My flight in a Real 1945 SNJ-6 Today

[Sonar5 3]

Hi Folks,Well, I fulfilled one of my dreams today. I got to take a flight in a WWII plane. My Host was Tom Buck, a local pilot who owns a TBM-Avenger and a SNJ-6 Trainer.I have hosted these on my own website. I took a total of 123 pictures. Don't know if I will upload them all or not. Each was 1280 x 960 in size and has been reduced to 800 x 600 for easy viewing. I wanted to keep them all together, so I apologize for posting 13 of them. We just don't get enough real world pics.Todays flight was in a 1945 North American SNJ-6. Which means it is 57 years old. It has a 600 Horsepower AN 1340 Wasp Engine. That is a lot of ponies. The color scheme is WWII United States Marine Corps Fighter unit on Guaducanal. Appropriate I think. I had a blast. These are just a few of the pictures I took. I have 123 Total Digital Pictures, and Kelly took some video.We did a few high speed low to the deck passes as well off of the grass strip at Joliet followed by a performance climb.It was nice to be just a passenger shooting pics for once and not really having to worry about flying. I took the stick for about 20 minutes of the 1 hour flight. It was a blast, handled great, and handled like it should. I was able to do some steep 45 Degree turns and just poking a bunch of holes in the sky. I took me about 30 seconds to get the control inputs down, then holding altitude was a breeze. I flew at about 1800 Feet MSL, which is about 1200 feet above the ground. Took lots of pics around Joliet, and lots of my silly grinning. It was great.Now all I need to do is find a way to get a ride in a F-15 and I can cross that one off my list. And I am working on that one with a few connections.Here is a short description of what each picture represents. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed taking them. Very Cool stuff.Best Regards,Joe :-) Still Grinning from Ear to EarPics are here: 13 of them... :-)http://ftp.avsim.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboa...rum=DCForumID47http://home.attbi.com/~jranos/mysig.jpg http://avsim.com/hangar/air/bfu/logo70.gif

[Geofa 108]

Great shots Joe-I bet that was an experience. When you get the f15 ride arranged give me a call! :-)Geofhttp://members.telocity.com/~geof43/geofanim2.gif

[Guest]

I know exactly how awesome it was for you as I have flown in the same type. My dad and I have friends who own an SNJ and an F4U-4.I have had the pleasure of working on both and backseating to 2 airshows in the Texan and it was a blast. Dad flew the Corsair for the Marines at Okinawa so we really enjoy being around these warbirds. Hope to see you in Indy this summer, you should plan to go as there will be at least 15 flying Corsairs in the Show this Sept.Check out the show at www.corsairgathering.com and my friends at www.koreanwarhero.com . I hope you get some more stick time soon and a chance in the Eagle, KinHere are some stills I capped from a video I made from the Texan going to Pope AFB last summer.

[Guest JonP01]

Joe,Great pcitures and I agree there just aren't enough ral world pics around. One of the highlights of my week are to see the real world pictures that people like you, Geof and Peter frequently load up. They do take a long time to load on a 56K but I usually make a coffee while I wait :-lolJust a couple of points. How you successfully held your camera up in a 110 knot airstream escapes me. I'm surprised the camera and half your arm didn't detach themselves ;)Also, I notice the calibrations on the vacuum gauge. I don't suppose you noted what the vacuum setting was during the power climbs did you?

[Sonar5 3]

Hi Everyone,Thanks for the great comments. :-)I did notify Tom that the DG was inop during my flight. His was fine. I did try calibrating it a few times, but no joy. When I was flying I was using the good old compass and dead reckoning, although I was in a familiar area, so I knew where I was the whole time.As far as the Camera out the window, It was worth the pics and yes I did think about losing it, but I did have the strap wrapped pretty good around my arm, so the risk was minimized. 110 isn't that bad. I would not have done it at 165 with the canopy open however.Thanks for all the comments folks. :-)Regards,Joe :-wavehttp://home.attbi.com/~jranos/mysig.jpg http://avsim.com/hangar/air/bfu/logo70.gif