Quote:
Originally Posted by NoBozo
"...One has to actually HEAR a big Radial start up from COLD, from just a few feet away to get an inkling of what facinates classic aircraft buffs..."
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'Tis true.
(Oops...sorry,
tis!)
1) I was at an airshow and found a booth selling expensive ear protection. They showed some "electronically-active" ear protectors that I dearly needed in my career (based completely on explosive noises).
The demonstration (to have been diminished by the ear protectors) was a CD-recording of a radial engine starting-up. The recording was
designed to be loud—and it was!
Though I "passed" on those ear protectors, I did purchase that same CD!
At my Dad's 92nd birthday last year, I gave him that CD as a present. (And some "PBY-Warbird" books and reference materials from Amazon.com to benefit Winni.com).
He heard the radial engine starting up—identified it as to manufacturer (!)—and "spoke" to the pilot saying, "Check that second magneto!"
2) As my Dad and I live only two miles apart, we both listen for that distinctive "radial sound" over Lake Winnipesaukee.
Last week, it was a Russian "Yak" doing aerial acrobatics over Rattlesnake Island. Yesterday, it was a white Waco biplane flying slowly into strong winds: last Wednesday, he advised of seeing a rare "Stinson Gullwing" flying low over his house:
The "Stinson Gullwing" was made in about a dozen models, but don't ask me how he identified it as an SR-7!
3) This week, while searching for something totally unrelated
I found this AP blurb that references the State's participation in the 90's sale of the Airpark:
Quote:
Posted: July 8th, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- The state Supreme Court said Tuesday a lower court must determine whether a pair of developers can sue the state for allegedly undermining their attempt to buy property that includes the Lakes Region Airpark in Wolfeboro.
"Donald and Robert Hughes had a purchase-and-sale agreement to buy the private airport and seaplane base, subdivide the property and put up a housing development on part of it.
"The state has been fighting the sale the late 1990s, arguing the Hughes' proposed housing development would infringe on the airport's space. Among other things, the state tried to get someone else to buy it, subdivide it, turn over the airport and seaplane facilities to the state, then develop the remaining property on Lake Winnipesaukee, according to court records.
"The Hughes alleged the state acted unconstitutionally and violated contract law when it interfered with the purchase-and-sale agreement, and thus should be liable to being sued. A lower court disagreed and ruled in the state's favor, effectively dismissing the suit.
"The high court rejected the Hughes' constitutional arguments, but returned part of the case to Carroll County Superior Court to resolve factual questions about the contractual interference claim and state immunity from a lawsuit."
—www.Airportbiz.com
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ETA:
4) On the topic of floatplanes in the Lakes Region, in late July of 2011, my 94-year-old Dad happened to mention Dr. Libby and that Dr. Libby flew a Stinson Gull Wing on floats, and stored it on a ramp on Mirror Lake close to the museum.
Dr. Libby's takeoffs and landings from Mirror Lake would have been spectacular, but those events had long preceded nearly all of us—including
everybody living on Mirror Lake today.
My Dad comes up with some astonishing trivia:
Just to check his memory after a story following the Korean War, I asked what the specific military designation of the plane he landed in, which was a "Twin Beech". He promptly answered, "R-32".
Actually, the desingation could have been something else—rather than R-32—but I can't be expected to remember a designation three characters long for three entire days!
