Airspeed GWL RapidCast – AC-47 Spooky

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These are the show notes to an audio episode. You can listen to the show audio by clicking here:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/airspeed/AirspeedGWLSpooky.mp3.  Better yet, subscribe to Airspeed through iTunes or your other favorite podcatcher. It’s all free!

The American Flight Museum brought its AC-47 out onto the ramp for the Gathering of Warbirds and Legends this weekend.  Ed Van Morlan talked to us at length about the aircraft and its mission.

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Ed broke out the gunsight and showed us where it’s installed for combat missions.  It’s used by the pilot to aim the two GE rotary miniguns on the left side, just aft of the wing.

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Here are the guns.  This is a pretty typical installation, which is to say inadequate for the power of the guns.  I’m told that it was not uncommon for the guns to come loose from their moorings in the floor of the aircraft.  The AC-47 was the proof of concept that eventually led to the AC-130 and more purpose-built weapons systems.

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Here are those guns, just aft of the left wing root.  It seems to me that the aircrew had a huge incentive to make sure that the guns were aimed reasonably well.  The stream of fire comes pretty darned close to the left aileron and/or wingtip.

 

Airspeed GWL RapidCast – Karl Stoltzfus and C-47 Miss Virginia

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These are the show notes to an audio episode. You can listen to the show audio by clicking here:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/airspeed/AirspeedGWLMissVirginia.mp3.  Better yet, subscribe to Airspeed through iTunes or your other favorite podcatcher. It’s all free!

Karl Stoltzfus of Dynamic Aviation flew this beautiful DC-3/C-47 to Topeka to show her off to this crowd.  His grandson, Gabriel (7) joined him to talk about the aircraft and its renovation.

Airspeed GWL RapidCast – Greg Smith and his Beech 18

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These are the show notes to an audio episode. You can listen to the show audio by clicking here:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/airspeed/AirspeedGWLBeech18.mp3.  Better yet, subscribe to Airspeed through iTunes or your other favorite podcatcher. It’s all free!

We ambushed Greg Smith out on the ramp here at Topeka to talk about his Beech 18.

imageGreg uses the 18 as a go-places aircraft.  It’s onfigured for passenger use, much like the executive transport aircraft of the period, as opposed to moving freight, like many of the other Beech 18s on the ramp.

 

Airspeed GWL RapidCast – Bill Whiteman and the T-28 Trojan

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These are the show notes to an audio episode. You can listen to the show audio by clicking here:  http://traffic.libsyn.com/airspeed/AirspeedGWLT28.mp3.  Better yet, subscribe to Airspeed through iTunes or your other favorite podcatcher. It’s all free!

We waylayed Bill Whiteman on the ramp at the Gathering of Warbirds and Legends to talk about this particularly pretty specimen of the T-28 Trojan – a Navy trainer.