Gerbil Posted May 22, 2018 Report Posted May 22, 2018 Hello Mooney friends, Last week the National Museum of the US Air Force had the public unveiling of the restored Memphis Belle B-17. As a part of the public spectacle three functional B-17s came in to town to land at the historic Wright Field next to the museum. The big fly-in was to be the 3 Fortresses escorted by 5 Mustangs. Of course there would be a lot of cameras on the ground but in order to get a unique vantage point I volunteered to fly a museum photographer in a formation with the warbirds. It was a good plan and I made it work. This was my second photo shoot with my new Mooney and I can say it did really good. It was everything my IO-360 had to form up with these guys but she did me proud. In order to set up my F model for photo work I installed a Great Lakes passenger window with the large vent opening. That combined with some strategic flying makes it so we can do some real good air-to-air photography. The airplane is very maneuverable and makes flying formation pretty easy. There are definitely limitations but I think it works out good. I am looking forward to doing more photo work like this. On Wednesday Bill (the photographer) and I escorted the formation of bombers and fighters into the show in less than ideal weather conditions. We were only able to make one pass by the crowd (I tried to stay away from the show line) and the planes did not land on the field. On Thursday we gave it another shot and I flew in with the Yankee Lady and a a group of three mustangs on my tail. After checking off from Yankee Lady I went south to try to join up with Aluminum Overcast but never saw her. I hung by the show to get some pictures of the ground activities. Just being able to fly with these guys was amazing but to get the great pictures we got was icing on the cake. The museum is very grateful and cited me along with Bill for the photos. I have included two shots here for you but there are more on the museum's Facebook page. The photographer is Bill McCuddy. Gerbil 14 Quote
carusoam Posted May 22, 2018 Report Posted May 22, 2018 Way to go, Gerbil! The Mooney is quite the scale model of the P57... both also have Laminar wings... Look for a drawing with a mooney and P57 overlaid on top of each other... The Big Merlin engine has a bit of a long nose in the comparison... Somebody recently posted pics of the Belle too... awesome hanging in air display... Thanks for sharing the pics... Best regards, -a- Quote
Gerbil Posted May 22, 2018 Author Report Posted May 22, 2018 19 minutes ago, carusoam said: Way to go, Gerbil! The Mooney is quite the scale model of the P57... both also have Laminar wings... Look for a drawing with a mooney and P57 overlaid on top of each other... The Big Merlin engine has a bit of a long nose in the comparison... Somebody recently posted pics of the Belle too... awesome hanging in air display... Thanks for sharing the pics... Best regards, -a- I've heard from a couple of folks that some people thought I was another Mustang. Gerbil 2 Quote
Tony Starke Posted May 22, 2018 Report Posted May 22, 2018 Very Nice! That’s probably the coolest thing I’ve seen on Mooneyspace. You are one lucky Gerbil. Are you based at I19? @Gerbil Quote
bonal Posted May 22, 2018 Report Posted May 22, 2018 What a fantastic opportunity. I don't do Facebook so if you have any more photos please post them. Quote
Gerbil Posted May 22, 2018 Author Report Posted May 22, 2018 11 minutes ago, Tony Starke said: Very Nice! That’s probably the coolest thing I’ve seen on Mooneyspace. You are one lucky Gerbil. Are you based at I19? @Gerbil Thanks.... I'm based out of New Carlisle 3OH0 Gerbil Quote
Gerbil Posted May 22, 2018 Author Report Posted May 22, 2018 6 minutes ago, bonal said: What a fantastic opportunity. I don't do Facebook so if you have any more photos please post them. I'll see what I cam do but you don't have to be subscribed to Facebook to visit the museum site..... it is open to the public like the museum itself. I know because I am not a Facebook user either. https://facebook.com/AFmuseum/ Gerbil Quote
carusoam Posted May 22, 2018 Report Posted May 22, 2018 I signed up for FB once just for this type of reason... More great photos! Best regards, -a- Quote
Seth Posted May 22, 2018 Report Posted May 22, 2018 The leading edge of the Mooney wing is the same airfoil as the P-51 and according to Bob Kromer the press and mold used was purchased from North American. -Seth 1 Quote
1964-M20E Posted May 22, 2018 Report Posted May 22, 2018 GTFOH you go dude. I'm jealous to be flying with such history I think that is better than a ride in a mustang. Hopefully there is a good pic from the ground with you plane in it that would be so cool. Get the original files and have them made into an 11x14 or 16x20 and hang them on you wall at your house or at the hangar and if you can ever get in touch any of the other pilots have them sign the photo for you. Quote
Gerbil Posted May 22, 2018 Author Report Posted May 22, 2018 11 hours ago, 1964-M20E said: GTFOH you go dude. I'm jealous to be flying with such history I think that is better than a ride in a mustang. Hopefully there is a good pic from the ground with you plane in it that would be so cool. Get the original files and have them made into an 11x14 or 16x20 and hang them on you wall at your house or at the hangar and if you can ever get in touch any of the other pilots have them sign the photo for you. A friend of mine might have gotten a couple shots of me. I like your idea of getting a print signed. I had already planned on framing one or two for the house but hadn't considered getting them signed. It would be tough but possible. Gerbil 1 Quote
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