The Aviators Thread

Gmt master forever.

I hope rolex reconsiders someday.

Now that's a great toy : scale model of the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier CVN-65 on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show"

From a time when the US Navy had started to convert straight deck aircraft carriers to angled deck carriers ! #USnavy #USmarinecorps
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Looks like fun. It would have been perfect if they could make the plane land in the "right" direction.

Illustration from a WW2 German air gunnery manual. Needless to say, this wouldn't pass muster in this day and age! Image and text courtesy of a guy called "Kamran" on Facebook:


This image comes from a WWII-era Luftwaffe gunnery training manual (around 1943–44). It uses a bit of risqué humor to help air gunners remember the principle of "Vorhalten" - deflection shooting, or how much to “lead” a moving target so that your bullets intersect with its future position rather than where it currently appears.

Here’s a breakdown of the humor and instructional value combined:

“Viel vorhalten” - Lead a lot: the target is crossing quickly, so aim far ahead (the woman is mostly covered).

“Weniger vorhalten” - Lead less: target crossing more slowly, reduce lead (less fabric).

“Noch weniger” - Even less lead: target nearly on your line of sight (very little fabric left).

“Draufhalten!” - Aim directly: target coming straight at or away - no lead needed (no fabric at all).

The small line beneath humorously adds:

(“...the fighter pilot always finds most beautiful the position where the lead disappears.”)

So, while playful, the diagram served a genuine pedagogical function: turning a technical ballistic principle into something easily remembered under combat stress - a classic example of wartime instructional creativity blending humor, psychology, and practical training.
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#fblifestyle

Looking forward to this in 2026 !
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More:
https://haaf.uk/

Airbus have issued a safety recall because of a software glitch affecting the flight control computer in their A320 aircraft. Guess it's one of the advantages of piloting a plane with old fashioned "dumb" flying controls rather than fly-by-wire!
https://www.theage.com.au/national/...australian-flight-delays-20251129-p5njew.html

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11-29/vic-jetstar-travel-chaos/106081606
(added by Mod)

Maybe Airbus just forgot to pay their subscription fee...

At least the days of dongle stacks are over!

NASA isn't always about the Speedmaster, nor is it always about rockets and fast jets...
Langley engineers used light aircraft such as NASA’s blue-tailed Piper PA-28R-201T “NASA 519” for general aviation safety studies, spin/stall research, cockpit display experiments, and laminar-flow glove tests at Langley test facility in Hampton Virginia.
(photo: NASA)
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Image courtesy of Aviation Humor via Facebook

The most creative use I've seen for the front end of a Cessna Skylane. This is the front entrance of an amusement parlour in Kyoto.

60 years T-38 at NASA
T-38 at NASA... the white rocket Northrop T-38 Talon supersonic twin jet trainer

1958: Subsonic USAF Lockheed T-33 T-bird jet available. (up to Sept 1973).
1959: April 16 NASA asked the U.S. Air Force to furnish two F-102B and two T-33 at Langley Virginia
1961: Gordon Cooper complained to NY congressman Jim Fulton about difficulty in getting flight time at NASA Langley Virginia. During weekends, Cooper made 500 miles trip & joined the F-104 squadron at McGee Tyson AFB at Alcoa Tennessee. The story was brought by Washington Post reporter William Hines.
1962: “Mercury 7” astronauts requested to get flight time to maintain experience and keep flight pay
USAF provided 8 Lockheed T-33 “T-bird” Shooting Star, 4 Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and a F-106 Delta Dart single jets engine fighter aircraft.
January 10, 1963: Walter Schirra near T-38 jet USAF TF551 after an evaluation flight as NASA was looking for a less gas-guzzling jet.
1964 = First T-38s for NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
All in all, NASA T-38 fleet reached 32 aircraft, housed at hangar 276 (renamed “John Young hangar” in October 2021) at Ellington Field - Houston Texas). Young was T-38 flight time record holder with 9200 hours!
Photos show Scott Carpenter and Wally Schirra. In times of AI images, I always add the official NASA photonumbers in my posts!
(Photos: NASA S63-18249 & S63-18250)

The T38 looks like a cross of F4 and F5 fighters. Any relationship between them?

No. Not as far as I know. The F-5 was produced by Northrop whilst the F-4 was produced by McDonnell (later McDonnell Douglas).

interesting read...
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