Many years ago in California, I visited the Spruce Goose. It surely was a large aircraft.
At the Evergreen at McMinneville? Because that is where I saw it at.
I think it was docked at Long Beach,California, next to the Queen Mary. It has been since moved to another museum.
You right that was a long time ago. 
I saw it at the Evergreen Aviation Museum at McMinneville OR where it is currently, and that was sometime in the early 2000ās.
I got shuttled around the world in C5 Aās and the later Super Galaxies, the C-141 and of course the C-130.
The āGooseā was nearly a third larger than the Galaxy. Absolutely a monster of an aircraft. Iāve never gotten to see it in person but Iād love to if I ever get back out to that part of the country again.
One of the most forgotten planes that was ordered by the Navy in 1941, Grumman Hellcat F6F.
It accounted for over 70% of kllls in the Pacific theater.
Powerplant: 2000hp Pratt & Whitney R2800-10
When I saw it in person, it truly is an imposing piece of work. Each engine is over 3000 hp and there is a space in the wings themselves for the engineers that you can stand up in and you had plenty of head room. Truly massive.
This is my pic when I visited there.
I knew a guy in Florida that had one of these (āThe Duckā}. They looked awesome to fly.
Iām laughing, the P40 looks like a small kids model next to the Goose.
By "the Duck you mean the 0-2? If you ever get a chance get him to take you for a ride including a short field TO.
There are/were O2 clubs that would occasionally have SFTOā contests. You would not believe how quickly they can get off the ground and up in the air.
I had a buddy with the CAA in NM that would run FARC missions for the forest service directing smoke jumpers and tanker shots that I got to fly with once in a while and he even let my fly it as long as he was along.
There was a period there for a few years that I gave serious consideration to moving to AK to fly bush planes.
I had a crazy idea for a while of having a dual career flying in both AK and South Africa since they have opposite seasons.
Got too busy working for Uncle Sam for better than a decade so that never happened but damn, that would have been a hell of a ride and itās probably why Iām still an aviation nut. 
Yes. I am not in touch with him anymore so I am not even sure where he is. I used to assist him in his Hot Air balloon rides that he ran on weekends.
I wanted to be a Bush Pilot too at one time, but gave up that idea when I got too busy with life. I bet that would be an awesome lifestyle, however flying over Mountains ranges like they do, and the weather is something I admire most about them, that def. takes skill to pay close attention to details.
I just watched this video and I thought about how lucky my Uncle was when he was shot down and survived. Pretty amazing and sobering to watch. I saw a glimpse of the 303rd.
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A very close friend of a buddy of mine in AZ was a bush pilot for 32 years and pretty much a legend in AK.
We got to be friends through guy and Iād see him at quite a few field trials through the winter and early spring months.
He had a completely unexplained crash in 2013 and we lost him.
The weather up there is so crazy even the coolest headed, most professional and experienced pilots in the world will sometimes lose the battle.
Damned Shame but heād had a large life and was up in his mid seventies at the time I if I remember right and died like he lived, full throttle flying into the clouds.
A man canāt ask for much more than that.
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We think we have bad days. Imagine the balls it took to crawl into one of those to go to work every day knowing what they facedā¦ .
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Hereās one you may have never seen. This was an aircraft built bout 40 years before itās time.
I was fascinated with them the first time I saw a large scale model on display and started looking for documentaries about it back in the seventies.
Yeah, another day at the office for them. The stories my Uncle used to tell me about life at Molesworth were incredible and always a treat to listen to him tell them. I remember always listening like one who canāt put down a great book, always wanting more. I have deep admiration for these men, especially the ones who never made it back.
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This was the concept behind the B-2 if I remember correctly!
Yep, and Kelly lived long enough to see it fly too! Watch that vid, youāll get a feeling for what an achievement that was for him since he fathered both and did a lot of it out of his own pocket.
So let me get this straight, because Northrop refused to merge with Consolidated, they then destroyed all the Flying Wing Prototypes?
Those vindictive bastards!
That seems to be real reason!
I didnāt know our female pilots actually ferried planes into Russia. The Ruskies also used a lot of women and their youth as cannon fodder and put their seasoned troops behind as reserves to attack after the Germans got worn down. Total brutality on both sides.
Several Japs shot down, including couple of their aces when hellcat first introduced. They would lead the wildcats into a climb and when they stalled would roll over and take them out. The hellcat, with much more power would follow them up and take them out when they rolled over. Hellcats definitely changed the Pacific balance.
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