loud inside.
CAP training in a CH-47 Chinook We all got to get dropped down out of the belly on a cable. The seat was called a jungle penetrator. Bit windy
The winch cable has a .38spl with a ‘chisel’ as the projectile to cut the cable in case in gets caught in trees and they can’t recover it. I imagine that’s common on any helo with a winch.
Altho the Shackleton has the contra-rotating propeller sound, it is different than a* B-29, which has 72 radial cylinders (each of the 4 engines displace 54.9 liters)
Brian
I almost said “the”, but there are two flight worthy examples (Fifi and Doc)
I was actually surprised at how BIG it was for a WWII plane. B-29s absolutely dwarf B-17s, and I didn’t realize that was the case until I saw them both up close at the same airshow.
