... I saw for the first time the beautiful plane that was the Short Sunderland. For years I wondered how would be the Long Sunderland...
... I saw for the first time the beautiful plane that was the Short Sunderland. For years I wondered how would be the Long Sunderland...
much longer!
I have long held the belief that the Catalina is the most beautiful aircraft ever.
I realise that I'm probably alone in that belief, but thanks for the photo.
I have long held the belief that the Catalina is the most beautiful aircraft ever.
I realise that I'm probably alone in that belief, but thanks for the photo.
Double post - sorry. Not sure how that happened.
Well, here's your "long Sunderland": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Seaford . ;)
Cole - I'd say all those planes (yes, even the Ju-87) look exactly as they should, i.e. as efficient killing machines. The Catalina always looked to me like it was designed with aestetics in mind.
PS OK, I'll concede the Spitfire is gorgeous. Mitchell covered all the bases there!
Thanks, Chris! I've now buried that feeling of long lost longing...
I've got more, but I'll share them another time.
Nothing's wrong with the Stuka. The Beaufighter on the other hand; it's just the Mosquito's ugly brother!
Well the Stuka ain't all that graceful of a bird. It did it's job alright but it certainly wasn't designed to win a beauty contest. But I suppose it's wrong to pick on the Stuka in light of these other types
Next to these, the Stuka looks positively lovely!
But I still think the P 51 is a very sleek bird. True, it may not be as well rounded and elegant as the Spitfire, but it has its moments. This painting will soon be hanging in my room.
Last edited by HotleadColdfeet; 09-14-2014 at 16:13.
But... but... but... I love the BV 141! As an aging goth it goes with the teritory that I like the outsider who gets picked on!*
*And I had the Airfix kit when I was about 11.
I'd always assumed the Beaufighter was named in the same way that short blokes get called 'Lofty' and bald men are nicknamed 'Curly'. It's got everything it needs to do a job, but not in an appealing way. In exactly the same way that both an Austin Allegro and an E-type Jaguar have engines, four wheels, a windcreen and bodywork. I realise that I may have just crossed a line there, comparing your beloved Beaufighter with an Allegro, but for me, if you want an attractive twin-engined fighter, then for me the Mosquito takes the prize (or even the Bf 110)!
I'm sure as a newbie here, I really shouldn't be throwing these sort of broad, sweeping statements around!
Mike, everybody is entitled to an opinion. Even a misguided one.
The Beaufighter is absolutely beautiful. It has the beauty of those things done right.
When I was 10 years old or so I got the first Matchbox 1:72 models my uncle brought from the West according to the list I had given him. Those were: Hurry, Spit, Zero, Bf 109, Mustang and Me 262. The adventure of my life began
"We do not stop playing when we get old, but we get old when we stop playing."
My first model was a Voodoo fighter. Too much glue in it...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
The Beaufighter appeals to me for two reasons.
I. My dad's best friend flew one.
2. The Japanese called it the "Whispering Death".
That's good enough for me.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
Blackronin - A perfectly reasonable statement, sir. Even if you have questionable taste. Although, I confess Rob makes a great argument for it with his point 2. My only connection with planes of that era is via a mate whose father was a flight engineer on a Lancaster (and I think we'd all agree that fast a fantastic aircraft!).
Nightbomber - Happy days indeed!
When I was 10 years old my father took me to the unveiling of the monument to mark the spot where Ross & Keith Smith landed their Vickers Vimy in the northern suburbs of Adelaide. I heard Wally Shiers, one of the mechanics on that flight, tell his tale of the adventures they had on that flight after he had unveiled the memorial.
Memorable and stirring stuff to a wide eyed youngster!
Sadly the memorial stone is now gone, but the names of those intrepid aviators live on in the street names of that suburb.
First model I ever built was an unfortunate F-16 Falcon. It had so much glue the external fuel tanks turned to mush and dried in really odd shapes. I also didn't know how decals worked; I tried to peel them off the sheet thinking they were stick-on stickers! Ah well, only one way to learn!
Not quite -- it was based off the Beaufort bomber; as a "air-to-ground fighter", it became "Beaufighter".
The Mosquito is the Popular Girl -- pretty, but shallow. The Beaufighter is the sort of girl ZZ Top wrote songs about -- maybe not a beauty queen, but full of *very* interesting tricks.... >;)
With the age of 10 I was only interested in tanks.
Voilà le soleil d'Austerlitz!
Same here Sven, all my early models were Airfix Russian WWII tanks (and conversions)! - the wargames club I belonged to had three basic periods of play in 1968: Ancient Greeks (and guess where my forum name comes from ), Napoleonic, and WWII (where our rules were all about vehicles and artillery - none of these boring infantry, except for bazookas/panzerfausts hiding in undergrowth )
When I was 10 I made some of my first models, made by Kovozavody Prostejov (I hope I spelled it right ). Unfortunately, now I have none of them - some I gave away, and some were ruined in terrible accident, when my little sister's friend somehow managed to flip shelf with models, destroying majority of them... I was 16-17 then, and that's about the time I switched to from modeling to war gaming.
When I was 10 my life revolved around Star Trek, Planet of the Apes, airplanes, tanks, and assorted historical and military subjects. I can't say things have changed much.
The Reason I Write
by Leonard Cohen
The reason I write
is to make something
as beautiful as you are
When I’m with you
I want to be the kind of hero
I wanted to be
when I was seven years old
a perfect man
who kills
I'm with you Mike, ever played COD World at war when you get to play the gunner in a cat. I didn't know the level was in there and how could I put it, I was pleasantly surprised.
Although the shorty is a beaut.
No, I tend not to play e-games (the last one I loved was the original Crimson Skies and I only bought that because I was into the FASA board game).
And no, I would never badmouth the 'Shorty'!
When I was a kid I was of the same opinion as Mike, then a couple of years ago I fell in love with the HS-129, an on seeing the beau fighter again, thought what was I thinking!
On the subject of age 10 (close) age 9 Vought Corsair, present from my aunty, gull wings (not my aunty, although she was an odd bird) Hubba! Hubba! That Xmas I got a Battle comics annual too.
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