Never a Bofors when you need one..

[gridlore]

I regularly drive by Livermore's small airport. So seeing small planes taking off and landing is not uncommon. The place seems to exist mostly for the use of folks rich enough to afford a private plane.

But today? Today was special. As I drove across the landing path, I saw two planes approaching. This was unusual, so I stopped for a better look. Then I noticed the gull wings..

Yes, coming out of the sun were two Junkers Ju 87 Stukas. They had to be reproductions, but they were beautiful. All the markings in the right place, that beautiful roar of an overpowered military engine.

Comments

[heartofawarrior.livejournal.com]

Shiny! I love random sightings like that.

[twfarlan.livejournal.com]

:O

SOOO cool.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

way cool... check youtube, theres a couple of flight videos of what they say is apparently the only flying stuka replica, Warbird Alley which usually lists all the flying warbirds and replicas doesnt have a listing for the stuka at all. I missed seeing Glacier Girl at Oshkosh, she was the P-38 they dug out of the greenland ice and restored to flying condition.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

not doubting you doug, let me make that clear, was just hoping to find more information on there being more flying. they are restoring a couple of FW-190s and ME-109s too, and theres a replica ME-262 flying now

[taschoene.livejournal.com]

IIRC, there are a couple of scale flying Ju-87 replicas, around three-quarters scale.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

That was probably what I saw. Hard to judge scale on a plane flying right over you.

[claidheamhmor]

Brilliant!

Capt. Eric Brown, a British test pilot who flew many of the German aircraft captured by the Allies in WW2, said that the Stuka was the only aircraft he'd flow that felt right in a 90 degree dive.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

I asked about it on the AirshowBuzz site, and they also talked about the replicas.

also things like the T-6 Texans that were mocked up as Zeros to film Tora Tora Tora. and various movies using standins

if you watch Doctor Strangelove, when the B-52 is flying over the snow, you can see the shadow, its a 4 engine straight wing aircraft. they used a B-17 according to Martin Caidin

[claidheamhmor]

I always liked the Texan; still see them flying around here sometimes (they were called Harvards, and used for training for the South African Air Force). They were quite a good match for the Zeros, I must say.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

there are some interesting projects for restorations currently

FW-190
P-61
Beaufighter


there are a couple of rebuilt zeros flying with Wright Cyclone engines now

either Yak or Lavochkin is building new WW2 era aircraft at the original plant using the original plans etc. they are being sold to the warbird/aerobatic/air race market.

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

The story of the Yak-3 did not end with the Second World War. In 1991, the Museum of Flying, in Santa Monica, California, asked Yakovlev to produce a new series of Yak-3s to be built at Orenburg, Russia. The new Yak-3s were built using the plans, tools, dies and fixtures of the original. They were powered by American Allison engines, and given the designation Yak-3UA. These aircraft are now available on the civilian market.

There are several static Yak-9’s in private hands today, and beginning in 1996, several airworthy Russian-built replicas have been built.

www.warbirdalley.com

[shadowcat48li.livejournal.com]

ok, my bad, the Zeros are fited with Pratt and Whitney R-1830 engines