Radials or Jets, that is the question....

[Rocketman]

Back in the day...... 1.5 degrees rudder trim doesn't sound like enough. A note for takeoff: never put your pack of Luckies in the arm pocket of your flight suit. By the time you get the canopy closed and are ready to light up, you'll have a pocket of loose tobacco and a bunch of empty white paper tubes.
Advanced training in the Able Dog was a blast. The first time that you got to touch the controls was on your solo. You did an aborted takeoff (the LSO yelled cut when you got the tail up) and if you kept it on the duty runway, you taxied back and you, the other two guys in your flight and your instructor took off, joined up, and headed out over the Chapman ranch. Then all you were faced with was your first ever landing in a tail dragger. Oh my!

That exactly mirrors my old man's stories about his first flight in the AD in Korea. He came to the AD by way of VMA -223, a Panther squadron. He flew advanced in a Hellcat so he remembered his old friend torque, but it had been a while. The plane captian started her up, showed him the active runway and got the hell out of the way. He swore that he watched the Major in front of him run his AD through an empty hanger on his fam flight. "Umm ok LT, note to self..... use rudder, use LOTs of rudder".

 

[FlyinRock]

This was emailed to me by my dad, who got it from one of his old P-2V buddies (they shared the R-3350 love with the AD/A-1). Thought some of the old timers around here might enjoy it (as well as the rest of us):



Enjoy!

Damn that was lovely! From a Marine saying lovely? Well hell, it was. That was so good I am saving it in my archives.
Semper Fi
Rocky
lots of round engine and tail wheel

 

[Birdog8585]

A great all-encompassing vid of the SPAD - Start, taxi, T/O, low passes (one with dive brakes extended) and landing - about 2 min long. They should bring it back for fear factor alone, beefy bastard.